PURGATORIO CANTO 29 Dante and Mandelbaum Tr.	Notes	Ann.
Cantando come donna innamorata, continuò col fin di sue parole: 'Beati quorum tecta sunt peccata!'. Her words were done, but without interruption she sang-like an enamored woman-thus: "Beati quorum tecta sunt peccata!"	29.003
E come ninfe che si givan sole per le salvatiche ombre, disiando qual di veder, qual di fuggir lo sole, And just as nymphs who used to walk alone among the woodland shadows, some desiring to see and some to flee the sun, so she	29.006
allor si mosse contra 'l fiume, andando su per la riva; e io pari di lei, picciol passo con picciol seguitando. moved countercurrent as she walked along the riverbank; and following her short footsteps with my own steps, I matched her pace.	29.009
Non eran cento tra ' suoi passi e ' miei, quando le ripe igualmente dier volta, per modo ch'a levante mi rendei. Her steps and mine together did not sum one hundred when the banks, still parallel, so curved about that I was facing east.	29.012
Né ancor fu così nostra via molta, quando la donna tutta a me si torse, dicendo: «Frate mio, guarda e ascolta». Nor had we gone much farther on that path when she turned fully round toward me and said: "My brother, look and listen"; and I saw	29.015
Ed ecco un lustro sùbito trascorse da tutte parti per la gran foresta, tal che di balenar mi mise in forse. a sudden radiance that swept across the mighty forest on all sides-and I was wondering if lightning had not struck.	29.018
Ma perché 'l balenar, come vien, resta, e quel, durando, più e più splendeva, nel mio pensier dicea: 'Che cosa è questa?'. But since, when lightning strikes, it stops at once, while that light, lingering, increased its force, within my mind I asked: "What thing is this?"	29.021
E una melodia dolce correva per l'aere luminoso; onde buon zelo mi fé riprender l'ardimento d'Eva, And through the incandescent air there ran sweet melody; at which, just indignation made me rebuke the arrogance of Eve	29.024
che là dove ubidia la terra e 'l cielo, femmina, sola e pur testé formata, non sofferse di star sotto alcun velo; because, where earth and heaven were obedient, a solitary woman, just created, found any veil at all beyond endurance;	29.027
sotto 'l qual se divota fosse stata, avrei quelle ineffabili delizie sentite prima e più lunga fiata. if she had been devout beneath her veil, I should have savored those ineffable delights before, and for a longer time.	29.030
Mentr'io m'andava tra tante primizie de l'etterno piacer tutto sospeso, e disioso ancora a più letizie, While I moved on, completely rapt, among so many first fruits of eternal pleasure, and longing for still greater joys, the air	29.033
dinanzi a noi, tal quale un foco acceso, ci si fé l'aere sotto i verdi rami; e 'l dolce suon per canti era già inteso. before us altered underneath the green branches, becoming like an ardent fire, and now the sweet sound was distinctly song.	29.036
O sacrosante Vergini, se fami, freddi o vigilie mai per voi soffersi, cagion mi sprona ch'io mercé vi chiami. O Virgins, sacrosanct, if I have ever, for your sake, suffered vigils, cold, and hunger, great need makes me entreat my recompense.	29.039
Or convien che Elicona per me versi, e Uranìe m'aiuti col suo coro forti cose a pensar mettere in versi. Now Helicon must pour its fountains for me, Urania must help me with her choir to put in verses things hard to conceive.	29.042
Poco più oltre, sette alberi d'oro falsava nel parere il lungo tratto del mezzo ch'era ancor tra noi e loro; Not far beyond, we made out seven trees of gold, though the long stretch of air between those trees and us had falsified their semblance;	29.045
ma quand'i' fui sì presso di lor fatto, che l'obietto comun, che 'l senso inganna, non perdea per distanza alcun suo atto, but when I'd drawn so close that things perceived through mingled senses, which delude, did not, now they were nearer, lose their real features,	29.048
la virtù ch'a ragion discorso ammanna, sì com'elli eran candelabri apprese, e ne le voci del cantare 'Osanna'. the power that offers reason matter judged those trees to be-what they were-candelabra, and what those voices sang to be "Hosanna."	29.051
Di sopra fiammeggiava il bello arnese più chiaro assai che luna per sereno di mezza notte nel suo mezzo mese. The upper part of those fair candles flamed more radiantly than the midmonth moon shines at midnight in an untroubled sky.	29.054
Io mi rivolsi d'ammirazion pieno al buon Virgilio, ed esso mi rispuose con vista carca di stupor non meno. Full of astonishment, I turned to my good Virgil; but he only answered me with eyes that were no less amazed than mine.	29.057
Indi rendei l'aspetto a l'alte cose che si movieno incontr'a noi sì tardi, che foran vinte da novelle spose. Then I looked at the extraordinary things that were moving toward us-but so slowly that even brides just wed would move more quickly.	29.060
La donna mi sgridò: «Perché pur ardi sì ne l'affetto de le vive luci, e ciò che vien di retro a lor non guardi?». The woman chided me: "Why are you only so eager to behold the living lights and not in seeing what comes after them?"	29.063
Genti vid'io allor, come a lor duci, venire appresso, vestite di bianco; e tal candor di qua già mai non fuci. Then I saw people following those candles, as if behind their guides, and they wore white- whiteness that, in this world, has never been.	29.066
L'acqua imprendea dal sinistro fianco, e rendea me la mia sinistra costa, s'io riguardava in lei, come specchio anco. The water, to my left, reflected flames, and it reflected, too, my left-hand side if I gazed into it, as in a mirror.	29.069
Quand'io da la mia riva ebbi tal posta, che solo il fiume mi facea distante, per veder meglio ai passi diedi sosta, When I was at a point along my shore where all that sundered me from them was water, I stayed my steps in order to see better,	29.072
e vidi le fiammelle andar davante, lasciando dietro a sé l'aere dipinto, e di tratti pennelli avean sembiante; and I could see the candle flames move forward, leaving the air behind them colored like the strokes a painter's brush might have described,	29.075
sì che lì sopra rimanea distinto di sette liste, tutte in quei colori onde fa l'arco il Sole e Delia il cinto. so that the air above that retinue was streaked with seven bands in every hue of which the rainbow's made and Delia's girdle.	29.078
Questi ostendali in dietro eran maggiori che la mia vista; e, quanto a mio avviso, diece passi distavan quei di fori. These pennants stretched far back, beyond my vision; as for the width they filled, I judged the distance between the outer ones to be ten paces.	29.081
Sotto così bel ciel com'io diviso, ventiquattro seniori, a due a due, coronati venien di fiordaliso. Beneath the handsome sky I have described, twenty-four elders moved on, two by two, and they had wreaths of lilies on their heads.	29.084
Tutti cantavan: «Benedicta tue ne le figlie d'Adamo, e benedette sieno in etterno le bellezze tue!». And all were singing: "You, among the daughters of Adam, benedicta are; and may your beauties blessed be eternally."	29.087
Poscia che i fiori e l'altre fresche erbette a rimpetto di me da l'altra sponda libere fuor da quelle genti elette, After the flowers and the other fresh plants facing me, along the farther shore, had seen those chosen people disappear,	29.090
sì come luce luce in ciel seconda, vennero appresso lor quattro animali, coronati ciascun di verde fronda. then-as in heaven, star will follow star- the elders gone, four animals came on; and each of them had green leaves as his crown;	29.093
Ognuno era pennuto di sei ali; le penne piene d'occhi; e li occhi d'Argo, se fosser vivi, sarebber cotali. each had six wings as plumage, and those plumes were full of eyes; they would be very like the eyes of Argus, were his eyes alive.	29.096
A descriver lor forme più non spargo rime, lettor; ch'altra spesa mi strigne, tanto ch'a questa non posso esser largo; Reader, I am not squandering more rhymes in order to describe their forms; since I must spend elsewhere, I can't be lavish here;	29.099
ma leggi Ezechiel, che li dipigne come li vide da la fredda parte venir con vento e con nube e con igne; but read Ezekiel, for he has drawn those animals approaching from the north; with wings and cloud and fire, he painted them.	29.102
e quali i troverai ne le sue carte, tali eran quivi, salvo ch'a le penne Giovanni è meco e da lui si diparte. And just as you will find them in his pages, such were they here, except that John's with me as to their wings; with him, John disagrees.	29.105
Lo spazio dentro a lor quattro contenne un carro, in su due rote, triunfale, ch'al collo d'un grifon tirato venne. The space between the four of them contained a chariot-triumphal-on two wheels, tied to a griffin's neck and drawn by him.	29.108
Esso tendeva in sù l'una e l'altra ale tra la mezzana e le tre e tre liste, sì ch'a nulla, fendendo, facea male. His wings, stretched upward, framed the middle band with three bands on each outer side, so that, though he cleaved air, he left the bands intact.	29.111
Tanto salivan che non eran viste; le membra d'oro avea quant'era uccello, e bianche l'altre, di vermiglio miste. His wings-so high that they were lost to sight; his limbs were gold as far as he was bird; the rest of him was white mixed with bloodred.	29.114
Non che Roma di carro così bello rallegrasse Affricano, o vero Augusto, ma quel del Sol saria pover con ello; Not only did no chariot so handsome gladden Rome's Africanus or Augustus himself-even the Sun's own cannot match it;	29.117
quel del Sol che, sviando, fu combusto per l'orazion de la Terra devota, quando fu Giove arcanamente giusto. the Sun's-which, gone astray, was burnt to cinders because Earth offered up her pious prayers, when Jove, in ways not known to us, was just.	29.120
Tre donne in giro da la destra rota venian danzando; l'una tanto rossa ch'a pena fora dentro al foco nota; Three circling women, then advancing, danced: at the right wheel; the first of them, so red that even in a flame she'd not be noted;	29.123
l'altr'era come se le carni e l'ossa fossero state di smeraldo fatte; la terza parea neve testé mossa; the second seemed as if her flesh and bone were fashioned out of emerald; the third seemed to be newly fallen snow. And now	29.126
e or parean da la bianca tratte, or da la rossa; e dal canto di questa l'altre toglien l'andare e tarde e ratte. the white one seemed to lead them, now the red; and from the way in which the leader chanted, the others took their pace, now slow, now rapid.	29.129
Da la sinistra quattro facean festa, in porpore vestite, dietro al modo d'una di lor ch'avea tre occhi in testa. Upon the left, four other women, dressed in crimson, danced, depending on the cadence of one of them, with three eyes in her head.	29.132
Appresso tutto il pertrattato nodo vidi due vecchi in abito dispari, ma pari in atto e onesto e sodo. Behind all of the group I have described I saw two elders, different in their dress but like in manner-grave and decorous.	29.135
L'un si mostrava alcun de' famigliari di quel sommo Ipocràte che natura a li animali fé ch'ell'ha più cari; The first seemed to be one of the disciples of great Hippocrates, whom nature made for those who are her dearest living beings;	29.138
mostrava l'altro la contraria cura con una spada lucida e aguta, tal che di qua dal rio mi fé paura. the other showed an opposite concern- his sword was bright and sharp, and even on this near side of the river, I felt fear.	29.141
Poi vidi quattro in umile paruta; e di retro da tutti un vecchio solo venir, dormendo, con la faccia arguta. Then I saw four of humble aspect; and, when all the rest had passed, a lone old man, his features keen, advanced, as if in sleep.	29.144
E questi sette col primaio stuolo erano abituati, ma di gigli dintorno al capo non facean brolo, The clothes these seven wore were like the elders' in the first file, except that these had no garlands of lilies round their brow; instead,	29.147
anzi di rose e d'altri fior vermigli; giurato avria poco lontano aspetto che tutti ardesser di sopra da' cigli. roses and other red flowers wreathed their heads; one seeing them less closely would have sworn that all of them had flames above their eyebrows.	29.150
E quando il carro a me fu a rimpetto, un tuon s'udì, e quelle genti degne parvero aver l'andar più interdetto, And when the chariot stood facing me, I heard a bolt of thunder; and it seemed to block the path of that good company,	29.153
fermandosi ivi con le prime insegne. which halted there, its emblems in the lead.	29.154

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