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 XIX

• Within the hour, when, vanquished by the earth,
• or ev’n at times by Saturn, day-time’s heat
• can warm the coldness of the moon no longer;
• when geomancers see their Greater Fortune
• rise in the East ere dawn, and on a path
• which doth not long stay dark for it; a Female
• approached me in a dream, with stammering tongue,
• with eyes asquint, and crooked on her feet,
• with hands lopped off, and pallor on her face.

• I fixed my gaze on her; and as the sun
• brings comfort to cold limbs which night-time chills,
• ev’n so my looking at her freed her tongue,
• and afterward, in but a little time,
• completely straightened her, and gave that hue
• to her discolored face which love desires.

• As soon as she had thus unloosed her speech,
• she then began to sing in such a way,
• that from her I could hardly take my gaze.
• “I am” she sang, “the lovely Siren, she
• who in mid-ocean mariners bewitches;
• so much I please whoever heareth me!

• I turned Ulysses from his wandering course
• to hear my song; and who gets used to me
• seldom departs, so wholly I content him!”

• Her mouth had not yet closed, when lo,
• a holy Lady at my side appeared,
• who ready was to put her to confusion.
• “O Virgil, Virgil, who is this?” she cried
• in scornful tones; whereat he then advanced
• with eyes set only on the modest one.
• She seized the other, opened her in front,
• and rent her garments, showing me her belly;
• this woke me with the stench that issued from it.

• I turned my eyes, and my good Teacher said:
• “I ’ve called thee thrice at least. Arise and come.
• We’ ll find the gate through which thou mayst ascend.”

• I rose, and all the holy Mountain’s rings
• were with the high day’s light already filled,
• as with the new sun back of us we moved.

• While I was following him, I held my head
• like one who, having it bowed down by thought,
• makes of himself a half-arch of a bridge;
• and then I heard: “Come on; the pass is here,”
• uttered in such a gentle, kindly way,
• as in this mortal land is never heard.

• With outspread wings, which seemed the wings of swans,
• he who thus spoke directed us on high
• ’tween the two side walls of the granite rock.

• He moved his pinions then, and fanning us,
• affirmed that “those who mourn” are happy, since
• possessed of comfort shall their spirits be.

• “What aileth thee, that only on the ground
• thou gazest?” said my Guide, when past the Angel
• both he and I had climbed a little way.

• And I: “A recent dream, which to itself
• inclines me, makes me with such doubt advance,
• that I cannot refrain from thought of it.”

• “Thou hast perceived” said he, “that ancient witch
• who henceforth o’er us is alone lamented;
• and seen how from her one is freed. Let that
• suffice thee; strike thy heels upon the ground,
• and turn thine eyes up toward the calling lure
• the Eternal King whirls with the mighty wheels!”

• As is the falcon, which at first looks down,
• then turns around when called, and spreads his wings,
• keen for the quarry which attracts him; such
• was I; and thus, as long as e’er the rock
• was cleft, to make a path for those that climb,
• I went along to where the circling starts.

• When out upon the fifth ring I had come,
• people therein I saw who, shedding tears,
• were lying wholly prone upon its bed.
• “My soul hath cloven to the trodden ground!”
• I heard them saying with such heavy sighs,
• that what they said could hardly be made out.

• “O ye elect of God, whose sufferings here
• Justice and hope are making less intense,
• direct us toward the steps that lead on high!”

• “If ye are come exempt from lying down,
• and wish to find the path with greatest speed,
• let your right sides be always outward turned.”

• Thus asked the Poet, and, not far ahead,
• thus was the answer giv’n; hence, as he spoke,
• I noticed where the other speaker hid,
• and then I turned mine eyes unto my Lord;
• whereat he granted with a cheerful nod
• that which the looks of my desiring asked.

• When I was free to act as I inclined,
• I came and stood above the soul, whose words
• had made me notice him at first, and said:
• “Spirit, who by thy tears art ripening that,
• without which one can not return to God,
• for my sake stay a while thy greater care.
• Say who thou wast, why ye hold up your backs,
• and whether thou wouldst have me get thee aught
• from there, whence I, a living man, set forth.”

• And he to me: “Why toward itself the sky
• is turning here our backs, thou ’lt know; but, first,
• know thou that I once sat in Peter’s chair.
• ’Tween Sièstri and Chiaveri there descends
• a lovely mountain stream, and from its name
• my race’s title takes its greatest boast.

• For one month and a little more I felt
• how much the mighty Mantle weights on him
• who keeps it from the mire; for all loads else
• seem feathers. My conversion was, alas!
• delayed; but when Rome’s Shepherd I was made,
• I came to know how false the world’s life was.
• I saw that in it hearts can find no rest;
• nor could one in it higher rise than I;
• the love of this life, hence, was kindled in me.
• Till that time I had been a wretched soul,
• cut off from God, and wholly giv’n to greed;
• now, as thou see’st, I’m punished for it here.
• What avarice doth is here made manifest,
• in this purgation of converted souls;
• nor hath this Mount a penalty more bitter.
• And as our eyes were never upward turned,
• because intently fixed on earthly things,
• so Justice here hath turned them to the ground.
• As avarice quenched our love for all good things,
• until well doing had completely ceased,
• so here doth Justice hold us in restraint,
• bound fast and fettered in our hands and feet;
• and here we ’ll stay, stretched out and motionless
• as long as it shall please the Righteous Lord.”

• I had knelt down, and wished to speak; but just
• as I began, and he was made aware,
• by listening only, of my reverence,

• “What cause” said he, “hath bent thee downward thus?”
• And I to him: “Because of your high rank
• my conscience troubled me for standing up.”

• “Straighten thy legs, my brother,” he replied,
• “and rise! Err not! With thee and with the rest
• a fellow-servant of one Power am I.
• If thou hast ever fully understood
• those holy Gospel words: ‘They neither marry,’
• well canst thou see why I am speaking thus.
• And now begone! I ’d have thee stay no more;
• for, lingering here, thou hinderest the tears,
• wherewith I ripen that which thou hast said.
• A niece I have up yonder called Alàgia,
• good in herself, so be it that our house
• by its example do not make her bad;
• and she is all that ’s left to me up there”