"O glory of the Latians, thou," he said, "Through whom our language showed what it could [do, 20 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 realm," Responded he, "have I come hitherward; Heaven's 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 of wailing, but are sighs. There dwell I with the little innocents 25 30 35 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 Give us by which we may the sooner come Where Purgatory has its right beginning." He answered: "No fixed place has been assigned us; 'T is 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night we are not able; 4I Therefore 't is well to think of some fair sojourn. 45 Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn ; If thou permit me I will lead thee to them, And thou shalt know them not without delight."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 have power?" And on the ground the good Sordello drew His finger, saying, "See, this line alone 50 Thou couldst not pass after the sun is gone; Not that aught else would hindrance give, however, 55 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 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 Little had we withdrawn us from that place, 60 When I perceived the mount was hollowed out 65 In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed. "Thitherward," said that 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 serene, Fresh emerald the moment it is broken, 70 75 By herbage and by flowers within that hollow But of the sweetness of a thousand odors Made there a mingled fragrance and unknown. "Salve Regina," on the green 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 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, 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; 20 85 90 95 100 105 Look there, how he is beating at his breast! Are they, and know his vicious life and lewd, And hence proceeds the grief that so doth pierce He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in, [them. Singing, with that one of the manly nose, The cord of every valor wore begirt; And if as King had after him remained The stripling who in rear of him is sitting, Well had the valor passed from vase to vase, Which cannot of the other heirs be said. 115 120 Frederick and Jacomo possess the realms, But none the better heritage possesses. Not 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; 125 Whence Provence and Apulia grieve already. The plant is as inferior to its seed, As more than Beatrice and Margaret Harry of England, sitting there alone; 130 135 T CANTO VIII. WAS now the hour that turneth back desire The day they've said to their sweet friends fareAnd 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 [well, My hearing, and 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 5 ΤΟ 15 Forth from its mouth, and with such dulcet notes, I saw that army of the gentle-born 20 |