Ere pass a thousand years? which is a shorter In front of me, all Tuscany resounded; Which comes and goes, and that discolours it And he is here because he had presumed He has gone thus, and goeth without rest E'er since he died; such money renders back And I: "If every spirit who awaits The verge of life before that he repent, Remains below there and ascends not hither, (Unless good orison shall him bestead,) Until as much time as he lived be passed, How was the coming granted him in largess?" "When he in greatest splendour lived," said he, "Freely upon the Campo of Siena, All shame being laid aside, he placed himself; Which in the prison-house of Charles he suffered, Yet little time shall pass before thy neighbours CANTO XII. ABREAST, like oxen going in a yoke, I with that heavy-laden soul went on, But when he said, "Leave him, and onward pass, My person, notwithstanding that my thoughts The footsteps of my Master, and we both Above the buried dead their tombs in earth From pricking of remembrance, which alone In point of artifice, with figures covered I saw that one who was created noble More than all other creatures, down from heaven I saw Briareus smitten by the dart Celestial, lying on the other side, I saw Thymbræus, Pallas saw, and Mars, Still clad in armour round about their father, Gaze at the scattered members of the giants. I saw, at foot of his great labour, Nimrod, As if bewildered, looking at the people Who had been proud with him in Sennaar. O Niobe! with what afflicted eyes Thee I beheld upon the pathway traced, Didst thou appear there lifeless in Gilboa, O mad Arachne ! so I thee beheld E'en then half spider, sad upon the shreds Displayed moreo'er the adamantine pavement And how, he being dead, they left him there; Displayed the ruin and the cruel carnage That Tomyris wrought, when she to Cyrus said, "Blood didst thou thirst for, and with blood I glut thee!" Displayed how routed fled the Assyrians After that Holofernes had been slain, And likewise the remainder of that slaughter. Displayed the image that is there discerned! 50 55 60 I saw there Troy in ashes and in caverns; Whoe'er of pencil master was or stile, That could portray the shades and traits which there 65 Dead seemed the dead, the living seemed alive; Was going on, began: "Lift up thy head, Lo there an Angel who is making haste To come towards us; lo, returning is With reverence thine acts and looks adorn, So that he may delight to speed us upward; I was familiar with his admonition Ever to lose no time; so on this theme Towards us came the being beautiful Vested in white, and in his countenance Such as appears the tremulous morning star. His arms he opened, and opened then his wings; "Come," said he, "near at hand here are the steps, 70 75 80 25 90 At this announcement few are they who come! There smote upon my forehead with his wings, Where seated is the church that lordeth it By stairways that were made there in the age When still were safe the ledger and the stave, E'en thus attempered is the bank which falls Sheer downward from the second circle there ; But on this side and that the high rock grazes. As we were turning thitherward our persons, "Beati pauperes spiritu," voices Sang in such wise that speech could tell it not. Ah me! how different are these entrances From the Infernal! for with anthems here He answered: "When the P's which have remained Thy feet will be so vanquished by good will, Then did I even as they do who are going With something on the head to them unknown, Unless the signs of others make them doubt, Wherefore the hand to ascertain is helpful, And seeks and finds, and doth fulfil the office Which cannot be accomplished by the sight; And with the fingers of the right hand spread I found but six the letters, that had carved Upon my temples he who bore the keys; Upon beholding which my Leader smiled. CANTO XIII. WE were upon the summit of the stairs, Where for the second time is cut away The hill all round about, as does the first, So seems the bank, and so the road seems smooth, "If to inquire we wait for people here," The Poet said, "I fear that peradventure Made his right side the centre of his motion, "O thou sweet light! with trust in whom I enter If other reason prompt not otherwise, So much already there had we advanced. And ere it wholly grew inaudible Because of distance, passed another, crying, "O," said I, "Father, these, what voices are they?" Saying "Love those from whom ye have had evil!" Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge. |