Purgatorio: Canto XXXII
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Splendour from which perforce I had withdrawn,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.
This document (last modifiedJanuary 08, 1998) from Believerscafe.com
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