26

Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great, That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings, And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! Among the thieves five citizens of thine I found like these, whence shame comes unto me, And thou thereby to no great honour risest.

But if the truth is dreamed of towards the morning, Thou shalt feel within a little time from now What Prato, if none other, craves for thee. And if it now were, it were not too early; Would that it were, seeing it needs must be! For 'twill weigh more on me as more I age.

We went our way, and up along the stairs The bourns had made us to descend before, My Leader remounted and drew me up; And following along the solitary way Among the rocks and ridges of the crag, The foot without the hand sped not at all.

I sorrowed then, and sorrow now again, When I direct my mind to what I saw; And more my genius curb than I am wont, That it may run not unless virtue guide it; So that if some good star, or better thing, Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it.

As many as the hind who rests on hill— In the season when he who lights the world Keeps his face least hidden from us, what time The fly gives place unto the gnat— The rustic sees the fire-flies down the valley, There peradventure where he ploughs and vintages: With flames as manifold resplendent all Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware As soon as I was where the depth appeared.

And as he who was avenged by means of bears Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, For with his eye he could not follow it So as to see aught else than flame alone, Even as a little cloud ascending upward,— Thus each along the gorge of the fosse moved; For not a single one reveals the theft, And every flame a sinner steals away.

I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, So that, if I had seized not on a rock, Down I had fallen without being pushed. And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, Exclaimed: "Within those fires the spirits are; Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns."

"Master," I said, "by hearing thee I am More certain; but already I surmised That it might be so, and already wished to ask thee Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft At top, it seems uprising from the pyre Where was Eteocles with his brother placed."

He answered me: "Within there are tormented Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. And there within their flame do they lament The ambush of the horse, which made the door Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead Deidamia still deplores Achilles, And pain for the Palladium there is borne."

"If they within those sparks possess the power To speak," I said, "O Master, much I pray thee, And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand, That thou make no denial of awaiting Until the horned flame shall hither come; Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it."

And he to me: "Thy prayer is worthy of Much praise, and therefore I accept of it; But see to it that thy tongue restrain itself. Leave me to speak, because I have conceived That which thou wishest; for they might disdain Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine."

When now the flame had come unto that point, Where to my Leader it seemed time and place, After this fashion did I hear him speak: "O ye, who are twofold within one fire, If I deserved of you, while I was living, If I deserved of you or much or little When in the world I wrote the lofty verses, Do not move on, but one of you declare Whither, being lost, he went away to die."

The greater horn of the ancient flame Began to murmur and to move, as a flame That struggles with the wind doth palpitate. Thereafter, the summit to and fro Moving as if it were the tongue that spake, It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I From Circe had departed, who concealed me More than a year there near unto Gaeta, Before Aeneas thus had named the place, Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence For my old father, nor the due affection Which joyous should have made Penelope, Could overcome within me the desire I had to be experienced of the world, And of the vice and virtue of mankind."

"But I put forth on the deep, open sea With one sole ship, and with that little company By which I never had deserted been. Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes, And the others which that sea bathes round about. I and my company were old and slow When at that narrow passage we arrived Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, That man no farther onward should adventure."

"'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand Perils,' I said, 'have come unto the West, To this so inconsiderable vigil Which is remaining of your senses still, Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge, Following the sun, of the unpeopled world. Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang; Ye were not made to live like unto brutes, But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.'"

"My companions I made so keen and eager With this brief exhortation for the voyage, That then I hardly could have held them back. And, having turned our stern unto the morning, Of our oars we made wings for the foolish flight, Evermore gaining on the larboard side. Already all the stars of the other pole The night beheld, and ours so very low It did not rise above the ocean floor."

"Five times rekindled, and as many quenched, Had been the splendour underneath the moon, Since we had entered into the deep pass, When there appeared to us a mountain, dim From distance, and it seemed to me so high As I had never any one beheld. Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; For out of the new land a whirlwind rose, And smote upon the fore part of the ship. Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, And the prow go down, as pleased Another, Until the sea above us closed again."