60 THE DIVINE COMEDY OF DANTE ALIGHIERI TRANSLATED BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW I follow here the footing of thy feete That with thy meaning so I may the rather meete. SPENSER. LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL MANCHESTER AND NEW YORK To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend, A soul shall be for that than I more worthy; With her at my departure I will leave thee; Because that Emperor, who reigns above, In that I was rebellious to his law, Wills that through me none come into his city. O happy he whom thereto he elects!" And I to him: "Poet, I thee entreat, By that same God whom thou didst never know, Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said, CANTO II. DAY was departing, and the embrowned air Both of the way and likewise of the woe, O memory, that didst write down what I saw, And I began: "Poet, who guidest me, Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient, Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me. Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent, While yet corruptible, unto the world But if the adversary of all evil Was courteous, thinking of the high effect To men of intellect unmeet it seems not; For he was of great Rome, and of her empire In the empyreal heaven as father chosen ; The which and what, wishing to speak the truth, Were stablished as the holy place, wherein Sits the successor of the greatest Peter. 19 ་ Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith, Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it. I fear the coming may be ill-advised; And by new thoughts doth his intention change, Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise, Replied that shade of the Magnanimous, "Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, Which many times a man encumbers so, It turns him back from honoured enterprise, As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy. That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension, I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard At the first moment when I grieved for thee. Among those was I who are in suspense, And a fair, saintly Lady called to me In such wise, I besought her to command me. Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star; And she began to say, gentle and low, With voice angelical, in her own language: 'O spirit courteous of Mantua, Of whom the fame still in the world endures, And shall endure, long-lasting as the world; A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune, Upon the desert slope is so impeded Upon his way, that he has turned through terror, And may, I fear, already be so lost, That I too late have risen to his succour, From that which I have heard of him in Heaven. Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate, Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go; I come from there, where I would fain return; Full often will I praise thee unto him.' To obey, if 'twere already done, were late; The here descending down into this centre, From the vast place thou burnest to return to.' 'Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, Briefly will I relate,' she answered me, 'Why I am not afraid to enter here. Of those things only should one be afraid Which have the power of doing others harm; That misery of yours attains me not, At this impediment, to which I send thee, And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, Hastened away, and came unto the place Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so, Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? Dost thou not see the death that combats him Never were persons in the world so swift To work their weal and to escape their woe, As I, after such words as these were uttered, Came hither downward from my blessed seat, Confiding in thy dignified discourse, Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it.' After she thus had spoken unto me, Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away; And unto thee I came, as she desired; I have delivered thee from that wild beast, Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent. Seeing that three such Ladies benedight Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven, And so much good my speech doth promise thee?" Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them, Such I became with my exhausted strength, And such good courage to my heart there coursed, "O she compassionate, who succoured me, And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed To the adventure, with these words of thine, Now go, for one sole will is in us both, Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou." I entered on the deep and savage way. CANTO III. "THROUGH me the way is to the city dolent; Through me the way is to eternal dole ; Through me the way among the people lost. Justice incited my sublime Creator; Created me divine Omnipotence, The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. All hope abandon, ye who enter in !" Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me! |