The Divine Comedy/Source/Purgatorio/Canto XIII: Difference between revisions
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| section = [[../|Purgatorio]], Canto |
| section = [[../|Purgatorio]], Canto XIII |
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| previous = [[../Canto XII|Canto XII]] |
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<div class="verse"><poem> |
<div class="verse"><poem> |
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We were upon the summit of the stairs, |
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"Who is this one that goes about our mountain, |
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Where for the second time is cut away |
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Or ever Death has given him power of flight, |
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The mountain, which ascending shriveth all. |
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And opes his eyes and shuts them at his will?" |
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There in like manner doth a cornice bind |
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"I know not who, but know he's not alone; |
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The hill all round about, as does the first, |
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Save that its arc more suddenly is curved. |
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And gently, so that he may speak, accost him." |
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Shade is there none, nor sculpture that appears; |
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Thus did two spirits, leaning tow'rds each other, |
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So seems the bank, and so the road seems smooth, |
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With but the livid colour of the stone. |
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"If to inquire we wait for people here," |
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And said the one: "O soul, that, fastened still |
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The Poet said, "I fear that peradventure |
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Within the body, tow'rds the heaven art going, |
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Too much delay will our election have." |
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For charity console us, and declare |
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Then steadfast on the sun his eyes he fixed, |
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Whence comest and who art thou; for thou mak'st us |
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Made his right side the centre of his motion, |
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And turned the left part of himself about. |
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"O thou sweet light! with trust in whom I enter |
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And I: "Through midst of Tuscany there wanders |
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Upon this novel journey, do thou lead us," |
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A streamlet that is born in Falterona, |
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Said he, "as one within here should be led. |
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And not a hundred miles of course suffice it; |
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Thou warmest the world, thou shinest over it; |
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From thereupon do I this body bring. |
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If other reason prompt not otherwise, |
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To tell you who I am were speech in vain, |
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Thy rays should evermore our leaders be!" |
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Because my name as yet makes no great noise." |
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As much as here is counted for a mile, |
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"If well thy meaning I can penetrate |
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So much already there had we advanced |
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With intellect of mine," then answered me |
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In little time, by dint of ready will; |
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And tow'rds us there were heard to fly, albeit |
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And said the other to him: "Why concealed |
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They were not visible, spirits uttering |
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This one the appellation of that river, |
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Unto Love's table courteous invitations, |
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Even as a man doth of things horrible?" |
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The first voice that passed onward in its flight, |
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"Vinum non habent," said in accents loud, |
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Himself acquitted: "I know not; but truly |
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And went reiterating it behind us. |
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'Tis fit the name of such a valley perish; |
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And ere it wholly grew inaudible |
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For from its fountain-head (where is so pregnant |
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Because of distance, passed another, crying, |
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The Alpine mountain whence is cleft Peloro |
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"I am Orestes!" and it also stayed not. |
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"O," said I, "Father, these, what voices are they?" |
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To where it yields itself in restoration |
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And even as I asked, behold the third, |
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Saying: "Love those from whom ye have had evil!" |
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Whence have the rivers that which goes with them, |
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And the good Master said: "This circle scourges |
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Virtue is like an enemy avoided |
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The sin of envy, and on that account |
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By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune |
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Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge. |
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Of place, or through bad habit that impels them; |
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The bridle of another sound shall be; |
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On which account have so transformed their nature |
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I think that thou wilt hear it, as I judge, |
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Before thou comest to the Pass of Pardon. |
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But fix thine eyes athwart the air right steadfast, |
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'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier |
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And people thou wilt see before us sitting, |
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And each one close against the cliff is seated." |
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It first directeth its impoverished way. |
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Then wider than at first mine eyes I opened; |
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Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward, |
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I looked before me, and saw shades with mantles |
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More snarling than their puissance demands, |
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Not from the colour of the stone diverse. |
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And when we were a little farther onward, |
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It goes on falling, and the more it grows, |
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I heard a cry of, "Mary, pray for us!" |
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The more it finds the dogs becoming wolves, |
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A cry of, "Michael, Peter, and all Saints!" |
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This maledict and misadventurous ditch. |
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I do not think there walketh still on earth |
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Descended then through many a hollow gulf, |
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A man so hard, that he would not be pierced |
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It finds the foxes so replete with fraud, |
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With pity at what afterward I saw. |
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They fear no cunning that may master them. |
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For when I had approached so near to them |
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Nor will I cease because another hears me; |
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That manifest to me their acts became, |
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And well 'twill be for him, if still he mind him |
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Drained was I at the eyes by heavy grief. |
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Covered with sackcloth vile they seemed to me, |
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Thy grandson I behold, who doth become |
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And one sustained the other with his shoulder, |
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A hunter of those wolves upon the bank |
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And all of them were by the bank sustained. |
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Of the wild stream, and terrifies them all. |
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Thus do the blind, in want of livelihood, |
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He sells their flesh, it being yet alive; |
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Stand at the doors of churches asking alms, |
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Thereafter slaughters them like ancient beeves; |
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And one upon another leans his head, |
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Many of life, himself of praise, deprives. |
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So that in others pity soon may rise, |
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Blood-stained he issues from the dismal forest; |
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Not only at the accent of their words, |
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He leaves it such, a thousand years from now |
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But at their aspect, which no less implores. |
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In its primeval state 'tis not re-wooded." |
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And as unto the blind the sun comes not, |
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As at the announcement of impending ills |
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So to the shades, of whom just now I spake, |
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Heaven's light will not be bounteous of itself; |
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From whate'er side the peril seize upon him; |
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For all their lids an iron wire transpierces, |
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So I beheld that other soul, which stood |
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And sews them up, as to a sparhawk wild |
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Turned round to listen, grow disturbed and sad, |
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Is done, because it will not quiet stay. |
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To me it seemed, in passing, to do outrage, |
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The speech of one and aspect of the other |
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Seeing the others without being seen; |
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Had me desirous made to know their names, |
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Wherefore I turned me to my counsel sage. |
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And question mixed with prayers I made thereof, |
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Well knew he what the mute one wished to say, |
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Whereat the spirit which first spake to me |
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And therefore waited not for my demand, |
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Began again: "Thou wishest I should bring me |
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But said: "Speak, and be brief, and to the point." |
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I had Virgilius upon that side |
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But since God willeth that in thee shine forth |
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Of the embankment from which one may fall, |
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Such grace of his, I'll not be chary with thee; |
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Since by no border 'tis engarlanded; |
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Know, then, that I Guido del Duca am. |
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Upon the other side of me I had |
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My blood was so with envy set on fire, |
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The shades devout, who through the horrible seam |
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That if I had beheld a man make merry, |
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Pressed out the tears so that they bathed their cheeks. |
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Thou wouldst have seen me sprinkled o'er with pallor. |
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To them I turned me, and, "O people, certain," |
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From my own sowing such the straw I reap! |
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Began I, "of beholding the high light, |
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O human race! why dost thou set thy heart |
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Which your desire has solely in its care, |
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Where interdict of partnership must be? |
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So may grace speedily dissolve the scum |
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This is Renier; this is the boast and honour |
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Upon your consciences, that limpidly |
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Of the house of Calboli, where no one since |
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Through them descend the river of the mind, |
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Tell me, for dear 'twill be to me and gracious, |
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And not alone his blood is made devoid, |
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If any soul among you here is Latian, |
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And 'twill perchance be good for him I learn it." |
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"O brother mine, each one is citizen |
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For all within these boundaries is full |
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Of |
Of one true city; but thy meaning is, |
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Who may have lived in Italy a pilgrim." |
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By cultivation now would they diminish. |
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By way of answer this I seemed to hear |
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Where is good Lizio, and Arrigo Manardi, |
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A little farther on than where I stood, |
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Pier Traversaro, and Guido di Carpigna, |
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Whereat I made myself still nearer heard. |
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O Romagnuoli into bastards turned? |
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Among the rest I saw a shade that waited |
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When in Bologna will a Fabbro rise? |
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In aspect, and should any one ask how, |
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When in Faenza a Bernardin di Fosco, |
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Its chin it lifted upward like a blind man. |
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The noble scion of ignoble seed? |
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"Spirit," I said, "who stoopest to ascend, |
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Be not astonished, Tuscan, if I weep, |
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If thou art he who did reply to me, |
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When I remember, with Guido da Prata, |
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Make thyself known to me by place or name." |
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Ugolin d' Azzo, who was living with us, |
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"Sienese was I," it replied, "and with |
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Frederick Tignoso and his company, |
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The |
The others here recleanse my guilty life, |
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Weeping to Him to lend himself to us. |
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Sapient I was not, although I Sapia |
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The dames and cavaliers, the toils and ease |
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Was called, and I was at another's harm |
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That filled our souls with love and courtesy, |
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More happy far than at my own good fortune. |
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There where the hearts have so malicious grown! |
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And that thou mayst not think that I deceive thee, |
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O Brettinoro! why dost thou not flee, |
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Hear if I was as foolish as I tell thee. |
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Seeing that all thy family is gone, |
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The arc already of my years descending, |
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My fellow-citizens near unto Colle |
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Bagnacaval does well in not begetting |
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Were joined in battle with their adversaries, |
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And ill does Castrocaro, and Conio worse, |
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And I was praying God for what he willed. |
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In taking trouble to beget such Counts. |
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Routed were they, and turned into the bitter |
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Will do well the Pagani, when their Devil |
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Passes of flight; and I, the chase beholding, |
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Shall have departed; but not therefore pure |
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A joy received unequalled by all others; |
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Will testimony of them e'er remain. |
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So that I lifted upward my bold face |
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O Ugolin de' Fantoli, secure |
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Crying to God, 'Henceforth I fear thee not,' |
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As did the blackbird at the little sunshine. |
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One who, degenerating, can obscure it! |
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Peace I desired with God at the extreme |
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But go now, Tuscan, for it now delights me |
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Of my existence, and as yet would not |
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To weep far better than it does to speak, |
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My debt have been by penitence discharged, |
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So much has our discourse my mind distressed." |
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Had it not been that in remembrance held me |
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We were aware that those beloved souls |
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Pier Pettignano in his holy prayers, |
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Heard us depart; therefore, by keeping silent, |
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Who out of charity was grieved for me. |
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They made us of our pathway confident. |
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But who art thou, that into our conditions |
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When we became alone by going onward, |
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Questioning goest, and hast thine eyes unbound |
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Thunder, when it doth cleave the air, appeared |
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As I believe, and breathing dost discourse?" |
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A voice, that counter to us came, exclaiming: |
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"Mine eyes," I said, "will yet be here ta'en from me, |
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"Shall slay me whosoever findeth me!" |
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But for short space; for small is the offence |
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And fled as the reverberation dies |
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Committed by their being turned with envy. |
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If suddenly the cloud asunder bursts. |
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Far greater is the fear, wherein suspended |
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As soon as hearing had a truce from this, |
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My soul is, of the torment underneath, |
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Behold another, with so great a crash, |
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For even now the load down there weighs on me." |
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That it resembled thunderings following fast: |
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And she to me: "Who led thee, then, among us |
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"I am Aglaurus, who became a stone!" |
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Up here, if to return below thou thinkest?" |
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I |
And I: "He who is with me, and speaks not; |
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And living am I; therefore ask of me, |
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Already on all sides the air was quiet; |
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Spirit elect, if thou wouldst have me move |
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And said he to me: "That was the hard curb |
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O'er yonder yet my mortal feet for thee." |
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That ought to hold a man within his bounds; |
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"O, this is such a novel thing to hear," |
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But you take in the bait so that the hook |
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She answered, "that great sign it is God loves thee; |
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Of the old Adversary draws you to him, |
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Therefore with prayer of thine sometimes assist me. |
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And hence availeth little curb or call. |
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And I implore, by what thou most desirest, |
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The heavens are calling you, and wheel around you, |
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If e'er thou treadest the soil of Tuscany, |
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Displaying to you their eternal beauties, |
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Well with my kindred reinstate my fame. |
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And still your eye is looking on the ground; |
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Them wilt thou see among that people vain |
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Whence He, who all discerns, chastises you." |
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Who hope in Talamone, and will lose there |
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</poem></div> |
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More hope than in discovering the Diana; |
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But there still more the admirals will lose." |
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</poem></div> |
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[[Category:Source]] |
[[Category:Source]] |
Revision as of 23:33, 29 November 2014
←Canto XII | The Divine Comedy/Source Purgatorio, Canto XIII |
Canto XIV→ |
We were upon the summit of the stairs,
Where for the second time is cut away
The mountain, which ascending shriveth all.
There in like manner doth a cornice bind
The hill all round about, as does the first,
Save that its arc more suddenly is curved.
Shade is there none, nor sculpture that appears;
So seems the bank, and so the road seems smooth,
With but the livid colour of the stone.
"If to inquire we wait for people here,"
The Poet said, "I fear that peradventure
Too much delay will our election have."
Then steadfast on the sun his eyes he fixed,
Made his right side the centre of his motion,
And turned the left part of himself about.
"O thou sweet light! with trust in whom I enter
Upon this novel journey, do thou lead us,"
Said he, "as one within here should be led.
Thou warmest the world, thou shinest over it;
If other reason prompt not otherwise,
Thy rays should evermore our leaders be!"
As much as here is counted for a mile,
So much already there had we advanced
In little time, by dint of ready will;
And tow'rds us there were heard to fly, albeit
They were not visible, spirits uttering
Unto Love's table courteous invitations,
The first voice that passed onward in its flight,
"Vinum non habent," said in accents loud,
And went reiterating it behind us.
And ere it wholly grew inaudible
Because of distance, passed another, crying,
"I am Orestes!" and it also stayed not.
"O," said I, "Father, these, what voices are they?"
And even as I asked, behold the third,
Saying: "Love those from whom ye have had evil!"
And the good Master said: "This circle scourges
The sin of envy, and on that account
Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge.
The bridle of another sound shall be;
I think that thou wilt hear it, as I judge,
Before thou comest to the Pass of Pardon.
But fix thine eyes athwart the air right steadfast,
And people thou wilt see before us sitting,
And each one close against the cliff is seated."
Then wider than at first mine eyes I opened;
I looked before me, and saw shades with mantles
Not from the colour of the stone diverse.
And when we were a little farther onward,
I heard a cry of, "Mary, pray for us!"
A cry of, "Michael, Peter, and all Saints!"
I do not think there walketh still on earth
A man so hard, that he would not be pierced
With pity at what afterward I saw.
For when I had approached so near to them
That manifest to me their acts became,
Drained was I at the eyes by heavy grief.
Covered with sackcloth vile they seemed to me,
And one sustained the other with his shoulder,
And all of them were by the bank sustained.
Thus do the blind, in want of livelihood,
Stand at the doors of churches asking alms,
And one upon another leans his head,
So that in others pity soon may rise,
Not only at the accent of their words,
But at their aspect, which no less implores.
And as unto the blind the sun comes not,
So to the shades, of whom just now I spake,
Heaven's light will not be bounteous of itself;
For all their lids an iron wire transpierces,
And sews them up, as to a sparhawk wild
Is done, because it will not quiet stay.
To me it seemed, in passing, to do outrage,
Seeing the others without being seen;
Wherefore I turned me to my counsel sage.
Well knew he what the mute one wished to say,
And therefore waited not for my demand,
But said: "Speak, and be brief, and to the point."
I had Virgilius upon that side
Of the embankment from which one may fall,
Since by no border 'tis engarlanded;
Upon the other side of me I had
The shades devout, who through the horrible seam
Pressed out the tears so that they bathed their cheeks.
To them I turned me, and, "O people, certain,"
Began I, "of beholding the high light,
Which your desire has solely in its care,
So may grace speedily dissolve the scum
Upon your consciences, that limpidly
Through them descend the river of the mind,
Tell me, for dear 'twill be to me and gracious,
If any soul among you here is Latian,
And 'twill perchance be good for him I learn it."
"O brother mine, each one is citizen
Of one true city; but thy meaning is,
Who may have lived in Italy a pilgrim."
By way of answer this I seemed to hear
A little farther on than where I stood,
Whereat I made myself still nearer heard.
Among the rest I saw a shade that waited
In aspect, and should any one ask how,
Its chin it lifted upward like a blind man.
"Spirit," I said, "who stoopest to ascend,
If thou art he who did reply to me,
Make thyself known to me by place or name."
"Sienese was I," it replied, "and with
The others here recleanse my guilty life,
Weeping to Him to lend himself to us.
Sapient I was not, although I Sapia
Was called, and I was at another's harm
More happy far than at my own good fortune.
And that thou mayst not think that I deceive thee,
Hear if I was as foolish as I tell thee.
The arc already of my years descending,
My fellow-citizens near unto Colle
Were joined in battle with their adversaries,
And I was praying God for what he willed.
Routed were they, and turned into the bitter
Passes of flight; and I, the chase beholding,
A joy received unequalled by all others;
So that I lifted upward my bold face
Crying to God, 'Henceforth I fear thee not,'
As did the blackbird at the little sunshine.
Peace I desired with God at the extreme
Of my existence, and as yet would not
My debt have been by penitence discharged,
Had it not been that in remembrance held me
Pier Pettignano in his holy prayers,
Who out of charity was grieved for me.
But who art thou, that into our conditions
Questioning goest, and hast thine eyes unbound
As I believe, and breathing dost discourse?"
"Mine eyes," I said, "will yet be here ta'en from me,
But for short space; for small is the offence
Committed by their being turned with envy.
Far greater is the fear, wherein suspended
My soul is, of the torment underneath,
For even now the load down there weighs on me."
And she to me: "Who led thee, then, among us
Up here, if to return below thou thinkest?"
And I: "He who is with me, and speaks not;
And living am I; therefore ask of me,
Spirit elect, if thou wouldst have me move
O'er yonder yet my mortal feet for thee."
"O, this is such a novel thing to hear,"
She answered, "that great sign it is God loves thee;
Therefore with prayer of thine sometimes assist me.
And I implore, by what thou most desirest,
If e'er thou treadest the soil of Tuscany,
Well with my kindred reinstate my fame.
Them wilt thou see among that people vain
Who hope in Talamone, and will lose there
More hope than in discovering the Diana;
But there still more the admirals will lose."