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| Poets in Limbo, by Gustave Doré |
The day was
going off, and the brown air
removed the
creatures of the earth from their
fatigue and
toil; and I alone prepared
4 myself to
carry on the battle there
of both the
journey and the pity as well,
which
memory will retrace that does not err.
7 O muses, o
high genius, give me help;
o memory,
which kept what I saw inscribed,
here your
nobility will show itself.
10 I began:
“Poet who would be my guide,
see if my
virtue’s strong enough to send
me on into
the passage deep and wide.
13 You say that
the father of Silvius went
himself
into the deathless and primeval
world,
corruptible still and with his sense.
16 But, if the
adversary of all evil
was kind to
him, judging the high effect
that issued
from him, and the things and people,
19 he seems
worthy to a man of intellect;
for he was
chosen for imperial Rome,
by empyreal
Heaven, as father elect:
22 which state
and empire, if the truth be known,
were then
established as the holy place
where great
Peter’s successor sits the throne.
25 Through this
venture for which you give him praise,
he came to
know the things that would occasion
his victory
and the papal mantle’s place.
28 The chosen
Vessel then went to those places,
to bring us
comfort in that faith and creed
that starts
us on the pathway to salvation.
31 But why
should I come there? who chooses me?
I am not
Aeneas, I am not Paul;
in my
worth, I and others don’t believe.
34 If I allow
myself to come at all,
I fear the
coming may be foolish still.
You’re
wise; and you hear better than I talk.”
37 And as is he
who unwills what he wills,
and for new
thoughts exchanges his intent,
so all that
he began is unfulfilled,
40 so I became
on that dark hillside then,
for, thinking,
I consumed the enterprise
that I had
been so ready to begin.
43 “If I have
clearly heard your words,” replied
that shadow
of the magnanimous man,
“your soul
is stung by cowardice; which lies
46 so heavy,
many times, upon a man,
it turns
him back from honored enterprise,
like false
shapes in the shadows that beasts glance.
49 That you may
free yourself now from this fright,
I’ll tell
you why I came and what I heard
when I
first grieved for you and for your plight.
52 I was among
those in suspense, at first,
and a
beautiful blessed woman from afar
came
calling, so I asked to be at her
55 command. Her eyes shone brighter than the stars;
and she
began to speak so soft and plain,
that in her
speech, a voice angelic starts:
58 ‘O gracious
Mantuan soul, of whom the fame
is still
enduring in the world today,
and will
endure as long as the world remains,
61 a friend of
mine, and not a friend of fate,
is so
impeded in his journey on
the desert
slope, that fear turns him away;
64 and I’m
afraid he may be so far gone,
that I’m
too late to rise to give him help,
from what
I’ve heard of him in Heaven beyond.
67 Now move, and
with your ornate words as well
as anything
you need to help him flee,
so I may be
consoled, you give him help.
70 I am Beatrice
who now makes you leave;
I come from
where I wish to go again;
love has
moved me, which also makes me speak.
73 When I shall
be before my Lord again,
I will
commend you often to him now.’
Then she
was silent, and so I commenced:
76 ‘O woman of
virtue, who alone are how
the human
race exceeds all else beneath
that Heaven
with its circles lowest down,
79 so pleasing
your commandment is to me,
that to
obey it now is still too late;
there’s no
more need to show me what you need.
82 But tell me
why you do not hesitate
to come
down here into this center, when
you’re burning
to return to the ample place.’
85 ‘Because you
want to know so much within,
I’ll tell
you briefly,’ she replied to me,
‘why I am
not afraid to come herein.
88 One ought to
be afraid of just those things
that have
the power to harm others; but
not other
things, for they aren’t frightening.
91 I have been
made by God, His mercy, such
that no
flame from this blaze harasses me,
nor by your
misery can I be touched.
94 A noble woman
is in Heaven, who weeps
for this
impediment I send you to,
so that
hard judgment there above is breached.
97 She asked for
Lucy in her plea for you,
and said: —Now
he has need of you, your faithful
believer,
and I’m trusting him to you.—
100 Lucy, enemy of
everything hateful,
moved off,
and then she came upon the spot
where I was
sitting with the ancient Rachel.
103 She said:
—Beatrice, the true praise of God,
why aren’t
you helping him who loved you so,
that he
emerged, for you, from the vulgar mob?
106 Do you not
hear the pity of his moan?
do you not
see the death he fights against
on the
torrent where the sea can’t even boast?—
109 No persons in
the world have ever been
so quick to
seek their profit nor to flee
their loss,
as I, upon such words, was then
112 to come down
here from off my blessed seat,
and
trusting in your true and honest speech,
which honors
you and those who’ve heard you speak.’
115 After she’d
reasoned all of this with me,
she turned her
bright and tearful eyes aside;
which only
made me come more rapidly.
118 And as she
wished, I came here by your side;
I raised
you from the beast that took away
the short
walk up the beautiful mountainside.
121 And so: what
is it? why, why do you stay?
why lodge
such cowardice into your heart?
why does
your liberty and courage fade?
124 as long as
three such blessed women are
in Heaven’s
court who care for you, and all
my words
promise such good if you depart?”
127 As little
flowers in a cold night’s frost
bent and
furled, when the sunlight strikes them, stand
up straight
and fully open on their stalks,
130 so I did, with
my strength exhausted, and
throughout
my heart such wholesome courage coursed,
that I
began a liberated man:
133 “Oh merciful,
she who helped me out before!
and
gracious, you who did obey right then
the true
and honest words that she put forth!
136 With such
desire to come, my heart has been
disposed,
that only with the words you spoke,
I’ve turned
to my original intent.
139 Now go, for a
single will is in us both:
you guide,
you lord, you master, lead the way.”
So I told
him; and when he turned to go,
142 I entered on
the deep and wild way.
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