Purgatorio: Canto XV

As much as between the end of the third hour and the beginning of the day appears of the sphere which ever sports after the fashion of a child,

so much appeared now to be left of the sun’s course towards evening; it was vespers there, and here midnight.

And the rays were smiting on the middle of our noses, for the mount was so far circled by us, that we now were going straight to the west,

when I felt my brow weighed down by the splendour far more than before, and amazement to me were the unknown things;

wherefore I raised my hands towards the top of my eyes, and made me the shade which dulls the excess of light.

As when a ray of light leaps from the water or from the mirror to the opposite direction, ascending at an angle similar

to that at which it descends, and departs as far from the line of the falling stone in an equal space, even as experiment and science shows,

so I seemed to be smitten by reflected light in front of me, wherefore mine eyes were swift to flee.

“What is that, sweet Father, from which I cannot screen my sight so that it may avail me,” said I, “and seems to be moving towards us?”

“Marvel thou not if the heavenly household yet dazes thee,” he answered me, “’tis a messenger that cometh to invite us to ascend.

Soon will it be that to behold these things shall not be grievous to thee, but shall be a joy to thee, as great as nature hath fitted thee to feel.”

When we had reached the blessed angel, with gladsome voice, he said: “Enter here to a stairway far less steep than the others.”

We were mounting, already departed thence, and “Beati misericordes” was sung behind, and “Rejoice thou that overcomest.”

My Master and I, alone we two, were mounting up, and I thought while journeying to gain profit from his words;

and I directed me to him thus asking: “What meant the spirit from Romagna by mentioning ‘exclusion’ and ‘partnership’?”

Whereupon he to me: “He knoweth the hurt of his greatest defect, and therefore let none marvel if he reprove it, that it be less mourned for.

Forasmuch as your desires are centred where the portion is lessened by partnership, envy moves the bellows to your sighs.

But if the love of the highest sphere wrested your desire upwards, that fear would not be at your heart;

for by so many more there are who say ‘ours,’ so much the more of good doth each possess, and the more of love burneth in that cloister.”

“I am more fasting from being satisfied,” said I, “than if I had kept silent at first, and more perplexity I amass in my mind.

How can it be that a good when shared, shall make the greater number of possessors richer in it, than if it is possessed by a few?”

And he to me: “Because thou dost again fix thy mind merely on things of earth, thou drawest darkness from true light.

That infinite and ineffable Good, that is on high, speedeth so to love as a ray of light comes to a bright body.

As much of ardour as it finds, so much of itself doth it give, so that how far soever love extends, eternal goodness giveth increase upon it;

and the more people on high who comprehend each other, the more there are to love well, and the more love is there, and like a mirror one giveth back to the other.

And if my discourse stays not thy hunger, thou shalt see Beatrice, and she will free thee wholly from this and every other longing.

Strive only that soon, even as the other two are, the five wounds may be rased out, which are healed by our sorrowing.”

As I was about to say: “Thou dost satisfy me,” I saw me arrived on the next circuit, so that my eager eyes made me silent.

There meseemed to be suddenly caught up in a dream of ecstacy, and to see many persons in a temple,

and a woman about to enter, with the tender attitude of a mother, saying: “My son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?

Behold thy father and I sought thee sorrowing”; and as here she was silent, that which first appeared, disappeared.

Then appeared to me another woman, with those waters adown her cheeks which grief distils when it rises in one by reason of great anger,

and saying: “If thou art lord of the city for whose name was so great strife among the gods, and whence all knowledge sparkles,

avenge thee of those daring arms which embraced our daughter, O Pisistratus. And the lord seemed to me kindly and gently

to answer her with placid mien: “What shall we do to him who desires ill to us, if he who loveth us is condemned by us?”

Then saw I people, kindled with the fire of anger, slaying a youth with stones, and ever crying out loudly to each other: “Kill, kill!”

and him saw I sinking towards the ground, because of death, which already was weighing him down, but of his eyes ever made he gates unto heaven,

praying to the high Lord in such torture, with that look which unlocks pity, that he would forgive his persecutors.

When my soul returned outwardly to the things which are true outside it, I recognised my not false errors.

My Leader, who could see me acting like a man who frees himself from sleep, said: “What aileth thee that thou canst not control thyself,

but art come more than half a league, veiling thine eyes, and with staggering legs, after the manner of him whom wine or sleep overcomes?”

“O sweet Father mine, if thou listen to me, I will tell thee,” said I, “what appeared to me when my legs were thus taken from me.”

And he: “If thou hadst a hundred masks upon thy face, thy thoughts, however slight, would not be hidden from me.

What thou sawest was in order that thou have no excuse from opening thy heart to the waters of peace, which are poured from the eternal fount.

I asked not: ‘What aileth thee,’ for that reason which he asks who looks but with the eye that seeth not when senseless the body lies,

but I asked to give strength to thy feet; so must the slothful be goaded who are slow to use their waking hour when it returns.”

We were journeying on through the evening, straining our eyes forward, as far as we could, against the evening and shining rays;

and lo, little by little, a smoke, dark as night, rolling towards us, nor any room was there to escape from it. This reft us of sight and the pure air.