27
And when I looked away from those four stars, turning a little toward the other pole, where no sign of the Wain was visible,
30
I saw near me an ancient man, alone, whose face commanded all the reverence that any son could offer to his sire.
33
Long-flowing was his beard and streaked with white, as was his hair, which in two tresses fell to rest upon his chest on either side.
36
The rays of light from those four sacred stars struck with such radiance upon his face, it was as if the sun were shining there.
39
“Who are you two who challenged the blind stream and have escaped from the eternal prison?” he said, moving his venerable locks.
42
“Who guided you? What served you as a lamp to light your way out of the heavy night that keeps the pit of Hell forever black?
45
Are all the laws of God’s Abyss destroyed? Have new decisions now been made in Heaven so that, though damned, you come up to my cliff?”
48
My leader quickly seized me by the arm; his words, his touch, the way he looked at me, compelled my knees and brow to reverence.
51
Then he addressed him: “Not on my behalf have I come here; a lady sent from Heaven asked me to guide this man along his way.
54
30. The constellation of the Wain (or Big Bear, Ursa Major), since it is near the North Pole, is not visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
40. This is the “little stream” that comes from Lethe and flows into Cocytus. The Pilgrim and his guide had followed the course of this stream out of Hell, through the earth, to the lower slope of the mountain of Purgatory (cf. Inferno XXXIV, 127-34).
But since it is your will that we reveal the circumstances of our presence here, how can my will deny yours what it asks?
57
This man has not yet seen his final hour, although so close to it his folly brought him that little time was left to change his ways.
60
So I was sent to help him, as I said; there was no other way to save his soul than by my guiding him along this road.
63
Already I have shown him all the Damned; I want to show him now the souls of those who purge themselves of guilt in your domain.
66
How we came here would take too long to tell; from Heaven comes the power that has served to lead him here to see and hear you now.
69
May it please you to welcome him—he goes in search of freedom, and how dear that is, the man who gives up life for it well knows.
72
You know, you found death sweet in Utica for freedom’s sake; there you put off that robe which will be radiant on the Great Day.
75
We have not broken Heaven’s timeless laws. This man still lives; Minòs does not bind me; I come from that same Round where the chaste eyes
78
of your dear Marcia still plead with your soul, O blessed heart, to hold her as your own; for love of her, then, bend your will to ours,
81
73. Utica was the scene of the last stand of Pompey against Caesar, as well as the place where Cato subsequently took his life.
79. In 56 B.C. Cato gave his second wife, Marcia, to his friend Hortentius. When Hortentius died, Marcia asked Cato to take her back. The episode was seen by Dante in the Convivio as an allegory of the soul’s tardy return to God at the onset of old age.
allow us to go through your seven realms, and I shall tell her how you have been kind— if you will let me speak your name below. ”
84
“Marcia was so enchanting to my eyes, ” he answered then, “that while I was alive, there was no wish of hers I would not grant.
87
She dwells beyond the evil river now, and can no longer move me by that law decreed upon the day I issued forth.
90
But if a heavenly lady, as you say, moves and directs you, why your flattery? Ask in her name, there is no need for more.
93
Go with this man, see that you gird his waist with a smooth reed; take care to bathe his face till every trace of filth has disappeared,
96
for it would not be fitting that he go with vision clouded by the mists of Hell, to face the first of Heaven’s ministers.
99
Around this little island at its base, down there, just where the waves break on the shore, you will find rushes growing in soft sand.
102
No other plant producing leaves or stalk that hardens could survive in such a place— only the reeds that yield to buffeting.
105
When you are ready to begin to scale the mountainside, do not come back this way; the rising sun will show you where to climb. ”
108
89. The law is one representing the absolute distinction between the Damned and the Blessed, made forever on that day of the Harrowing of Hell, when the elect souls were rescued from Limbo. Cato’s allusion to it here would explain his estrangement from Marcia.
95. The reed will now replace the cord that the Pilgrim wore fastened round his waist while going through the Inferno (Inferno XVI, 100-108). In order to ascend the Mount of Purgatory, he must be girded with a reed, clearly symbolizing humility, the opposite of his former self-confidence.
With that he vanished. From my knees I rose, and silent, drawing closer to my guide, I looked into his eyes. He said to me:
111
“Follow my footsteps; now we must turn back, for over there the plain begins to slope, descending gently to the shore below. ”
114
The dawn was gaining ground, putting to flight the last hour of the night; I recognized, far off, the rippling waters of the sea.
117
We made our way along that lonely plain like men who seek the right path they have lost, counting each step a loss till it is found.
120
When we had reached a place where the cool shade allowed the dew to linger on the slope, resisting a while longer the sun’s rays,
123
my master placed both of his widespread hands gently upon the tender grass, and I, who understood what his intention was,
126
offered my tear-stained face to him, and he made my face clean, restoring its true color, once buried underneath the dirt of Hell.
129
At last we touched upon the lonely shore that never yet has seen its waters sailed by one who then returned to tell the tale.
132
There, as another willed, he girded me. Oh, miracle! When he pulled out the reed, immediately a second humble plant
135
sprang up from where the first one had been picked.
134-36. The springing back of the reed is modeled on an episode in the sixth book of the Aeneid. In preparation for his descent into the underworld, Aeneas must pluck a golden bough to carry with him as a kind of a passport; no sooner is the bough pulled out than another springs up to take its place. Similarly, here, the reed (of humility) is the Pilgrim’s necessary passport to the mountain of Purgatory.
CANTO II
AS THE SUN rises, Dante and Virgil are still standing at the water’s edge and wondering which road to take in order to ascend the mountain of Purgatory, when the Pilgrim sees a reddish glow moving across the water. The light approaches at an incredible speed, and eventually they are able to discern the wings of an angel. The angel is the miraculous pilot of a ship containing souls of the Redeemed, who are singing the psalm In exitu Israël de Aegypto. At a sign from the angel boatsman, these souls disembark, only to roam about on the shore. Apparently, they are strangers, and, mistaking Virgil and Dante for familiars of the place, they ask them which road leads up the mountainside. Virgil an-swers that they, too, are pilgrims, only recently arrived. At this point some of the souls realize that the Pilgrim is still alive, and they stare at him in
fascination. Recognizing a face that he knows in this crowd of souls, Dante tries three times in vain to embrace the shade of his old friend Casella, a musician; then he asks Casella for a song and, as he sings, all the souls are held spellbound. Suddenly the Just Old Man, Cato, appears to disperse the rapt crowd, sternly rebuking them for their negligence and exhorting them to run to the mountain to begin their ascent.
The sun was touching the horizon now, the highest point of whose meridian arc was just above Jerusalem; and Night,
3
revolving always opposite to him, rose from the Ganges with the Scales that fall out of her hand when she outweighs the day.
6
Thus, where we were, Aurora’s lovely face with a vermilion flush on her white cheeks was aging in a glow of golden light.
9
We were still standing at the water’s edge, wondering about the road ahead, like men whose thoughts go forward while their bodies stay,
12
1-6. At the time the canto opens, it is midnight at the Ganges, sunset at Jerusalem, noon at the Pillars of Hercules, and dawn at Purgatory.
when, suddenly, I saw, low in the west (like the red glow of Mars that burns at dawn through the thick haze that hovers on the sea),
15
a light—I hope to see it come again!— moving across the waters at a speed faster than any earthly flight could be.
18
I turned in wonder to my guide, and then, when I looked back at it again, the light was larger and more brilliant than before,
21
and there appeared, on both sides of this light, a whiteness indefinable, and then, another whiteness grew beneath the shape.
24
My guide was silent all the while, but when the first two whitenesses turned into wings, and he saw who the steersman was, he cried:
27
“Fall to your knees, fall to your knees! Behold the angel of the Lord! And fold your hands. Expect to see more ministers like him.
30
See how he scorns to use man’s instruments; he needs no oars, no sails, only his wings to navigate between such distant shores.
33
See how he has them pointing up to Heaven: he fans the air with these immortal plumes that do not moult as mortal feathers do. ”
36
Closer and closer to our shore he came, brighter and brighter shone the bird of God, until I could no longer bear the light,
39
and bowed my head. He steered straight to the shore, his boat so swift and light upon the wave, it left no sign of truly sailing there;
42
and the celestial pilot stood astern with blessedness inscribed upon his face. More than a hundred souls were in his ship:
45
42. The boat draws no water because the souls of the Saved have no weight.
In exitu Israël de Aegypto, they all were singing with a single voice, chanting it verse by verse until the end.
48
The angel signed them with the holy cross, and they rushed from the ship onto the shore; he disappeared, swiftly, as he had come.
51
The souls left there seemed strangers to this place: they roamed about, while looking all around, endeavoring to understand new things.
54
The sun, which with its shafts of light had chased the Goat out of the heavens’ highest field, was shooting rays of day throughout the sky,
57
when those new souls looked up to where we were, and called to us: “If you should know the road that leads up to the mountainside, show us. ”
60
And Virgil answered them: “You seem to think that we are souls familiar with this place, but we, like all of you, are pilgrims here;
63
we just arrived, not much ahead of you, but by a road which was so rough and hard— to climb this mountain now will be like play. ”
66
Those souls who noticed that my body breathed, and realized that I was still alive, in their amazement turned a deathly pale.
69
46. “ In exitu Israël de Aegypto “—“When Israel came out of Egypt” (Psalm 113)— is a song of thanksgiving to God for freeing the nation of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. For Christians the Exodus, or liberation of the Jews, prefigures Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. In turn, his death and Resurrection served to free each individual Christian soul from the slavery of sin. Since at this point in the action of the poem it is Easter Sunday morning, the very day of the Resurrection, the singing of this psalm is particularly appropriate, and the connection between the Exodus and Resurrection is thus reinforced.
55-57. At dawn the constellation Capricorn lies on the meridian, ninety degrees from the horizon. Because of the sun’s ever-increasing light, Capricorn is now invisible. In other words, the daylight is getting stronger.
Just as a crowd, greedy for news, surrounds the messenger who bears the olive branch, and none too shy to elbow-in his way,
72
so all the happy souls of these Redeemed stared at my face, forgetting, as it were, the way to go to make their beauty whole.
75
One of these souls pushed forward, arms outstretched, and he appeared so eager to embrace me that his affection moved me to show mine.
78
O empty shades, whose human forms seem real! Three times I clasped my hands around his form, as many times they came back to my breast.
81
I must have been the picture of surprise, for he was smiling as he drew away, and I plunged forward still in search of him.
84
Then, gently, he suggested I not try, and by his voice I knew who this shade was; I begged him stay and speak to me awhile.
87
“As once I loved you in my mortal flesh, without it now I love you still, ” he said. “Of course I’ll stay. But tell me why you’re here. ”
90
“I make this journey now, O my Casella, hoping one day to come back here again, ” I said. “But how did you lose so much time?”
93
He answered: “I cannot complain if he who, as he pleases, picks his passengers, often refused to take me in his boat,
96
for that Just Will is always guiding his. But for the last three months, indulgently, he has been taking all who wish to cross;
99
91. Casella, a musician and singer, was a friend of Dante’s and very likely set to music Dante’s canzone “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona, ” if not others as well.
so, when I went to seek the shore again, where Tiber’s waters turn to salty sea, benignly, he accepted me aboard.
102
Now, back again he flies to Tiber’s mouth, which is the meeting place of all the dead, except for those who sink to Acheron’s shore. ”
105
“If no new law prevents remembering or practicing those love songs that once brought peace to my restless longings in the world, ”
108
I said, “pray sing, and give a little rest to my poor soul which, burdened by my flesh, has climbed this far and is exhausted now. ”
111
Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona. began the words of his sweet melody— their sweetness still is sounding in my soul.
114
My master and myself and all those souls that came with him were deeply lost in joy, as if that sound were all that did exist.
117
And while we stood enraptured by the sound of those sweet notes—a sudden cry: “What’s this, you lazy souls?” It was the Just Old Man.
120
“What negligence to stand around like this! Run to the mountain, shed that slough which still does not let God be manifest to you!”
123
Just as a flock of pigeons in a field peacefully feeding on the grain and tares, no longer strutting proud of how they look,
126
immediately abandon all th
eir food, flying away, seized by a greater need— if something should occur that startles them—
129
101. Ostia, where the Tiber River enters the sea, is the place where souls departing for Purgatory gather to await transport.
112. “ Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona “ (“Love that speaks to me in my mind”) is the first verse of the second canzone, which Dante comments on in the third book of his Convivio.
so did that new-formed flock of souls give up their feast of song, and seek the mountainside, rushing to find a place they hoped was there.
132
And we were just as quick to take to flight.
CANTO III
AS THE CROWD of souls breaks up, Virgil seems ashamed of having permitted the Pilgrim’s self-indulgence. But they resume their journey and Dante raises his eyes to take in the enormous height of the moun-tain that stretches up toward Heaven. Then, looking down, he sees his own shadow on the ground in front of him and becomes alarmed when he fails to see the shadow of his guide, thinking, for one brief second, that he has been deserted. This leads to an explanation by Virgil of the diaphanous bodies of the dead: though a shade casts no shadow, it is yet sensitive to pain and heat and cold; such is the mysterious will of the Creator, which cannot be understood by human reason. In the meantime, they have reached the foot of the mountain but find the slope impossible to scale because it is too steep. They then see a band of souls moving toward them with unbelievable slowness, and they set out to meet them in order to ask directions. The souls are amazed to see the Pilgrim’s shadow; their spokesman, Manfred, explains that, despite his excommunication by the church, he has been saved through everlasting love by repenting at the very end of his life. Because of this delay, however, he is required to wait in the Antepurgatory thirty times as long as he waited on earth to repent — though this period can be short-ened by the good prayers of the faithful in the world.
In sudden flight those souls were scattering, rushing across the plain and toward the hill where Reason spurs the probing of the soul,
3
but I drew closer to my faithful friend. And where could I have run without his help? Who else but he could take me up the mount?