The Divine Comedy · Dante Alighieri
Cunizza, Folco of Marseilles, and Rahab.
Beautiful Clemence, after that thy Charles1372
Had me enlightened, he narrated to me
The treacheries his seed should undergo;1373
But said: “Be still and let the years roll round”;
So I can only say, that lamentation
Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.
And of that holy light the life already
Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,
As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.
Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,
Who from such good do turn away your hearts,
Directing upon vanity your foreheads!
And now, behold, another of those splendors
Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
It signified by brightening outwardly.
The eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were
Upon me, as before, of dear assent
To my desire assurance gave to me.
“Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,
Thou blessed spirit,” I said, “and give me proof
That what I think in thee I can reflect!”
Whereat the light, that still was new to me,1374
Out of its depths, whence it before was singing,
As one delighted to do good, continued:
“Within that region of the land depraved1375
Of Italy, that lies between Rialto
And fountainheads of Brenta and of Piava,
Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,1376
Wherefrom descended formerly a torch
That made upon that region great assault.
Out of one root were born both I and it;
Cunizza was I called, and here I shine1377
Because the splendor of this star o’ercame me.1378
But gladly to myself the cause I pardon1379
Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me;
Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.
Of this so luculent and precious jewel,1380
Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,
Great fame remained; and ere it die away
This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
See if man ought to make him excellent,
So that another life the first may leave!
And thus thinks not the present multitude
Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,1381
Nor yet for being scourged is penitent.
But soon ’twill be that Padua in the marsh1382
Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
Because the folk are stubborn against duty;
And where the Sile and Cagnano join1383
One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,1384
For catching whom e’en now the net is making.
Feltro moreover of her impious pastor
Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be1385
That for the like none ever entered Malta.1386
Ample exceedingly would be the vat
That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,
And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,
Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift1387
To show himself a partisan; and such gifts
Will to the living of the land conform.1388
Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,1389
From which shines out on us God Judicant,
So that this utterance seems good to us.”
Here it was silent, and it had the semblance
Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel
On which it entered as it was before.
The other joy, already known to me,
Became a thing transplendent in my sight,
As a fine ruby smitten by the sun.1390
Through joy effulgence is acquired above,1391
As here a smile; but down below, the shade
Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.
“God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,1392
Thy sight is,” said I, “so that never will
Of his can possibly from thee be hidden;
Thy voice, then, that forever makes the heavens1393
Glad, with the singing of those holy fires1394
Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,
Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?
Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning
If I in thee were as thou art in me.”1395
“The greatest of the valleys where the water1396
Expands itself,” forthwith its words began,
“That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,
Between discordant shores against the sun1397
Extends so far, that it meridian makes
Where it was wont before to make the horizon.
I was a dweller on that valley’s shore
’Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short1398
Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.
With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly
Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,1399
That with its blood once made the harbour hot.1400
Folco that people called me unto whom1401
My name was known; and now with me this heaven
Imprints itself, as I did once with it;
For more the daughter of Belus never burned,1402
Offending both Sichaeus and Creusa,
Than I, so long as it became my locks,
Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded1403
Was by Demophoon, nor yet Alcides,1404
When Iole he in his heart had locked.
Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,1405
Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind,
But at the power which ordered and foresaw.
Here we behold the art that doth adorn1406
With such affection, and the good discover
Whereby the world above turns that below.
But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear
Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born,
Still farther to proceed behoveth me.
Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light
That here beside me thus is scintillating,
Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water.
Then know thou, that within there is at rest
Rahab, and being to our order joined,1407
With her in its supremest grade ’tis sealed.
Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone1408
Cast by your world, before all other souls
First of Christ’s triumph was she taken up.1409
Full meet it was to leave her in some heaven,
Even as a palm of the high victory
Which he acquired with one palm and the other,1410
Because she favored the first glorious deed1411
Of Joshua upon the Holy Land,1412
That little stirs the memory of the Pope.
Thy city, which an offshoot is of him1413
Who first upon his Maker turned his back,
And whose ambition is so sorely wept,
Brings forth and scatters the accursed flower1414
Which both the sheep and lambs hath led astray
Since it has turned the shepherd to a wolf.
For this the Evangel and the mighty Doctors1415
Are derelict, and only the Decretals
So studied that it shows upon their margins.
On this are Pope and Cardinals intent;
Their meditations reach not Nazareth,
There where his pinions Gabriel unfolded;1416
But Vatican and the other parts elect
Of Rome, which have a cemetery been
Unto the soldiery that followed Peter
Shall soon be free from this adultery.”
· · ·
End of part 77 of 101
Continue readingParadiso: Canto X
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