Canto XXIV

English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

1	NOR speech the going, nor the going that
2	Slackened; but talking we went bravely on,
3	Even as a vessel urged by a good wind.

4	And shadows, that appeared things doubly dead,
5	From out the sepulchres of their eyes betrayed
6	Wonder at me, aware that I was living.

7	And I, continuing my colloquy,
8	Said: Peradventure he goes up more slowly
9	Than he would do, for other people's sake.

10	But tell me, if thou knowest, where is Piccarda;
11	Tell me if any one of note I see
12	Among this folk that gazes at me so.

13	My sister, who, 'twixt beautiful and good,
14	I know not which was more, triumphs rejoicing
15	Already in her crown on high Olympus.

16	So said he first, and then: Tis not forbidden
17	To name each other here, so milked away
18	Is our resemblance by our dieting.

19	This, pointing with his finger, is Buonagiunta,
20	Buonagiunta, of Lucca; and that face
21	Beyond him there, more peaked than the others,

22	Has held the holy Church within his arms;
23	From Tours was he, and purges by his fasting
24	Bolsena's eels and the Vernaccia wine.

25	He named me many others one by one;
26	And all contented seemed at being named,
27	So that for this I saw not one dark look.

28	I saw for hunger bite the empty air
29	Ubaldin dalla Pila, and Boniface,
30	Who with his crook had pastured many people.

31	I saw Messer Marchese, who had leisure
32	Once at Forli for drinking with less dryness,
33	And he was one who ne'er felt satisfied.

34	But as he does who scans, and then doth prize
35	One more than others, did I him of Lucca,
36	Who seemed to take most cognizance of me.

37	He murmured, and I know not what Gentucca
38	From that place heard I, where he felt the wound
39	Of justice, that doth macerate them so.

40	O soul, I said, that seemest so desirous
41	To speak with me, do so that I may hear thee,
42	And with thy speech appease thyself and me.

43	A maid is born, and wears not yet the veil,
44	Began he, who to thee shall pleasant make
45	My city, howsoever men may blame it.

46	Thou shalt go on thy way with this prevision;
47	If by my murmuring thou hast been deceived,
48	True things hereafter will declare it to thee.

49	But say if him I here behold, who forth
50	Evoked the new-invented rhymes, beginning,
51	Ladies, that have intelligence of love?

52	And I to him: One am I, who, whenever
53	Love doth inspire me, note, and in that measure
54	Which he within me dictates, singing go.

55	O brother, now I see, he said, the knot
56	Which me, the Notary, and Guittone held
57	Short of the sweet new style that now I hear.

58	I do perceive full clearly how your pens
59	Go closely following after him who dictates,
60	Which with our own forsooth came not to pass;

61	And he who sets himself to go beyond,
62	No difference sees from one style to another;
63	And as if satisfied, he held his peace.

64	Even as the birds, that winter tow'rds the Nile,
65	Sometimes into a phalanx form themselves,
66	Then fly in greater haste, and go in file;

67	In such wise all the people who were there,
68	Turning their faces, hurried on their steps,
69	Both by their leanness and their wishes light.

70	And as a man, who weary is with trotting,
71	Lets his companions onward go, and walks,
72	Until he vents the panting of his chest;

73	So did Forese let the holy flock
74	Pass by, and came with me behind it, saying,
75	When will it be that I again shall see thee?

76	How long, I answered, I may live, I know not;
77	Yet my return will not so speedy be,
78	But I shall sooner in desire arrive;

79	Because the place where I was set to live
80	From day to day of good is more depleted,
81	And unto dismal ruin seems ordained.

82	Now go, he said, for him most guilty of it
83	At a beast's tail behold I dragged along
84	Towards the valley where is no repentance.

85	Faster at every step the beast is going,
86	Increasing evermore until it smites him,
87	And leaves the body vilely mutilated.

88	Not long those wheels shall turn, and he uplifted
89	His eyes to heaven, ere shall be clear to thee
90	That which my speech no farther can declare.

91	Now stay behind; because the time so precious
92	Is in this kingdom, that I lose too much
93	By coming onward thus abreast with thee.

94	As sometimes issues forth upon a gallop
95	A cavalier from out a troop that ride,
96	And seeks the honour of the first encounter,

97	So he with greater strides departed from us;
98	And on the road remained I with those two,
99	Who were such mighty marshals of the world.

100	And when before us he had gone so far
101	Mine eyes became to him such pursuivants
102	As was my understanding to his words,

103	Appeared to me with laden and living boughs
104	Another apple-tree, and not far distant,
105	From having but just then turned thitherward.

106	People I saw beneath it lift their hands,
107	And cry I know not what towards the leaves,
108	Like little children eager and deluded,

109	Who pray, and he they pray to doth not answer,
110	But, to make very keen their appetite,
111	Holds their desire aloft, and hides it not

112	Then they departed as if undeceived;
113	And now we came unto the mighty tree
114	Which prayers and tears so manifold refuses.

115	Pass farther onward without drawing near;
116	The tree of which Eve ate is higher up,
117	And out of that one has this tree been raised.

118	Thus said I know not who among the branches;
119	Whereat Virgilius, Statius, and myself
120	Went crowding forward on the side that rises.

121	Be mindful, said he, of the accursed ones
122	Formed of the cloud-rack, who inebriate
123	Combated Theseus with their double breasts;

124	And of the Jews who showed them soft in drinking,
125	Whence Gideon would not have them for companions
126	When he tow'rds Midian the hills descended.

127	Thus, closely pressed to one of the two borders,
128	On passed we, hearing sins of gluttony,
129	Followed forsooth by miserable gains;

130	Then set at large upon the lonely road,
131	A thousand steps and more we onward went,
132	In contemplation, each without a word.

133	What go ye thinking thus, ye three alone?
134	Said suddenly a voice, whereat I started
135	As terrified and timid beasts are wont.

136	I raised my head to see who this might be,
137	And never in a furnace was there seen
138	Metals or glass so lucent and so red

139	As one I saw who said: If it may please you
140	To mount aloft, here it behoves you turn;
141	This way goes he who goeth after peace.

142	His aspect had bereft me of my sight,
143	So that I turned me back unto my Teachers,
144	Like one who goeth as his hearing guides him.

145	And as, the harbinger of early dawn,
146	The air of May doth move and breathe out fragrance,
147	Impregnate all with herbage and with flowers,

148	So did I feel a breeze strike in the midst
149	My front, and felt the moving of the plumes
150	That breathed around an odour of ambrosia,

151	And heard it said: Blessed are they whom grace',
152	So much illumines, that the love of taste
153	Excites not in their breasts too great desire,

154	Hungering at all times so far as is just

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Canto XXIV