Purgatory: Canto XXI. Fifth Ledge .--Statius.
Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--Statius.--Cause of the
trembling of the Mountain.--Statius does honor to Virgil.
The natural thirst,[1] which is never satisfied save with the
water[2] whereof the poor woman of Samaria besought the grace,
was tormenting me, and haste was goading me along the encumbered
way behind my Leader, and I was grieving at the just vengeance;
and lo,--as Luke writes for us that Christ, now risen forth from
the sepulchral cave, appeared to the two who were on the way,--a
shade appeared to us; and it was coming behind us looking at the
crowd that lay at its feet: nor did we perceive it, so it spoke
first saying, "My Brothers, may God give you peace!" We turned
suddenly, and Virgil gave back to it the greeting which answers
to that;[3] then he began: "In the assembly of the blest may the
true court, which relegates me into eternal exile, place thee in
peace." "How," said it,--and meanwhile we went on steadily,--"if
ye are shades that God deigns not on high, who hath guided you so
far along his stairs?" And my Teacher, "If thou regardest the
marks which this one bears, and which the Angel traces, thou wilt
clearly see it behoves that with the good he reign. But, because
she who spinneth day and night[4] had not for him yet drawn the
distaff off, which Clotho loads for each one and compacts, his
soul, which is thy sister and mine, coming upwards could not
come alone, because it sees not after our fashion. Wherefore I
was drawn from out the ample throat of Hell to show him, and I
shall show him so far on as my teaching can lead him. But tell
us, if thou knowest, why just now the mountain gave such shocks,
and why all seemed to cry together, even down to its moist feet."
Thus asking he shot for me through the needle's eye of my desire,
so that only with the hope my thirst became less craving.
[1] "According to that buoyant and immortal sentence with which
Aristotle begins his Metaphysics, 'All mankind naturally desire
knowledge.'" Matthew Arnold, God and the Bible, cli. iv. This
sentence of Aristotle is cited by Dante in the first chapter of
the Convito.
[2] The living water of truth.
[3] To the salutation, "Peace be with you," the due answer is,
"And with thy spirit."
[4] Lachesis.
The shade began: "There is nothing which without order the
religion of the mountain can feel, or which can be outside its
wont.[1] Free is this place from every alteration; of that which
heaven receives from itself within itself there may be effect
here, but of naught else;[2] because nor rain, nor hail, nor
snow, nor dew, nor frost, falls higher up than the little
stairway of the three short steps; clouds appear not, or thick or
thin; nor lightning, nor the daughter of Thaumas[3] who yonder
often changes her quarter; dry vapor[4] rises not farther up than
the top of the three steps of which I spoke, where the vicar of
Peter has his feet. It trembles perhaps lower down little or
much; but up here it never trembles because of wind that is
hidden, I know not how, in the earth. It trembles here when some
soul feels itself pure, so that it rises or moves to ascend; and
such a cry seconds it. Of the purity the will alone makes proof,
which surprises the soul, wholly free to change its company, and
helps it with the will. The soul wills at first indeed, but the
inclination,--which, contrary to the will, Divine Justice sets to
the torment, as erst to the sin,--allows it not.[5] And I who
have lain in this pain five hundred years and more, only just now
felt a free volition for a better seat. Wherefore thou didst feel
the earthquake, and hear the pious spirits through the Mountain
giving praise to that Lord, who--may He speed them upward soon!"
[1] The religion, the sacred rule, of the Mountain admits nothing
that is not ordained and customary.
[2] Whatever happens here is occasioned only by the direct
influences of the heavens.
[3] Iris = the rainbow, seen now to the west, now to the east.
[4] Dry vapor, according to Aristotle, was the source of wind and
of earthquake.
[5] Until the soul is wholly purified from its sinful
disposition,it desires the punishment through; which its
purification is accomplished, as it had originally desired the
object of its sin. But when it becomes pure, then the will
possesses it to mount to Heaven, and becomes effective.
Thus he said to us, and since one enjoys drinking in proportion
as the thirst is great, I could not say how much he did me good.
And the sage Leader, "Now I see the net which snares you here,
and how it is unmeshed; wherefore it trembles here; and for what
ye rejoice together. Now who thou wast may it please thee that I
know, and that from thy words I learn why for so many centuries
thou hast lain here?" "At the time when the good Titus, with the
aid of the Most High King, avenged the wounds wherefrom issued
the blood sold by Judas, I was fatuous enough on earth with the
name which lasts longest, and honors most,"[1] replied that
spirit, "but not as yet with faith. So sweet was my vocal spirit,
that me of Toulouse Rome drew to itself, where I deserved to
adorn my temples with myrtle. Statius the people still on earth
name me. I sang of Thebes, and then of the great Achilles, but I
fell on the way with my second load.[2] Seed of my ardor were the
sparks that warmed me of the divine flame whereby more than a
thousand have been kindled; I speak of the Aeneid, which was
mother to me, and was my nurse in poesy: without it I balanced
not the weight of a drachm; and to have lived yonder, when Virgil
lived, I would agree to one sun more than I owe for my issue from
ban."[3]
[1] The name of Poet.
[2] Statius died before completing his Achilleid.
[3] A year more in Purgatory than is due for my punishment.
These words turned Virgil to me with a look which, silent, said,
"Be silent:" but the power that wills cannot do everything; for
smiles and tears are such followers on the emotion from which
each springs, that in the most truthful they least follow the
will. I merely smiled, like a man who makes a sign; whereat the
shade became silent, and looked at me in the eyes where the
expression is most fixed. And it said, "So mayst thou in good
complete so great a labor, why aid thy face just now display to
me a flash of a smile?" Now am I caught on one side and the
other: one bids me be silent, the other conjures me to speak;
wherefore I sigh and am understood by my Master, and "Have no
fear to speak," he said to me, "but speak, and tell him what he
asks so earnestly." Whereon I, "Perhaps thou marvellest, ancient
spirit, at the smile I gave; but I would have more wonder seize
thee. This one who guides my eyes on high is that Virgil from
whom thou didst derive the strength to sing of men and of the
gods. If thou didst believe other cause for my smile, dismiss it
as untrue, and believe it to be those words which thou saidst of
him." Already he was stooping to embrace the feet of my Leader,
but he said to him, "Brother, do it not, for thou art a shade,
and thou seest a shade." And he rising, "Now canst thou
comprehend the sum of the love that warms me to thee when I
forget our vanity, treating the shades as if a solid thing."[1]
[1] Sordello and Virgil (Canto VI.) embraced each other. The
shades could thus express their mutual affection. Perhaps it is
out of modesty that Virgil here represses Statius, and possibly
there may be the under meaning that an act of reverence is not
becoming from a soul redeemed, to one banned in eternal exile.
trembling of the Mountain.--Statius does honor to Virgil.
The natural thirst,[1] which is never satisfied save with the
water[2] whereof the poor woman of Samaria besought the grace,
was tormenting me, and haste was goading me along the encumbered
way behind my Leader, and I was grieving at the just vengeance;
and lo,--as Luke writes for us that Christ, now risen forth from
the sepulchral cave, appeared to the two who were on the way,--a
shade appeared to us; and it was coming behind us looking at the
crowd that lay at its feet: nor did we perceive it, so it spoke
first saying, "My Brothers, may God give you peace!" We turned
suddenly, and Virgil gave back to it the greeting which answers
to that;[3] then he began: "In the assembly of the blest may the
true court, which relegates me into eternal exile, place thee in
peace." "How," said it,--and meanwhile we went on steadily,--"if
ye are shades that God deigns not on high, who hath guided you so
far along his stairs?" And my Teacher, "If thou regardest the
marks which this one bears, and which the Angel traces, thou wilt
clearly see it behoves that with the good he reign. But, because
she who spinneth day and night[4] had not for him yet drawn the
distaff off, which Clotho loads for each one and compacts, his
soul, which is thy sister and mine, coming upwards could not
come alone, because it sees not after our fashion. Wherefore I
was drawn from out the ample throat of Hell to show him, and I
shall show him so far on as my teaching can lead him. But tell
us, if thou knowest, why just now the mountain gave such shocks,
and why all seemed to cry together, even down to its moist feet."
Thus asking he shot for me through the needle's eye of my desire,
so that only with the hope my thirst became less craving.
[1] "According to that buoyant and immortal sentence with which
Aristotle begins his Metaphysics, 'All mankind naturally desire
knowledge.'" Matthew Arnold, God and the Bible, cli. iv. This
sentence of Aristotle is cited by Dante in the first chapter of
the Convito.
[2] The living water of truth.
[3] To the salutation, "Peace be with you," the due answer is,
"And with thy spirit."
[4] Lachesis.
The shade began: "There is nothing which without order the
religion of the mountain can feel, or which can be outside its
wont.[1] Free is this place from every alteration; of that which
heaven receives from itself within itself there may be effect
here, but of naught else;[2] because nor rain, nor hail, nor
snow, nor dew, nor frost, falls higher up than the little
stairway of the three short steps; clouds appear not, or thick or
thin; nor lightning, nor the daughter of Thaumas[3] who yonder
often changes her quarter; dry vapor[4] rises not farther up than
the top of the three steps of which I spoke, where the vicar of
Peter has his feet. It trembles perhaps lower down little or
much; but up here it never trembles because of wind that is
hidden, I know not how, in the earth. It trembles here when some
soul feels itself pure, so that it rises or moves to ascend; and
such a cry seconds it. Of the purity the will alone makes proof,
which surprises the soul, wholly free to change its company, and
helps it with the will. The soul wills at first indeed, but the
inclination,--which, contrary to the will, Divine Justice sets to
the torment, as erst to the sin,--allows it not.[5] And I who
have lain in this pain five hundred years and more, only just now
felt a free volition for a better seat. Wherefore thou didst feel
the earthquake, and hear the pious spirits through the Mountain
giving praise to that Lord, who--may He speed them upward soon!"
[1] The religion, the sacred rule, of the Mountain admits nothing
that is not ordained and customary.
[2] Whatever happens here is occasioned only by the direct
influences of the heavens.
[3] Iris = the rainbow, seen now to the west, now to the east.
[4] Dry vapor, according to Aristotle, was the source of wind and
of earthquake.
[5] Until the soul is wholly purified from its sinful
disposition,it desires the punishment through; which its
purification is accomplished, as it had originally desired the
object of its sin. But when it becomes pure, then the will
possesses it to mount to Heaven, and becomes effective.
Thus he said to us, and since one enjoys drinking in proportion
as the thirst is great, I could not say how much he did me good.
And the sage Leader, "Now I see the net which snares you here,
and how it is unmeshed; wherefore it trembles here; and for what
ye rejoice together. Now who thou wast may it please thee that I
know, and that from thy words I learn why for so many centuries
thou hast lain here?" "At the time when the good Titus, with the
aid of the Most High King, avenged the wounds wherefrom issued
the blood sold by Judas, I was fatuous enough on earth with the
name which lasts longest, and honors most,"[1] replied that
spirit, "but not as yet with faith. So sweet was my vocal spirit,
that me of Toulouse Rome drew to itself, where I deserved to
adorn my temples with myrtle. Statius the people still on earth
name me. I sang of Thebes, and then of the great Achilles, but I
fell on the way with my second load.[2] Seed of my ardor were the
sparks that warmed me of the divine flame whereby more than a
thousand have been kindled; I speak of the Aeneid, which was
mother to me, and was my nurse in poesy: without it I balanced
not the weight of a drachm; and to have lived yonder, when Virgil
lived, I would agree to one sun more than I owe for my issue from
ban."[3]
[1] The name of Poet.
[2] Statius died before completing his Achilleid.
[3] A year more in Purgatory than is due for my punishment.
These words turned Virgil to me with a look which, silent, said,
"Be silent:" but the power that wills cannot do everything; for
smiles and tears are such followers on the emotion from which
each springs, that in the most truthful they least follow the
will. I merely smiled, like a man who makes a sign; whereat the
shade became silent, and looked at me in the eyes where the
expression is most fixed. And it said, "So mayst thou in good
complete so great a labor, why aid thy face just now display to
me a flash of a smile?" Now am I caught on one side and the
other: one bids me be silent, the other conjures me to speak;
wherefore I sigh and am understood by my Master, and "Have no
fear to speak," he said to me, "but speak, and tell him what he
asks so earnestly." Whereon I, "Perhaps thou marvellest, ancient
spirit, at the smile I gave; but I would have more wonder seize
thee. This one who guides my eyes on high is that Virgil from
whom thou didst derive the strength to sing of men and of the
gods. If thou didst believe other cause for my smile, dismiss it
as untrue, and believe it to be those words which thou saidst of
him." Already he was stooping to embrace the feet of my Leader,
but he said to him, "Brother, do it not, for thou art a shade,
and thou seest a shade." And he rising, "Now canst thou
comprehend the sum of the love that warms me to thee when I
forget our vanity, treating the shades as if a solid thing."[1]
[1] Sordello and Virgil (Canto VI.) embraced each other. The
shades could thus express their mutual affection. Perhaps it is
out of modesty that Virgil here represses Statius, and possibly
there may be the under meaning that an act of reverence is not
becoming from a soul redeemed, to one banned in eternal exile.
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