A shade appeared to us, and came behind us, 66 ΤΟ 15 How," said he, and the while we went with speed, "If ye are shades whom God deigns not on high, Who up his stairs so far has guided you?" And said my Teacher: "If thou note the marks 21 Which this one bears, and which the Angel traces, Well shalt thou see he with the good must reign. But because she who spinneth day and night For him had not yet drawn the distaff off, Which Clotho lays for each one and compacts, His soul, which is thy sister and my own, 25 30 In coming upwards could not come alone, By reason that it sees not in our fashion. Whence I was drawn from out the ample throat Of Hell to be his guide, and I shall guide him As far on as my school hath power to lead. But tell us, if thou knowest, why such a shudder Erewhile the mountain gave, and why together 35 All seemed to cry, as far as its moist feet?" In asking he so hit the very eye Of my desire, that merely with the hope My thirst became the less unsatisfied. "Naught is there," he began, "that without order 40 May the religion of the mountain feel, Nor aught that may be foreign to its custom. Free is it here from every permutation; What from itself heaven into itself receiveth Can be of this the cause, and naught beside; 45 Because that neither rain, nor hail, nor snow, Nor dew, nor hoar-frost any higher falls Than the short, little stairway of three steps. Dense clouds do not appear, nor rarefied, Nor coruscation, nor the daughter of Thaumas, That often upon earth her region shifts; No arid vapor any farther rises 50 Than to the top of the three steps I spake of, Whereon the Vicar of Peter hath his feet. Lower down perchance it trembles less or more, 55 But, for the wind that in the earth is hidden I know not how, up here it never trembled. It trembles here, whenever any soul Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it. Of purity the will alone gives proof, Which, being wholly free to change its convent, Takes by surprise the soul, and helps it fly. First it wills well; but the desire permits not, Which divine justice with the self-same will There was to sin, upon the torment sets. And I, who have been lying in this pain Five hundred years and more, but just now felt A free volition for a better seat. 60 65 71 Therefore thou heardst the earthquake, and the pious As much in drinking as the thirst is great, I could not say how much it did me good. 66 And the wise Leader : Now I see the net That snares you here, and how ye are set free, Why the earth quakes, and wherefore ye rejoice. Now who thou wast be pleased that I may know ; And why so many centuries thou hast here Been lying, let me gather from thy words." "In days when the good Titus, with the aid Of the supremest King, avenged the wounds Whence issued forth the blood by Judas sold, Under the name that most endures and honors, Was I on earth," that spirit made reply, "Greatly renowned, but not with faith as yet. My vocal spirit was so sweet, that Rome Me, a Thoulousian, drew unto herself, 75 80 83 Where I deserved to deck my brows with myrtle. 90 Statius the people name me still on earth; I sang of Thebes, and then of great Achilles ; But on the way fell with my second burden. The seeds unto my ardor were the sparks 95 Of that celestial flame which heated me, Whereby more than a thousand have been fired ; Of the Æneid speak I, which to me A mother was, and was my nurse in song ; Without this weighed I not a drachma's weight. And to have lived upon the earth what time 100 With looks that in their silence said, "Be silent!" But yet the power that wills cannot do all things; 105 For tears and laughter are such pursuivants Unto the passion from which each springs forth, In the most truthful least the will they follow. I only smiled, as one who gives the wink; Whereat the shade was silent, and it gazed Into mine eyes, where most expression dwells; And, "As thou well mayst consummate a labor So great," it said, “why did thy face just now Display to me the lightning of a smile?" Now am I caught on this side and on that; One keeps me silent, one to speak conjures me, Wherefore I sigh, and I am understood. "Speak," said my Master, "and be not afraid 110 120 Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him What he demands with such solicitude." Whence I "Thou peradventure marvellest, O antique spirit, at the smile I gave; But I will have more wonder seize upon thee. This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine, Is that Virgilius, from whom thou didst learn 125 To sing aloud of men and of the Gods. If other cause thou to my smile imputedst, Abandon it as false, and trust it was [him." Those words which thou hast spoken concerning Already he was stooping to embrace 130 My Teacher's feet; but he said to him: "Brother, Do not; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest. And he uprising: "Now canst thou the sum Of love which warms me to thee comprehend, When this our vanity I disremember, Treating a shadow as substantial thing.” 135 CANTO XXII. LREADY was the Angel left behind us, bund had turned Having erased one mark from off my face; [us, And those who have in justice their desire Had said to us, "Beati," in their voices, With "sitio," and without more ended it. And I, more light than through the other passes, Went onward so, that without any labor I followed upward the swift-footed spirits; When thus Virgilius began: "The love Who made apparent to me thy affection, As ever bound one to an unseen person, So that these stairs will now seem short to me. |