PURGATORIO CANTO 22 Dante and Mandelbaum Tr.	Notes	Ann.
Già era l'angel dietro a noi rimaso, l'angel che n'avea vòlti al sesto giro, avendomi dal viso un colpo raso; The angel now was left behind us, he who had directed us to the sixth terrace, having erased one P that scarred my face;	22.003
e quei c'hanno a giustizia lor disiro detto n'avea beati, e le sue voci con 'sitiunt', sanz'altro, ciò forniro. he had declared that those who longed for justice are blessed, and his voice concluded that message with "sitiunt," without the rest.	22.006
E io più lieve che per l'altre foci m'andava, sì che sanz'alcun labore seguiva in sù li spiriti veloci; And while I climbed behind the two swift spirits, not laboring at all, for I was lighter than I had been along the other stairs,	22.009
quando Virgilio incominciò: «Amore, acceso di virtù, sempre altro accese, pur che la fiamma sua paresse fore; Virgil began: "Love that is kindled by virtue, will, in another, find reply, as long as that love's flame appears without;	22.012
onde da l'ora che tra noi discese nel limbo de lo 'nferno Giovenale, che la tua affezion mi fé palese, so, from the time when Juvenal, descending among us, in Hell's Limbo, had made plain the fondness that you felt for me, my own	22.015
mia benvoglienza inverso te fu quale più strinse mai di non vista persona, sì ch'or mi parran corte queste scale. benevolence toward you has been much richer than any ever given to a person one has not seen; thus, now these stairs seem short.	22.018
Ma dimmi, e come amico mi perdona se troppa sicurtà m'allarga il freno, e come amico omai meco ragiona: But tell me (and, as friend, forgive me if excessive candor lets my reins relax, and, as a friend, exchange your words with me):	22.021
come poté trovar dentro al tuo seno loco avarizia, tra cotanto senno di quanto per tua cura fosti pieno?». how was it that you found within your breast a place for avarice, when you possessed the wisdom you had nurtured with such care?"	22.024
Queste parole Stazio mover fenno un poco a riso pria; poscia rispuose: «Ogne tuo dir d'amor m'è caro cenno. These words at first brought something of a smile to Statius; then he answered: "Every word you speak, to me is a dear sign of love.	22.027
Veramente più volte appaion cose che danno a dubitar falsa matera per le vere ragion che son nascose. Indeed, because true causes are concealed, we often face deceptive reasoning and things provoke perplexity in us.	22.030
La tua dimanda tuo creder m'avvera esser ch'i' fossi avaro in l'altra vita, forse per quella cerchia dov'io era. Your question makes me sure that you're convinced- perhaps because my circle was the fifth- that, in the life I once lived, avarice	22.033
Or sappi ch'avarizia fu partita troppo da me, e questa dismisura migliaia di lunari hanno punita. had been my sin. Know then that I was far from avarice-it was my lack of measure thousands of months have punished. And if I	22.036
E se non fosse ch'io drizzai mia cura, quand'io intesi là dove tu chiame, crucciato quasi a l'umana natura: had not corrected my assessment by my understanding what your verses meant when you, as if enraged by human nature,	22.039
'Per che non reggi tu, o sacra fame de l'oro, l'appetito de' mortali?', voltando sentirei le giostre grame. exclaimed: 'Why cannot you, o holy hunger for gold, restrain the appetite of mortals?'- I'd now, while rolling weights, know sorry jousts.	22.042
Allor m'accorsi che troppo aprir l'ali potean le mani a spendere, e pente'mi così di quel come de li altri mali. Then I became aware that hands might open too wide, like wings, in spending; and of this, as of my other sins, I did repent.	22.045
Quanti risurgeran coi crini scemi per ignoranza, che di questa pecca toglie 'l penter vivendo e ne li stremi! How many are to rise again with heads cropped close, whom ignorance prevents from reaching repentance in-and at the end of-life!	22.048
E sappie che la colpa che rimbecca per dritta opposizione alcun peccato, con esso insieme qui suo verde secca; And know that when a sin is countered byu another fault-directly opposite" to it-then, here, both sins see their green wither.	22.051
però, s'io son tra quella gente stato che piange l'avarizia, per purgarmi, per lo contrario suo m'è incontrato». Thus, I join those who pay for avarice in my purgation, though what brought me here was prodigality-its opposite."	22.054
«Or quando tu cantasti le crude armi de la doppia trestizia di Giocasta», disse 'l cantor de' buccolici carmi, "Now, when you sang the savage wars of those twin sorrows of Jocasta," said the singer of the bucolic poems, "it does not seem-	22.057
«per quello che Cliò teco lì tasta, non par che ti facesse ancor fedele la fede, sanza qual ben far non basta. from those notes struck by you and Clio there- that you had yet turned faithful to the faith without which righteous works do not suffice.	22.060
Se così è, qual sole o quai candele ti stenebraron sì, che tu drizzasti poscia di retro al pescator le vele?». If that is so, then what sun or what candles drew you from darkness so that, in their wake, you set your sails behind the fisherman?"	22.063
Ed elli a lui: «Tu prima m'inviasti verso Parnaso a ber ne le sue grotte, e prima appresso Dio m'alluminasti. And he to him: "You were the first to send me to drink within Parnassus' caves and you, the first who, after God, enlightened me.	22.066
Facesti come quei che va di notte, che porta il lume dietro e sé non giova, ma dopo sé fa le persone dotte, You did as he who goes by night and carries the lamp behind him-he is of no help to his own self but teaches those who follow-	22.069
quando dicesti: 'Secol si rinova; torna giustizia e primo tempo umano, e progenie scende da ciel nova'. when you declared: 'The ages are renewed; justice and man's first time on earth return; from Heaven a new progeny descends.'	22.072
Per te poeta fui, per te cristiano: ma perché veggi mei ciò ch'io disegno, a colorare stenderò la mano: Through you I was a poet and, through you, a Christian; but that you may see more plainly, I'll set my hand to color what I sketch.	22.075
Già era 'l mondo tutto quanto pregno de la vera credenza, seminata per li messaggi de l'etterno regno; Disseminated by the messengers of the eternal kingdom, the true faith by then had penetrated all the world,	22.078
e la parola tua sopra toccata si consonava a' nuovi predicanti; ond'io a visitarli presi usata. and the new preachers preached in such accord with what you'd said (and I have just repeated), that I was drawn into frequenting them.	22.081
Vennermi poi parendo tanto santi, che, quando Domizian li perseguette, sanza mio lagrimar non fur lor pianti; Then they appeared to me to be so saintly that, when Domitian persecuted them, my own laments accompanied their grief;	22.084
e mentre che di là per me si stette, io li sovvenni, e i lor dritti costumi fer dispregiare a me tutte altre sette. and while I could-as long as I had life- I helped them, and their honest practices made me disdainful of all other sects.	22.087
E pria ch'io conducessi i Greci a' fiumi di Tebe poetando, ebb'io battesmo; ma per paura chiuso cristian fu'mi, Before-within my poem-I'd led the Greeks unto the streams of Thebes, I was baptized; but out of fear, I was a secret Christian	22.090
lungamente mostrando paganesmo; e questa tepidezza il quarto cerchio cerchiar mi fé più che 'l quarto centesmo. and, for a long time, showed myself as pagan; for this halfheartedness, for more than four centuries, I circled the fourth circle.	22.093
Tu dunque, che levato hai il coperchio che m'ascondeva quanto bene io dico, mentre che del salire avem soverchio, And now may you, who lifted up the lid that hid from me the good of which I speak, while time is left us as we climb, tell me	22.096
dimmi dov'è Terrenzio nostro antico, Cecilio e Plauto e Varro, se lo sai: dimmi se son dannati, e in qual vico». where is our ancient Terence, and Caecilius and Plautus, where is Varius, if you know; tell me if they are damned, and in what quarter."	22.099
«Costoro e Persio e io e altri assai», rispuose il duca mio, «siam con quel Greco che le Muse lattar più ch'altri mai, "All these and Persius, I, and many others," my guide replied, "are with that Greek to whom the Muses gave their gifts in greatest measure.	22.102
nel primo cinghio del carcere cieco: spesse fiate ragioniam del monte che sempre ha le nutrice nostre seco. Our place is the blind prison, its first circle; and there we often talk about the mountain where those who were our nurses always dwell.	22.105
Euripide v'è nosco e Antifonte, Simonide, Agatone e altri piùe Greci che già di lauro ornar la fronte. Euripides is with us, Antiphon, Simonides, and Agathon, as well as many other Greeks who once wore laurel	22.108
Quivi si veggion de le genti tue Antigone, Deifile e Argia, e Ismene sì trista come fue. upon their brow; and there-of your own people- one sees Antigone, Deiphyle, Ismene, sad still, Argia as she was.	22.111
Védeisi quella che mostrò Langia; èvvi la figlia di Tiresia, e Teti e con le suore sue Deidamia». There one can see the woman who showed Langia, and there, Tiresias' daughter; there is Thetis; and, with her sisters, there, Deidamia."	22.114
Tacevansi ambedue già li poeti, di novo attenti a riguardar dintorno, liberi da saliri e da pareti; Both poets now were silent, once again intent on their surroundings-they were free of stairs and walls; with day's first four handmaidens	22.117
e già le quattro ancelle eran del giorno rimase a dietro, e la quinta era al temo, drizzando pur in sù l'ardente corno, already left behind, and with the fifth guiding the chariot-pole and lifting it, so that its horn of flame rose always higher,	22.120
quando il mio duca: «Io credo ch'a lo stremo le destre spalle volger ne convegna, girando il monte come far solemo». my master said: "I think it's time that we turn our right shoulders toward the terrace edge, circling the mountain in the way we're used to."	22.123
Così l'usanza fu lì nostra insegna, e prendemmo la via con men sospetto per l'assentir di quell'anima degna. In this way habit served us as a banner; and when we chose that path, our fear was less because that worthy soul gave his assent.	22.126
Elli givan dinanzi, e io soletto di retro, e ascoltava i lor sermoni, ch'a poetar mi davano intelletto. Those two were in the lead; I walked alone, behind them, listening to their colloquy, which taught me much concerning poetry.	22.129
Ma tosto ruppe le dolci ragioni un alber che trovammo in mezza strada, con pomi a odorar soavi e buoni; But their delightful conversation soon was interrupted by a tree that blocked our path; its fruits were fine, their scent was sweet,	22.132
e come abete in alto si digrada di ramo in ramo, così quello in giuso, cred'io, perché persona sù non vada. and even as a fir-tree tapers upward from branch to branch, that tree there tapered downward, so as-I think-to ward off any climber.	22.135
Dal lato onde 'l cammin nostro era chiuso, cadea de l'alta roccia un liquor chiaro e si spandeva per le foglie suso. Upon our left, where wall enclosed our path, bright running water fell from the high rock and spread itself upon the leaves above.	22.138
Li due poeti a l'alber s'appressaro; e una voce per entro le fronde gridò: «Di questo cibo avrete caro». When the two poets had approached the tree, a voice emerging from within the leaves cried out: "This food shall be denied to you."	22.141
Poi disse: «Più pensava Maria onde fosser le nozze orrevoli e intere, ch'a la sua bocca, ch'or per voi risponde. Then it cried: "Mary's care was for the marriage- feast's being seemly and complete, not for her mouth (which now would intercede for you).	22.144
E le Romane antiche, per lor bere, contente furon d'acqua; e Daniello dispregiò cibo e acquistò savere. And when they drank, of old, the Roman women were satisfied with water; and young Daniel, through his disdain of food, acquired wisdom.	22.147
Lo secol primo, quant'oro fu bello, fé savorose con fame le ghiande, e nettare con sete ogne ruscello. The first age was as fair as gold: when hungry, men found the taste of acorns good; when thirsty, they found that every little stream was nectar.	22.150
Mele e locuste furon le vivande che nodriro il Batista nel diserto; per ch'elli è glorioso e tanto grande When he was in the wilderness, the Baptist had fed on nothing more than honey, locusts: for this he was made great, as glorious	22.153
quanto per lo Vangelio v'è aperto». as, in the Gospel, is made plain to you."	22.154

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