Purgatory: Canto XXII. Ascent To The Sixth Ledge
Ascent to the Sixth Ledge.--Discourse of Statius and
Virgil.--Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous.--The Mystic
Tree.--Examples of Temperance.
Already was the Angel left behind us,--the Angel who had turned
us to the sixth round,--having erased a stroke[1] from my face;
and he had said to us that those who have their desire set on
justice are Beati, and his words ended with sitiunt, without the
rest.[2] And I, more light than through the other passes, was
going on so that without any labor I was following upward the
swift spirits, when Virgil began, "Love kindled by virtue always
kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly;
wherefore from the hour when amid us Juvenal descended into the
limbo of Hell, and made known to me thy affection, my own good
will toward thee was such that more never bound one to an unseen
person; so that these stairs will now seem short to me. But tell
me (and as a friend pardon me, if too great confidence let loose
my rein, and as a friend now talk with me) boxy avarice could
find a place within thy breast, amid wisdom so great as that
wherewith through thy diligence thou wast filled?"
[1] The fifth P.
[2] The Angel had not recited all the words of the Beatitude, but
only, "Blessed are they which do thirst after righteousness,"
contrasting this thirst with the thirst for riches.
These words first moved Statius a little to smiling; then he
replied, "Every word of thine is a dear sign to me of love. Truly
oftentimes things have such appearance that they give false
material for suspicion, because the true reasons lie hid. Thy
question assures me of thy belief, perhaps because of that circle
where I was, that I was avaricious in the other life; know then
that avarice was too far removed from me, and this want of
measure thousands of courses of the moon have punished. And had
it not been that I set right my care, when I understood the
passage where thou dost exclaim, as if indignant with human
nature, "O cursed hunger of gold, to what dost thou not impel the
appetite of mortals?"[1] I, rolling, should share the dismal
jousts.[2] Then I perceived that the bands could spread their
wings too much in spending; and I repented as well of that as of
my other sins. How many shall rise with cropped hair[3] through
ignorance, which during life and in the last hours prevents
repentance for this sin! And know, that the vice which rebuts any
sin with direct opposition,[4] together with it here dries up its
verdure. Wherefore if to purify myself I have been among the
people who lament their avarice, because of its contrary this has
befallen me." "Now when thou wast singing[5]the cruel strife of
the twofold affliction[6] of Jocasta," said the Singer of the
Bucolic songs, "it does not appear from that which Clio
touches[7] with thee there,[8] that the faith, without which good
works suffice not, had yet made thee faithful. If this be so,
what sun, or what candles dispersed thy darkness so that thou
didst thereafter set thy sails behind the Fisherman?"[9] And he
to him, "Thou first directedst me toward Parnassus to drink in
its grots, and then, on the way to God, thou enlightenedst me.
Thou didst like him, who goes by night, and carries the light
behind him, and helps not himself, but makes the persons
following him wise, when thou saidst, 'The ages are renewed;
Justice returns, and the primeval time of man, and a new progeny
descends from heaven.'[10] Through thee I became a poet, through
thee a Christian. But in order that thou mayst better see that
which I sketch, I will stretch out my hand to color it. Already
was the whole world teeming with the true belief, sown by the
messengers of the eternal realm; and these words of thine touched
upon just now were in harmony with the new preachers, wherefore I
adopted the practice of visiting them. They came to me then
appearing so holy, that, when Domitian persecuted them, not
without my tears were their lamentings. And so long as I
remained on earth I succored them; and their upright customs
made me scorn all other sects. And before I had led the Greeks to
the rivers of Thebes in my verse, I received baptism; but out of
fear I was a secret Christian, for a long while making show of
paganism: and this lukewarmness made me circle round the fourth
circle,[11] longer than to the fourth century. Thou, therefore,
that didst lift for me the covering that was hiding from me such
great good as I say, while we have remainder of ascent, tell me
where is our ancient Terence, Caecilius, Plautus, and Varro, if
thou knowest it; tell me if they are damned, and in what region?"
"They, and Persius, and I, and many others," replied my Leader,
"are with that Greek whom the Muses suckled more than any other
ever, in the first girdle of the blind prison. Oftentimes we
discourse of the mountain[12] that hath our nurses[13] always
with itself. Euripides is there with us, and Antiphon, Simonides,
Agathon, and many other Greeks who of old adorned their brows
with laurel. There of thine own people[14] are seen Antigone,
Deiphile, and Argia, and Ismene sad[15] even as she was. There
she is seen who showed Langia;[16] there is the daughter of
Tiresias and Thetis,[17] and Deidamia with her sisters."
[1] Quid non mortalia peetora yogis,
Auri sacra fames?
Aeneid. iii. 56-57.
[2] I should be in Hell among the prodigals rolling heavy weights
and striking them against those rolled by the avaricious. See
Hell, Canto VII.
[3] A reference to the symbolic short hair of prodigals in Hell.
[4] As, for instance, avarice and prodigality.
[5] In the Thebaid.
[6] Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Jocasta. See Hell,
Canto XXVI.
[7] On her lyre.
[8] From the general course of thy poems.
[9] St. Peter.
[10] The famous prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied
to the coming of Christ:--
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna:
Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.--Ecloga, iv. 5-7.
[11] Where love too slack is punished.
[12] Parnassus.
[13] The Muses.
[14] The people celebrated in thy poems.
[15] Two pairs of sisters, and, of the four, Ismene, sister of
Antigone, had the hardest lot.
[16] Hypsipyle, who showed the fountain Langia to Adrastus, and
the other kings, when their army was perishing with thirst.
[17] Manto is the only daughter of Tiresias, who is mentioned by
Statius; but Manto is in the eighth circle in Hell. See Canto XX.
Now both the poets became silent, once more intent on looking
around, free from the ascent and from the walls; and four of the
handmaids of the day were now remaining behind,[1] and the fifth
was at the pole,[2] directing still upward its burning horn, when
my Leader, "I think that it behoves us to turn our right
shoulders to the outer edge, circling the Mount as we are wont to
do." Thus usage was there our guide, and we took the way with
less doubt because of the assent of that worthy soul.
[1] The first four hours of the day were spent. It was between
ten and eleven o'clock.
[2] Of the car.
They were going on in front, and I solitary behind, and I was
listening to their speech which gave me understanding in poesy.
But soon the pleasant discourse was interrupted by a tree which
we found in the mid road, with apples sweet and pleasant to the
smell. And as a fir-tree tapers upward from branch to branch, so
downwardly did that, I think in order that no one may go up. On
the side on which our way was closed, a clear water fell from
the high rock and spread itself over the heaves above. The two
poets approached the tree, and a voice from within the heaves
cried: "Of this food ye shall have want." Then it said, "Mary
thought more, how the wedding[1] should be honorable and
complete, than of her mouth,[2] which answers now for you; and
the ancient Roman women were content with water for their drink;
and Daniel despised food and gained wisdom. The primal age, which
was beautiful as gold, with hunger made acorns savory, and with
thirst every streamlet nectar. Honey and locusts were the viands
that nourished the Baptist in the desert, wherefore he is in
glory, and so great as by the Gospel is revealed to you.
[1] At Cana.
[2] Than of gratifying her appetite.
Virgil.--Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous.--The Mystic
Tree.--Examples of Temperance.
Already was the Angel left behind us,--the Angel who had turned
us to the sixth round,--having erased a stroke[1] from my face;
and he had said to us that those who have their desire set on
justice are Beati, and his words ended with sitiunt, without the
rest.[2] And I, more light than through the other passes, was
going on so that without any labor I was following upward the
swift spirits, when Virgil began, "Love kindled by virtue always
kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly;
wherefore from the hour when amid us Juvenal descended into the
limbo of Hell, and made known to me thy affection, my own good
will toward thee was such that more never bound one to an unseen
person; so that these stairs will now seem short to me. But tell
me (and as a friend pardon me, if too great confidence let loose
my rein, and as a friend now talk with me) boxy avarice could
find a place within thy breast, amid wisdom so great as that
wherewith through thy diligence thou wast filled?"
[1] The fifth P.
[2] The Angel had not recited all the words of the Beatitude, but
only, "Blessed are they which do thirst after righteousness,"
contrasting this thirst with the thirst for riches.
These words first moved Statius a little to smiling; then he
replied, "Every word of thine is a dear sign to me of love. Truly
oftentimes things have such appearance that they give false
material for suspicion, because the true reasons lie hid. Thy
question assures me of thy belief, perhaps because of that circle
where I was, that I was avaricious in the other life; know then
that avarice was too far removed from me, and this want of
measure thousands of courses of the moon have punished. And had
it not been that I set right my care, when I understood the
passage where thou dost exclaim, as if indignant with human
nature, "O cursed hunger of gold, to what dost thou not impel the
appetite of mortals?"[1] I, rolling, should share the dismal
jousts.[2] Then I perceived that the bands could spread their
wings too much in spending; and I repented as well of that as of
my other sins. How many shall rise with cropped hair[3] through
ignorance, which during life and in the last hours prevents
repentance for this sin! And know, that the vice which rebuts any
sin with direct opposition,[4] together with it here dries up its
verdure. Wherefore if to purify myself I have been among the
people who lament their avarice, because of its contrary this has
befallen me." "Now when thou wast singing[5]the cruel strife of
the twofold affliction[6] of Jocasta," said the Singer of the
Bucolic songs, "it does not appear from that which Clio
touches[7] with thee there,[8] that the faith, without which good
works suffice not, had yet made thee faithful. If this be so,
what sun, or what candles dispersed thy darkness so that thou
didst thereafter set thy sails behind the Fisherman?"[9] And he
to him, "Thou first directedst me toward Parnassus to drink in
its grots, and then, on the way to God, thou enlightenedst me.
Thou didst like him, who goes by night, and carries the light
behind him, and helps not himself, but makes the persons
following him wise, when thou saidst, 'The ages are renewed;
Justice returns, and the primeval time of man, and a new progeny
descends from heaven.'[10] Through thee I became a poet, through
thee a Christian. But in order that thou mayst better see that
which I sketch, I will stretch out my hand to color it. Already
was the whole world teeming with the true belief, sown by the
messengers of the eternal realm; and these words of thine touched
upon just now were in harmony with the new preachers, wherefore I
adopted the practice of visiting them. They came to me then
appearing so holy, that, when Domitian persecuted them, not
without my tears were their lamentings. And so long as I
remained on earth I succored them; and their upright customs
made me scorn all other sects. And before I had led the Greeks to
the rivers of Thebes in my verse, I received baptism; but out of
fear I was a secret Christian, for a long while making show of
paganism: and this lukewarmness made me circle round the fourth
circle,[11] longer than to the fourth century. Thou, therefore,
that didst lift for me the covering that was hiding from me such
great good as I say, while we have remainder of ascent, tell me
where is our ancient Terence, Caecilius, Plautus, and Varro, if
thou knowest it; tell me if they are damned, and in what region?"
"They, and Persius, and I, and many others," replied my Leader,
"are with that Greek whom the Muses suckled more than any other
ever, in the first girdle of the blind prison. Oftentimes we
discourse of the mountain[12] that hath our nurses[13] always
with itself. Euripides is there with us, and Antiphon, Simonides,
Agathon, and many other Greeks who of old adorned their brows
with laurel. There of thine own people[14] are seen Antigone,
Deiphile, and Argia, and Ismene sad[15] even as she was. There
she is seen who showed Langia;[16] there is the daughter of
Tiresias and Thetis,[17] and Deidamia with her sisters."
[1] Quid non mortalia peetora yogis,
Auri sacra fames?
Aeneid. iii. 56-57.
[2] I should be in Hell among the prodigals rolling heavy weights
and striking them against those rolled by the avaricious. See
Hell, Canto VII.
[3] A reference to the symbolic short hair of prodigals in Hell.
[4] As, for instance, avarice and prodigality.
[5] In the Thebaid.
[6] Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Jocasta. See Hell,
Canto XXVI.
[7] On her lyre.
[8] From the general course of thy poems.
[9] St. Peter.
[10] The famous prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied
to the coming of Christ:--
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna:
Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.--Ecloga, iv. 5-7.
[11] Where love too slack is punished.
[12] Parnassus.
[13] The Muses.
[14] The people celebrated in thy poems.
[15] Two pairs of sisters, and, of the four, Ismene, sister of
Antigone, had the hardest lot.
[16] Hypsipyle, who showed the fountain Langia to Adrastus, and
the other kings, when their army was perishing with thirst.
[17] Manto is the only daughter of Tiresias, who is mentioned by
Statius; but Manto is in the eighth circle in Hell. See Canto XX.
Now both the poets became silent, once more intent on looking
around, free from the ascent and from the walls; and four of the
handmaids of the day were now remaining behind,[1] and the fifth
was at the pole,[2] directing still upward its burning horn, when
my Leader, "I think that it behoves us to turn our right
shoulders to the outer edge, circling the Mount as we are wont to
do." Thus usage was there our guide, and we took the way with
less doubt because of the assent of that worthy soul.
[1] The first four hours of the day were spent. It was between
ten and eleven o'clock.
[2] Of the car.
They were going on in front, and I solitary behind, and I was
listening to their speech which gave me understanding in poesy.
But soon the pleasant discourse was interrupted by a tree which
we found in the mid road, with apples sweet and pleasant to the
smell. And as a fir-tree tapers upward from branch to branch, so
downwardly did that, I think in order that no one may go up. On
the side on which our way was closed, a clear water fell from
the high rock and spread itself over the heaves above. The two
poets approached the tree, and a voice from within the heaves
cried: "Of this food ye shall have want." Then it said, "Mary
thought more, how the wedding[1] should be honorable and
complete, than of her mouth,[2] which answers now for you; and
the ancient Roman women were content with water for their drink;
and Daniel despised food and gained wisdom. The primal age, which
was beautiful as gold, with hunger made acorns savory, and with
thirst every streamlet nectar. Honey and locusts were the viands
that nourished the Baptist in the desert, wherefore he is in
glory, and so great as by the Gospel is revealed to you.
[1] At Cana.
[2] Than of gratifying her appetite.
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