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PURGATORIO CANTO 21
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn. 

	The natural thirst that never can be quenched
except by water that gives grace-the draught
the simple woman of Samaria sought-

	THE natural thirst, that ne'er is satisfied
Excepting with the water for whose grace
The woman of Samaria besought,








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	tormented me; haste spurred me on the path
crowded with souls, behind my guide; and I
felt pity, though their pain was justified.

	Put me in travail, and haste goaded me
Along the encumbered path behind my Leader
And I was pitying that righteous vengeance;








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	And here-even as Luke records for us
that Christ, new-risen from his burial cave,
appeared to two along his way-a shade

	And lo! in the same manner as Luke writeth
That Christ appeared to two upon the way
From the sepulchral cave already risen,








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	appeared; and he advanced behind our backs
while we were careful not to trample on
the outstretched crowd. We did not notice him

	A shade appeared to us, and came behind us,
Down gazing on the prostrate multitude,
Nor were we ware of it, until it spake,








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	until he had addressed us with: "God give
you, o my brothers, peace!" We turned at once;
then, after offering suitable response,

	Saying, "My brothers, may God give you peace!
"We turned us suddenly, and Virgilius rendered
To him the countersign thereto conforming








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	Virgil began: "And may that just tribunal
which has consigned me to eternal exile
place you in peace within the blessed assembly!"

	Thereon began he: "In the blessed council,
Thee may the court veracious place in peace,
That me doth banish in eternal exile!"








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	"What!" he exclaimed, as we moved forward quickly.
"If God's not deemed you worthy of ascent,
who's guided you so far along His stairs?"

	"How," said he, and the while we went with speed,
"If ye are shades whom God deigns not on high,
Who up his stairs so far has guided you?"








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	"If you observe the signs the angel traced
upon this man," my teacher said, "you'll see
plainly-he's meant to reign with all the righteous;

	And said my Teacher: "If thou note the marks
Which this one bears,and which the Angel traces
Well shalt thou see he with the good must reign.








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	but since she who spins night and day had not
yet spun the spool that Clotho sets upon
the distaff and adjusts for everyone,

	But because she who spinneth day and night
For him had not yet drawn the distaff off,
Which Clotho lays for each one and compacts,








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	his soul, the sister of your soul and mine,
in its ascent, could not-alone-have climbed
here, for it does not see the way we see.

	His soul, which is thy sister and my own,
In coming upwards could not come alone,
By reason that it sees not in our fashion.








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	Therefore, I was brought forth from Hell's broad jaws
to guide him in his going; I shall lead
him just as far as where I teach can reach.

	Whence I was drawn from out the ample throat
Of Hell to be his guide,and I shall guide him
As far on as my school has power to lead.








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	But tell me, if you can, why, just before,
the mountain shook and shouted, all of it-
for so it seemed-down to its sea-bathed shore."

	But tell us, if thou knowest, why such a shudder
Erewhile the mountain gave, and why together
All seemed to cry, as far as its moist feet?"








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	His question threaded so the needle's eye
of my desire that just the hope alone
of knowing left my thirst more satisfied.

	In asking he so hit the very eye
Of my desire, that merely with the hope
My thirst became the less unsatisfied.








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	That other shade began: "The sanctity
of these slopes does not suffer anything
that's without order or uncustomary.

	"Naught is there," he began, " that without order
May the religion of the mountain feel,
Nor aught that may be foreign to its custom.








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	This place is free from every perturbation:
what heaven from itself and in itself
receives may serve as cause here-no thing else.

	Free is it here from every permutation;
What from itself heaven in itself receiveth
Can be of this the cause, and naught beside;








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	Therefore, no rain, no hail, no snow, no dew,
no hoarfrost falls here any higher than
the stairs of entry with their three brief steps;

	Because that neither rain, nor hail, nor snow,
Nor dew, nor hoar-frost any higher falls
Than the short, little stairway of three steps.








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	neither thick clouds nor thin appear, nor flash
of lightning; Thaumas' daughter, who so often
shifts places in your world, is absent here.

	Dense clouds do not appear, nor rarefied,
Nor coruscation, nor the daughter of Thaumas,
That often upon earth her region shifts;








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	Dry vapor cannot climb up any higher
than to the top of the three steps of which
I spoke-where Peter's vicar plants his feet.

	No arid vapour any farther rises
Than to the top of the three steps I spake of,
Whereon the Vicar of Peter has his feet.








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	Below that point, there may be small or ample
tremors; but here above, I know not why,
no wind concealed in earth has ever caused

	Lower down perchance it trembles less or more,
But, for the wind that in the earth is hidden
I know not how, up here it never trembled.








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	a tremor; for it only trembles here
when some soul feels it's cleansed, so that it rises
or stirs to climb on high; and that shout follows.

	It trembles here, whenever any soul
Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves
To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it.








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	The will alone is proof of purity
and, fully free, surprises soul into
a change of dwelling place-effectively.

	Of purity the will alone gives proof,
Which, being wholly free to change its convent,
Takes by surprise the soul, and helps it fly.








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	Soul had the will to climb before, but that
will was opposed by longing to do penance
(as once, to sin), instilled by divine justice.

	First it wills well; but the desire permits not,
Which divine justice with the self-same will
There was to sin, upon the torment sets.








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	And I, who have lain in this suffering
five hundred years and more, just now have felt
my free will for a better threshold: thus,

	And I, who have been Iying in this pain
Five hundred years and more, but just now felt
A free volition for a better seat.








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	you heard the earthquake and the pious spirits
throughout the mountain as they praised the Lord-
and may He send them speedily upward."

	Therefore thou heardst the earthquake, and the pious
Spirits along the mountain rendering praise
Unto the Lord, that soon he speed them upwards."








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	So did he speak to us; and just as joy
is greater when we quench a greater thirst,
the joy he brought cannot be told in words.

	So said he to him; and since we enjoy
As much in drinking as the thirst is great,
I could not say how much it did me good.








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	And my wise guide: "I now can see the net
impeding you, how one slips through, and why
it quakes here, and what makes you all rejoice.

	And the wise Leader: "Now I see the net
That snares you here, and how ye are set free,
Why the earth quakes, and wherefore ye rejoice.








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	And now may it please you to tell me who
you were, and in your words may I find why
you've lain here for so many centuries."

	Now who thou wast be pleased that I may know;
And why so many centuries thou hast here
Been Iying, let me gather from thy words."








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	"In that age when the worthy Titus, with
help from the Highest King, avenged the wounds
from which the blood that Judas sold had flowed,

	"In days when the good Titus, with the aid
Of the supremest King, avenged the wounds
Whence issued forth the blood by Judas sold,








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	I had sufficient fame beyond," that spirit
replied; "I bore the name that lasts the longest
and honors most-but faith was not yet mine.

	Under the name that most endures and honours,
Was I on earth," that spirit made reply,
"Greatly renowned, but not with faith as yet.








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	So gentle was the spirit of my verse
that Rome drew me, son of Toulouse, to her,
and there my brow deserved a crown of myrtle.

	My vocal spirit was so sweet, that Rome
Me, a Thoulousian, drew unto herself,
Where I deserved to deck my brows with myrtle.








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	On earth my name is still remembered-Statius:
I sang of Thebes and then of great Achilles;
I fell along the way of that last labor.

	Statius the people name me still on earth;
I sang of Thebes, and then of great Achilles;
But on the way fell with my second burden.








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	The sparks that warmed me, the seeds of my ardor,
were from the holy fire-the same that gave
more than a thousand poets light and flame.

	The seeds unto my ardour were the sparks
Of that celestial flame which heated me,
Whereby more than a thousand have been fired;








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	I speak of the Aeneid; when I wrote
verse, it was mother to me, it was nurse;
my work, without it, would not weigh an ounce.

	Of the Aeneid speak I, which to me
A mother was, and was my nurse in song;
Without this weighed I not a drachma's weight.








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	And to have lived on earth when Virgil lived-
for that I would extend by one more year
the time I owe before my exile's end."

	And to have lived upon the earth what time
Virgilius lived, I would accept one sun
More than I must ere issuing from my ban."








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	These words made Virgil turn to me, and as
he turned, his face, through silence, said: "Be still"
(and yet the power of will cannot do all,

	These words towards me made Virgilius turn
With looks that in their silence said, "Be silent!"
But yet the power that wills cannot do all things;








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	for tears and smiles are both so faithful to
the feelings that have prompted them that true
feeling escapes the will that would subdue).

	For tears and laughter are such pursuivants
Unto the passion from which each springs forth,
In the most truthful least the will they follow.








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	But I smiled like a man whose eyes would signal;
at this, the shade was silent, and he stared
where sentiment is clearest-at my eyes-

	I only smiled, as one who gives the wink;
Whereat the shade was silent, and it gazed
Into mine eyes, where most expression dwells;








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	and said: "So may your trying labor end
successfully, do tell me why-just now-
your face showed me the flashing of a smile."

	And, "As thou well mayst consummate a labour
So great," it said, " why did thy face just now
Display to me the lightning of a smile?"








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	Now I am held by one side and the other:
one keeps me still, the other conjures me
to speak; but when, therefore, I sigh, my master

	Now am I caught on this side and on that;
One keeps me silent, one to speak conjures me,
Wherefore I sigh, and I am understood.








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	knows why and tells me: "Do not be afraid
to speak, but speak and answer what he has
asked you to tell him with such earnestness."

	"Speak," said my Master, "and be not afraid
Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him
What he demands with such solicitude."








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	At this, I answered: "Ancient spirit, you
perhaps are wondering at the smile I smiled:
but I would have you feel still more surprise.

	Whence I: " Thou peradventure marvellest,
O antique spirit, at the smile I gave;
But I will have more wonder seize upon thee.








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	He who is guide, who leads my eyes on high,
is that same Virgil from whom you derived
the power to sing of men and of the gods.

	This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine,
Is that Virgilius, from whom thou didst learn
To sing aloud of men and of the Gods.








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	Do not suppose my smile had any source
beyond the speech you spoke; be sure-it was
those words you said of him that were the cause."

	If other cause thou to my smile imputedst,
Abandon it as false, and trust it was
Those words which thou hast spoken concerning him."








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	Now he had bent to kiss my teacher's feet,
but Virgil told him: "Brother, there's no need-
you are a shade, a shade is what you see."

	Already he was stooping to embrace
My Teacher's feet; but he said to him: "Brother,
Do not; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest."








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	And, rising, he: "Now you can understand
how much love burns in me for you, when I
forget our insubstantiality,

	And he uprising: "Now canst thou the sum
Of love which warms me to thee comprehend,
When this our vanity I disremember,








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	treating the shades as one treats solid things."

	Treating a shadow as substantial thing."




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