CANDO IV
Rumble of thunder upon my brain deep-drowsed
So shook the sleep that at the heavy sound
I started, like a man by force aroused.
And my now rested eyes casting around
I rose upright, with peering gaze intent
To know the place wherein myself I found.
True it is, I stood on the edge of the descent
Where the hollow of the gulf out of despair
Amasses thunder of infinite lament.
Sombre, profound, and brimmed with vaporous air
It was, so that I, seeking to pierce through
To the very bottom, could see nothing there.
" Let us go down to the blind world below, "
Began to me the Poet, all amort.
" I shall be first, and thou behind me go. "
And I, who had marked his cheek change in that sort,
Said: " How shall I come where thou losest cheer
Who art wont my hesitation to support? "
And he to me: " The misery that is here,
Down among this folk, maketh my face wan
With pity, which thine eyes mistake for fear.
Descend we: the long way constrains us on. "
So he entered, and he made me enter too,
On the first circle that the abyss doth zone.
Here was no sound that the ear could catch of rue,
Save only of sighs, that still as they complain
Make the eternal air tremble anew.
And this rose from the sorrow, unracked by pain,
That was in the great multitude below
Of children and of women and of men.
The good Master to me: " Wouldst thou not know
What spirits are these thou seest and hearest grieve?
I'd have thee learn before thou farther go,
These sinned not: but the merit that they achieve
Helps not, since baptism was not theirs, the gate
Of that faith, which was given thee to believe.
And if ere Christ they came, untimely in date,
They worshipped not with right experience;
And I myself am numbered in their state.
For such defect and for no other offence
We are lost, and only in so far amerced
That without hope we languish in suspense. "
I, when I heard this, to the heart was pierced,
Because I knew men to much virtue bred
Whose spirits in that Limbo were athirst.
" Tell me, my Master, tell me, Sir! " I said,
Seized with a longing wholly to be assured
Of that faith wherein error cannot tread,
" Did ever any of those herein immured
By his own or other's merit to bliss get free? "
And he, aware what meant my covert word,
Answered: " I was yet new in this degree
When I saw one in power crowned appear
On whom the signs of victory were to see.
He took from us the shade of our first sire;
Of his son Abel, and Noah of that same seed;
Moses, the obedient and the law-giver;
The patriarch, Abraham, and the King, David;
Israel with his father and with his sons;
Rachel also, to win whom so much he did;
And many another; and made them blessed ones;
And I would have thee know that, before these,
There has been no human soul that he atones. "
We ceased not to go on by slow degrees,
Though he spoke still, and past the wood had come,
The wood I mean of spirits thick like trees,
And, since my slumber, had not advanced therefrom
Far, when a radiant glow beyond us shone
Which overcame a hemisphere of gloom.
A little distance from us it lay on,
Yet not so much but that I saw in part
What honourable folk that place had won.
" O thou that honourest Science and Art,
Who are these that have such honour and acclaim
That it removes them from the rest apart? "
And he to me: " The glory of the name
Which sounds of them above in the earthly sphere
Gains favour of Heaven which thus promoteth them. "
Meanwhile a voice was sounding in my ear:
" Honour ye all the great Poet: his shade
That had departed, now again is here. "
After the voice had paused and silent stayed,
I saw four great shades come with one accord.
They had an aspect neither gay nor sad.
The good Master began to speak his word:
" On him who bears the sword thine eyes now cast,
Who comes before the others, as their lord.
He is Homer, who all poets hath surpassed.
The next who comes is Horace, satirist,
Ovid the third, and Lucan is the last.
Because each nature doth with mine consist
By virtue of that name which the one voice chose
They do me honour, and themselves not least. "
Thus I saw gather the noble school of those
Masters of soaring song, whose sovran style
Over the others like an eagle goes.
After they had talked together a little while,
They turned to me and welcoming signs displayed:
At which salute I saw my Master smile.
And yet more honour unto me they paid,
For me into their band did they invite,
So that I a sixth amid such wisdom made.
Thus we went moving onwards toward the light
Speaking such things as here were better mute,
Though there to speak them was both meet and right.
Now came we to a Noble Castle's foot,
With lofty walls seven times engirdled round,
And a fair rivulet moated it about.
This we passed over as it had been dry ground.
Through seven gates entering with those sages, lo!
A meadow of fresh verdure there I found.
On it were people with grave eyes and slow,
And great authority was in their mien.
They spoke seldom, with mild voices and low.
Thus we retired on one side that demesne
Into an open, luminous, high place,
So that they stood where they could all be seen.
There on the green enamel, face to face,
Were shown me the great spirits, so that I
Exalt myself to have enjoyed such grace.
I saw Electra in a great company
Among whom Hector and Aeneas were,
And armed Caesar with the falcon eye.
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea there
Over against them, and the Latian King;
Lavinia his daughter sitting near;
That Brutus who drove out the proud Tarquin;
Lucrece, Cornelia, Julia, Marcia, four
Together, and by himself the Saladin.
When I had raised my eyes a little more,
I saw the Master of those who know: he sate
Amid the sons Philosophy to him bore.
All do him honour, all eyes on him wait.
Here I beheld Plato and Socrates
Who of all are nearest to his high estate.
Democritus, whose world blind Chance decrees;
Diogenes, Thales, Anaxagoras;
Zeno, Heraclitus, and Empedocles:
Him who was skilled the virtue of plants to class,
Dioscorides, I saw; and Orpheus' shade;
Tully's and Linus'; moral Seneca's;
Euclid, and Ptolemy, who the stars surveyed;
Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Galen,
Averroes also, who the Comment made.
I may not portray all in the full scene,
Being hurried on so by the long theme's care,
That oft the word comes short of the thing seen.
The band of six to two hath dwindled, where
By another road the sage Escort inclines
Out of the quiet into the trembling air.
I come to a place where there is naught that shines.
Rumble of thunder upon my brain deep-drowsed
So shook the sleep that at the heavy sound
I started, like a man by force aroused.
And my now rested eyes casting around
I rose upright, with peering gaze intent
To know the place wherein myself I found.
True it is, I stood on the edge of the descent
Where the hollow of the gulf out of despair
Amasses thunder of infinite lament.
Sombre, profound, and brimmed with vaporous air
It was, so that I, seeking to pierce through
To the very bottom, could see nothing there.
" Let us go down to the blind world below, "
Began to me the Poet, all amort.
" I shall be first, and thou behind me go. "
And I, who had marked his cheek change in that sort,
Said: " How shall I come where thou losest cheer
Who art wont my hesitation to support? "
And he to me: " The misery that is here,
Down among this folk, maketh my face wan
With pity, which thine eyes mistake for fear.
Descend we: the long way constrains us on. "
So he entered, and he made me enter too,
On the first circle that the abyss doth zone.
Here was no sound that the ear could catch of rue,
Save only of sighs, that still as they complain
Make the eternal air tremble anew.
And this rose from the sorrow, unracked by pain,
That was in the great multitude below
Of children and of women and of men.
The good Master to me: " Wouldst thou not know
What spirits are these thou seest and hearest grieve?
I'd have thee learn before thou farther go,
These sinned not: but the merit that they achieve
Helps not, since baptism was not theirs, the gate
Of that faith, which was given thee to believe.
And if ere Christ they came, untimely in date,
They worshipped not with right experience;
And I myself am numbered in their state.
For such defect and for no other offence
We are lost, and only in so far amerced
That without hope we languish in suspense. "
I, when I heard this, to the heart was pierced,
Because I knew men to much virtue bred
Whose spirits in that Limbo were athirst.
" Tell me, my Master, tell me, Sir! " I said,
Seized with a longing wholly to be assured
Of that faith wherein error cannot tread,
" Did ever any of those herein immured
By his own or other's merit to bliss get free? "
And he, aware what meant my covert word,
Answered: " I was yet new in this degree
When I saw one in power crowned appear
On whom the signs of victory were to see.
He took from us the shade of our first sire;
Of his son Abel, and Noah of that same seed;
Moses, the obedient and the law-giver;
The patriarch, Abraham, and the King, David;
Israel with his father and with his sons;
Rachel also, to win whom so much he did;
And many another; and made them blessed ones;
And I would have thee know that, before these,
There has been no human soul that he atones. "
We ceased not to go on by slow degrees,
Though he spoke still, and past the wood had come,
The wood I mean of spirits thick like trees,
And, since my slumber, had not advanced therefrom
Far, when a radiant glow beyond us shone
Which overcame a hemisphere of gloom.
A little distance from us it lay on,
Yet not so much but that I saw in part
What honourable folk that place had won.
" O thou that honourest Science and Art,
Who are these that have such honour and acclaim
That it removes them from the rest apart? "
And he to me: " The glory of the name
Which sounds of them above in the earthly sphere
Gains favour of Heaven which thus promoteth them. "
Meanwhile a voice was sounding in my ear:
" Honour ye all the great Poet: his shade
That had departed, now again is here. "
After the voice had paused and silent stayed,
I saw four great shades come with one accord.
They had an aspect neither gay nor sad.
The good Master began to speak his word:
" On him who bears the sword thine eyes now cast,
Who comes before the others, as their lord.
He is Homer, who all poets hath surpassed.
The next who comes is Horace, satirist,
Ovid the third, and Lucan is the last.
Because each nature doth with mine consist
By virtue of that name which the one voice chose
They do me honour, and themselves not least. "
Thus I saw gather the noble school of those
Masters of soaring song, whose sovran style
Over the others like an eagle goes.
After they had talked together a little while,
They turned to me and welcoming signs displayed:
At which salute I saw my Master smile.
And yet more honour unto me they paid,
For me into their band did they invite,
So that I a sixth amid such wisdom made.
Thus we went moving onwards toward the light
Speaking such things as here were better mute,
Though there to speak them was both meet and right.
Now came we to a Noble Castle's foot,
With lofty walls seven times engirdled round,
And a fair rivulet moated it about.
This we passed over as it had been dry ground.
Through seven gates entering with those sages, lo!
A meadow of fresh verdure there I found.
On it were people with grave eyes and slow,
And great authority was in their mien.
They spoke seldom, with mild voices and low.
Thus we retired on one side that demesne
Into an open, luminous, high place,
So that they stood where they could all be seen.
There on the green enamel, face to face,
Were shown me the great spirits, so that I
Exalt myself to have enjoyed such grace.
I saw Electra in a great company
Among whom Hector and Aeneas were,
And armed Caesar with the falcon eye.
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea there
Over against them, and the Latian King;
Lavinia his daughter sitting near;
That Brutus who drove out the proud Tarquin;
Lucrece, Cornelia, Julia, Marcia, four
Together, and by himself the Saladin.
When I had raised my eyes a little more,
I saw the Master of those who know: he sate
Amid the sons Philosophy to him bore.
All do him honour, all eyes on him wait.
Here I beheld Plato and Socrates
Who of all are nearest to his high estate.
Democritus, whose world blind Chance decrees;
Diogenes, Thales, Anaxagoras;
Zeno, Heraclitus, and Empedocles:
Him who was skilled the virtue of plants to class,
Dioscorides, I saw; and Orpheus' shade;
Tully's and Linus'; moral Seneca's;
Euclid, and Ptolemy, who the stars surveyed;
Hippocrates, Avicenna, and Galen,
Averroes also, who the Comment made.
I may not portray all in the full scene,
Being hurried on so by the long theme's care,
That oft the word comes short of the thing seen.
The band of six to two hath dwindled, where
By another road the sage Escort inclines
Out of the quiet into the trembling air.
I come to a place where there is naught that shines.