Part 6 (2/2)

'No man,[170] though once I was; on either side Lombard my parents were, and both of them For native place had Mantua,' he replied.

'Though late, _sub Julio_,[171] to the world I came, 70 And lived at Rome in good Augustus' day, While yet false G.o.ds and lying were supreme.

Poet I was, renowning in my lay Anchises' righteous son, who fled from Troy What time proud Ilion was to flames a prey.

But thou, why going back to such annoy?

The hill delectable why fear to mount, The origin and ground of every joy?'

'And thou in sooth art Virgil, and the fount Whence in a stream so full doth language flow?' 80 Abashed, I answered him with humble front.

'Of other poets light and honour thou!

Let the long study and great zeal I've shown In searching well thy book, avail me now!

My master thou, and author[172] thou, alone!

From thee alone I, borrowing, could attain The style[173] consummate which has made me known.

Behold the beast which makes me turn again: Deliver me from her, ill.u.s.trious Sage; Because of her I tremble, pulse and vein.' 90 'Thou must attempt another pilgrimage,'

Observing that I wept, he made reply, 'If from this waste thyself thou 'dst disengage.

Because the beast thou art afflicted by Will suffer none along her way to pa.s.s, But, hindering them, hara.s.ses till they die.

So vile a nature and corrupt she has, Her raging l.u.s.t is still insatiate, And food but makes it fiercer than it was.

Many a creature[174] hath she ta'en for mate, 100 And more she'll wed until the hound comes forth To slay her and afflict with torment great.

He will not batten upon pelf or earth; But he shall feed on valour, love, and lore; Feltro and Feltro[175] 'tween shall be his birth.

He will save humbled Italy, and restore, For which of old virgin Camilla[176] died; Turnus, Euryalus, Nisus, died of yore.

Her through all cities chasing far and wide, He at the last to h.e.l.l will thrust her down, 110 Whence envy[177] first unloosed her. I decide Therefore and judge that thou hadst best come on With me for guide;[178] and hence I'll lead thee where A place eternal shall to thee be shown.

There shalt thou hear the howlings of despair In which the ancient spirits make lament, All of them fain the second death to share.

Next shalt thou them behold who are content, Because they hope some time, though now in fire, To join the blessed they will win consent. 120 And if to these thou later wouldst aspire, A soul[179] shall guide thee, worthier far than I; When I depart thee will I leave with her.

Because the Emperor[180] who reigns on high Wills not, since 'gainst His laws I did rebel,[181]

That to His city I bring any nigh.

O'er all the world He rules, there reigns as well; There is His city and exalted seat: O happy whom He chooses there to dwell!'

And I to him: 'Poet, I thee entreat, 130 Even by that G.o.d who was to thee unknown, That I may 'scape this present ill, nor meet With worse, conduct me whither thou hast shown, That I may see Saint Peter's gate,[182] and those Whom thou reportest in such misery thrown.'

He moved away; behind him held I close.

FOOTNOTES:

[160] _Middle_: In his _Convito_ (iv. 23), comparing human life to an arch, Dante says that at the age of thirty-five a man has reached the top and begins to go down. As he was born in 1265 that was his own age in 1300, the year in which the action of the poem is laid.

[161] _Darksome wood_: A state of spiritual darkness or despair into which he has gradually drifted, not without fault of his own.

[162] _A hill_: Lower down this hill is termed 'the origin and cause of all joy.' It is symbolical of spiritual freedom--of the peace and security that spring from the practice of virtue. Only, as it seems, by gaining such a vantage-ground can he escape from the wilderness of doubt--the valley of the shadow of death--in which he is lost.

[163] _That planet_: On the Ptolemaic system, which, as perfected by the Arabian astronomers, and with some Christian additions, was that followed by Dante, the sun is reckoned as one of the seven planets; all the others as well as the earth and the fixed stars deriving their light from it. Here the sunlight may signify the Divine help granted to all men in their efforts after virtue.

[164] _The lower foot, etc._: This describes a cautious, slow ascent.

[165] _A nimble leopard_: The leopard and the lion and wolf that come with it are suggested by Jeremiah v. 6: 'A lion out of the forest shall slay them,' etc. We have Dante's own authority for it, in his letter to Can Grande, that several meanings are often hidden under the incidents of the _Comedy_. But whatever else the beasts may signify, their chief meaning is that of moral hindrances. It is plain that the lion and wolf are the sins of others--pride and avarice. If the leopard agrees with them in this, it most probably stands for the envy of those among whom Dante lived: at _Inf._ vi. 74 we find envy, pride, and avarice cla.s.sed together as the sins that have corrupted Florence. But from _Inf._ xvi.

<script>