Purgatorio: Canto XXXII
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So
steadfast and
attentive were mine eyes
In satisfying their
decennial thirst,
That all my other senses were
extinct,
And upon this side and on that they had
Walls of indifference, so the
holy smile
Drew them unto itself with the old net
When forcibly my sight was turned away
Towards my left hand by those
goddesses,
Because I heard from them a "
Too intently!"
And that condition of the sight which is
In eyes but lately smitten by the sun
Bereft me of my vision some short while;
But to the less when sight re-shaped itself,
I say the less in reference to the greater
Splendour from which perforce I had withdrawn,
I saw upon its right wing wheeled about
The glorious host returning with the sun
And with the
sevenfold flames upon their faces.
As underneath its shields, to save itself,
A
squadron turns, and with its banner wheels,
Before the whole thereof can change its front,
That soldiery of the
Celestial kingdom
Which marched in the advance had wholly passed us
Before the
chariot had turned its pole.
Then to the wheels the maidens turned themselves,
And the Griffin moved his burden
benedight,
But so that not a feather of him
fluttered.
The lady fair who drew me through the ford
Followed with
Statius and myself the wheel
Which made its orbit with the lesser arc.
So passing through the
lofty forest,
vacant
By fault of her who in the serpent trusted,
Angelic music made our steps keep time.
Perchance as great a space had in three flights
An arrow loosened from the string o'erpassed,
As we had moved when
Beatrice descended.
I heard them murmur altogether, "
Adam!"
Then circled they about a tree despoiled
Of blooms and other leafage on each bough.
Its tresses, which so much the more dilate
As higher they ascend, had been by Indians
Among their forests marvelled at for height.
"Blessed art thou, O
Griffin, who dost not
Pluck with thy beak these
branches sweet to taste,
Since
appetite by this was turned to
evil."
After this fashion round the tree
robust
The others shouted; and the
twofold creature:
"Thus is preserved the seed of all the just."
And turning to the
pole which he had dragged,
He drew it close beneath the
widowed bough,
And what was of it unto it left
bound.
In the same manner as our trees (when
downward
Falls the great light, with that together mingled
Which after the
Celestial Lasca shines)
Begin to swell, and then renew themselves,
Each one with its own colour, ere the Sun
Harness his steeds beneath another star:
Less than of rose and more than violet
A hue disclosing, was renewed the tree
That had erewhile its boughs so desolate.
I never heard, nor here below is
sung,
The hymn which afterward that people sang,
Nor did I bear the melody throughout.
Had I the power to paint how fell asleep
Those eyes compassionless, of
Syrinx hearing,
Those eyes to which more watching cost so dear,
Even as a painter who from model paints
I would portray how I was lulled asleep;
He may, who well can picture
drowsihood.
Therefore I pass to what time I awoke,
And say a splendour rent from me the veil
Of slumber, and a calling: "Rise, what dost thou?"
As to behold the apple-tree in blossom
Which makes the
Angels greedy for its fruit,
And keeps
perpetual bridals in the
Heaven,
Peter and
John and
James conducted were,
And, overcome, recovered at the word
By which still greater
slumbers have been broken,
And saw their school diminished by the loss
Not only of
Elias, but of
Moses,
And the apparel of their Master changed;
So I revived, and saw that piteous one
Above me standing, who had been conductress
Aforetime of my steps beside the river,
And all in doubt I said, "Where's
Beatrice?"
And she: "Behold her seated underneath
The leafage new, upon the root of it.
Behold the company that circles her;
The rest behind the
Griffin are ascending
With more melodious song, and more profound."
And if her speech were more diffuse I know not,
Because already in my sight was she
Who from the hearing of aught else had shut me.
Alone she sat upon the very earth,
Left there as guardian of the chariot
Which I had seen the
biform monster fasten.
Encircling her, a cloister made themselves
The seven
Nymphs, with those lights in their hands
Which are secure from
Aquilon and
Auster.
"Short while shalt thou be here a forester,
And thou shalt be with me for evermore
A citizen of that
Rome where
Christ is
Roman.
Therefore, for that world's good which liveth ill,
Fix on the car thine eyes, and what thou seest,
Having returned to earth, take heed thou write."
Thus
Beatrice; and I, who at the feet
Of her commandments all devoted was,
My mind and eyes directed where she willed.
Never descended with so swift a motion
Fire from a heavy cloud, when it is raining
From out the region which is most remote,
As I beheld the bird of
Jove descend
Down through the tree, rending away the bark,
As well as blossoms and the
foliage new,
And he with all his might the
chariot smote,
Whereat it reeled, like vessel in a tempest
Tossed by the waves, now starboard and now larboard.
Thereafter saw I leap into the body
Of the triumphal vehicle a
Fox,
That seemed unfed with any
wholesome food.
But for his hideous sins upbraiding him,
My Lady put him to as swift a flight
As such a
fleshless skeleton could bear.
Then by the way that it before had come,
Into the
chariot's chest I saw the
Eagle
Descend, and leave it feathered with his plumes.
And such as issues from a heart that mourns,
A voice from
Heaven there issued, and it said:
"My little bark, how badly art thou freighted!"
Methought, then, that the earth did yawn between
Both wheels, and I saw rise from it a
Dragon,
Who through the chariot upward fixed his
tail,
And as a wasp that draweth back its
sting,
Drawing unto himself his tail
malign,
Drew out the floor, and went his way rejoicing.
That which remained behind, even as with grass
A
fertile region, with the feathers, offered
Perhaps with pure intention and benign,
Reclothed itself, and with them were reclothed
The pole and both the wheels so speedily,
A sigh doth longer keep the lips apart.
Transfigured thus the holy edifice
Thrust forward heads upon the parts of it,
Three on the pole and one at either corner.
The first were horned like oxen; but the four
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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