The Divine Comedy | Page 4

more craving than before.
To many an animal in
wedlock vile
She fastens, and shall yet to many more,
Until that
greyhound come, who shall destroy
Her with sharp pain. He will not
life support
By earth nor its base metals, but by love,
Wisdom, and
virtue, and his land shall be
The land 'twixt either Feltro. In his might

Shall safety to Italia's plains arise,
For whose fair realm, Camilla,
virgin pure,
Nisus, Euryalus, and Turnus fell.

He with incessant
chase through every town
Shall worry, until he to hell at length

Restore her, thence by envy first let loose.
I for thy profit pond'ring
now devise,
That thou mayst follow me, and I thy guide
Will lead
thee hence through an eternal space,
Where thou shalt hear despairing
shrieks, and see
Spirits of old tormented, who invoke
A second
death; and those next view, who dwell
Content in fire, for that they
hope to come,
Whene'er the time may be, among the blest,
Into

whose regions if thou then desire
T' ascend, a spirit worthier then I

Must lead thee, in whose charge, when I depart,
Thou shalt be left:
for that Almighty King,
Who reigns above, a rebel to his law,

Adjudges me, and therefore hath decreed,
That to his city none
through me should come.
He in all parts hath sway; there rules, there
holds
His citadel and throne. O happy those,
Whom there he
chooses!" I to him in few:
"Bard! by that God, whom thou didst not
adore,
I do beseech thee (that this ill and worse
I may escape) to
lead me, where thou saidst,
That I Saint Peter's gate may view, and
those
Who as thou tell'st, are in such dismal plight."
Onward he mov'd, I close his steps pursu'd.
CANTO II
NOW was the day departing, and the air,
Imbrown'd with shadows,
from their toils releas'd
All animals on earth; and I alone
Prepar'd
myself the conflict to sustain,
Both of sad pity, and that perilous road,

Which my unerring memory shall retrace.
O Muses! O high genius! now vouchsafe
Your aid! O mind! that all I
saw hast kept
Safe in a written record, here thy worth
And eminent
endowments come to proof.
I thus began: "Bard! thou who art my guide,
Consider well, if virtue
be in me
Sufficient, ere to this high enterprise
Thou trust me. Thou
hast told that Silvius' sire,
Yet cloth'd in corruptible flesh, among

Th' immortal tribes had entrance, and was there
Sensible present. Yet
if heaven's great Lord,
Almighty foe to ill, such favour shew'd,
In
contemplation of the high effect,
Both what and who from him
should issue forth,
It seems in reason's judgment well deserv'd:
Sith
he of Rome, and of Rome's empire wide,
In heaven's empyreal height
was chosen sire:
Both which, if truth be spoken, were ordain'd
And
'stablish'd for the holy place, where sits
Who to great Peter's sacred

chair succeeds.
He from this journey, in thy song renown'd,
Learn'd
things, that to his victory gave rise
And to the papal robe. In
after-times
The chosen vessel also travel'd there,
To bring us back
assurance in that faith,
Which is the entrance to salvation's way.
But
I, why should I there presume? or who
Permits it? not, Aeneas I nor
Paul.
Myself I deem not worthy, and none else
Will deem me. I, if
on this voyage then
I venture, fear it will in folly end.
Thou, who
art wise, better my meaning know'st,
Than I can speak." As one, who
unresolves
What he hath late resolv'd, and with new thoughts

Changes his purpose, from his first intent
Remov'd; e'en such was I
on that dun coast,
Wasting in thought my enterprise, at first
So
eagerly embrac'd. "If right thy words
I scan," replied that shade
magnanimous,
"Thy soul is by vile fear assail'd, which oft
So
overcasts a man, that he recoils
From noblest resolution, like a beast

At some false semblance in the twilight gloom.
That from this
terror thou mayst free thyself,
I will instruct thee why I came, and
what
I heard in that same instant, when for thee
Grief touch'd me
first. I was among the tribe,
Who rest suspended, when a dame, so
blest
And lovely, I besought her to command,
Call'd me; her eyes
were brighter than the star
Of day; and she with gentle voice and soft

Angelically tun'd her speech address'd:
"O courteous shade of
Mantua! thou whose fame
Yet lives, and shall live long as nature lasts!

A friend, not of my fortune but myself,
On the wide desert in his
road has met
Hindrance so great, that he through fear has turn'd.

Now much I dread lest he past help have stray'd,
And I be ris'n too
late for his relief,
From what in heaven of him I heard. Speed now,


And by thy eloquent persuasive tongue,
And by all means for his
deliverance meet,
Assist him. So to me will comfort spring.
I who
now bid thee on this errand forth
Am Beatrice; from a place I come
(Note: Beatrice. I use this word, as it is
pronounced in the Italian, as
consisting of four
syllables, of which the third is a long one.)

Revisited with joy. Love brought me thence,
Who prompts my
speech. When in my Master's sight
I stand, thy praise to him I oft will
tell."
She then was silent, and I thus