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 XVII

• Reader, remind thyself, if e’er a fog
• o’ertook thee on a mountain, one through which
• thou couldst not see in any other way
• than moles do through the membrane o’er their eyes,
• how, when the damp, thick mists begin to thin,
• the sun’s orb feebly pierces them; and quickly
• will thine imagination come to see
• how I first saw the sun again, which now
• was at its setting. Thus, as I mine own
• was matching with my Teacher’s trusty steps,
• from such a cloud I came into the beams,
• already dead upon the shores below.

• O thou Imagination, which at times
• dost steal us so from outer things, that though
• a thousand trumpets blow, one hears them not,
• what moveth thee, if sense contribute naught?
• A light which takes in Heaven its form impels thee,
• freely, or by a Will which sends it down.

• The vision of her cruelty, who changed
• her form into the bird, which most delights
• in song, appeared in my imagination;

• and hereupon my mind was so shut up
• within itself, that nothing that was then
• received by it, came to it from without.

• Then into my high fantasy there rained
• one crucified, contemptuous and proud
• in aspect, and as such he met his death.
• Around him were the great Ahasuerus,
• Esther his wife, and righteous Mordecai,
• who so whole-hearted was in word and deed.

• And as this picture of its own accord
• broke up, as doth a bubble when it lacks
• the water it was formed withal; a maid
• rose in my vision next, who bitterly
• was weeping, and was saying: “Why, O Queen,
• didst thou through anger wish to be no more?”
• Lavinia not to lose, thyself hast slain;
• and now hast lost me! Mother, this is I,
• who, ere I mourn another’s loss, mourn thine.”

• As sleep is broken, when unwonted light
• strikes closed eyes suddenly, and, being broken,
• quivers before it wholly dies away;
• ev’n so did my imagining break up,
• as soon as on my face there smote a light
• brighter by far than we are wont to see.

• I turned around to notice where I was,
• when lo, a voice which said: “The ascent is here,”
• from every other interest turned my mind;

• and made my will so eager to behold
• the speaker, that, when such, it never rests
• until it sees its object face to face.
• But as before the sun, which whelms our eyes,
• and veils its figure, through excess of light,
• so likewise here my visual powers failed.

• “A godlike spirit this, who, though unasked,
• is pointing out to us our upward path,
• and with his own light is himself concealing.
• With us he deals as one would with himself;
• for he that waits till asked, when seeing need,
• inclines already meanly to refuse.
• To such a bidding let us now accord
• our feet, and try to climb ere darkness come;
• for later one could not, till day returned.”

• Thus said my Leader then, and I with him
• turned toward a flight of stairs our feet; and I,
• when on its first step, near me felt, as ’t were,
• the motion of a wing, and on my face
• a fanning, while a voice said: “Blessèd are
• the Peaceful, who are free from evil wrath!”

• So high above us now were those last beams
• which by the night are followed, that the stars
• were coming out on many sides. And “O
• my strength, why dost thou fade away so fast?”
• I to myself was saying, for a truce,
• I felt, was set the powers of my legs.

• We now were where the flight of stairs went up
• no further, and as motionless we were,
• as is a vessel when the shore is reached;
• and for a while I waited to find out
• if aught upon the new ring could be heard;
• then, toward my Teacher turning round, I said:
• “Say, my dear Father, what offense is purged
• in this ring, here where now we are? Although
• our feet keep still, let not thy talking cease.”

• And he to me: “The love of good, when scant
• of what it should have been, is here atoned;
• here beats again the ill-retarded oar.
• But now, in order that thou understand
• more clearly still, turn thou thy mind to me,
• and some good fruit thou ’lt gather from our stay.

• Neither Creator,” he began, “nor creature
• was e’er devoid of either innate love,
• or that which conscious is; and this thou knowst.

• The innate love is always free from error;
• but the other kind can err through evil aim,
• or through deficient, or excessive strength.
• While well directed toward the primal goods,
• and toward the secondary self-restrained,
• it cannot be the cause of sinful pleasure;
• but when it turns toward evil things, or runs
• to good, with more or less zeal than it ought,
• the creature then against his Maker works.

• From this, then, thou canst understand that love
• must be the seed in you of every virtue,
• and every deed that merits punishment.

• And now, since love can never turn its face
• from its own subject’s welfare, from self-hate
• all are secure; and since one cannot think
• of any self as being from the First
• divided, and existing of itself,
• all hearts are thus debarred from hating Him.
• It follows, that, if I in arguing
• judge well, one’s neighbor’s is the harm one loves,
• and this is born in three ways in your clay.

• There ’s he, who on the abasement of his neighbor
• his hope of rising sets, and only longs
• that from his greatness he may be brought low;
• and he, who fears the loss of power, favor,
• renown and honor, should another rise,
• and grieves so, that he loves the contrary;
• then he, who by injustice seems so shamed,
• that greedy he becometh for revenge;
• and such must needs prepare for others’ harm.
• This triform love is wept for here below;
• but now I ’d have thee hear about the other,
• which runs to love in a corrupted way.

• All apprehend confusedly a good
• wherein the mind can rest, and long for it;
• and therefore every one attempts to reach it.

• If slothful be the love impelling you
• to see or win it, after just repentance,
• this present cornice tortures you for that.

• Another good there is, which never makes
• man happy; it is not real happiness,
• nor the Good Essence, fruit and root of all
• that ’s good. The love that yields too much to that,
• is wept for in three rings above us here;
• but why it ’s reckoned threefold I say not,
• that thou mayst seek the reason for thyself.”