CANTO VII. After the gracious and glad salutations Had three and four times been reiterated, Sordello backward drew and said, "Who are you?" "Or ever to this mountain were directed "; Did I lose heaven, than for not having faith" In this wise then my Leader made reply. As one who suddenly before him seeth Something whereat he marvels, who believes And yet doth not, saying, "It is! it is not!" So he appeared; and then bowed down his brow, And with humility returned towards him, 5 10 And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him. 15 "O glory of the Latians, thou," he said, 66 66 Through whom our language showed what it could do, O pride eternal of the place I came from, What merit or what grace to me reveals thee? If I to hear thy words be worthy, tell me 20 If thou dost come from Hell, and from what cloister." "Through all the circles of the doleful realm," Responded he, "have I come hitherward; Heaven's power impelled me, and with that I come. I by not doing, not by doing, lost Line 10. As one who suddenly before him sees Line 12. And yet does not, saying, "It is! it is not! " 25 The sight of that high sun which thou desirest, And which too late by me was recognized. A place there is below not sad with torments, But darkness only, where the lamentations Have not the sound of wailing, but are sighs. 30 There dwell I with the little innocents Snatched by the teeth of Death, or ever they Were from our human sinfulness exempt. There dwell I among those who the three saintly Virtues did not put on, and without vice The others knew and followed all of them. But if thou know and can, some indication 35 Give us by which we may the sooner come Where Purgatory has its right beginning." He answered: "No fixed place has been assigned us; "T is lawful for me to go up and round; So far as I can go, as guide I join thee. 40 But see already how the day declines, journ. 45 50 Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn ; ever, 55 To going up, save the nocturnal darkness; This with the want of power the will perplexes. We might indeed therewith return below, And, wandering, walk the hill-side round about, While the horizon holds the day imprisoned." Thereon my Lord, as if in wonder, said: 60 "Do thou conduct us thither, where thou sayest That we can take delight in tarrying." Little had we withdrawn us from that place, When I perceived the mount was hollowed out 65 In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed. Thitherward," said that shade, "will we repair, Where of itself the hill-side makes a lap, 66 And there for the new day will we await." 'Twixt hill and plain there was a winding path Which led us to the margin of that dell, Where dies the border more than half away. Gold and fine silver, and scarlet and pearl-white, The Indian wood resplendent and serene, Fresh emerald the moment it is broken, By herbage and by flowers within that hollow Planted, each one in color would be vanquished, As by its greater vanquished is the less. Nor in that place had nature painted only, But of the sweetness of a thousand odors Made there a mingled fragrance and unknown. "Salve Regina," on the green and flowers There seated, singing, spirits I beheld, Which were not visible outside the valley. "Before the scanty sun now seeks his nest,' Began the Mantuan who had led us thither, 66 Among them do not wish me to conduct you. Better from off this ledge the acts and faces 70 75 80 85 Of all of them will you discriminate, Than in the plain below received among them. 90 He who sits highest, and the semblance bears Of having what he should have done neglected, And to the others' song moves not his lips, Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power To heal the wounds that Italy have slain, So that through others slowly she revives. The other, who in look doth comfort him, 95 Governed the region where the water springs, And the small-nosed, who close in council seems 105 Are they, and know his vicious life and lewd, 110 And hence proceeds the grief that so doth pierce them. He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in, The stripling who in rear of him is sitting, 115 120 Not oftentimes upriseth through the branches As more than Beatrice and Margaret 130 135 CANTO VIII. 'T was now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell, And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day, When I began to make of no avail My hearing, and to watch one of the souls Uprisen, that begged attention with its hand. It joined and lifted upward both its palms, Fixing its eyes upon the orient, As if it said to God, "Naught else I care for." Line 132. He in his branches has a better issue. 5 10 |