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PURGATORIO CANTO 17
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn. 

	Remember, reader, if you've ever been
caught in the mountains by a mist through which
you only saw as moles see through their skin,

	REMEMBER, Reader, if e'er in the Alps
A mist o'ertook thee, through which thou couldst see
Not otherwise than through its membrane mole,








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	how, when the thick, damp vapors once begin
to thin, the sun's sphere passes feebly through them,
then your imagination will be quick

	How, when the vapours humid and condensed
Begin to dissipate themselves, the sphere
Of the sun feebly enters in among them,








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	to reach the point where it can see how I
first came to see the sun again-when it
was almost at the point at which it sets.

	And thy imagination will be swift
In coming to perceive how I re-saw
The sun at first, that was already setting.








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	So, my steps matched my master's trusty steps;
out of that cloud I came, reaching the rays
that, on the shores below, by now were spent.

	Thus, to the faithful footsteps of my Master
Mating mine own, I issued from that cloud
To rays already dead on the low shores.








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	O fantasy, you that at times would snatch
us so from outward things-we notice nothing
although a thousand trumpets sound around us-

	O thou, Imagination, that dost steal us
So from without sometimes, that man perceives not,
Although around may sound a thousand trumpets,








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	who moves you when the senses do not spur you?
A light that finds its form in Heaven moves you-
directly or led downward by God's will.

	Who moveth thee, if sense impel thee not?
Moves thee a light, which in the heaven takes form,
By self, or by a will that downward guides it.








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	Within my fantasy I saw impressed
the savagery of one who then, transformed,
became the bird that most delights in song;

	Of her impiety, who changed her form
Into the bird that most delights in singing,
In my imagining appeared the trace;








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	at this, my mind withdrew to the within,
to what imagining might bring; no thing
that came from the without could enter in.

	And hereupon my mind was so withdrawn
Within itself, that from without there came
Nothing that then might be received by it.








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	Then into my deep fantasy there rained
one who was crucified; and as he died,
he showed his savagery and his disdain.

	Then reigned within my lofty fantasy
One crucified, disdainful and ferocious
In countenance, and even thus was dying.








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	Around him were great Ahasuerus and
Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai,
whose saying and whose doing were so upright.

	Around him were the great Ahasuerus,
Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai,
Who was in word and action so entire.








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	And when this image shattered of itself,
just like a bubble that has lost the water
beneath which it was formed, there then rose up

	And even as this image burst asunder
Of its own self, in fashion of a bubble
In which the water it was made of fails,








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	in my envisioning a girl who wept
most bitterly and said: "O queen, why did
you, in your wrath, desire to be no more?

	There rose up in my vision a young maiden
Bitterly weeping, and she said: "O queen,
Why hast thou wished in anger to be naught ?








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	So as to keep Lavinia, you killed
yourself; now you have lost me! I am she,
mother, who mourns your fall before another's."

	Thou'st slain thyself, Lavinia not to lose;
Now hast thou lost me; I am she who mourns,
Mother, at thine ere at another's ruin."








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	Even as sleep is shattered when new light
strikes suddenly against closed eyes and, once
it's shattered, gleams before it dies completely,

	As sleep is broken, when upon a sudden
New light strikes in upon the eyelids closed,
And broken quivers ere it dieth wholly,








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	so my imagination fell away
as soon as light-more powerful than light
we are accustomed to-beat on my eyes.

	So this imagining of mine fell down
As soon as the effulgence smote my face,
Greater by far than what is in our wont.








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	I looked about to see where I might be;
but when a voice said: "Here one can ascend,"
then I abandoned every other intent.

	I turned me round to see where I might be,
When said a voice, "Here is the passage up;"
Which from all other purposes removed me,








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	That voice made my will keen to see the one
who'd spoken-with the eagerness that cannot
be still until it faces what it wants.

	And made my wish so full of eagerness
To look and see who was it that was speaking, 
It never rests till meeting face to face;








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	But even as the sun, become too strong,
defeats our vision, veiling its own form,
so there my power of sight was overcome.

	But as before the sun, which quells the sight,
And in its own excess its figure veils,
Even so my power was insufficient here.








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	"This spirit is divine; and though unasked,
he would conduct us to the upward path;
he hides himself with that same light he sheds.

	"This is a spirit divine, who in the way
Of going up directs us without asking
And who with his own light himself conceals.








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	He does with us as men do with themselves;
for he who sees a need but waits to be
asked is already set on cruel refusal.

	He does with us as man doth with himself;
For he who sees the need, and waits the asking,
Malignly leans already tow'rds denial.








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	Now let our steps accept his invitation,
and let us try to climb before dark falls-
then, until day returns, we'll have to halt."

	Accord we now our feet to such inviting,
Let us make haste to mount ere it grow dark;
For then we could not till the day return."








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	So said my guide; and toward a stairway, he
and I, together, turned; and just as soon
as I was at the first step, I sensed something

	Thus my Conductor said; and I and he
Together turned our footsteps to a stairway,
And I, as soon as the first step I reached








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	much like the motion of a wing, and wind
that beat against my face, and words: "Beati
pacifici, those free of evil anger!"

	Near me perceived a motion as of wings
And fanning in the face, and saying, "Beati
Pacifi, who are without ill anger."








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	Above us now the final rays before;
the fall of night were raised to such a height
that we could see the stars on every side.

	Already over us were so uplifted
The latest sunbeams, which the night pursues,
That upon many sides the stars appeared.








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	"O why, my strength, do you so melt away?"
I said within myself, because I felt
the force within my legs compelled to halt.

	"O manhood mine, why dost thou vanish so ?"
I said within myself; for I perceived
The vigour of my legs was put in truce.








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	We'd reached a point at which the upward stairs
no longer climbed, and we were halted there
just like a ship when it has touched the shore.

	We at the point were where no more ascends
The stairway upward, and were motionless,
Even as a ship, which at the shore arrives;








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	I listened for a while, hoping to hear
whatever there might be in this new circle;
then I turned toward my master, asking him:

	And I gave heed a little, if I might hear
Aught whatsoever in the circle new;
Then to my Master turned me round and said:








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	"Tell me, my gentle father: what offense
is purged within the circle we have reached?
Although our feet must stop, your words need not."

	"Say, my sweet Father, what delinquency
Is purged here in the circle where we are?
Although our feet may pause, pause not thy speech."








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	And he to me: "Precisely here, the love
of good that is too tepidly pursued
is mended; here the lazy oar plies harder.

	And he to me: "The love of good, remiss
In what it should have done, is here restored;
Here plied again the ill-belated oar;








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	But so that you may understand more clearly,
now turn your mind to me, and you will gather
some useful fruit from our delaying here.

	But still more openly to understand,
Turn unto me thy mind, and thou shalt gather
Some profitable fruit from our delay.








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	My son, there's no Creator and no creature
who ever was without love-natural
or mental; and you know that," he began.

	Neither Creator nor a creature ever,
Son," he began, "was destitute of love
Natural or spiritual; and thou knowest it.








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	"The natural is always without error,
but mental love may choose an evil object
or err through too much or too little vigor.

	The natural was ever without error;
But err the other may by evil object,
Or by too much, or by too little vigour.








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	As long as it's directed toward the First Good
and tends toward secondary goods with measure,
it cannot be the cause of evil pleasure;

	While in the first it well directed is,
And in the second moderates itself,
It cannot be the cause of sinful pleasure;








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	but when it twists toward evil, or attends
to good with more or less care than it should,
those whom He made have worked against their Maker.

	But when to ill it turns, and, with more care
Or lesser than it ought, runs after good,
''Gainst the Creator works his own creation.








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	From this you see that-of necessity-
love is the seed in you of every virtue
and of all acts deserving punishment.

	Hence thou mayst comprehend that love must be
The seed within yourselves of every virtue,
And every act that merits punishment.








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	Now, since love never turns aside its eyes
from the well-being of its subject, things
are surely free from hatred of themselves;

	Now inasmuch as never from the welfare
Of its own subject can love turn its sight,
From their own hatred all things are secure;








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	and since no being can be seen as self-
existing and divorced from the First Being,
each creature is cut off from hating Him.

	And since we cannot think of any being
Standing alone, nor from the First divided,
Of hating Him is all desire cut off.








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	Thus, if I have distinguished properly,
ill love must mean to wish one's neighbor ill;
and this love's born in three ways in your clay.

	Hence if, discriminating, I judge well,
The evil that one loves is of one's neighbour,
And this is born in three modes in your clay.








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	There's he who, through abasement of another,
hopes for supremacy; he only longs
to see his neighbor's excellence cast down.

	There are, who, by abasement of their neighbour,  
Hope to excel, and therefore only long
That from his greatness he may be cast down;








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	Then there is one who, when he is outdone,
fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor;
his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor.

	There are, who power, grace, honour, and renown
Fear they may lose because another rises,
Thence are so sad that the reverse they love;








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	And there is he who, over injury
received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy
and, angrily, seeks out another's harm.

	And there are those whom injury seems to chafe,
So that it makes them greedy for revenge,
And such must needs shape out another's harm.








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	This threefold love is expiated here
below; now I would have you understand
the love that seeks the good distortedly.

	This threefold love is wept for down below;
Now of the other will I have thee hear, 
That runneth after good with measure faulty.








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	Each apprehends confusedly a Good
in which the mind may rest, and longs for It;
and, thus, all strive to reach that Good; but if

	Each one confusedly a good conceives
Wherein the mind may rest, and longeth for it;
Therefore to overtake it each one strives.








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	the love that urges you to know It or
to reach that Good is lax, this terrace, after
a just repentance, punishes for that.

	If languid love to look on this attract you, 
Or in attaining unto it, this cornice,
After just penitence, torments you for it.








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	There is a different good, which does not make
men glad; it is not happiness, is not
true essence, fruit and root of every good.

	There's other good that does not make man happy;
'Tis not felicity, 'tis not the good
Essence, of every good the fruit and root. 








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	The love that-profligately-yields to that
is wept on in three terraces above us;
but I'll not say what three shapes that loves takes-

	The love that yields itself too much to this
Above us is lamented in three circles;
But how tripartite it may be described,








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	may you seek those distinctions for yourself."

	I say not, that thou seek it for thyself."




17.139

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