Purgatorio
Canto VI
Dante is beset by spirits, some of whom are named, desiring the intercession of their friends on earth, but gets free of them. Virgil observes a shade sitting alone and apart, and asks it to show them the quickest way of ascent. It is Sordello the thirteenth century poet, a Mantuan like Virgil. The two embrace when they learn that they are of the same city: and this provokes from Dante an impassioned outburst of indignation at the disunited and factious state of Italy, only to be remedied by the assertion of the Imperial authority; ending with a bitterly sarcastic description of Florence and the Florentines.
WHEN dicers from the game of hazard rise,[i]1. “Hazard”: a game played with three dice.
The loser keeps disconsolately at play,
Repeats the casts and sadly groweth wise:
With the other all the people hurry away;
One goes in front, one plucks him back, a third,
Beside him, to be called to mind will pray.
He stops not, giving this and that a word;
Those he extends his hand to, cease to press;
And so he wins him riddance from that herd.
Such was I, turning here and there my face [10]
Amid the thronging of that multitude,
And got me quit of them by promises.
There was the Aretine, who by the rude[ii]13-15. “The Aretine” is Benincasa of Laterina, who was murdered by the famous robber, Ghino di Tacco, whose brother he had condemned to death. “The other” Aretine is said to be Guccio Tarlati, who was drowned in the Arno while pursuing the enemy.
Sinews of Ghin di Tacco died, and there
The other, who was drowned as he pursued.
There Frederic Novello was in prayer[iii]16-18. “Frederic Novello,” the son of Count Guido Novello, was killed in war. “He of Pisa” is the son of “Marzucco,” a Pisan, whose fortitude was shown by pardoning the murderer of his son.
With outstretcht hands, and he of Pisa, who made
The good Marzucco’s fortitude appear.
I saw Count Orso, and that other shade,[iv]19. “Count Orso” of Mangona was murdered by his cousin Albert.
By envy and hatred from its body torn, [20]
As it averred, and not for faith betrayed;
Pierre de la Brosse I mean; and may this warn[v]22. “Pierre de la Brosse” was chamberlain of Philip III of France; he was hanged through the wiles of Philip’s second wife, Mary of Brabant.
The Lady of Brabant, ere her life cease,
Lest to worse company she be down-borne.
When I from all these spirits had gained release
Whose one prayer was that others pray for them
So that their way be hastened unto peace,
I thus began: “Thou, O my Light, dost seem
Ina certain place expressly to gainsay
That prayer may alter the decree supreme. [30]
And these people who only for this pray,
Is it idle hope, then, that they entertain,
Or may thy words some other sense convey?”
And he to me: “That which I wrote is plain,
And the hope these cherish fails not, if aright
Thou wilt consider it with judgment sane.
For justice is not brought down from its height,
Because in an instant burning love can here
Redeem the debt these souls have to requite.
And in that case where I the law made clear, [40]
Prayer to amend fault was of none effect
Because God was not present to the prayer.
Yet be not in so deep a question checked,
Unless she tell thee who shall be in this
A light between truth and the intellect.
Dost thou understand me? I speak of Beatrice.
When to this mountain’s top thou winn’st at last
Thou shalt behold her smiling and in bliss.”
And I: “My Lord, move we with greater haste,
For now I grow not weary as I did. [50]
And see, the hill doth now a shadow cast.”
“We will go onward with this day,” replied
The master, “far as we the path can track;
But the truth is not what thy hopes confide.
Ere thou be above, thou'lt see him shining back
Who now behind the mountain slope is gone
So that thou causest not his rays to break.
But see yon spirit that, stationed all alone,
All solitary, looketh toward us now:
It shall the speediest way to us make known.” [60]
We came to it. O Lombard spirit, how[vi]61. “Lombard spirit”: Sordello.
Disdainful and majestical thou wast!
In moving of thine eyes how stately and slow!
No word to us approaching it addrest,
But let us go on, watching only there
In likeness of a lion couched at rest.
Yet Virgil toward it moved and made his prayer
That it should point to us the best ascent;
And that shade for his question had no care,
But of our country and where our life was spent [70]
Inquired of us; and the sweet Guide began
“Mantua”: and the shade, all self-intent,
Leapt toward him from its place, crying “Mantuan!
I am Sordello, of thine own city.”
And each into the other’s arms they ran.
Thou inn of sorrow, ah, trampled Italy!
No Lady of domains, but brothel of shamel
Ship without pilot on a stormy seal
That gentle spirit was thus quick to acclaim
His countryman and hail him there for friend [80]
Merely at the sweet sound of his city’s name;
And now their days in thee the living spend
In quarrel, and each one doth the other wound
Of those whom one wall and one moat defend.
Search, miserable! all the shores around
Thy coasts, and then within thy bosom look,
If peace in any part of thee be found.
What does it profit, that Justinian took
Thy bridle in hand, if empty be the seat?
Were'’t not for this, thou hadst earned less rebuke. [90]
Ah, ye that should be all-devout, and let[vii]91. “Ye that . . .”: the clergy.
Caesar sit in the saddle, if indeed
God’s admonition ye do not forget,
See now this beast to what a vicious steed,
Lacking the spur’s correction, she doth grow,
Since ye have grasped the bridle and strive to lead.[viii]96. Ever since the clergy usurped temporal authority.
O German Albert, who neglectest so[ix]97. Albert of Hapsburg was elected King of the Romans in 1298 but never went to Italy to be crowned.
Her who hath wild and mutinous become,
And oughtest to bestride her saddle-bow,
May a just judgment from the stars consume [100][x]100-103. In 1307 Albert's oldest son died after a short sickness; the next year Albert himself was murdered.—‘Thy successor”: Henry VII, who descended into Italy.—‘Thy father”: Rudolf, who was as remiss as his son.
Thy race, and be it strange and manifest,
That thy successor tremble at thy doom.
Thou and thy father, covetous in quest
Of lands beyond, have turned aside and choose
That the garden of the empire be laid waste.
Come, and see Capulets and Montagues,[xi]106-107. Dante cites a few of the great houses that were ravaged by strife: the Montecchi of Verona, Ghibellines; the Cappelletti of Cremona, of the Church party; the Monaldi and Filippeschi, rival families (Guelf and Ghibellines) of Perugia and Orvieto.
Monaldi and Filippeschi, O heedless wight—
Those losing hope and these in dread to lose.
Come, cruel! come and see the woes that blight
Thy nobles, and their heavy wrongs amend: [110]
Thou shalt see Santafior, how dark its plight.[xii]111. The Counts of Santafiora, a great Ghibelline family, had lost a great part of their territory to Siena.
Come, see thy Rome that, mourning without end,
Widowed and desolate, crieth night and day
“Why, Caesar mine, wilt thou not be my friend?”
Come, see how thy folk love each other: nay,
If our affliction no compassion move,
Come and be shamed for what men of thee say.
And be it permitted me, O highest Jove,[xiii]118. “Highest Jove”: Christ.
Who wast on earth crucified for our sake,
Dost thou thy just eyes otherwhere remove, [120]
Or is it preparation thou dost make
In thine unfathomed wisdom for some good
Wholly invisible to our sight opaque?
For not a city lacks its tyrant brood,
And every churl who would a party lead
Grows a Marcellus for the multitude.[xiv]126. C. Claudius Marcellus was a partisan of Pompey.
My Florence, thou may’st be content indeed
At this digression, which doth touch thee not,
So well thy folk provide against their need.
Many love justice, yet haste not to shoot [130]
The word, being well-advisèd, from the bow;
But on thy people’s lips it leapeth out.
Many to bear the common burden are slow;
But thy folk answer to the call unbid,
Crying “I gird me to the task and go.”
Rejoice now, thou hast reason, thou amid
Thy riches, thou at peace, thou wise of will!
That I speak truth, the event cannot keep hid.
Athens and Lacedaemon, famous still
For law-making and civil discipline, [140]
Showed but a small hint of the Commonweal
Compared with thee, who dost so finely spin
That in October thou providest thread
Which mid-November cannot hope to win.
How often thou rememberest to have shed
Laws, coinage, customs, offices, for new,
Cast out old members and new members bred!
And if thou wilt examine and see true,
Thou'lt see thyself in that sick woman’s shape
Who, laid on down, finds no rest, and can do [150]
Nothing but turn and turn, her pain to escape.