Canto XXII
Canto XXII
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | ALREADY was the Angel left behind us, |
| 2 | The Angel who to the sixth round had turned us, |
| 3 | Having erased one mark from off my face; |
| 4 | And those who have in justice their desire |
| 5 | Had said to us, Beati, in their voices, |
| 6 | With sitio, and without more ended it |
| 7 | And I, more light than through the other passes, |
| 8 | Went onward so, that without any labour |
| 9 | I followed upward the swift-footed spirits; |
| 10 | When thus Virgilius began: The love |
| 11 | Kindled by virtue aye another kindles, |
| 12 | Provided outwardly its flame appear. |
| 13 | Hence from the hour that Juvenal descended |
| 14 | Among us into the infernal Limbo, |
| 15 | Who made apparent to me thy affection, |
| 16 | My kindliness towards thee was as great |
| 17 | As ever bound one to an unseen person, |
| 18 | So that these stairs will now seem short to me. |
| 19 | But tell me, and forgive me as a friend, |
| 20 | If too great confidence let loose the rein, |
| 21 | And as a friend now hold discourse with me; |
| 22 | How was it possible within thy breast |
| 23 | For avarice to find place, 'mid so much wisdom |
| 24 | As thou wast filled with by thy diligence? |
| 25 | These words excited Statius at first |
| 26 | Somewhat to laughter; afterward he answered: |
| 27 | Each word of thine is love's dear sign to me. |
| 28 | Verily oftentimes do things appear |
| 29 | Which give fallacious matter to our doubts, |
| 30 | Instead of the true causes which are hidden! |
| 31 | Thy question shows me thy belief to be |
| 32 | That I was niggard in the other life, |
| 33 | It may be from the circle where I was; |
| 34 | Therefore know thou, that avarice was removed |
| 35 | Too far from me; and this extravagance |
| 36 | Thousands of lunar periods have punished. |
| 37 | And were it not that I my thoughts uplifted, |
| 38 | When I the passage heard where thou exclaimest, |
| 39 | As if indignant, unto human nature, |
| 40 | 'To what impellest thou not, O cursed hunger |
| 41 | Of gold, the appetite of mortal men ?' |
| 42 | Revolving I should feel the dismal joustings. |
| 43 | Then I perceived the hands could spread too wide |
| 44 | Their wings in spending, and repented me |
| 45 | As well of that as of my other sins; |
| 46 | How many with shorn hair shall rise again |
| 47 | Because of ignorance, which from this sin |
| 48 | Cuts off repentance living and in death! |
| 49 | And know that the transgression which rebuts |
| 50 | By direct opposition any sin |
| 51 | Together with it here its verdure dries. |
| 52 | Therefore if I have been among that folk |
| 53 | Which mourns its avarice, to purify me, |
| 54 | For its opposite has this befallen me. |
| 55 | Now when thou sangest the relentless weapons |
| 56 | Of the twofold affliction of Jocasta, |
| 57 | The singer of the Songs Bucolic said, |
| 58 | From that which Clio there with thee preludes, |
| 59 | It does not seem that yet had made thee faithful |
| 60 | That faith without which no good works suffice. |
| 61 | If this be so, what candles or what sun |
| 62 | Scattered thy darkness so that thou didst trim |
| 63 | Thy sails behind the Fisherman thereafter? |
| 64 | And he to him: Thou first directedst me |
| 65 | Towards Parnassus, in its grots to drink, |
| 66 | And first concerning God didst me enlighten. |
| 67 | Thou didst as he who walketh in the night, |
| 68 | Who bears his light behind, which helps him not, |
| 69 | But wary makes the persons after him, |
| 70 | When thou didst say: ' The age renews itself, |
| 71 | Justice returns, and man's primeval time, |
| 72 | And a new progeny descends from heaven.' |
| 73 | Through thee I Poet was, through thee a Christian; |
| 74 | But that thou better see what I design, |
| 75 | To colour it will I extend my hand. |
| 76 | Already was the world in every part |
| 77 | Pregnant with the true creed, disseminated |
| 78 | By messengers of the eternal kingdom; |
| 79 | And thy assertion, spoken of above, |
| 80 | With the new preachers was in unison; |
| 81 | Whence I to visit them the custom took. |
| 82 | Then they became so holy in my sight, |
| 83 | That, when Domitian persecuted them, |
| 84 | Not without tears of mine were their laments; |
| 85 | And all the while that I on earth remained, |
| 86 | Them I befriended, and their upright customs |
| 87 | Made me disparage all the other sects. |
| 88 | And ere I led the Greeks unto the rivers |
| 89 | Of Thebes, in poetry, I was baptized, |
| 90 | But out of fear was covertly a Christian, |
| 91 | For a long time professing paganism; |
| 92 | And this lukewarmness caused me the fourth circle |
| 93 | To circuit round more than four centuries. |
| 94 | Thou, therefore, who hast raised the covering |
| 95 | That hid from me whatever good I speak of, |
| 96 | While in ascending we have time to spare, |
| 97 | Tell me, in what place is our friend Terentius, |
| 98 | Caecilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou knowest; |
| 99 | Tell me if they are damned, and in what alley. |
| 100 | These, Persius and myself, and others many, |
| 101 | Replied my Leader, with that Grecian are |
| 102 | Whom more than all the rest the Muses suckled, |
| 103 | In the first circle of the prison blind; |
| 104 | Ofttimes we of the mountain hold discourse |
| 105 | Which has our nurses ever with itself |
| 106 | Euripides is with us, Antiphon, |
| 107 | Simonides, Agatho, and many other |
| 108 | Greeks who of old their brows with laurel decked. |
| 109 | There some of thine own people may be seen, |
| 110 | Antigone, Deiphile and Argìa, |
| 111 | And there Ismene mournful as of old. |
| 112 | There she is seen who pointed out Langia; |
| 113 | There is Tiresias' daughter, and there Thetis, |
| 114 | And there Deidamia with her sisters. |
| 115 | Silent already were the poets both, |
| 116 | Attent once more in looking round about, |
| 117 | From the ascent and from the walls released; |
| 118 | And four handmaidens of the day already |
| 119 | Were left behind, and at the pole the fifth |
| 120 | Was pointing upward still its burning horn, |
| 121 | What time my Guide: I think that tow'rds thee |
| 122 | Our dexter shoulders it behoves us turn, |
| 123 | Circling the mount as we are wont to do. |
| 124 | Thus in that region custom was our ensign; |
| 125 | And we resumed our way with less suspicion |
| 126 | For the assenting of that worthy soul |
| 127 | They in advance went on, and I alone |
| 128 | Behind them, and I listened to their speech, |
| 129 | Which gave me lessons in the art of song |
| 130 | But soon their sweet discourses interrupted |
| 131 | A tree which midway in the road we found, |
| 132 | With apples)Dles sweet and grateful to the smell edge |
| 133 | And even as a fir-tree tapers upward |
| 134 | From bough to bough, so downwardly did that; |
| 135 | I think in order that no one might climb it |
| 136 | On that side where our pathway was enclosed |
| 137 | Fell from the lofty rock a limpid water, |
| 138 | And spread itself abroad upon the leaves. |
| 139 | The Poets twain unto the tree drew near, |
| 140 | And from among the foliage a voice |
| 141 | Cried: Of this food ye shall have scarcity. |
| 142 | Then said: More thoughtful Mary was of making |
| 143 | The marriage feast complete and honourable, |
| 144 | Than of her mouth which now for you responds; |
| 145 | And for their drink the ancient Roman women |
| 146 | W With water were content; and Daniel |
| 147 | Disparaged food, and understanding won. |
| 148 | The primal age was beautiful as gold; |
| 149 | Acorns It made with hunger savorous, |
| 150 | And nectar every rivulet with thirst. |
| 151 | Honey and locusts were the aliments |
| 152 | That fed the Baptist in the wilderness; |
| 153 | Whence he is glorious, and so magnified |
| 154 | As by the Evangel is revealed to you. |