CANTO VII AFTER the gracious and glad salutations I am Virgilius; and for no crime else Did I lose heaven, than for not having faith; 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 And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him. 15 "O glory of the Latians, thou," he said, "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 If thou dost come from Hell, and from what cloister." "Through all the circles of the doleful realm," Responded he, " have I come hitherward; Line 10. As one who suddenly before him sees Line 12. And yet does not, saying, "It is! it is not!" 20 Heaven's power impelled me, and with that I come. I by not doing, not by doing, lost The sight of that high sun which thou desirest, But darkness only, where the lamentations Snatched by the teeth of Death, or ever they 25 30 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; 'Tis lawful for me to go up and round; So far as I can go, as guide I join thee. But see already how the day declines, 41 And to go up by night we are not able; Therefore 't is well to think of some fair sojourn. Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn; 46 If thou permit me I will lead thee to them, And thou shalt know them not without delight." "How is this?" was the answer; "should one wish To mount by night would he prevented be By others? or mayhap would not have power?" And on the ground the good Sordello drew 50 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: "Do thou conduct us thither, where thou sayest That we can take delight in tarrying." Little had we withdrawn us from that place, 56 60 70 When I perceived the mount was hollowed out 65 In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed.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, 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 75 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 "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, "Among them do not wish me to conduct you. 80 85 Better from off this ledge the acts and faces Than in the plain below received among them. Of having what he should have done neglected, Governed the region where the water springs, His son, who feeds in luxury and ease. Are they, and know his vicious life and iet., them. He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in, The stripling who in rear of him is sitting, Frederick and Jacomo possess the realms, As more than Beatrice and Margaret Harry of England, sitting there alone; Line 132. He in his branches has a better issue. 120 125 130 135 |