Canto IX

English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1	BEAUTIFUL Clemence, after that thy Charles
2	Had me enlightened, he narrated to me
3	The treacheries his seed should undergo;

4	But said: Be still and let the years roll round;
5	So I can only say, that lamentation
6	Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.

7	And of that holy light the life already
8	Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,
9	As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.

10	Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,
11	Who from such good do turn away your hearts,
12	Directing upon vanity your foreheads!

13	And now, behold, another of those splendours
14	Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
15	It signified by brightening outwardly.

16	The eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were
17	Upon me, as before, of dear assent
18	To my desire assurance gave to me.

19	Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,
20	Thou blessed spirit, I said, and give me proof
21	That what I think in thee I can reflect !

22	Whereat the light, that still was new to me,
23	Out of its depths, whence it before was singing,
24	As one delighted to do good, continued:

25	Within that region of the land depraved
26	Of Italy, that lies between Rialto
27	And fountain heads of Brenta and of Piava,

28	Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,
29	Wherefrom descended formerly a torch
30	That made upon that region great assault.

31	Out of one root were born both I and it;
32	Cunizza was I called, and here I shine
33	Because the splendour of this star o'ercame me.

34	But gladly to myself the cause I pardon
35	Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me,
36	Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.

37	Of this so luculent and precious jewel,
38	Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,
39	Great fame remained; and ere it die away

40	This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
41	See if man ought to make him excellent,
42	So that another life the first may leave!

43	And thus thinks not the present multitude
44	Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,
45	Nor yet for being scourged is penitent.

46	But soon 'twill be that Padua in the marsh
47	Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
48	Because the folk are stubborn against duty;

49	And where the Sile and Cagnano join
50	One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,
51	For catching whom e'en now the net is making.

52	Feltro moreover of her impious pastor
53	Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be
54	That for the like none ever entered Malta.

55	Ample exceedingly would be the vat
56	That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,
57	And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,

58	Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift
59	To show himself a partisan; and such gifts
60	Will to the living of the land conform.

61	Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,
62	From which shines out on us God Judicant,
63	So that this utterance seems good to us.

64	Here it was silent, and it bad the semblance
65	Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel
66	On which it entered as it was before.

67	The other joy, already known to me,
68	Became a thing transplendent in my sight,
69	As a fine ruby smitten by the sun.

70	Through joy effulgence is acquired above,
71	As here a smile; but down below, the shade
72	Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.

73	God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,
74	Thy sight is, said I, so that never will
75	Of his can possibly from thee be hidden;

76	Thy voice, then, that for ever makes the heavens
77	Glad, with the singing of those holy fires
78	Which of their six wings make themselves a

79	Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?
80	Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning
81	If I in thee were as thou art in me.

82	The greatest of the valleys where the water
83	Expands itself, forthwith its words began,
84	That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,

85	Between discordant shores against the sun
86	Extends so far, that it meridian makes
87	Where it was wont before to make the horizon.

88	I was a dweller on that valley's shore
89	'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short
90	Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.

91	With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly
92	Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,
93	That with its blood once made the harbour hot.

94	Folco that people called me unto whom
95	My name was known; and now with me this heaven
96	Imprints itself, as I did once with it;

97	For more the daughter of Belus never burned,
98	Offending both Sichaeus and Creusa,
99	Than I, so long as it became my locks,

100	Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded
101	was by Demophoon, nor yet Alcides,
102	When Iole he in his heart had locked.

103	Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,
104	Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind,
105	But at the power which ordered and foresaw.

106	Here we behold the art that doth adorn
107	With such affection, and the good discover
108	Whereby the world above turns that below.

109	But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear
110	Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born,
111	Still farther to proceed behoveth me.

112	Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light
113	That here beside me thus is scintillating,
114	Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water.

115	Then know thou, that within there is at rest
116	Rahab, and being to our order joined,
117	With her in its supremest grade 'tis sealed.

118	Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone
119	Cast by your world, before all other souls
120	First of Christ's triumph was she taken up.

121	Full meet it was to leave her in some heaven,
122	Even as a palm of the high victory
123	Which he acquired with one palm and the other,

124	Because she favoured the first glorious deed
125	Of Joshua upon the Holy Land,
126	That little stirs the memory of the Pope.

127	Thy city, which an offshoot is of him
128	Who first upon his Maker turned his back,
129	And whose ambition is so sorely wept,

130	Brings forth and scatters the accursed flower
131	Which both the sheep and lambs hath led a.
132	Since it has turned the shepherd to a wolf

133	For this the Evangel and the mighty Doctors
134	Are derelict, and only the Decretals
135	So studied that it shows upon their margins.

136	On this are Pope and Cardinals intent;
137	Their meditations reach not Nazareth,
138	There where his pinions Gabriel unfolded

139	But Vatican and the other parts elect
140	Of Rome, which have a cemetery been
141	Unto the soldiery that followed Peter

142	Shall soon be free from this adultery.

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Canto IX