But who art thou, that into our conditions Questioning goest, and hast thine eyes unbound My soul is, of the torment underneath, For even now the load down there weighs on me." Up here, if to return below thou thinkest?" And living am 1; therefore ask of me, Spirit elect, if thou wouldst have me move "O, this is such a novel thing to hear, She answered, that great sign it is God loves thee; And I implore, by what thou most desirest, Who hope in Talamone, and will lose there CANTO XIV "WHO is this one that goes about our mountain, Ask him thyself, for thou art nearer to him, Discourse about me there on the right hand; Within the body, tow'rds the heaven art going, Whence comest and who art thou; for thou mak'st us As must a thing that never yet has been." 130 135 140 145 150 5 10 And I: "Through midst of Tuscany there wanders And not a hundred miles of course suffice it ; To tell you who I am were speech in vain, Because my name as yet makes no great noise." "If well thy meaning I can penetrate With intellect of mine," then answered me He who first spake, "thou speakest of the Arno.” Of what the heaven doth of the sea dry up, Virtue is like an enemy avoided By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune Of place, or through bad habit that impels them; On which account have so transformed their nature The dwellers in that miserable valley, It seems that Circe had them in her pasture. 'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier Than other food for human use created, It first directeth its impoverished way. Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward, More snarling than their puissance demands, And turns from them disdainfully its muzzle. It goes on falling, and the more it grows, The more it finds the dogs becoming wolves, It finds the foxes so replete with fraud, And well 'twill be for him, if still he mind him Thy grandson I behold, who doth become He sells their flesh, it being yet alive; Thereafter slaughters them like ancient beeves: The face of him who listens is disturbed, Turned round to listen, grow disturbed and sad, The speech of one and aspect of the other Had me desirous made to know their names, Began again: "Thou wishest I should bring me 65 70 75 Such grace of his, I'll not be chary with thee; 80 My blood was so with envy set on fire, That if I had beheld a man make merry, Thou wouldst have seen me sprinkled o'er with pallor. 85 From my own sowing such the straw I reap! O human race! why dost thou set thy heart Of the house of Calboli, where no one since And not alone his blood is made devoid, 'Twixt Po and mount, and sea-shore and the Reno, For all within these boundaries is full Of venomous roots, so that too tardily By cultivation now would they diminish. Where is good Lizio, and Arrigo Manardi, Pier Traversaro, and Guido di Carpigna, When in Faenza a Bernardin di Fosco, Be not astonished, Tuscan, if I weep, When I remember, with Guido da Prata, Frederick Tignoso and his company, The house of Traversara, and th' Anastagi, That filled our souls with love and courtesy, O Brettinoro! why dost thou not flee, Seeing that all thy family is gone, And many people, not to be corrupted? Bagnacaval does well in not begetting And ill does Castrocaro, and Conio worse, Shall have departed; but not therefore pure O Ugolin de' Fantoli, secure Thy name is, since no longer is awaited One who, degenerating, can obscure it! But go now, Tuscan, for it now delights me 110 115 120 To weep far better than it does to speak, 125 We were aware that those beloved souls Heard us depart; therefore, by keeping silent, When we became alone by going onward, 130 Thunder, when it doth cleave the air, appeared A voice, that counter to us came, exclaiming : "Shall slay me whosoever findeth me!" And fled as the reverberation dies Behold another, with so great a crash, "I am Aglaurus, who became a stone !" And then, to press myself close to the Poet, Already on all sides the air was quiet; And said he to me: "That was the hard curb But you take in the bait so that the hook Of the old Adversary draws you to him, The heavens are calling you, and wheel around you, 135 140 145 150 CANTO XV. As much as 'twixt the close of the third hour Was of his course remaining to the sun; Because by us the mount was so encircled, Beneath the splendour far more than at first, I raised my hands, and made myself the visor The sunbeam leaps unto the opposite side, That it descends, and deviates as far From falling of a stone in line direct, So it appeared to me that by a light Refracted there before me I was smitten; On which account my sight was swift to flee. "What is that, Father sweet, from which I cannot So fully screen my sight that it avail me," Said I," and seems towards us to be moving?" "Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet The family of heaven," he answered me ; "An angel 'tis, who comes to invite us upward. Soon will it be, that to behold these things Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee With joyful voice he said: "Here enter in We mounting were, already thence departed, Behind us sung, "Rejoice, thou that o'ercomest!" |