But when he said, "Leave him, and onward pass, For here 'tis good that with the sail and oars, My person, notwithstanding that my thoughts The footsteps of my Master, and we both Above the buried dead their tombs in earth From pricking of remembrance, which alone So saw I there, but of a better semblance In point of artifice, with figures covered I saw that one who was created noble More than all other creatures, down from heaven I saw Briareus smitten by the dart Celestial, lying on the other side, I saw Thymbræus, Pallas saw, and Mars, Still clad in armour round about their father, Thee I beheld upon the pathway traced. Didst thou appear there lifeless in Gilboa, O mad Arachne! so I thee beheld E'en then half spider, sad upon the shreds Thine image there; but full of consternation 5 10 13 20 25 30 35 3 45 Displayed moreo'er the adamantine pavement And how, he being dead, they left him there; Displayed the ruin and the cruel carnage That Tomyris wrought, when she to Cyrus said, "Blood didst thou thirst for, and with blood I glut thee !" Displayed how routed fled the Assyrians After that Holofernes had been slain, And likewise the remainder of that slaughter. I saw there Troy in ashes and in caverns; Displayed the image that is there discerned ! Whoe'er of pencil master was or stile, That could portray the shades and traits which there 65 Dead seemed the dead, the living seemed alive; Ye sons of Eve, and bow not down your faces More of the mount by us was now encompassed, Was going on, began: "Lift up thy head, 'Tis no more time to go thus meditating. Lo there an Angel who is making haste To come towards us; lo, returning is From service of the day the sixth handmaiden. So that he may delight to speed us upward; I was familiar with his admonition Ever to lose no time; so on this theme Towards us came the being beautiful Vested in white, and in his countenance Such as appears the tremulous morning star. His arms he opened, and opened then his wings; 66 66 ! At this announcement few are they who come Where seated is the church that lordeth it By stairways that were made there in the age When still were safe the ledger and the stave, E'en thus attempered is the bank which falls Sheer downward from the second circle there; But on this side and that the high rock grazes. As we were turning thitherward our persons, "Beati pauperes spiritu," voices Sang in such wise that speech could tell it not. Ah me! how different are these entrances From the Infernal! for with anthems here Has been uplifted from me, so that hardly Thy feet will be so vanquished by good will, Then did I even as they do who are going With something on the head to them unknown, Unless the signs of others make them doubt, Wherefore the hand to ascertain is helpful, And seeks and finds, and doth fulfil the office Which cannot be accomplished by the sight; And with the fingers of the right hand spread I found but six the letters, that had carved Upon my temples he who bore the keys; Upon beholding which my Leader smiled. CANTO XIII. We were upon the summit of the stairs, The hill all round about, as does the first, Shade is there none, nor sculpture that appears ; So seems the bank, and so the road seems smooth, "If to inquire we wait for people here," The Poet said, "I fear that peradventure Made his right side the centre of his motion, If other reason prompt not otherwise, As much as here is counted for a mile, So much already there had we advanced And tow'rds us there were heard to fly, albeit The first voice that passed onward in its flight, And ere it wholly grew inaudible Because of distance, passed another, crying, "O," said I, "Father, these, what voices are they?" Saying: "Love those from whom ye have had evil!" And the good Master said: "This circle scourges Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge. The bridle of another sound shall be; I think that thou wilt hear it, as I judge, I looked before me, and saw shades with mantles I heard a cry of, "Mary, pray for us!" I do not think there walketh still on earth A man so hard, that he would not be pierced And one sustained the other with his shoulder, Stand at the doors of churches asking alms, So that in others pity soon may rise, Not only at the accent of their words, So to the shades, of whom just now I spake, And sews them up, as to a sparhawk wild But said: "Speak, and be brief, and to the point." I had Virgilius upon that side Of the embankment from which one may fall, Upon the other side of me I had The shades devout, who through the horrible seam |