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twg_000000043400 | moveth them the wind, Beyond the realm, almost beside the Verde, Where he transported them with tapers quenched. By malison of theirs is not so lost Eternal Love, that it cannot return, So long as hope has anything of green. True is it, who in contumacy dies Of Holy Church, though penitent at last, Must wait upon the outside this | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043401 | bank Thirty times told the time that he has been In his presumption, unless such decree Shorter by means of righteous prayers become. See now if thou hast power to make me happy, By making known unto my good Costanza How thou hast seen me, and this ban beside, For those on earth can much advance us here. Purgatorio: Canto | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043402 | IV Whenever by delight or else by pain, That seizes any faculty of ours, Wholly to that the soul collects itself, It seemeth that no other power it heeds; And this against that error is which thinks One soul above another kindles in us. And hence, whenever aught is heard or seen Which keeps the soul intently bent upon it, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043403 | Time passes on, and we perceive it not, Because one faculty is that which listens, And other that which the soul keeps entire; This is as if in bonds, and that is free. Of this I had experience positive In hearing and in gazing at that spirit; For fifty full degrees uprisen was The sun, and I had not perceived | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043404 | it, when We came to where those souls with one accord Cried out unto us: Here is what you ask. A greater opening ofttimes hedges up With but a little forkful of his thorns The villager, what time the grape imbrowns, Than was the passage-way through which ascended Only my Leader and myself behind him, After that company departed from | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043405 | us. One climbs Sanleo and descends in Noli, And mounts the summit of Bismantova, With feet alone; but here one needs must fly; With the swift pinions and the plumes I say Of great desire, conducted after him Who gave me hope, and made a light for me. We mounted upward through the rifted rock, And on each side the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043406 | border pressed upon us, And feet and hands the ground beneath required. When we were come upon the upper rim Of the high bank, out on the open slope, My Master, said I, what way shall we take? And he to me: No step of thine descend; Still up the mount behind me win thy way, Till some sage escort | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043407 | shall appear to us. The summit was so high it vanquished sight, And the hillside precipitous far more Than line from middle quadrant to the centre. Spent with fatigue was I, when I began: O my sweet Father! turn thee and behold How I remain alone, unless thou stay! O son, he said, up yonder drag thyself, Pointing me to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043408 | a terrace somewhat higher, Which on that side encircles all the hill. These words of his so spurred me on, that I Strained every nerve, behind him scrambling up, Until the circle was beneath my feet. Thereon ourselves we seated both of us Turned to the East, from which we had ascended, For all men are delighted to look back. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043409 | To the low shores mine eyes I first directed, Then to the sun uplifted them, and wondered That on the left hand we were smitten by it. The Poet well perceived that I was wholly Bewildered at the chariot of the light, Where twixt us and the Aquilon it entered. Whereon he said to me: If Castor and Pollux Were | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043410 | in the company of yonder mirror, That up and down conducteth with its light, Thou wouldst behold the zodiacs jagged wheel Revolving still more near unto the Bears, Unless it swerved aside from its old track. How that may be wouldst thou have power to think, Collected in thyself, imagine Zion Together with this mount on earth to stand, So | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043411 | that they both one sole horizon have, And hemispheres diverse; whereby the road Which Phaeton, alas! knew not to drive, Thoult see how of necessity must pass This on one side, when that upon the other, If thine intelligence right clearly heed. Truly, my Master, said I, never yet Saw I so clearly as I now discern, There where my | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043412 | wit appeared incompetent, That the mid-circle of supernal motion, Which in some art is the Equator called, And aye remains between the Sun and Winter, For reason which thou sayest, departeth hence Towrds the Septentrion, what time the Hebrews Beheld it towrds the region of the heat. But, if it pleaseth thee, I fain would learn How far we have | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043413 | to go; for the hill rises Higher than eyes of mine have power to rise. And he to me: This mount is such, that ever At the beginning down below tis tiresome, And aye the more one climbs, the less it hurts. Therefore, when it shall seem so pleasant to thee, That going up shall be to thee as easy | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043414 | As going down the current in a boat, Then at this pathways ending thou wilt be; There to repose thy panting breath expect; No more I answer; and this I know for true. And as he finished uttering these words, A voice close by us sounded: Peradventure Thou wilt have need of sitting down ere that. At sound thereof each | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043415 | one of us turned round, And saw upon the left hand a great rock, Which neither I nor he before had noticed. Thither we drew; and there were persons there Who in the shadow stood behind the rock, As one through indolence is wont to stand. And one of them, who seemed to me fatigued, Was sitting down, and both | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043416 | his knees embraced, Holding his face low down between them bowed. O my sweet Lord, I said, do turn thine eye On him who shows himself more negligent Then even Sloth herself his sister were. Then he turned round to us, and he gave heed, Just lifting up his eyes above his thigh, And said: Now go thou up, for | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043417 | thou art valiant. Then knew I who he was; and the distress, That still a little did my breathing quicken, My going to him hindered not; and after I came to him he hardly raised his head, Saying: Hast thou seen clearly how the sun Oer thy left shoulder drives his chariot? His sluggish attitude and his curt words A | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043418 | little unto laughter moved my lips; Then I began: Belacqua, I grieve not For thee henceforth; but tell me, wherefore seated In this place art thou? Waitest thou an escort? Or has thy usual habit seized upon thee? And he: O brother, whats the use of climbing? Since to my torment would not let me go The Angel of God, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043419 | who sitteth at the gate. First heaven must needs so long revolve me round Outside thereof, as in my life it did, Since the good sighs I to the end postponed, Unless, eer that, some prayer may bring me aid Which rises from a heart that lives in grace; What profit others that in heaven are heard not? Meanwhile the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043420 | Poet was before me mounting, And saying: Come now; see the sun has touched Meridian, and from the shore the night Covers already with her foot Morocco. Purgatorio: Canto V I had already from those shades departed, And followed in the footsteps of my Guide, When from behind, pointing his finger at me, One shouted: See, it seems as if | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043421 | shone not The sunshine on the left of him below, And like one living seems he to conduct him. Mine eyes I turned at utterance of these words, And saw them watching with astonishment But me, but me, and the light which was broken! Why doth thy mind so occupy itself, The Master said, that thou thy pace dost slacken? | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043422 | What matters it to thee what here is whispered? Come after me, and let the people talk; Stand like a steadfast tower, that never wags Its top for all the blowing of the winds; For evermore the man in whom is springing Thought upon thought, removes from him the mark, Because the force of one the other weakens. What could | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043423 | I say in answer but I come? I said it somewhat with that colour tinged Which makes a man of pardon sometimes worthy. Meanwhile along the mountain-side across Came people in advance of us a little, Singing the Miserere verse by verse. When they became aware I gave no place For passage of the sunshine through my body, They changed | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043424 | their song into a long, hoarse Oh! And two of them, in form of messengers, Ran forth to meet us, and demanded of us, Of your condition make us cognisant. And said my Master: Ye can go your way And carry back again to those who sent you, That this ones body is of very flesh. If they stood still | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043425 | because they saw his shadow, As I suppose, enough is answered them; Him let them honour, it may profit them. Vapours enkindled saw I neer so swiftly At early nightfall cleave the air serene, Nor, at the set of sun, the clouds of August, But upward they returned in briefer time, And, on arriving, with the others wheeled Towrds us, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043426 | like troops that run without a rein. This folk that presses unto us is great, And cometh to implore thee, said the Poet; So still go onward, and in going listen. O soul that goest to beatitude With the same members wherewith thou wast born, Shouting they came, a little stay thy steps, Look, if thou eer hast any of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043427 | us seen, So that oer yonder thou bear news of him; Ah, why dost thou go on? Ah, why not stay? Long since we all were slain by violence, And sinners even to the latest hour; Then did a light from heaven admonish us, So that, both penitent and pardoning, forth From life we issued reconciled to God, Who with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043428 | desire to see Him stirs our hearts. And I: Although I gaze into your faces, No one I recognize; but if may please you Aught I have power to do, ye well-born spirits, Speak ye, and I will do it, by that peace Which, following the feet of such a Guide, From world to world makes itself sought by me. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043429 | And one began: Each one has confidence In thy good offices without an oath, Unless the I cannot cut off the I will; Whence I, who speak alone before the others, Pray thee, if ever thou dost see the land That twixt Romagna lies and that of Charles, Thou be so courteous to me of thy prayers In Fano, that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043430 | they pray for me devoutly, That I may purge away my grave offences. From thence was I; but the deep wounds, through which Issued the blood wherein I had my seat, Were dealt me in bosom of the Antenori, There where I thought to be the most secure; Twas he of Este had it done, who held me In hatred | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043431 | far beyond what justice willed. But if towards the Mira I had fled, When I was overtaken at Oriaco, I still should be oer yonder where men breathe. I ran to the lagoon, and reeds and mire Did so entangle me I fell, and saw there A lake made from my veins upon the ground. Then said another: Ah, be | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043432 | that desire Fulfilled that draws thee to the lofty mountain, As thou with pious pity aidest mine. I was of Montefeltro, and am Buonconte; Giovanna, nor none other cares for me; Hence among these I go with downcast front. And I to him: What violence or what chance Led thee astray so far from Campaldino, That never has thy sepulture | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043433 | been known? Oh, he replied, at Casentinos foot A river crosses named Archiano, born Above the Hermitage in Apennine. There where the name thereof becometh void Did I arrive, pierced through and through the throat, Fleeing on foot, and bloodying the plain; There my sight lost I, and my utterance Ceased in the name of Mary, and thereat I fell, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043434 | and tenantless my flesh remained. Truth will I speak, repeat it to the living; Gods Angel took me up, and he of hell Shouted: O thou from heaven, why dost thou rob me? Thou bearest away the eternal part of him, For one poor little tear, that takes him from me; But with the rest Ill deal in other fashion! | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043435 | Well knowest thou how in the air is gathered That humid vapour which to water turns, Soon as it rises where the cold doth grasp it. He joined that evil will, which aye seeks evil, To intellect, and moved the mist and wind By means of power, which his own nature gave; Thereafter, when the day was spent, the valley | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043436 | From Pratomagno to the great yoke covered With fog, and made the heaven above intent, So that the pregnant air to water changed; Down fell the rain, and to the gullies came Whateer of it earth tolerated not; And as it mingled with the mighty torrents, Towards the royal river with such speed It headlong rushed, that nothing held it | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043437 | back. My frozen body near unto its outlet The robust Archian found, and into Arno Thrust it, and loosened from my breast the cross I made of me, when agony oercame me; It rolled me on the banks and on the bottom, Then with its booty covered and begirt me. Ah, when thou hast returned unto the world, And rested | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043438 | thee from thy long journeying, After the second followed the third spirit, Do thou remember me who am the Pia; Siena made me, unmade me Maremma; He knoweth it, who had encircled first, Espousing me, my finger with his gem. Purgatorio: Canto VI Wheneer is broken up the game of Zara, He who has lost remains behind despondent, The throws | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043439 | repeating, and in sadness learns; The people with the other all depart; One goes in front, and one behind doth pluck him, And at his side one brings himself to mind; He pauses not, and this and that one hears; They crowd no more to whom his hand he stretches, And from the throng he thus defends himself. Even such | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043440 | was I in that dense multitude, Turning to them this way and that my face, And, promising, I freed myself therefrom. There was the Aretine, who from the arms Untamed of Ghin di Tacco had his death, And he who fleeing from pursuit was drowned. There was imploring with his hands outstretched Frederick Novello, and that one of Pisa Who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043441 | made the good Marzucco seem so strong. I saw Count Orso; and the soul divided By hatred and by envy from its body, As it declared, and not for crime committed, Pierre de la Brosse I say; and here provide While still on earth the Lady of Brabant, So that for this she be of no worse flock! As soon | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043442 | as I was free from all those shades Who only prayed that some one else may pray, So as to hasten their becoming holy, Began I: It appears that thou deniest, O light of mine, expressly in some text, That orison can bend decree of Heaven; And neertheless these people pray for this. Might then their expectation bootless be? Or | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043443 | is to me thy saying not quite clear? And he to me: My writing is explicit, And not fallacious is the hope of these, If with sane intellect tis well regarded; For top of judgment doth not vail itself, Because the fire of love fulfils at once What he must satisfy who here installs him. And there, where I affirmed | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043444 | that proposition, Defect was not amended by a prayer, Because the prayer from God was separate. Verily, in so deep a questioning Do not decide, unless she tell it thee, Who light twixt truth and intellect shall be. I know not if thou understand; I speak Of Beatrice; her shalt thou see above, Smiling and happy, on this mountains top. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043445 | And I: Good Leader, let us make more haste, For I no longer tire me as before; And see, een now the hill a shadow casts. We will go forward with this day he answered, As far as now is possible for us; But otherwise the fact is than thou thinkest. Ere thou art up there, thou shalt see return | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043446 | Him, who now hides himself behind the hill, So that thou dost not interrupt his rays. But yonder there behold! a soul that stationed All, all alone is looking hitherward; It will point out to us the quickest way. We came up unto it; O Lombard soul, How lofty and disdainful thou didst bear thee, And grand and slow in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043447 | moving of thine eyes! Nothing whatever did it say to us, But let us go our way, eying us only After the manner of a couchant lion; Still near to it Virgilius drew, entreating That it would point us out the best ascent; And it replied not unto his demand, But of our native land and of our life It | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043448 | questioned us; and the sweet Guide began: Mantua,and the shade, all in itself recluse, Rose towrds him from the place where first it was, Saying: O Mantuan, I am Sordello Of thine own land! and one embraced the other. Ah! servile Italy, griefs hostelry! A ship without a pilot in great tempest! No Lady thou of Provinces, but brothel! That | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043449 | noble soul was so impatient, only At the sweet sound of his own native land, To make its citizen glad welcome there; And now within thee are not without war Thy living ones, and one doth gnaw the other Of those whom one wall and one fosse shut in! Search, wretched one, all round about the shores Thy seaboard, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043450 | then look within thy bosom, If any part of thee enjoyeth peace! What boots it, that for thee Justinian The bridle mend, if empty be the saddle? Withouten this the shame would be the less. Ah! people, thou that oughtest to be devout, And to let Caesar sit upon the saddle, If well thou hearest what God teacheth thee, Behold | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043451 | how fell this wild beast has become, Being no longer by the spur corrected, Since thou hast laid thy hand upon the bridle. O German Albert! who abandonest Her that has grown recalcitrant and savage, And oughtest to bestride her saddle-bow, May a just judgment from the stars down fall Upon thy blood, and be it new and open, That | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043452 | thy successor may have fear thereof; Because thy father and thyself have suffered, By greed of those transalpine lands distrained, The garden of the empire to be waste. Come and behold Montecchi and Cappelletti, Monaldi and Fillippeschi, careless man! Those sad already, and these doubt-depressed! Come, cruel one! come and behold the oppression Of thy nobility, and cure their wounds, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043453 | And thou shalt see how safe is Santafiore! Come and behold thy Rome, that is lamenting, Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims, My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me? Come and behold how loving are the people; And if for us no pity moveth thee, Come and be made ashamed of thy renown! And if it lawful be, O | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043454 | Jove Supreme! Who upon earth for us wast crucified, Are thy just eyes averted otherwhere? Or preparation is t, that, in the abyss Of thine own counsel, for some good thou makest From our perception utterly cut off? For all the towns of Italy are full Of tyrants, and becometh a Marcellus Each peasant churl who plays the partisan! My | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043455 | Florence! well mayst thou contented be With this digression, which concerns thee not, Thanks to thy people who such forethought take! Many at heart have justice, but shoot slowly, That unadvised they come not to the bow, But on their very lips thy people have it! Many refuse to bear the common burden; But thy solicitous people answereth Without being | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043456 | asked, and crieth: I submit. Now be thou joyful, for thou hast good reason; Thou affluent, thou in peace, thou full of wisdom! If I speak true, the event conceals it not. Athens and Lacedaemon, they who made The ancient laws, and were so civilized, Made towards living well a little sign Compared with thee, who makest such fine-spun Provisions, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043457 | that to middle of November Reaches not what thou in October spinnest. How oft, within the time of thy remembrance, Laws, money, offices, and usages Hast thou remodelled, and renewed thy members? And if thou mind thee well, and see the light, Thou shalt behold thyself like a sick woman, Who cannot find repose upon her down, But by her | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043458 | tossing wardeth off her pain. Purgatorio: Canto VII After the gracious and glad salutations Had three and four times been reiterated, Sordello backward drew and said, Who are you? Or ever to this mountain were directed The souls deserving to ascend to God, My bones were buried by Octavian. I am Virgilius; and for no crime else Did I lose | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043459 | heaven, than for not having faith; In this wise then my Leader made reply. As one who suddenly before him sees Something whereat he marvels, who believes And yet does not, saying, It is! it is not! So he appeared; and then bowed down his brow, And with humility returned towards him, And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him. O glory | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043460 | of the Latians, thou, he said, Through whom our language showed what it could do O pride eternal of the place I came from, What merit or what grace to me reveals thee? If I to hear thy words be worthy, tell me If thou dost come from Hell, and from what cloister. Through all the circles of the doleful | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043461 | realm, Responded he, have I come hitherward; Heavens power impelled me, and with that I come. I by not doing, not by doing, lost The sight of that high sun which thou desirest, And which too late by me was recognized. A place there is below not sad with torments, But darkness only, where the lamentations Have not the sound | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043462 | of wailing, but are sighs. There dwell I with the little innocents Snatched by the teeth of Death, or ever they Were from our human sinfulness exempt. There dwell I among those who the three saintly Virtues did not put on, and without vice The others knew and followed all of them. But if thou know and can, some indication | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043463 | Give us by which we may the sooner come Where Purgatory has its right beginning. He answered: No fixed place has been assigned us; Tis lawful for me to go up and round; So far as I can go, as guide I join thee. But see already how the day declines, And to go up by night we are not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043464 | able; Therefore tis well to think of some fair sojourn. Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn; If thou permit me I will lead thee to them, And thou shalt know them not without delight. How is this? was the answer; should one wish To mount by night would he prevented be By others? or mayhap would not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043465 | have power? And on the ground the good Sordello drew His finger, saying, See, this line alone Thou couldst not pass after the sun is gone; Not that aught else would hindrance give, however, To going up, save the nocturnal darkness; This with the want of power the will perplexes. We might indeed therewith return below, And, wandering, walk the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043466 | hill-side round about, While the horizon holds the day imprisoned. Thereon my Lord, as if in wonder, said: Do thou conduct us thither, where thou sayest That we can take delight in tarrying. Little had we withdrawn us from that place, When I perceived the mount was hollowed out In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed. Thitherward, said that | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043467 | shade, will we repair, Where of itself the hill-side makes a lap, And there for the new day will we await. Twixt hill and plain there was a winding path Which led us to the margin of that dell, Where dies the border more than half away. Gold and fine silver, and scarlet and pearl-white, The Indian wood resplendent and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043468 | serene, Fresh emerald the moment it is broken, By herbage and by flowers within that hollow Planted, each one in colour would be vanquished, As by its greater vanquished is the less. Nor in that place had nature painted only, But of the sweetness of a thousand odours Made there a mingled fragrance and unknown. Salve Regina, on the green | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043469 | and flowers There seated, singing, spirits I beheld, Which were not visible outside the valley. Before the scanty sun now seeks his nest, Began the Mantuan who had led us thither, Among them do not wish me to conduct you. Better from off this ledge the acts and faces Of all of them will you discriminate, Than in the plain | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043470 | below received among them. He who sits highest, and the semblance bears Of having what he should have done neglected, And to the others song moves not his lips, Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power To heal the wounds that Italy have slain, So that through others slowly she revives. The other, who in look doth comfort him, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043471 | Governed the region where the water springs, The Moldau bears the Elbe, and Elbe the sea. His name was Ottocar; and in swaddling-clothes Far better he than bearded Winceslaus His son, who feeds in luxury and ease. And the small-nosed, who close in council seems With him that has an aspect so benign, Died fleeing and disflowering the lily; Look | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043472 | there, how he is beating at his breast! Behold the other one, who for his cheek Sighing has made of his own palm a bed; Father and father-in-law of Frances Pest Are they, and know his vicious life and lewd, And hence proceeds the grief that so doth pierce them. He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in, Singing, with | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043473 | that one of the manly nose, The cord of every valour wore begirt; And if as King had after him remained The stripling who in rear of him is sitting, Well had the valour passed from vase to vase, Which cannot of the other heirs be said. Frederick and Jacomo possess the realms, But none the better heritage possesses. Not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043474 | oftentimes upriseth through the branches The probity of man; and this He wills Who gives it, so that we may ask of Him. Eke to the large-nosed reach my words, no less Than to the other, Pier, who with him sings; Whence Provence and Apulia grieve already The plant is as inferior to its seed, As more than Beatrice and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043475 | Margaret Costanza boasteth of her husband still. Behold the monarch of the simple life, Harry of England, sitting there alone; He in his branches has a better issue. He who the lowest on the ground among them Sits looking upward, is the Marquis William, For whose sake Alessandria and her war Make Monferrat and Canavese weep. Purgatorio: Canto VIII Twas | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043476 | now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day theyve said to their sweet friends farewell, And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day, When I began to make of no avail My hearing, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043477 | to watch one of the souls Uprisen, that begged attention with its hand. It joined and lifted upward both its palms, Fixing its eyes upon the orient, As if it said to God, Naught else I care for. Te lucis ante so devoutly issued Forth from its mouth, and with such dulcet notes, It made me issue forth from my | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043478 | own mind. And then the others, sweetly and devoutly, Accompanied it through all the hymn entire, Having their eyes on the supernal wheels. Here, Reader, fix thine eyes well on the truth, For now indeed so subtile is the veil, Surely to penetrate within is easy. I saw that army of the gentle-born Thereafterward in silence upward gaze, As if | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043479 | in expectation, pale and humble; And from on high come forth and down descend, I saw two Angels with two flaming swords, Truncated and deprived of their points. Green as the little leaflets just now born Their garments were, which, by their verdant pinions Beaten and blown abroad, they trailed behind. One just above us came to take his station, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043480 | And one descended to the opposite bank, So that the people were contained between them. Clearly in them discerned I the blond head; But in their faces was the eye bewildered, As faculty confounded by excess. From Marys bosom both of them have come, Sordello said, as guardians of the valley Against the serpent, that will come anon. Whereupon I, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043481 | who knew not by what road, Turned round about, and closely drew myself, Utterly frozen, to the faithful shoulders. And once again Sordello: Now descend we Mid the grand shades, and we will speak to them; Right pleasant will it be for them to see you. Only three steps I think that I descended, And was below, and saw one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043482 | who was looking Only at me, as if he fain would know me. Already now the air was growing dark, But not so that between his eyes and mine It did not show what it before locked up. Towrds me he moved, and I towrds him did move; Noble Judge Nino! how it me delighted, When I beheld thee not | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043483 | among the damned! No greeting fair was left unsaid between us; Then asked he: How long is it since thou camest Oer the far waters to the mountains foot? Oh! said I to him, through the dismal places I came this morn; and am in the first life, Albeit the other, going thus, I gain. And on the instant my | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043484 | reply was heard, He and Sordello both shrank back from me, Like people who are suddenly bewildered. One to Virgilius, and the other turned To one who sat there, crying, Up, Currado! Come and behold what God in grace has willed! Then, turned to me: By that especial grace Thou owest unto Him, who so conceals His own first wherefore, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043485 | that it has no ford, When thou shalt be beyond the waters wide, Tell my Giovanna that she pray for me, Where answer to the innocent is made. I do not think her mother loves me more, Since she has laid aside her wimple white, Which she, unhappy, needs must wish again. Through her full easily is comprehended How long | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043486 | in woman lasts the fire of love, If eye or touch do not relight it often. So fair a hatchment will not make for her The Viper marshalling the Milanese A-field, as would have made Galluras Cock. In this wise spake he, with the stamp impressed Upon his aspect of that righteous zeal Which measurably burneth in the heart. My | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043487 | greedy eyes still wandered up to heaven, Still to that point where slowest are the stars, Even as a wheel the nearest to its axle. And my Conductor: Son, what dost thou gaze at Up there? And I to him: At those three torches With which this hither pole is all on fire. And he to me: The four resplendent | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043488 | stars Thou sawest this morning are down yonder low, And these have mounted up to where those were. As he was speaking, to himself Sordello Drew him, and said, Lo there our Adversary! And pointed with his finger to look thither. Upon the side on which the little valley No barrier hath, a serpent was; perchance The same which gave | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043489 | to Eve the bitter food. Twixt grass and flowers came on the evil streak, Turning at times its head about, and licking Its back like to a beast that smoothes itself. I did not see, and therefore cannot say How the celestial falcons gan to move, But well I saw that they were both in motion. Hearing the air cleft | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043490 | by their verdant wings, The serpent fled, and round the Angels wheeled, Up to their stations flying back alike. The shade that to the Judge had near approached When he had called, throughout that whole assault Had not a moment loosed its gaze on me. So may the light that leadeth thee on high Find in thine own free-will as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043491 | much of wax As needful is up to the highest azure, Began it, if some true intelligence Of Valdimagra or its neighbourhood Thou knowest, tell it me, who once was great there. Currado Malaspina was I called; Im not the elder, but from him descended; To mine I bore the love which here refineth. O, said I unto him, through | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043492 | your domains I never passed, but where is there a dwelling Throughout all Europe, where they are not known? That fame, which doeth honour to your house, Proclaims its Signors and proclaims its land, So that he knows of them who neer was there. And, as I hope for heaven, I swear to you Your honoured family in naught abates | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043493 | The glory of the purse and of the sword. It is so privileged by use and nature, That though a guilty head misguide the world, Sole it goes right, and scorns the evil way. And he: Now go; for the sun shall not lie Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram With all his four feet covers and bestrides, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043494 | Before that such a courteous opinion Shall in the middle of thy head be nailed With greater nails than of anothers speech, Unless the course of justice standeth still. Purgatorio: Canto IX The concubine of old Tithonus now Gleamed white upon the eastern balcony, Forth from the arms of her sweet paramour; With gems her forehead all relucent was, Set | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043495 | in the shape of that cold animal Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations, And of the steps, with which she mounts, the Night Had taken two in that place where we were, And now the third was bending down its wings; When I, who something had of Adam in me, Vanquished by sleep, upon the grass reclined, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043496 | There were all five of us already sat. Just at the hour when her sad lay begins The little swallow, near unto the morning, Perchance in memory of her former woes, And when the mind of man, a wanderer More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned, Almost prophetic in its visions is, In dreams it seemed to me | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043497 | I saw suspended An eagle in the sky, with plumes of gold, With wings wide open, and intent to stoop, And this, it seemed to me, was where had been By Ganymede his kith and kin abandoned, When to the high consistory he was rapt. I thought within myself, perchance he strikes From habit only here, and from elsewhere Disdains | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043498 | to bear up any in his feet. Then wheeling somewhat more, it seemed to me, Terrible as the lightning he descended, And snatched me upward even to the fire. Therein it seemed that he and I were burning, And the imagined fire did scorch me so, That of necessity my sleep was broken. Not otherwise Achilles started up, Around him | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000043499 | turning his awakened eyes, And knowing not the place in which he was, What time from Chiron stealthily his mother Carried him sleeping in her arms to Scyros, Wherefrom the Greeks withdrew him afterwards, Than I upstarted, when from off my face Sleep fled away; and pallid I became, As doth the man who freezes with affright. Only my Comforter | 60 | gutenberg |
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