CANTO XXIV. NOR Speech the going, nor the going that And I, continuing my colloquy, Said: "Peradventure he goes up more slowly "My sister, who, 'twixt beautiful and good, I know not which was more, triumphs rejoicing This," pointing with his finger, “is Buonagiunta, Beyond him there, more peaked than the others, From Tours was he, and purges by his fasting He named me many others one by one; And all contented seemed at being named, I saw for hunger bite the empty air Ubaldin dalla Pila, and Boniface, Who with his crook had pastured many people. I saw Messer Marchese, who had leisure Once at Forlì for drinking with less dryness, From that place heard I, where he felt the wound "O soul," I said, "that seemest so desirous To speak with me, do so that I may hear thee, And with thy speech appease thyself and me." "A maid is born, and wears not yet the veil," Began he, "who to thee shall pleasant make If by my murmuring thou hast been deceived, Evoked the new-invented rhymes, beginning, Love doth inspire me, note, and in that measure I do perceive full clearly how your pens Go closely following after him who dictates, No difference sees from one style to another;" Even as the birds, that winter tow'rds the Nile, Turning their faces, hurried on their steps, Lets his companions onward go, and walks, So did Forese let the holy flock Pass by, and came with me behind it, saying, "When will it be that I again shall see thee?" "How long," I answered, "I may live, I know not; Yet my return will not so speedy be, But I shall sooner in desire arrive ; Because the place where I was set to live From day to day of good is more depleted, Faster at every step the beast is going, 66 Not long those wheels shall turn," and he uplifted Is in this kingdom, that I lose too much A cavalier from out a troop that ride, And on the road remained I with those two, Mine eyes became to him such pursuivants And cry I know not what towards the leaves, Who pray, and he they pray to doth not answer, And now we came unto the mighty tree Which prayers and tears so manifold refuses. "Pass farther onward without drawing near; The tree of which Eve ate is higher up, Whereat Virgilius, Statius, and myself Formed of the cloud-rack, who inebriate Thus, closely pressed to one of the two borders, Then set at large upon the lonely road, A thousand steps and more we onward went, His aspect had bereft me of my sight, So that I turned me back unto my Teachers, And as, the harbinger of early dawn, The air of May doth move and breathe out fragrance, So did I feel a breeze strike in the midst My front, and felt the moving of the plumes That breathed around an odour of ambrosia ; And heard it said: "Blessed are they whom grace So much illumines, that the love of taste Excites not in their breasts too great desire, Hungering at all times so far as is just." 130 135 140 145 150 CANTO XXV. Now was it the ascent no hindrance brooked, Taking the stairway, one before the other, And as the little stork that lifts its wing With a desire to fly, and does not venture Kindled and quenched, unto the motion coming ΤΟ ་ Not for our pace, though rapid it might be, My father sweet forbore, but said: The bow of speech thou to the barb hast drawn." And I began: "How can one meagre grow "If thou wouldst call to mind how Meleager Was wasted by the wasting of a brand, This would not," said he, "be to thee so sour; And wouldst thou think how at each tremulous motion Trembles within a mirror your own image; That which seems hard would mellow seem to thee. But that thou mayst content thee in thy wish Responded Statius, "where thou present art, Thy mind doth contemplate and doth receive, They'll be thy light unto the How thou sayest. The perfect blood, which never is drunk up 29 25 30 33 Into the thirsty veins, and which remaineth Takes in the heart for all the human members 40 Virtue informative, as being that Which to be changed to them goes through the veins Again digest, descends it where 'tis better Silent to be than say; and then drops thence Upon another's blood in natural vase. 45 There one together with the other mingles, One to be passive meant, the other active By reason of the perfect place it springs from; And being conjoined, begins to operate, What for its matter it had made consistent. The active virtue, being made a soul As of a plant, (in so far different, This on the way is, that arrived already,) Then works so much, that now it moves and feels The virtue from the generator's heart, |