The Portable Dante by Dante Alighieri
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as did the flaming ensigns at the front.
CANTO XXX
AS THE PROCESSION comes to a halt, the twenty-four elders turn to face the chariot. One of them sings, “Come, O bride, from Lebanon. ” One hundred singing angels appear in the sky overhead; they fill the air with a rain of flowers. Through the flowers, Beatrice appears. The Pilgrim turns to Virgil to confess his overpowering emotions, only to find that Virgil has disappeared! Beatrice speaks sternly to Dante, calling him by name and reprimanding him for having wasted his God-given talents, wandering from the path that leads to Truth. So hopeless, in fact, was his case, to such depths did he sink, that the journey to see the souls of the Damned in Hell was the only way left of setting him back on the road to salvation.
145-146. The last seven figures, who represent the New Testament, are dressed in garments the same color as those representing the Old Testament. But the wreaths the former wear are not white but red—the color of the first of the three theological virtues: Charity.
When the Septentrion of the First Heaven (which never sets nor rises nor has known any cloud other than the veil of sin),
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which showed to everyone his duty there (just as our lower constellation guides the helmsman on his way to port on earth),
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stopped short, that group of prophets of the truth who were between the griffin and those lights turned to the car as to their source of peace;
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then, one of them, as sent from Heaven, sang Veni, sponsa, de Libano, three times, and all the other voices followed his.
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As at the Final Summons all the blest will rise out of their graves, ready to raise new-bodied voices singing ‘Hallelujah!’
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just so rose up above the heavenly cart a hundred spirits ad vocem tanti senis, eternal heralds, ministers of God,
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all shouting: Benedictus qui venis! then, tossing a rain of flowers in the air, Manibus, O, date lilia plenis!
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1. The constellation sometimes called Septentrion is probably the Little Dipper (Ursa Minor), which contains seven stars, including the North Star. Thus the “Septentrion of the First Heaven” (the Empyrean) must be the seven blazing candlesticks that direct the procession.
11. “Veni, sponsa, de Libano” (“Come, bride, from Lebanon”) is taken from the Song of Solomon (4:8), where the bride is interpreted as the soul wedded to Christ. Here the song has to do with the advent of Beatrice, one of whose allegorical mean ings is Sapientia, or the wisdom of God.
17. “Ad vocem tanti senis” translates as “At the voice of so great an elder. ”
19. “Benedictus qui venis” (“Blessed are Thou that comest”) is a slightly modified version of Matthew 21:9, Benedictus qui venit (“Blessed is He who cometh”). Note that while Dante felt free to shift from the third to the second person in quoting this line, he left intact Benedictus, with its masculine form. In this way the word, though applied to Beatrice, who is about to appear, retains its original reference to Christ.
Sometimes, as day approaches, I have seen all of the eastern sky a glow of rose, the rest of heaven beautifully clear,
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the sun’s face rising in a misty veil of tempering vapors that allow the eye to look straight at it for a longer time:
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even so, within a nebula of flowers that flowed upward from angels’ hands and then poured down, covering all the chariot,
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appeared a lady—over her white veil an olive crown and, under her green cloak, her gown, the color of eternal flame.
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And instantly—though many years had passed since last I stood trembling before her eyes, captured by adoration, stunned by awe—
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my soul, that could not see her perfectly, still felt, succumbing to her mystery and power, the strength of its enduring love.
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No sooner were my eyes struck by the force of the high, piercing virtue I had known before I quit my boyhood years, than I
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turned to the left—with all the confidence that makes a child run to its mother’s arms, when he is frightened or needs comforting—
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21. “O give us lilies with full hands. ” This quotation from the Aeneid (VI, 883) is surely intended as high tribute to Virgil, the Pilgrim’s guide, since his words are placed on the same level as verses from the Bible.
31-33. The lady is Beatrice, and the colors she wears are those of the three theological virtues: Faith, Hope, and Charity.
to say to Virgil: “Not one drop of blood is left inside my veins that does not throb: I recognize signs of the ancient flame. ”
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But Virgil was not there. We found ourselves without Virgil, sweet father, Virgil to whom for my salvation I gave up my soul.
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All the delights around me, which were lost by our first mother, could not keep my cheeks, once washed with dew, from being stained with tears.
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“Dante, though Virgil leaves you, do not weep, not yet, that is, for you shall have to weep from yet another wound. Do not weep yet. ”
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Just as an admiral, from bow or stern, watches his men at work on other ships, encouraging their earnest labors—so,
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rising above the chariot’s left rail (when I turned round, hearing my name called out, which of necessity I here record),
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I saw the lady who had first appeared beneath the angelic festival of flowers gazing upon me from beyond the stream.
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Although the veil that flowed down from her head, fixed by the crown made of Minerva’s leaves, still kept me from a perfect view of her,
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I sensed the regal sternness of her face, as she continued in the tone of one who saves the sharpest words until the end:
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“Yes, look at me! Yes, I am Beatrice! So, you at last have deigned to climb the mount? You learned at last that here lies human bliss?”
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55. This is the first time that the Pilgrim hears his own name during his journey.
I lowered my head and looked down at the stream, but, filled with shame at my reflection there, I quickly fixed my eyes upon the grass.
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I was the guilty child facing his mother, abject before her harshness: harsh, indeed, is unripe pity not yet merciful.
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As she stopped speaking, all the angels rushed into the psalm In te, Domine, speravi, but did not sing beyond pedes meos.
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As snow upon the spine of Italy, frozen among the living rafters there, blown and packed hard by wintry northeast winds,
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will then dissolve, dripping into itself, when, from the land that knows no noonday shade, there comes a wind like flame melting down wax;
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so tears and sighs were frozen hard in me, until I heard the song of those attuned forever to the music of the spheres;
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but when I sensed in their sweet notes the pity they felt for me (it was as if they said: “Lady, why do you shame him so?”), the bonds
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of ice packed tight around my heart dissolved, becoming breath and water: from my breast, through mouth and eyes, anguish came pouring forth.
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Still on the same side of the chariot she stood immobile; then she turned her words to that compassionate array of beings:
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83-84. The angels are singing the first part of the thirty-first psalm, which begins, “In Thee, O lord, have I put my trust. ” They continue through line 8 (pedes meos), “Thou hast set my feet in a spacious place”—which is precisely the place where the Pilgrim is standing at this moment.
89. The land is equatorial Africa, where the sun is often directly overhead, sending its rays straight down so that objects cast
“With your eyes fixed on the eternal day, darkness of night or sleep cannot conceal from you a single act performed on earth;
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and though I speak to you, my purpose is to make the one who weeps on that far bank perceive the truth and match his guilt with grief.
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Not only through the working of the spheres, which brings each seed to its appropriate end according as the stars keep company,
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but also through the bounty of God’s grace, raining from vapors born so high above they cannot be discerned by human sight,
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was this man so endowed, potentially, in early youth—had he allowed his gifts to bloom, he would have reaped abundantly.
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But the more vigorous and rich the soil, the wilder and the weedier it grows when left untilled, its bad seeds flourishing.
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There was a time my countenance sufficed, as I let him look into my young eyes for guidance on the straight path to his goal;
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but when I passed into my second age and changed my life for Life, that man you see strayed after others and abandoned me;
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when I had risen from the flesh to spirit, become more beautiful, more virtuous, he found less pleasure in me, loved me less,
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and wandered from the path that leads to truth, pursuing simulacra of the good, which promise more than they can ever give.
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I prayed that inspiration come to him through dreams and other means: in vain I tried to call him back, so little did he care.
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To such depths did he sink that, finally, there was no other way to save his soul except to have him see the Damned in Hell.
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That this might be, I visited the Dead, and offered my petition and my tears to him who until now has been his guide.
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The highest laws of God would be annulled if he crossed Lethe, drinking its sweet flow, without having to pay at least some scot
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of penitence poured forth in guilty tears. ”
CANTO XXXI
BEATRICE CONTINUES TO upbraid Dante, who, nearly incapable of speech, weeping and sighing, finally confesses his guilt; then, overcome by remorse, he faints. Upon regaining consciousness he discovers that Matelda has drawn him into the stream of Lethe up to his neck. She carries him across and dips his head beneath the surface that he might drink of the waters. Then she leads him, now pure, into the dance of the four lovely maidens who flank Beatrice’s chariot. They bring him in turn to Beatrice, and as he stares into her eyes, he sees the reflection of the griffin, manifested now in its one nature, now in the other. Finally the other three attendant ladies induce Beatrice to unveil her mouth to her “faithful one. ”
“You, standing there, beyond the sacred stream, ” she cried, not pausing in her eloquence and turning now the sword point of her words
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toward me, who had already felt its blade, “speak now, is this not true? Speak! You must seal with your confession this grave charge I make!”
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I stood before her paralyzed, confused; I moved my lips, my throat striving to speak, but not a single breath of speech escaped.
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She hardly paused: “What are you thinking of? Answer me, now! Your bitter memories have not as yet been purged within this stream. ”
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My fear and deep chagrin, between them, forced out of my mouth a miserable “yes”— only by ears with eyes could it be heard.
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A crossbow, drawn with too much tension, snaps, bowstring and bow together, and the shaft will strike the target with diminished force;
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so I was shattered by the intensity of my emotions: tears and sighs burst forth, as I released my voice about to fail.
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She: “In your journey of desire for me, leading you toward that Good beyond which naught exists to which a man’s heart may aspire,
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what pitfalls did you find, what chains stretched out across your path, that you felt you were forced to abandon every hope of going on?
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And what appealed to you, what did you find so promising in all those other things that made you feel obliged to spend your time
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in courting them?” I heaved a bitter sigh, and barely found the voice to answer her; my lips, with difficulty, shaped the words.
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Weeping, I said: “Those things with their false joys, offered me by the world, led me astray when I no longer saw your countenance. ”
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And she: “Had you kept silent or denied what you have just confessed, your guilt would still be clear to the great Judge who knows all things.
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But when the condemnation of his sin bursts from the sinner’s lips, here in our Court, the grindstone is turned back against the blade.
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Still, so that you may truly feel the shame of all your sins—so that, another time, you will be stronger when the Sirens sing—
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master your feelings, listen to my words, and you shall learn just how my buried flesh was meant to guide you in another way.
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You never saw in Nature or in Art a beauty like the beauty of my form, which clothed me once and now is turned to dust;
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and if that perfect beauty disappeared when I departed from the world, how could another mortal object lure your love?
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When you first felt deception’s arrow sting, you should have rushed to rise and follow me, as soon as I lost my deceptive flesh.
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No pretty girl or any other brief attraction should have weighed down your wings, and left you waiting for another blow.
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The fledgling waits a second time, a third, but not the full-fledged bird: before his eyes in vain the net is spread, the arrow shot. ”
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As children scolded into silence stand ashamed, with head bowed staring at the ground, acknowledging their fault and penitent—
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so I stood there. Then she: “If listening can cause you so much grief, now raise your beard and look at me and suffer greater grief. ”
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41. The court is both the heavenly court, where Beatrice and the angels dwell in the presence of God, and the divine tribunal, before which every man will one day be judged.
42. Here the grindstone symbolizes mercy as it is “turned back against” or used to blunt the blade of the sword of justice.
With less resistance is the sturdy oak uprooted by the winds of storms at home in Europe or by those that Iarbas blows,
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than my soul offered to her curt command that I look up at her: she called my face my “beard”! I felt the venom in her words.
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And when I raised my head, I did not look at her, but at those first-created ones: they had already ceased their rain of flowers.
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Then when I turned my unsure eyes once more, I saw that Beatrice faced the beast who in two natures is one single being.
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Though she was veiled and on the other shore, lovelier now, she seemed, than when alive on earth, when she was loveliest of all.
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I felt the stabbing pain of my remorse: what I had loved the most of all the things that were not she, I hated now the most.
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The recognition of my guilt so stunned my heart, I fainted. What happened then is known only to her who was the cause of it.
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When I revived, that lady I first saw strolling alone was now bent over me, saying: “Hold on to me, hold tight. ” She had
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led me into the stream up to my neck; now drawing me along she glided light, and with a shuttle’s ease, across the
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Before I reached the sacred bank I heard Asperges me —so sweetly sung, my mind cannot recall, far less my words retell.
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98. “Asperges me” (“Cleanse me of sin”) is from Psalm 51:7 (Vulgate 50:9): “Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ” The Asperges is sung at the beginning of the Mass, when the priest sprinkles the people with holy water.
The lovely lady, opening her arms, embraced my head and dipped it in the stream just deep enough to let me drink of it.
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She took me from those waters, cleansed, and led me to the dance of the four lovely ones, who raised their arms to join hands over me.
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“Here we are nymphs and in the heavens, stars; before Beatrice came into the world we were ordained her handmaids. It is for us
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to lead you to her eyes. The other three, who see more deeply, will instruct your sight, as you bathe in her gaze of joyful light, ”
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they sang to me; then they accompanied me up to the griffin’s breast, while Beatrice now faced us from the center of the cart.
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“Look deeply, look with all your sight, ” they said, “for now you stand before those emeralds from which Love once shot loving darts at you. ”
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A thousand yearning flames of my desire held my eyes fixed upon those brilliant eyes that held the griffin fixed within their range.
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Like sunlight in a mirror, shining back, I saw the twofold creature in her eyes, reflecting its two natures, separately.
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Imagine, reader, how amazed I was to see the creature standing there unchanged, yet, in its image, changing constantly,
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And while my soul, delighted and amazed, was tasting of that food which satisfies and, at the same time, makes one hungrier,
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116. The emeralds are Beatrice’s eyes, which are green, symbolizing Hope.
128-129. Dante is paraphrasing the words of Sapientia in Ecclesiastes 24:21: “They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty. ”
the other three, revealing in their mien their more exalted rank, came dancing forth accompanied by angelic melody.