Purgatory Canto 33
Canto Xxxiii
Argument
After a hymn sung, Beatrice leaves the tree, and takes with her the seven virgins, Matilda, Statius, and Dante. She then darkly predicts to our Poet some future events. Lastly, the whole band arrive at the fountain, from whence the two streams, Lethe and Eunoe, separating, flow different ways; and Matilda, at the desire of Beatrice, causes our Poet to drink of the latter stream.
"The heathen, Lord! are come:" responsive thus, The trinal now, and now the virgin band Quaternion, their sweet psalmody began, Weeping; and Beatrice listen'd, sad And sighing, to the song, in such a mood, That Mary, as she stood beside the Cross, Was scarce more changed. But when they gave her place To speak, then, risen upright on her feet, She, with a colour glowing bright as fire, Did answer: "Yet a little while, and ye Shall see me not; and, my beloved sisters!
Again a little while, and ye shall see me."
[1: "The heathen. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance." - Psalm lxxix. 1.]
[2: \"Yet a little while. A little while, and ye shall not see me;
and again a little while, and ye shall see me." - John xvi. 16.]
Before her then she marshal'd all the seven;
And, beckoning only, motion'd me, the dame, And that remaining sage, to follow her.
[3: "That remaining sage." Statius.]
So on she pass'd; and had not set, I ween, Her tenth step to the ground, when, with mine eyes Her eyes encountered; and, with visage mild,
"So mend thy pace," she cried, "that if my words Address thee, thou mayst still be aptly placed To hear them." Soon as duly to her side I now had hasten'd: "Brother!" she began,
"Why makest thou no attempt at questioning, As thus we walk together?" Like to those Who, speaking with too reverent an awe Before their betters, draw not forth the voice Alive unto their lips, befell me then That I in sounds imperfect thus began:
"Lady! what I have need of, that thou know'st;
And what will suit my need." She answering thus:
"Of fearfulness and shame, I will that thou Henceforth do rid thee; that thou speak no more, As one who dreams. Thus far be taught of me: The vessel which thou saw'st the serpent break, Was, and is not: let him, who hath the blame, Hope not to scare God's vengeance with a sop.
Without an heir forever shall not be That eagle, he, who left the chariot plumed, Which monster made it first and next a prey.
Plainly I view, and therefore speak, the stars E'en now approaching, whose conjunction, free From all impediment and bar, brings on A season, in the which, one sent from God, (Five hundred, five, and ten, do mark him out,)
That foul one, and the accomplice of her guilt, The giant, both, shall slay. And if perchance My saying, dark as Themis or as Sphinx, Fail to persuade thee, (since like them it foils The intellect with blindness), yet ere long Events shall be the Naiads, that will solve This knotty riddle; and no damage light On flock or field. Take heed; and as these words By me are utter'd, teach them even so To those who live that life, which is a race To death: and when thou writest them, keep in mind Not to conceal how thou hast seen the plant, That twice hath now been spoil'd. This whoso robs, This whoso plucks, with blasphemy of deed Sins against God, who for His use alone Creating hallow'd it. For taste of this,
[4: "Was, and is not. The beast that was, and is not." - Rev. xvii.
11.]
[5: \"Hope not to scare God's vengeance with a sop. Let not him who hath occasioned the destruction of the Church, that vessel which the serpent brake, hope to appease the anger of the Deity by any outward acts of religious, or rather superstitious, ceremony; such as was that, in our Poet's time, performed by a murderer at Florence, who imagined himself secure from vengeance, if he ate a sop of bread in wine upon the grave of the person murdered, within the space of nine days."]
[6: "That eagle." He prognosticates that the Emperor of Germany will not always continue to submit to the usurpations of the Pope, and foretells the coming of Henry VII, Duke of Luxemburg, signified by the numerical figures DVX; or, as Lombardi supposes, of Can Grande della Scala, appointed the leader of the Ghibelline forces.]
[7: \"Twice." First by the eagle and next by the giant.]
In pain and in desire, five thousand years And upward, the first soul did yearn for him Who punish'd in himself the fatal gust.
"Thy reason slumbers, if it deem this height, And summit thus inverted, of the plant, Without due cause: and were not vainer thoughts, As Elsa's numbing waters, to thy soul, And their fond pleasures had not dyed it dark As Pyramus the mulberry; thou hadst seen, In such momentous circumstance alone, God's equal justice morally implied In the forbidden tree. But since I mark thee, In understanding, harden'd into stone, And, to that hardness, spotted too and stain'd, So that thine eye is dazzled at my word;
I will, that, if not written, yet at least Painted thou take it in thee, for the cause, That one brings home his staff inwreathed with palm."
[8: "Elsa's numbing waters." The Elsa, a little stream, which flows into the Arno about twenty miles below Florence, is said to possess a petrifying quality.]
I thus: "As wax by seal, that changeth not Its impress, now is stamp'd my brain by thee.
But wherefore soars thy wish'd - for speech so high Beyond my sight, that loses it the more, The more it strains to reach it?" - "To the end That thou mayst know," she answer'd straight, "the school, That thou hast follow'd; and how far behind, When following my discourse, its learning halts: And mayst behold your art, from the divine As distant, as the disagreement is
'Twixt earth and Heaven's most high and rapturous orb."
"I not remember," I replied, "that e'er I was estranged from thee; nor for such fault Doth conscience chide me." Smiling she return'd:
"If thou canst not remember, call to mind How lately thou hast drunk of Lethe's wave;
And, sure as smoke doth indicate a flame, In that forgetfulness itself conclude Blame from thy alienated will incurr'd.
From henceforth, verily, my words shall be As naked, as will suit them to appear In thy unpractised view." More sparkling now, And with retarded course, the sun possess'd The circle of mid - day, that varies still As the aspect varies of each several clime;
When, as one, sent in vaward of a troop For escort, pauses, if perchance he spy Vestige of somewhat strange and rare; so paused The sevenfold band, arriving at the verge Of a dun umbrage hoar, such as is seen, Beneath green leaves and gloomy branches, oft To overbrow a bleak and alpine cliff.
And, where they stood, before them, as it seem'd, I, Tigris and Euphrates both, beheld Forth from one fountain issue; and, like friends, Linger at parting. "O enlightening beam!
O glory of our kind! beseech thee say What water this, which, from one source derived, Itself removes to distance from itself?"
To such entreaty answer thus was made:
"Entreat Matilda, that she teach thee this."
And here, as one who clears himself of blame Imputed, the fair dame return'd: "Of me He this and more hath learnt; and I am safe That Lethe's water hath not hid it from him."
And Beatrice: "Some more pressing care, That oft the memory 'reaves, perchance hath made His mind's eye dark. But lo, where Eunoe flows!
Lead thither; and, as thou art wont, revive His fainting virtue." As a courteous spirit, That proffers no excuses, but as soon As he hath token of another's will, Makes it his own; when she had ta'en me, thus The lovely maiden moved her on, and call'd To Statius, with an air most lady - like:
"Come thou with him." Were further space allow'd, Then, Reader! might I sing, though but in part, That beverage, with whose sweetness I had ne'er Been sated. But, since all the leaves are full, Appointed for this second strain, mine art With warning bridle checks me. I return'd From the most holy wave, regenerate, E'en as new plants renew'd with foliage new, Pure and made apt for mounting to the stars.
Argument
After a hymn sung, Beatrice leaves the tree, and takes with her the seven virgins, Matilda, Statius, and Dante. She then darkly predicts to our Poet some future events. Lastly, the whole band arrive at the fountain, from whence the two streams, Lethe and Eunoe, separating, flow different ways; and Matilda, at the desire of Beatrice, causes our Poet to drink of the latter stream.
"The heathen, Lord! are come:" responsive thus, The trinal now, and now the virgin band Quaternion, their sweet psalmody began, Weeping; and Beatrice listen'd, sad And sighing, to the song, in such a mood, That Mary, as she stood beside the Cross, Was scarce more changed. But when they gave her place To speak, then, risen upright on her feet, She, with a colour glowing bright as fire, Did answer: "Yet a little while, and ye Shall see me not; and, my beloved sisters!
Again a little while, and ye shall see me."
[1: "The heathen. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance." - Psalm lxxix. 1.]
[2: \"Yet a little while. A little while, and ye shall not see me;
and again a little while, and ye shall see me." - John xvi. 16.]
Before her then she marshal'd all the seven;
And, beckoning only, motion'd me, the dame, And that remaining sage, to follow her.
[3: "That remaining sage." Statius.]
So on she pass'd; and had not set, I ween, Her tenth step to the ground, when, with mine eyes Her eyes encountered; and, with visage mild,
"So mend thy pace," she cried, "that if my words Address thee, thou mayst still be aptly placed To hear them." Soon as duly to her side I now had hasten'd: "Brother!" she began,
"Why makest thou no attempt at questioning, As thus we walk together?" Like to those Who, speaking with too reverent an awe Before their betters, draw not forth the voice Alive unto their lips, befell me then That I in sounds imperfect thus began:
"Lady! what I have need of, that thou know'st;
And what will suit my need." She answering thus:
"Of fearfulness and shame, I will that thou Henceforth do rid thee; that thou speak no more, As one who dreams. Thus far be taught of me: The vessel which thou saw'st the serpent break, Was, and is not: let him, who hath the blame, Hope not to scare God's vengeance with a sop.
Without an heir forever shall not be That eagle, he, who left the chariot plumed, Which monster made it first and next a prey.
Plainly I view, and therefore speak, the stars E'en now approaching, whose conjunction, free From all impediment and bar, brings on A season, in the which, one sent from God, (Five hundred, five, and ten, do mark him out,)
That foul one, and the accomplice of her guilt, The giant, both, shall slay. And if perchance My saying, dark as Themis or as Sphinx, Fail to persuade thee, (since like them it foils The intellect with blindness), yet ere long Events shall be the Naiads, that will solve This knotty riddle; and no damage light On flock or field. Take heed; and as these words By me are utter'd, teach them even so To those who live that life, which is a race To death: and when thou writest them, keep in mind Not to conceal how thou hast seen the plant, That twice hath now been spoil'd. This whoso robs, This whoso plucks, with blasphemy of deed Sins against God, who for His use alone Creating hallow'd it. For taste of this,
[4: "Was, and is not. The beast that was, and is not." - Rev. xvii.
11.]
[5: \"Hope not to scare God's vengeance with a sop. Let not him who hath occasioned the destruction of the Church, that vessel which the serpent brake, hope to appease the anger of the Deity by any outward acts of religious, or rather superstitious, ceremony; such as was that, in our Poet's time, performed by a murderer at Florence, who imagined himself secure from vengeance, if he ate a sop of bread in wine upon the grave of the person murdered, within the space of nine days."]
[6: "That eagle." He prognosticates that the Emperor of Germany will not always continue to submit to the usurpations of the Pope, and foretells the coming of Henry VII, Duke of Luxemburg, signified by the numerical figures DVX; or, as Lombardi supposes, of Can Grande della Scala, appointed the leader of the Ghibelline forces.]
[7: \"Twice." First by the eagle and next by the giant.]
In pain and in desire, five thousand years And upward, the first soul did yearn for him Who punish'd in himself the fatal gust.
"Thy reason slumbers, if it deem this height, And summit thus inverted, of the plant, Without due cause: and were not vainer thoughts, As Elsa's numbing waters, to thy soul, And their fond pleasures had not dyed it dark As Pyramus the mulberry; thou hadst seen, In such momentous circumstance alone, God's equal justice morally implied In the forbidden tree. But since I mark thee, In understanding, harden'd into stone, And, to that hardness, spotted too and stain'd, So that thine eye is dazzled at my word;
I will, that, if not written, yet at least Painted thou take it in thee, for the cause, That one brings home his staff inwreathed with palm."
[8: "Elsa's numbing waters." The Elsa, a little stream, which flows into the Arno about twenty miles below Florence, is said to possess a petrifying quality.]
I thus: "As wax by seal, that changeth not Its impress, now is stamp'd my brain by thee.
But wherefore soars thy wish'd - for speech so high Beyond my sight, that loses it the more, The more it strains to reach it?" - "To the end That thou mayst know," she answer'd straight, "the school, That thou hast follow'd; and how far behind, When following my discourse, its learning halts: And mayst behold your art, from the divine As distant, as the disagreement is
'Twixt earth and Heaven's most high and rapturous orb."
"I not remember," I replied, "that e'er I was estranged from thee; nor for such fault Doth conscience chide me." Smiling she return'd:
"If thou canst not remember, call to mind How lately thou hast drunk of Lethe's wave;
And, sure as smoke doth indicate a flame, In that forgetfulness itself conclude Blame from thy alienated will incurr'd.
From henceforth, verily, my words shall be As naked, as will suit them to appear In thy unpractised view." More sparkling now, And with retarded course, the sun possess'd The circle of mid - day, that varies still As the aspect varies of each several clime;
When, as one, sent in vaward of a troop For escort, pauses, if perchance he spy Vestige of somewhat strange and rare; so paused The sevenfold band, arriving at the verge Of a dun umbrage hoar, such as is seen, Beneath green leaves and gloomy branches, oft To overbrow a bleak and alpine cliff.
And, where they stood, before them, as it seem'd, I, Tigris and Euphrates both, beheld Forth from one fountain issue; and, like friends, Linger at parting. "O enlightening beam!
O glory of our kind! beseech thee say What water this, which, from one source derived, Itself removes to distance from itself?"
To such entreaty answer thus was made:
"Entreat Matilda, that she teach thee this."
And here, as one who clears himself of blame Imputed, the fair dame return'd: "Of me He this and more hath learnt; and I am safe That Lethe's water hath not hid it from him."
And Beatrice: "Some more pressing care, That oft the memory 'reaves, perchance hath made His mind's eye dark. But lo, where Eunoe flows!
Lead thither; and, as thou art wont, revive His fainting virtue." As a courteous spirit, That proffers no excuses, but as soon As he hath token of another's will, Makes it his own; when she had ta'en me, thus The lovely maiden moved her on, and call'd To Statius, with an air most lady - like:
"Come thou with him." Were further space allow'd, Then, Reader! might I sing, though but in part, That beverage, with whose sweetness I had ne'er Been sated. But, since all the leaves are full, Appointed for this second strain, mine art With warning bridle checks me. I return'd From the most holy wave, regenerate, E'en as new plants renew'd with foliage new, Pure and made apt for mounting to the stars.
