Canto XXI
Canto XXI
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | THE natural thirst, that ne'er is satisfied |
| 2 | Excepting with the water for whose grace |
| 3 | The woman of Samaria besought, |
| 4 | Put me in travail, and haste goaded me |
| 5 | Along the encumbered path behind my Leader |
| 6 | And I was pitying that righteous vengeance; |
| 7 | And lo! in the same manner as Luke writeth |
| 8 | That Christ appeared to two upon the way |
| 9 | From the sepulchral cave already risen, |
| 10 | A shade appeared to us, and came behind us, |
| 11 | Down gazing on the prostrate multitude, |
| 12 | Nor were we ware of it, until it spake, |
| 13 | Saying, My brothers, may God give you peace! |
| 14 | We turned us suddenly, and Virgilius rendered |
| 15 | To him the countersign thereto conforming |
| 16 | Thereon began he: In the blessed council, |
| 17 | Thee may the court veracious place in peace, |
| 18 | That me doth banish in eternal exile! |
| 19 | How, said he, and the while we went with speed, |
| 20 | If ye are shades whom God deigns not on high, |
| 21 | Who up his stairs so far has guided you? |
| 22 | And said my Teacher: If thou note the marks |
| 23 | Which this one bears,and which the Angel traces |
| 24 | Well shalt thou see he with the good must reign. |
| 25 | But because she who spinneth day and night |
| 26 | For him had not yet drawn the distaff off, |
| 27 | Which Clotho lays for each one and compacts, |
| 28 | His soul, which is thy sister and my own, |
| 29 | In coming upwards could not come alone, |
| 30 | By reason that it sees not in our fashion. |
| 31 | Whence I was drawn from out the ample throat |
| 32 | Of Hell to be his guide,and I shall guide him |
| 33 | As far on as my school has power to lead. |
| 34 | But tell us, if thou knowest, why such a shudder |
| 35 | Erewhile the mountain gave, and why together |
| 36 | All seemed to cry, as far as its moist feet? |
| 37 | In asking he so hit the very eye |
| 38 | Of my desire, that merely with the hope |
| 39 | My thirst became the less unsatisfied. |
| 40 | Naught is there, he began, that without order |
| 41 | May the religion of the mountain feel, |
| 42 | Nor aught that may be foreign to its custom. |
| 43 | Free is it here from every permutation; |
| 44 | What from itself heaven in itself receiveth |
| 45 | Can be of this the cause, and naught beside; |
| 46 | Because that neither rain, nor hail, nor snow, |
| 47 | Nor dew, nor hoar-frost any higher falls |
| 48 | Than the short, little stairway of three steps. |
| 49 | Dense clouds do not appear, nor rarefied, |
| 50 | Nor coruscation, nor the daughter of Thaumas, |
| 51 | That often upon earth her region shifts; |
| 52 | No arid vapour any farther rises |
| 53 | Than to the top of the three steps I spake of, |
| 54 | Whereon the Vicar of Peter has his feet. |
| 55 | Lower down perchance it trembles less or more, |
| 56 | But, for the wind that in the earth is hidden |
| 57 | I know not how, up here it never trembled. |
| 58 | It trembles here, whenever any soul |
| 59 | Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves |
| 60 | To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it. |
| 61 | Of purity the will alone gives proof, |
| 62 | Which, being wholly free to change its convent, |
| 63 | Takes by surprise the soul, and helps it fly. |
| 64 | First it wills well; but the desire permits not, |
| 65 | Which divine justice with the self-same will |
| 66 | There was to sin, upon the torment sets. |
| 67 | And I, who have been Iying in this pain |
| 68 | Five hundred years and more, but just now felt |
| 69 | A free volition for a better seat. |
| 70 | Therefore thou heardst the earthquake, and the pious |
| 71 | Spirits along the mountain rendering praise |
| 72 | Unto the Lord, that soon he speed them upwards. |
| 73 | So said he to him; and since we enjoy |
| 74 | As much in drinking as the thirst is great, |
| 75 | I could not say how much it did me good. |
| 76 | And the wise Leader: Now I see the net |
| 77 | That snares you here, and how ye are set free, |
| 78 | Why the earth quakes, and wherefore ye rejoice. |
| 79 | Now who thou wast be pleased that I may know; |
| 80 | And why so many centuries thou hast here |
| 81 | Been Iying, let me gather from thy words. |
| 82 | In days when the good Titus, with the aid |
| 83 | Of the supremest King, avenged the wounds |
| 84 | Whence issued forth the blood by Judas sold, |
| 85 | Under the name that most endures and honours, |
| 86 | Was I on earth, that spirit made reply, |
| 87 | Greatly renowned, but not with faith as yet. |
| 88 | My vocal spirit was so sweet, that Rome |
| 89 | Me, a Thoulousian, drew unto herself, |
| 90 | Where I deserved to deck my brows with myrtle. |
| 91 | Statius the people name me still on earth; |
| 92 | I sang of Thebes, and then of great Achilles; |
| 93 | But on the way fell with my second burden. |
| 94 | The seeds unto my ardour were the sparks |
| 95 | Of that celestial flame which heated me, |
| 96 | Whereby more than a thousand have been fired; |
| 97 | Of the Aeneid speak I, which to me |
| 98 | A mother was, and was my nurse in song; |
| 99 | Without this weighed I not a drachma's weight. |
| 100 | And to have lived upon the earth what time |
| 101 | Virgilius lived, I would accept one sun |
| 102 | More than I must ere issuing from my ban. |
| 103 | These words towards me made Virgilius turn |
| 104 | With looks that in their silence said, Be silent! |
| 105 | But yet the power that wills cannot do all things; |
| 106 | For tears and laughter are such pursuivants |
| 107 | Unto the passion from which each springs forth, |
| 108 | In the most truthful least the will they follow. |
| 109 | I only smiled, as one who gives the wink; |
| 110 | Whereat the shade was silent, and it gazed |
| 111 | Into mine eyes, where most expression dwells; |
| 112 | And, As thou well mayst consummate a labour |
| 113 | So great, it said, why did thy face just now |
| 114 | Display to me the lightning of a smile? |
| 115 | Now am I caught on this side and on that; |
| 116 | One keeps me silent, one to speak conjures me, |
| 117 | Wherefore I sigh, and I am understood. |
| 118 | Speak, said my Master, and be not afraid |
| 119 | Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him |
| 120 | What he demands with such solicitude. |
| 121 | Whence I: Thou peradventure marvellest, |
| 122 | O antique spirit, at the smile I gave; |
| 123 | But I will have more wonder seize upon thee. |
| 124 | This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine, |
| 125 | Is that Virgilius, from whom thou didst learn |
| 126 | To sing aloud of men and of the Gods. |
| 127 | If other cause thou to my smile imputedst, |
| 128 | Abandon it as false, and trust it was |
| 129 | Those words which thou hast spoken concerning him. |
| 130 | Already he was stooping to embrace |
| 131 | My Teacher's feet; but he said to him: Brother, |
| 132 | Do not; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest. |
| 133 | And he uprising: Now canst thou the sum |
| 134 | Of love which warms me to thee comprehend, |
| 135 | When this our vanity I disremember, |
| 136 | Treating a shadow as substantial thing. |