The first were horned like oxen; but the four 145 Had but a single horn upon the forehead;

A monster such had never yet been seen! Firm as a rock upon a mountain high,

Seated upon it, there appeared to me

A shameless whore, with eyes swift glancing round, And, as if not to have her taken from him,

Upright beside her I beheld a giant;
And ever and anon they kissed each other.
But because she her wanton, roving eye

Turned upon me, her angry paramour
Did scourge her from her head unto her feet.
Then full of jealousy, and fierce with wrath,

He loosed the monster, and across the forest
Dragged it so far, he made of that alone
A shield unto the whore and the strange beast.

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CANTO XXXIII.

EUS, venerunt gentes," alternating

"DEU

Now three, now four, melodious psalmody The maidens in the midst of tears began; And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing, Listened to them with such a countenance,

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That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.

But when the other virgins place had given
For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
With color as of fire, she made response:

K

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Modicum, et non videbitis me;

ΤΟ

Et iterum, my sisters predilect,
Modicum, et vos videbitis me."

Then all the seven in front of her she placed;
And after her, by beckoning only, moved
Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.
So she moved onward; and I do not think

That her tenth step was placed upon the ground, When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote, And with a tranquil aspect, "Come more quickly,"

To me she said, "that, if I speak with thee, To listen to me thou mayst be well placed." As soon as I was with her as I should be,

She said to me: "Why, brother, dost thou not Venture to question now, in coming with me?" As unto those who are too reverential,

Speaking in presence of superiors,

Who drag no living utterance to their teeth, It me befell, that without perfect sound

Began I: "My necessity, Madonna,

You know, and that which thereunto is good."
And she to me: "Of fear and bashfulness
Henceforward I will have thee strip thyself,
So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.
Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty
Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.
Without an heir shall not forever be

The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car,
Whence it became a monster, then a prey;

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For verily I see, and hence narrate it,

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The stars already near to bring the time, From every hindrance safe, and every bar, Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five, One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman And that same giant who is sinning with her. And peradventure my dark utterance,

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[thee,

Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect; But soon the facts shall be the Naiades

Who shall this difficult enigma solve,

Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.
Note thou; and even as by me are uttered
These words, so teach them unto those who live
That life which is a running unto death;
And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them,
Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
That twice already has been pillaged here.
Whoever pillages or shatters it,

With blasphemy of deed offendeth God,
Who made it holy for his use alone.

For biting that, in pain and in desire

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Five thousand years and more the first-born soul Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite. Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not

For special reason so pre-eminent

In height, and so inverted in its summit. And if thy vain imaginings had not been Water of Elsa round about thy mind,

And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,

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Thou by so many circumstances only

The justice of the interdict of God Morally in the tree wouldst recognize. But since I see thee in thine intellect

Converted into stone and stained with sin,

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So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee, 75 I will too, if not written, at least painted,

Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne.” And I : "As by a signet is the wax

Which does not change the figure stamped upon it, My brain is now imprinted by yourself. But wherefore so beyond my power of sight

Soars your desirable discourse, that aye

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The more I strive, so much the more I lose it?" "That thou mayst recognize," she said, "the school 85 Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far Its doctrine follows after my discourse,

And mayst behold your path from the divine
Distant as far as separated is

From earth the heaven that highest hastens on." " Whence her I answered: "I do not remember

That ever I estranged myself from you, Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me." "And if thou art not able to remember,"

Smiling she answered, "recollect thee now
That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe;
And if from smoke a fire may be inferred,

Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
Some error in thy will elsewhere intent.

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Truly from this time forward shall my words
Be naked, so far as it is befitting

To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."
And more coruscant and with slower steps

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The sun was holding the meridian circle, Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there, When halted (as he cometh to a halt,

Who goes before a squadron as its escort, If something new he find upon his way) The maidens seven at a dark shadow's edge,

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Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black, The Alp upon its frigid border wears.

In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates

Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain, And slowly part, like friends, from one another. "O light, O glory of the human race!

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What stream is this which here unfolds itself From out one source, and from itself withdraws?" For such a prayer, 't was said unto me, “Pray Matilda that she tell thee"; and here answered, As one does who doth free himself from blame, The beautiful lady: "This and other things

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Were told to him by me; and sure I am The water of Lethe has not hid them from him." And Beatrice: "Perhaps a greater care,

Which oftentimes our memory takes away,
Hath made the vision of his mind obscure.
But Eunoë behold, that yonder riseth;

Lead him to it, and, as thou art accustomed,
Revive again the half-dead virtue in him."

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