Canto IV

English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1	BETWEEN two viands, equally removed
2	And tempting, a free man would die of hunger
3	Ere either he could bring unto his teeth.

4	So would a lamb between the ravenings
5	Of two fierce wolves stand fearing both alike;
6	And so would stand a dog between two does.

7	Hence, if I held my peace, myself I blame not,
8	Impelled in equal measure by my doubts,
9	Since it must be so, nor do I commend.

10	I held my peace; but my desire was painted
11	Upon my face, and questioning with that
12	More fervent far than by articulate speech.

13	Beatrice did as Daniel had done
14	Relieving Nebuchadnezzar from the wrath
15	Which rendered him unjustly merciless,

16	And said: Well see I how attracteth thee
17	One and the other wish, so that thy care
18	Binds itself so that forth it does not breathe.

19	Thou arguest, if good will be permanent,
20	The violence of others, for what reason
21	Doth it decrease the measure of my merit

22	Again for doubting furnish thee occasion
23	Souls seeming to return unto the stars,
24	According to the sentiment of Plato.

25	These are the questions which upon thy wish
26	Are thrusting equally; and therefore first
27	Will I treat that which hath the most of gall.

28	He of the Seraphim most absorbed in God,
29	Moses, and Samuel, and whichever John
30	Thou mayst select, I say, and even Mary,

31	Have not in any other heaven their seats,
32	Than have those spirits that just appeared to thee,
33	Nor of existence more or fewer years;

34	But all make beautiful the primal circle,
35	And have sweet life in different degrees,
36	By feeling more or less the eternal breath.

37	They showed themselves here, not because allotted
38	This sphere has been to them, but to give sign
39	Of the celestial which is least exalted.

40	To speak thus is adapted to your mind,
41	Since only through the sense it apprehendeth
42	What then it worthy makes of intellect.

43	On this account the Scripture condescends
44	Unto your faculties, and feet and hands
45	To God attributes, and means something else;

46	And Holy Church under an aspect human
47	Gabriel and Michael represent to you,
48	And him who made Tobias whole again.

49	That which Timceus argues of the soul
50	Doth not resemble that which here is seen,
51	Because it seems that as he speaks he thinks.

52	He says the soul unto its star returns,
53	Believing it to have been severed thence
54	Whenever nature gave it as a form

55	Perhaps his doctrine is of other guise
56	Than the words sound, and possibly may be
57	With meaning that is not to be derided.

58	If he doth mean that to these wheels return
59	The honour of their influence and the blame,
60	Perhaps his bow doth hit upon some truth.

61	This principle ill understood once warped
62	The whole world nearly, till it went astray
63	Invoking Jove and Mercury and Mars.

64	The other doubt which doth disquiet thee
65	Less venom has, for its malevolence
66	Could never lead thee otherwhere from me.

67	That as unjust our justice should appear
68	In eyes of mortals, is an argument
69	Of faith, and not of sin heretical.

70	But still, that your perception may be able
71	To thoroughly penetrate this verity,
72	As thou desirest, I will satisfy thee.

73	If it be violence when he who suffers
74	Co-operates not with him who uses force,
75	These souls were not on that account excused;

76	For will is never quenched unless it will,
77	But operates as nature doth in fire
78	If violence a thousand times distort it.

79	Hence, if it yieldeth more or less, it seconds
80	The force; and these have done so, having power
81	Of turning back unto the holy place.

82	If their will had been perfect, like to that
83	Which Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held,
84	And Mutius made severe to his own hand,

85	It would have urged them back along the road
86	Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free;
87	But such a solid will is all too rare.

88	And by these words, if thou hast gathered them
89	As thou shouldst do, the argument is refuted
90	That would have still annoyed thee many times.

91	But now another passage runs accross
92	Before thine eyes, and such that by thyself
93	Thou couldst not thgread it ere thou wouldst be weary.

94	I have for certain put into thy mind
95	That soul beatified could never lie.
96	For it is near the primal Truth,

97	And then thou from Piccarda might'st have heard
98	Costanza kept affection for the veil,
99	So that she seemeth here to contradict me.

100	Many times, brother, has it come to pass,
101	That, to escape from peril, with reluctance
102	That has been done it was not right to do,

103	E'en as Alcaemon (who, being by his father
104	Thereto entreated, his own mother slew)
105	Not to lose pity pitiless became.

106	At this point I desire thee to remember
107	That force with will commingles, and they cause
108	That the offences cannot be excused.

109	Will absolute consenteth not to evil;
110	But in so far consenteth as it fears,
111	If it refrain, to fall into more harm

112	Hence when Piccarda uses this expression,
113	She meaneth the will absolute, and I
114	The other, so that both of us speak truth.

115	Such was the flowing of the holy river
116	That issued from the fount whence springs all truth;
117	This put to rest my wishes one and all.

118	O love of the first lover, O divine,
119	Said I forthwith,whose speech inundates me
120	And warms me so, it more and more revives me,

121	My own affection is not so profound
122	As to suffice in rendering grace for grace;
123	Let Him, who sees and can, thereto respond.

124	Well I perceive that never sated is
125	Our intellect unless the Truth illume it,
126	Beyond which nothing true expands itself.

127	It rests therein, as wild beast in his lair,
128	When it attains it;and it can attain it;
129	If not, then each desire would frustrate be.

130	Therefore springs up, in fashion of a shoot,
131	Doubt at the foot of truth;and this is nature,
132	Which to the top from height to height impels us.

133	This doth invite me, this assurance give me
134	With reverence, Lady, to inquire of you
135	Another true, which is obscure to me.

136	I wish to know if man can satisfy you
137	For broken vows with other good deeds, so
138	That in your balance they will not be light.

139	Beatrice gazed upon me with her eyes
140	Full of the sparks of love, and so divine,
141	That, overcome my power, I turned my back

142	And almost lost myself with eyes downcast.

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Canto IV