Notes
1 Since Jerusalem and Purgatory are at
opposite points of the globe, it is sunset there and sunrise here, in Aries there and in
Libra or the Scales here. Ganges (l. 5) is the eastern limit of the world;
it is midnight there. In spring the sun is in Aries or the Ram and the night
is in Libra; at the autumnal equinox, the Scales fall as night grows
longer than day, and the sun is in Libra (l. 6). As Dante rightly
realized,
the hours and seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere.
46 Dante here quotes Psalm 113 (114) in Latin
(In exitu Isräel de Aegypto).
57 The constellation of
Capricorn or the Goat is driven out of the night-sky by the rising sun.
91 Casella, a musician and singer, set
some of Dante’s poems to music (l. 112). Nothing else is
known of him.
101 The Tiber here alludes to the Roman
Church whose pope, Boniface VIII, had declared 1300 a Jubilee year with special
indulgences.
112 Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona
is the first line of the third song Dante wrote for his Convivio. |
|
- The
sun by now sank down to the horizon
- And
the highest point of the meridian
-
Circle arched above Jerusalem,
-
- And
night, circling on the opposite side,
- 5
Rose out of the Ganges with the Scales
- Which
topple from her hand when she grows longer,
-
- So,
where I was, Aurora’s rose-white cheeks
- For
all her beauty were turning golden-orange,
- As if
they changed with ever increasing age.
-
- 10
We were there yet, alongside the sea’s margin,
- Like
people who reflect about their route,
-
Moving in mind and standing still in body.
-
- And
look! just as Mars in the early dawn
- Burns
with a deep red glow through heavy mists
- 15
Low in the west above the ocean’s surface,
-
- So
appeared to me (may I see it again!)
- A
light coming across the sea so fast
-
Nothing in flight could match its rapid motion.
-
- When
for a moment I’d withdrawn my eyes
- 20
From the light to ask my guide a question,
- Again
I saw it grow in size and brightness.
-
- Then
there appeared to me on each of its sides
- A
whitish blur, and then from underneath it
-
Little by little another blur shone outward.
-
- 25
My master meanwhile did not speak a word
- Until
the first white colors showed as wings:
- Then
he clearly recognized the helmsman.
-
- He
cried to me, "Kneel down — fall on your knees!
- Look,
the angel of God! Fold your hands —
- 30
From now on you shall see such ministers.
-
-
"See how he scorns the instruments of man:
- He
needs no oars nor any other sail
- Than
his own wings between such distant shores.
-
-
"See how he points them straight up toward heaven,
- 35
Wafting the air with his immortal plumage
-
Which, unlike mortal feathers, never molts."
-
-
Nearer and nearer came the bird of heaven:
- The
closer to us the brighter he appeared
- Until
my eyes could not endure his nearness,
-
- 40
And I lowered them. He then came ashore
- In a
swift sailing ship so trim and light
- That
it did not draw water while afloat.
-
- At
the stern stood the celestial steersman
- With
blessedness written all over him,
- 45
And in his boat sat more than a hundred souls.
-
-
"From exile Israel came out of Egypt"
- They
all intoned together with one voice
- Right
through the psalm as it had been composed.
-
- Then
over them he made a sign of the cross:
- 50
With that they all cast themselves on the shore,
- And
he sped off as swiftly as he came.
-
- The
crowd left there appeared to be bewildered
- By
the location, gazing round about
- Like
men come out to see some strange event.
-
- 55
Shooting rays of daylight to all sides,
- The
sun already with his well-aimed arrows
- Had
chased off Capricorn from the mid-heaven,
-
- When
the new people raised their faces upward
-
Toward us in petition: "If you should know,
- 60
Show us the way that leads on up the mountain."
-
- And
Virgil answered, "You believe perhaps
- That
we two are familiar with this place,
- But
we are pilgrims here the same as you are.
-
-
"We came just now, a short while before you did,
- 65
By another road which was so steep and rugged
- That
bounding up will now appear like play."
-
- The
souls who had perceived from my breathing
- That
I indeed was still a living person
-
Turned as pale as death in their amazement.
-
- 70
And just as people, to hear the news, will mob
- A
messenger who bears an olive branch,
- And
no one shies away from trampling others,
-
- So
did that whole group of good-fortuned souls
-
Fasten their eyes upon my face, as though
- 75
Forgetting to go on to their own beauty.
-
- I
observed one of them now drawing forward
- With
such deep-felt love to embrace me that
- He
moved me to reach out to him in turn.
-
- O
shadows empty but in outward look!
- 80
Three times I clasped my hands behind him and
- Three
times I drew them back to my own breast!
-
-
Wonder, I believe, painted my cheeks pale,
-
Because at this the shade smiled and stepped back,
- And
I, following him, lunged on ahead.
-
- 85
Gently he said that I should hold my place.
- Then
I recognized who he was, and begged
- That
he should stay a while and talk to me.
-
- He
answered me, "Exactly as I loved you
- In my
live body, free from it I love you:
- 90
So I shall stay — but you, why pass this way?"
-
-
"My own Casella, to come here where I am
- On my
next turn around, I make this journey,"
- I
said; "but how did you lose so much time?"
-
- And
he told me, "I am not wronged if he,
- 95
Who as he pleases chooses who shall go
- And
when, should often have refused me passage,
-
-
"Because a just Will shaped and guides his own.
- To
tell the truth, for three months he has taken,
- In
perfect peace, those wanting to come aboard.
-
- 100
"So I, the instant I turned to the strand
- Where
the Tiber’s waters become salty,
- Was
kindly welcomed on board by that boatman.
-
-
"Toward the Tiber’s mouth he’s set his wings
- Since
there the spirits always congregate
- 105
Who do not sink below to Acheron."
-
- And
I: "If some new law does not forbid you
- To
remember or perform the songs of love
- Which
once made calm all of my wilful longings,
-
-
"Please, with those strains give a little comfort
- 110
To my soul which, burdened by my body,
- Has
grown so weary coming all this way."
-
-
"Love conversing with me in my mind,"
- He
then began to sing, so sweetly that
- The
sweetness still resounds within my soul.
-
- 115
My master and I and all the people who
- Were
with the singer seemed fully contented,
- Just
as if nothing else could touch the mind.
-
- We
were now all enraptured and attentive
- To
his notes when, look! the upright old man
- 120
Cried out, "What is this, you sluggish spirits?
-
-
"What negligence and what delay is this?
- Race
to the mountain and strip off the slough
- Which
won’t let God be manifest in you!"
-
- Just
as pigeons, when gleaning wheat or tares,
- 125
All flocked together to peck upon their food,
-
Quiet, without their usual show of pride,
-
- If
something comes to give them a quick scare,
-
Suddenly will fly off from their feeding
-
Because a greater care now seizes them,
-
- 130
So did I see that newly gathered troop
- Leave
the song and flee straight for the hillside
- Like
men who run not knowing where they’ll end.
-
- Nor
did we make less haste in setting out.
|
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to Purgatorio I