Purgatorio
Canto II
The sun rises. A boat, steered by an angel, swiftly approaches the shore; it contains a company of spirits brought to Purgatory. These landed, the angel with the boat departs to collect other spirits at the mouth of the Tiber. Among the newcomers Dante recognises a friend; it is Casella the musician. Casella is persuaded to sing, and the spirits gather round to listen, when Cato appears and rebukes them for loitering, and they scatter up the slopes of the mountain.
NOW the sun touched the horizon with his flame,[i]1-6. This is one of the astronomical riddles to which our poet was addicted. According to medieval cosmology, Jerusalem and Purgatory are on opposite sides of the earth, 180° from each other: when Jerusalem sees the sun rise, Purgatory sees it set. The river Ganges, which flowed on the eastern confines of the inhabited world, stands for the “east.” What we are told, in a devious and ingenious way, is that for the spectators on the island of Purgatory the sun was rising.
The circle of whose meridian, at the height
It reaches most, covers Jerusalem;
And opposite to him in her circling, Night
Came up from Ganges, and the Scales with her
That from her hand fall as she grows in might;
So that the fair cheeks of Aurora, there[ii]7-9. The poet transfers to the face of the goddess of dawn (Aurora) the changing colours of the morning sky.
Where I was, gave their red and white away,
Sallowing, as if old age had turned them sere.
We lingered yet by the ocean-marge, as they [10]
Who think upon the road that lies before
And in their mind go, but in body stay;
And lo! as at the approach of morning frore
Mars through the mist glimmers a fiery red
Down in the West over the ocean-floor,
(May mine eyes yet upon that sight be fed!)[iii]16. “May mine eyes . . .”: after death, when my soul shall be wafted to Purgatory.
Appeared, moving across the water, a light
So swift, all earthly motion it outsped.
From which when for a space I had drawn my sight
Away, and of my Guide the meaning sought, [20]
I saw it now grown bigger and more bright.
On either side of it I knew not what
Of white appeared to gleam out; and below
Another whiteness by degrees it got.
My master spoke not yet a word, till lo!
When those first whitenesses as wings shone free
And his eyes now could well the Pilot know,
He exclaimed: “Bend, see that thou bend the knee.
Behold the Angel of God! Lay hand to hand!
Such ministers henceforth thou art to see. [30]
Look, how he scorneth aid that man hath planned,
And wills not oar nor other sail to ply,
But only his own wings from far land to land.
See how he has them stretcht up toward the sky,
Sweeping the air with that eternal plume
Which moulteth not as the hair of things that die.”
Such an exceeding brightness did allume
The Bird of God, who near and nearer bore,
Mine eyes to endure him might not now presume,
But bent them down; and he came on to shore [40]
Upon a barque so swift and light and keen
As scarcely a ripple from the water tore.
On the heavenly Steersman at the stern was seen
Inscribed that blissfulness whereof he knew;
And more than a hundred spirits sat within.
Together all were singing In exitu
Israel de Egypto as one host
With what of that psalm doth those words ensue.
With the holy sign their company he crossed;
Whereat themselves forth on the strand they threw: [50]
Swift as he came, he sped, and straight was lost.
They that remained seemed without any clue
To the strange place, casting a wondering eye
Round them, like one assaying hazards new.
On every side the arrowing sun shot high
Into the day, and with his bright arrows
Had hunted Capricorn from the mid sky,[iv]57. At dawn the constellation of Capricorn was on the meridian; it is effaced by the rays of the rising sun.
When the new people lifted up their brows
Towards us, and spoke to us: “If ye know it, show
What path to us the mountain-side allows.” [60]
And Virgil answered: “Peradventure you
Suppose we have experience of the way;
But we are pilgrims, even as ye are too.
We came but now, a little before you, nay,
By another road than yours, so steep and rude
That the climb now will seem to us but play.”
The spirits, who by my breathing understood
That I was still among the living things,
Marvelling, became death-pale where they stood.
As round a messenger, who the olive brings, [70][v]70. Bearers of good tidings used to carry an olive branch.
Folk, to hear news, each on the other tread,
And none is backward with his elbowings,
So on my face their gaze intently fed
Those spirits, all so fortunate, and forgot
Almost to go up and be perfected.
One of them now advanced, as if he sought
To embrace me, with a love so fond and fain,
That upon me to do the like he wrought.
O Shades, in all but aspect, void and vain![vi]79-81. Throughout Hell the souls, though without weight, are not only visible but tangible. On the lower slopes of the mountain of Purgatory, however, Dante cannot touch a shade, although two spirits can still embrace.
Behind it thrice my hands did I enlace, [80]
And thrice they came back to my breast again.
Wonder, I think, was painted on my face;
At which the spirit smiled and backward drew,
And, following it, I sprang forward a pace.
Gently it bade me pause: and then I knew
Who it was, and prayed him pity on me to show
And talk with me as he was used to do.
“As in the mortal body I loved thee, so
In my release I love thee,” he answered me.
“Therefore I stay: but thou, why dost thou go?” [90][vii]91. Of Casella we know only that he was a musician of Florence and a close friend of the poet and, perhaps, that he set to music Dante’s canzone, “Love that discourseth to me in my mind” (see line 112).
“Casella mine, that this place I may see
Hereafter,” I said, “have I this journey made.[viii]92-93. Dante’s present experience is intended to fit him to return to Purgatory after death. Casella evidently had died some time before, and Dante is astonished to see him just arrived in the other world.
But how hath so much time been stolen from thee?”
And he to me: “None have I to upbraid
If he who takes when he chooses, and whom,[ix]95-97. “He who takes . . .”: the angelic boatman. “In a just will . . .”: the will of God.
This passage many times to me forbade.
For in a just will hath his will its home.
Truly he has taken now these three months past
Whoso hath wished to enter, in all welcome.
So I, whose eyes on the sea-shore were cast [100]
Where Tiber’s water by the salt is won,[x]101. The “Tiber’s water” signifies allegorically the Church of Rome. There congregate the souls of those who die in its bosom. The souls of the unrepentant descend to Acheron.
By him was gathered in benignly at last.
To that mouth now his wings he urgeth on
Because for ever assemble in that spot
They who are not to sink towards Acheron.”
And I: “If a new law forbid thee not
Memory and usage of the enamoured song
Which used to soothe all wishes of my thought,
May it please thee awhile to solace with thy tongue
My spirit that, in its mortal mask confined, [110]
The journey hither bitterly hath wrung.”
“Love that discourseth to me in my mind”
Began he then so sweetly, that the sound
Still in my heart with sweetness is entwined.
My Master and I, and all that people around
Who were with him, had faces so content
As if all else out of their thoughts were drowned.
We to his notes, entranced, our senses lent:
And lo! the old man whom all the rest revere
Crying, “What is this, ye laggard spirits faint? [120]
What truancy, what loitering is here?
Haste to the Mount and from the slough be freed
Which lets not God unto your eyes appear.”
As doves, when picking corn or darnel seed,
All quiet and close-crowding to that fare,
Their strut of pride forgotten in their greed,
If anything appear their hearts to scare
On the instant leave the food there, where it lies,
Because they are assailed by greater care,
So saw I that new company arise, [130]
And leave the song, and the steep slope essay,
Like one who goes, knowing not of where he hies:
Nor with less haste went we upon our way.