The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• The Peace of God
• Preface
• Purgatorio I
• Purgatorio Ii
• Purgatorio Iii
• Purgatorio Iv
• Purgatorio V
• Purgatorio Vi
• Purgatorio Vii
• Purgatorio Viii
• Purgatorio Ix
• Purgatorio X
• Purgatorio Xi
• Purgatorio Xii
• Purgatorio Xiii
• Purgatorio Xiv
• Purgatorio Xv
• Purgatorio Xvi
• Purgatorio Xvii
• Purgatorio Xviii
• Purgatorio Xix
• Purgatorio Xx
• Purgatorio Xxi
• Purgatorio Xxii
• Purgatorio Xxiii
• Purgatorio Xxiv
• Purgatorio Xxv
• Purgatorio Xxvi
• Purgatorio Xxvii
• Purgatorio Xxviii
• Purgatory Xxix
• Purgatorio Xxx
• Purgatorio Xxxi
• Purgatorio Xxxii
• Purgatorio Xxxiii

PURGATORIO XVI

• The gloom of Hell and of a night deprived
• of every planet, ’neath a narrow sky,
• darkened as much as possible by clouds,
• ne’er made so thick a veil before my face,
• nor to my feeling was so rough in tissue,
• as was the smoke which covered us up there;
• for that permitted not of opened eyes;
• because of which my wise and trusty Escort
• drew near to me, and offered me his shoulder.

• Even as a blind man walks behind his guide,
• in order not to go astray, and strike
• aught that might hurt him, or might even kill;
• so, going through that foul and bitter air,
• I listened to my Leader, who said only:
• “Take care that thou be not cut off from me!”

• Voices I heard, and each appeared to pray
• for peace and mercy to the Lamb of God,
• who taketh sins away. Their only prelude
• was “Lamb of God”; and all had but one word
• and intonation, hence among them all
• there seemed to be the fullest harmony.

• “Are those, then, spirits, Teacher, whom I hear?”
• said I; and he to me: “Thou judgest rightly;
• as on they go, they loosen anger’s knot.”

• “Now who art thou, that cleavest thus our smoke,
• and yet dost speak of us, as if thou still
• by monthly calends wert dividing time?”

• These words were uttered by a single voice;
• my Teacher therefore said to me: “Reply,
• and ask him if on this side one goes up.”

• And I: “O creature, that dost cleanse thyself,
• that beautiful thou mayst return to Him
• who made thee, thou’lt hear marvels, following me.”

• “I ’ll follow thee as far as I ’m allowed,”
• he answered, “and, if smoke permit not sight,
• hearing, instead, will keep us linked together.”

• I thereupon began: “I go on high
• while in that swathing-band which death dissolves;
• and through the infernal anguish came I here;
• and whereas God hath wrapt me in His Grace
• so much, that He would have me see His court
• by means entirely out of modern use,
• conceal not who thou wast before thy death,
• but tell it me, and whether toward the pass
• I rightly go; and be thy words our guides.”

• “Lombard I was, and Marco was I called;
• familiar with the world, I loved the worth,
• toward which all men have now unbent their bows.

• For mounting upward thou art going rightly.”
• He thus replied, and added: “I beseech thee,
• pray for me there, when thou shalt be above.”

• And I to him: “I pledge my faith to thee
• that what thou askest of me I will do;
• but with a doubt I ’ll burst, unless therefrom
• I free myself. Simple at first, it now
• is doubled by thy speech, which makes me, here
• and elsewhere, sure of that wherewith I link it.
• The world is certainly as wholly void
• of every virtue as thou tellest me,
• and is with evil big and overspread;
• but, pray, point out its cause, that I may see,
• and show it unto other men; for one
• puts it in heaven, another, here below.”

• At first he heaved a sigh profound, which grief
• to “Ah me!” changed; then “Brother,” he began,
• “the world is blind, and thou, indeed, com’st hence.
• Ye that are living still attribute upward
• each cause to heaven alone, as though it moved
• everything with it of necessity.
• If this were so, Free Will would be destroyed
• within you, and no justice would there be
• in having joy for good, and grief for ill.
• Heaven starts your inclinations, though I say
• not all; but ev’n supposing that I did,
• light has been giv’n to you for good and evil,

• with Free Will, which, if it endure fatigue
• in its first fights with heaven, will afterward,
• if duly nourished, conquer everything.
• Beneath a greater Power and better Nature
• ye freely lie; and that creates within you
• the mind, which heaven hath not in its control.
• Hence, if the present world go wrong, the cause
• is in yourselves, and should in you be sought;
• of this I ’ll now a true spy be for thee.

• Forth from the hand of Him, who ere it lives
• delights in it, ev’n like a little maid,
• who weeps and laughs, and wantons like a child,
• issues the simple soul, which knoweth nought,
• save that, proceeding from a Joyous Maker,
• it gladly turns to that which pleases it.
• At first it tasteth things of little good;
• deceived thereby, it runneth after them,
• unless a guide or check divert its love.
• Hence, as a bit, a law must needs be set;
• a king must needs be had, who should at least
• the tower of the truthful town discern.
• The laws exist, but who sets hand to them?
• No one; because the Shepherd who precedes
• can chew the cud, but hath not cloven hoofs;
• the people, hence, who see their guide strive solely
• for those good things for which it longs itself,
• feedeth thereon, and asks for nothing more.

• Well canst thou see that evil leadership,
• and not that Nature in you is corrupt,
• is what has caused the world to be so wicked.
• Rome, which once made it good, was wont to have
• two Suns, which rendered visible both roads,
• that of the world, and that of God. One now
• hath quenched the other; to the bishop’s staff
• the sword is joined, and badly needs must one
• fare with the other, since, together joined,
• neither the other fears; recall to mind,
• if thou believe me not, the ear of corn;
• for every grass is by its own seed known.
• Throughout the country watered by the Po
• and Adige, one used to find both virtue
• and courtesy, ere Frederick had his strife;
• with safety it can nowadays be crossed
• by any who, through shame, refrained from speech
• with good men, or avoided intercourse.
• There are, indeed, three old men still, in whom
• the old age chides the modern, and who long
• for God to give them back a better life:
• Corrado da Palazzo, good Gherardo,
• and Guido da Castello, better called,
• the simple Lombard, as in France he is.

• Say, therefore, that today the Church of Rome,
• by joining in herself two kinds of rule,
• falls in the mire, and fouls her self and load!”

• “O Marco mine,” said I, “thine arguments
• are good; and now I see why Levi’s sons
• were from inheriting debarred. But which
• Gherardo is the one, who, as thou sayst,
• as sample of the people now extinct,
• remaineth to reproach this savage age?”

• “Thy speech deceives or tests me,” he replied,
• “for, thou, addressing me in Tuscan speech,
• seemst not to know who good Gherardo was.
• I know him not by other added name,
• unless I took it from his daughter, Gaia.
• God keep you, for with you I come no further!
• Already whitening now, behold the light,
• which rays out through the smoke, and I must go —
• the Angel ’s there — ere I be seen by him.”

• He thus turned back, nor would he hear me more.