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PURGATORIO CANTO 33
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn. 

	Weeping, the women then began-now three,
now four, alternately-to psalm gently,
"Deus venerunt gentes"; and at this,

	"Deus venerunt gentes," alternating
Now three, now four, melodious psalmody
The maidens in the midst of tears began;








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	sighing and full of pity, Beatrice
was changed; she listened, grieving little less
than Mary when, beneath the Cross, she wept.

	And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing,
Listened to them with such a countenance, 
That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.








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	But when the seven virgins had completed
their psalm, and she was free to speak, erect,
her coloring like ardent fire, she answered:

	But when the other virgins place had given
For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
With colour as of fire, she made response:








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	"Modicum, et non videbitis me
et iterum sisters delightful to me,
modicum, et vos videbitis me."

	"Modicum, et non videbitis me;
Et iterum, my sisters predilect,
Modicum, et vos videbitis me."








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	Then she set all the seven nymphs in front
of her and signaled me, the lady, and
the sage who had remained, to move behind her.

	Then all the seven in front of her she placed;
And after her, by beckoning only, moved
Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.








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	So she advanced; and I do not believe
that she had taken her tenth step upon
the ground before her eyes had struck my eyes;

	So she moved onward; and I do not think
That her tenth step was placed upon the ground,
When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote,








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	and gazing tranquilly, "Pray come more quickly,"
she said to me, "so that you are more ready
to listen to me should I speak to you."

	And with a tranquil aspect,"Come more quickly,"
To me she said,"that, if I speak with thee,
To listen to me thou mayst be well placed."








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	As soon as I, responding to my duty,
had joined her, she said: "Brother, why not try,
since now you're at my side, to query me?"

	As soon as I was with her as I should be,
She said to me:"Why, brother, dost thou not
Venture to question now, in coming with me ?"








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	Like those who, speaking to superiors
too reverently do not speak distinctly,
not drawing their clear voice up to their teeth-

	As unto those who are too reverential,
Speaking in presence of superiors,
Who drag no living utterance to their teeth,








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	so did I speak with sound too incomplete
when I began: "Lady, you know my need
to know, and know how it can be appeased."

	It me befell, that without perfect sound
Began I:"My necessity, Madonna,
You know, and that which thereunto is good." 








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	And she to me: "I'd have you disentangle
yourself, from this point on, from fear and shame,
that you no longer speak like one who dreams.

	And she to me:"Of fear and bashfulness
Henceforward I will have thee strip thyself,
So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.








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	Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
was and is not; but he whose fault it is
may rest assured-God's vengeance fears no hindrance.

	Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty
Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.








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	The eagle that had left its plumes within
the chariot, which then became a monster
and then a prey, will not forever be

	Without an heir shall not for ever be
The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car,
Whence it became a monster, then a prey;








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	without an heir; for I can plainly see,
and thus I tell it: stars already close
at hand, which can't be blocked or checked, will bring

	For verily I see, and hence narrate it,
The stars already near to bring the time,
From every hindrance safe, and every bar,








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	a time in which, dispatched by God, a Five
Hundred and Ten and Five will slay the whore
together with that giant who sins with her.

	Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five,
One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman
And that same giant who is sinning with her.








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	And what I tell, as dark as Sphinx and Themis,
may leave you less convinced because-like these-
it tires the intellect with quandaries;

	And peradventure my dark utterance,
Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade thee,
Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect;








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	but soon events themselves will be the Naiads
that clarify this obstinate enigma-
but without injury to grain or herds.

	But soon the facts shall be the Naiades
Who shall this difficult enigma solve,
Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.








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	Take note; and even as I speak these words,
do you transmit them in your turn to those
who live the life that is a race to death.

	Note thou; and even as by me are uttered
These words, so teach them unto those who live
That life which is a running unto death;








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	And when you write them, keep in mind that you
must not conceal what you've seen of the tree
that now has been despoiled twice over here.

	And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them,
Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
That twice already has been pillaged here.








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	Whoever robs or rends that tree offends,
with his blaspheming action, God; for He
created it for His sole use-holy.

	Whoever pillages or shatters it,
With blasphemy of deed offendeth God,
Who made it holy for his use alone.








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	For tasting of that tree, the first soul waited
five thousand years and more in grief and longing
for Him who on Himself avenged that taste.

	For biting that, in pain and in desire
Five thousand years and more the first-born soul
Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite.








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	Your intellect's asleep if it can't see
how singular's the cause that makes that tree
so tall and makes it grow invertedly.

	Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not
For special reason so pre-eminent
In height, and so inverted in its summit








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	And if, like waters of the Elsa, your
vain thoughts did not encrust your mind; if your
delight in them were not like Pyramus

	And if thy vain imaginings had not been
Water of Elsa round about thy mind,
And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,








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	staining the mulberry, you'd recognize
in that tree's form and height the moral sense
God's justice had when He forbade trespass.

	Thou by so many circumstances only
The justice of the interdict of God
Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.








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	But since I see your intellect is made
of stone and, petrified, grown so opaque-
the light of what I say has left you dazed-

	But since I see thee in thine intellect
Converted into stone and stained with sin,
So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee,








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	I'd also have you bear my words within you-
if not inscribed, at least outlined-just as
the pilgrim's staff is brought back wreathed with palm."

	I will too, if not written, at least painted,
Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason
That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne."








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	And I: "Even as wax the seal's impressed, 
where there's no alteration in the form,
so does my brain now bear what you have stamped."

	And I:"As by a signet is the wax
Which does not change the figure stamped upon it,
My brain is now imprinted by yourself








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	But why does your desired word ascend
so high above my understanding that
the more I try, the more am I denied?"

	But wherefore so beyond my power of sight
Soars your desirable discourse, that aye
The more I strive, so much the more I lose it ?"








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	"That you may recognize," she said, "the school
that you have followed and may see if what
it taught can comprehend what I have said-

	"That thou mayst recognize,"she said,"the school  
Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far
Its doctrine follows after my discourse,








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	and see that, as the earth is distant from
the highest and the swiftest of the heavens,
so distant is your way from the divine."

	And mayst behold your path from the divine
Distant as far as separated is
From earth the heaven that highest hastens on."








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	And I replied to her: "I don't remember
making myself a stranger to you, nor
does conscience gnaw at me because of that."

	Whence her I answered:"I do not remember
That ever I estranged myself from you,
Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me."








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	"And if you can't remember that," she answered,
smiling, "then call to mind how you-today-
have drunk of Lethe; and if smoke is proof

	"And if thou art not able to remember,"
Smiling she answered,"recollect thee now
That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe;








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	of fire, then it is clear: we can conclude
from this forgetfulness, that in your will
there was a fault-your will had turned elsewhere.

	And if from smoke a fire may be inferred,
Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
Some error in thy will elsewhere intent.








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	But from now on the words I speak will be
naked; that is appropriate if they
would be laid bare before your still-crude sight."

	Truly from this time forward shall my words
Be naked, so far as it is befitting
To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."








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	More incandescent now, with slower steps,
the sun was pacing the meridian,
which alters with the place from which it's seen,

	And more coruscant and with slower steps
The sun was holding the meridian circle,
Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there  








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	when, just as one who serves as escort for
a group will halt if he has come upon
things strange or even traces of strangeness,

	When halted (as he cometh to a halt,
Who goes before a squadron as its escort,
If something new he find upon his way)








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	the seven ladies halted at the edge
of a dense shadow such as mountains cast,
beneath green leaves and black boughs, on cold banks.

	The ladies seven at a dark shadow's edge,
Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black,
The Alp upon its frigid border wears.








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	In front of them I seemed to see Euphrates
and Tigris issuing from one same spring
and then, as friends do, separating slowly.

	In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates
Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain,
And slowly part, like friends, from one another.








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	"O light, o glory of the human race,
what water is this, flowing from one source
and then becoming distant from itself?"

	"O light, O glory of the human race!
What stream is this which here unfolds itself
From out one source, and from itself withdraws ?"








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	Her answer to what I had asked was: "Ask
Matilda to explain this"; and the lovely
lady, as one who frees herself from blame,

	For such a prayer, 'twas said unto me,"Pray
Matilda that she tell thee ;"and here answered,
As one does who doth free himself from blame,








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	replied: "He's heard of this and other matters
from me; and I am sure that Lethe's waters
have not obscured his memory of this."

	The beautiful lady:"This and other things
Were told to him by me; and sure I am
The water of Lethe has not hid them from him."








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	And Beatrice :"Perhaps some greater care,
which often weakens memory, has made
his mind, in things regarding sight, grow dark.

	And Beatrice:"Perhaps a greater care,
Which oftentimes our memory takes away,
Has made the vision of his mind obscure.








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	But see Eunoe as it flows from there:
lead him to it and, as you're used to doing,
revive the power that is faint in him."

	But Eunoe behold, that yonder rises;
Lead him to it, and, as thou art accustomed,
Revive again the half-dead virtue in him."  








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	As would the noble soul, which offers no
excuse, but makes another's will its own
as soon as signs reveal that will; just so,

	Like gentle soul,  that maketh no excuse,
But makes its own will of another's will
As soon as by a sign it is disclosed,








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	when she had taken me, the lovely lady
moved forward; and she said with womanly
courtesy to Statius: "Come with him."

	Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statius
Said, in her womanly manner,"Come with him."








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	If, reader, I had ampler space in which
to write, I'd sing-though incompletely-that
sweet draught for which my thirst was limitless;

	If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
For writing it, I yet would sing in part
Of the sweet draught that ne'er would satiate me;








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	but since all of the pages pre-disposed
for this, the second canticle, are full,
the curb of art will not let me continue.

	But inasmuch as full are all the leaves
Made ready for this second canticle,
The curb of art no farther lets me go.








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	From that most holy wave I now returned
to Beatrice; remade, as new trees are
renewed when they bring forth new boughs, I was

	From the most holy water I returned
Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
That are renewed with a new foliage,








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	pure and prepared to climb unto the stars.

	Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.




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