18
that sound we hear passed on from branch to branch, in the pine forest on the shore of Chiassi when Aeolus sets free Sirocco winds.
21
By now, although my steps were slow, I found myself so deep within the ancient wood I could not see the place where I came in;
24
then suddenly, I saw blocking my way a stream whose little waves kept pushing back, leftwards, the grass that grew along its bank.
27
26. The stream is Lethe, which in classical mythology was a river of Hades from which the souls of the dead drank forgetfulness of their first existence.
The clearest of all waters on our earth would seem to have, somehow, a cloudy tinge compared to this flowing transparency—
30
transparent though it flows dark, very dark beneath an everlasting shade, which will never admit a ray of sun or moon.
33
I had to stop, but with my eyes I crossed beyond the rivulet to contemplate the many-colored splendors of the boughs,
36
and there appeared—as sometimes will appear an unexpected sight so marvelous, all other thoughts are driven from the mind—
39
a solitary lady wandering there, and she was singing as she gathered flowers from the abundance painted on her path.
42
“Oh, lovely lady, glowing with the warmth and strength of Love’s own rays—if I may trust your look, which should bear witness of the heart—
45
be kind enough, ” I said to her, “to come a little nearer to the river’s bank, that I may understand the words you sing.
48
You bring to mind what Proserpine was like, and where she was, that day her mother lost her, and she, in her turn, lost eternal Spring. ”
51
Just as a lady in the dance will turn, keeping her feet together on the ground, and one before the other hardly moves,
54
40. The lady is Matelda, whose name is mentioned, and then quite casually, only in the closing canto (XXXIII, 119). Because she is given a name, much controversy has arisen over attempts to identify her with a historical figure.
As to what this lady is supposed to symbolize, she must represent, among other things, the active life, as she is clearly reminiscent of the Leah of the Pilgrim’s final dream in the preceding canto.
so she, among the red and yellow flowers, turned round toward me, her virgin modesty enjoining her to look with downcast eyes,
57
and, satisfying my desire, she started moving toward me and, with the melody, there came to me the sweetness of the words.
60
When she had come to where the tender grass is barely touched by ripples from that stream, she graciously did raise her eyes to mine.
63
The eyes of Venus surely were not lit so radiantly that day her loving son quite innocently pierced her with his dart.
66
Smiling, she stood there on the other bank, arranging in her hands the many colors that grew from no seeds planted on that height.
69
The stream kept us only three feet apart, but Hellespont, where it was crossed by Xerxes (whose fate should be a lesson to the proud),
72
hurling its waves from Sestos to Abydos, was hated by Leander less than I hated this one: it would not open up! 7.5 “This place is new to each of you, ” she said, “it could be that you find yourself amazed, perplexed to see me smiling in this place
78
once chosen as the cradle of mankind; but let the Delectasti me shed light and clear away the mist that clouds your minds.
81
And you who are in front and spoke to me, if there is something more you want to know, I came prepared to tell you what you wish. ”
84
80. With the Delectasti me, Matelda is referring to the ninety-first psalm, and surely the lines she has in mind are “Thou didst delight me, Lord, in Thy work / and in the works of Thy hands, I will rejoice. / How praiseworthy are Thy works, O Lord. ”
“The flowing water and the woodland sounds seem to be inconsistent, ” I began, “with what I have been told about the mount. ”
87
She said, “I shall explain the logical necessity of what perplexes you, and thus remove what has obscured your mind.
90
That Highest Good, Himself pleasing Himself, made Adam good, to do good, then gave this place as earnest of eternal peace.
93
Because he sinned, he could not stay here long; because he sinned, he changed his childlike mirth, his playful joy, for anguish and for toil.
96
In order that the storms that form below (caused by the vapors from the earth and sea as they arc drawn upwards to solar heat)
99
should not disturb the garden’s peacefulness, this mount was made to rise so high toward Heaven that past the gate no storm is possible.
102
Now, since the air is moving constantly, moving as primal revolution moves (unless its circulation is disturbed),
105
here on the mountain’s height, completely free in the encircling air, this movement strikes and makes the dense leaves of the forest sing;
108
and every smitten plant begins to make the pure air pregnant with its special power, which, then, the whirling scatters everywhere;
111
all lands elsewhere conceive and bring to flower the different plants endowed with different powers, according to the climate and the soil.
114
If they knew down on earth what you know now, no one would be surprised to see a plant start growing where no seed was sown before.
117
And know, the holy land you stand on now is rich in every species and brings forth fruit that no man has ever plucked on earth.
120
The water here does not spring from a source that needs to be restored by changing mists, like streams on earth that lose, then gain, their force:
123
it issues from a spring of constant flow, immutable, which, by the will of God, regains what it pours forth on either side.
126
The water here on this side flows with power to erase sin’s memory; and on that side the memory of good deeds is restored;
129
it is called Lethe here, Eunoe there beyond, and if one does not first drink here, he will not come to know its powers there—
132
the sweet taste of its waters has no peer. And even though your thirst may now be quenched by what you know already of this place,
135
I offer you a corollary gift: I think you will not cherish my words less if you learn more than I first promised you.
138
Perhaps those poets of long ago who sang the Age of Gold, its pristine happiness, were dreaming on Parnassus of this place.
141
The root of mankind’s tree was guiltless here; here, in an endless Spring, was every fruit, such is the nectar praised by all these poets. ”
144
130. The waters of the first miraculous stream (Lethe) “erase sin’s memory” (128), while those of the second (and same) stream (Eunoe) restore “the memory of good deeds” (129).
As she said this, I quickly turned around to my two poets: I saw, still lingering, the smile her final words brought to their lips.
147
Then I turned back to face her loveliness.
CANTO XXIX
WHEN THE LADY has finished speaking, she sings and begins to walk upstream, the Pilgrim keeping pace with her on the opposite bank. They have not gone far when the lady stops and instructs the Pilgrim to be attentive. A burst of incandescence lights up the air, and the Pilgrim sees the approach of the heavenly pageant. It is led by seven golden candlesticks, which emit a stream of multicolored light that extends over the procession that follows t
hem. Next come twenty-four elders, two by two, and behind them, four creatures. Within a square determined by the positions of these four comes a chariot drawn by a griffin. To the right of the chariot are three ladies, one red, one white, and one green; to the left are for ladies clad in purple. Behind them come two aged men, then four more men of humble aspect, and finally one old man alone. When the chariot has reached a point directly opposite the Pilgrim, a thunderclap resounds, bringing the entire procession to a sudden halt.
Then, like a lady moved by love, she sang (her revelations now come to an end): Beati quorum tecta sunt peccata!
3
And like those nymphs that used to stroll alone through shaded woodlands, one seeking the sun, another trying to avoid its light,
6
3. Matelda is quoting an abbreviated version of Psalm 32:1: “Happy are they whose faults are taken away, whose sins are covered. ”
so she began to walk along the bank, moving upstream, and I kept pace with her, matching on my side her small, graceful steps.
9
Not a hundred steps between us had we gone, when the two river banks curved perfectly parallel—and I faced the east again;
12
when we had gone a little farther on, the lady stopped and, turning to me, said: “My brother, look and listen. ” Suddenly,
15
a burst of incandescence cut the air, with one quick flash it lit up all the woods— at first I thought it was a lightning flash.
18
But lightning goes as quickly as it comes; what I saw stayed, its radiance increased. “What can this be?” I thought, and as I did,
21
a gentle melody was drifting through the luminous atmosphere. Then righteous zeal made me curse the presumptuousness of Eve:
24
to think that, while all earth and Heaven obeyed His will, a single woman, newly made, would dare strip off the veil imposed by Him!
27
Had she remained submissive to His will, I could on these ineffable delights have feasted sooner and for much more time.
30
As I was moving in a blissful trance among these first fruits of eternal joy, yearning for still more happiness to come,
33
the air, beneath green boughs, became transformed before our eyes into a blazing light, and the sweet sound had now become a chant.
36
Most holy Virgins, if because of you hunger or cold or vigils I endured, allow me now to ask for my reward:
39
let Helicon pour forth its streams for me, and let Urania help me with her choir to put in verse things difficult to grasp.
42
A little farther on, I saw what seemed to be seven trees of gold—a false effect caused by the distance separating us;
45
but when I had come close enough to them that distance could no longer hide detail, and what had tricked my senses now was clear,
48
that power which feeds the process of our thought identified the shapes as candlesticks and heard the word Hosanna in the chant.
51
Above the splendid gold—a brilliant light, brighter than moonlight in a cloudless sky at midnight shining in her bright mid-month!
54
Full of bewilderment, I turned around to my good Virgil. His answer was a glance charged with no less amazement than I felt.
57
Then I turned back to gaze at those high things moving toward us as though they did not move— more slowly than a modest, newmade bride.
60
The lady cried: “Why are you so intent on looking only at those living lights? Have you no wish to see what comes behind?”
63
Then I saw people following the glow, as if they were attendants; all were clothed in garments supernaturally white.
66
The waters on my left received the light, and when I looked into this shining glass, my left side was reflected clearly there.
69
When I had reached the point along my bank where only water separated us, I stopped to watch the scene more carefully:
72
I saw the slender flames as they advanced, leaving the air behind them color-streaked— so many streaming pennants overhead!
75
And thus the sky became a painted flow of seven bands of light, all the same shades as Delia’s cincture or Apollo’s bow.
78
These bands extended farther back than eyes could see and, all together, I would say, they measured, side by side, a good ten strides.
81
And under that magnificence of Heaven came four-and-twenty elders, two by two, all of them wearing crowns of fleur-de-lis.
84
They sang as they moved on: “Benedicta thou of all of Adam’s daughters, blessed be thy beauty throughout all eternity!”
87
When once the group of God’s elect had passed (the flowers and the tender grass that grew along the other bank once more in view),
90
as groups of stars will replace other stars high in the heavens, following them there came four creatures wearing crowns of forest green.
93
Each had six wings with feathers that were all covered with eyes; were Argus still alive, his eyes would be exactly like all those.
96
Reader, I cannot spend more verses now describing them, for I have other needs constraining me—here I must spare my words;
99
84. The fleur-de-lis garlands of the elders represent the lily of purity, which accords with the supernatural whiteness of their garments (66).
85. It is to the Virgin that this blessing is offered, and it is most significant that it is uttered by the representatives of the Old Testament—a witness to the prophetic nature of those Scriptures. (See Luke 1:28.)
but you can read Ezekiel’s account: he saw them once approaching from the north borne on the wind, moving in cloud and fire,
102
and as he pictured them, so were they here, except that, in the matter of their wings, Saint John agrees with me and not with him.
105
The four of them were corners for a space filled by a triumphal two-wheeled chariot drawn by a griffin, harnessed to its neck.
108
He kept both wings raised high, and each one flanked the mid-banner between the three and three: so perfectly that neither one was cut.
111
His wings rose higher than my sight could rise; the parts of him that were a bird were gold and all the rest was white, with deep red marks.
114
An Africanus or Augustus never had such a splendid chariot from their Rome; indeed, that of the Sun could not compare—
117
that of the Sun which strayed and was destroyed at the devout petition of the Earth, when Jove in his mysterious way was just.
120
There were three ladies circling in a dance near the right wheel, and one was red, so red she hardly would be visible in fire;
123
the second looked as if her flesh and bones were fashioned out of emerald; the third had all the whiteness of new-fallen snow;
126
at times the white one led the dance, at times, the red, and from the song the red one sang the others took the tempo of their dance.
129
118. The reference is to Phaëton’s tragic attempt to drive the chariot of the sun, referred to earlier in Purgatory IV, 71-72, and in Inferno XVII, 107.
122. Of the three colors represented by the three ladies, red is the sign of Charity, green of Hope, and white of Faith.
Beside the left wheel, dancing festively, were four more ladies—dressed in purple robes and led by one with three eyes in her head.
132
Behind the dancing figures, three and four, there came two aged men, differently dressed, but similar in bearing, staid and grave.
135
One wore the garments of a follower of great Hippocrates, whom Nature made to heal those creatures that she loved the most;
138
the other seemed to be his counterpart: he bore a sword, so sharp, gleaming so bright, that I, though on the other bank, felt fear.
141
Then I saw coming four of humble mien, and, last of all, an old man, by himself, who moved in his own dream, his face inspired.
144
130-131. The left side is a lesser position than the right—which is to give more importance to the ladies dancing near the right wheel (121), representing the three theological virtues, than to these four ladies “dancing festively” to the left, who represent the four moral or cardinal virtues: Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude. These natural virtues are essential to the happiness or blessedness of this life, for they are the ones that govern or regulate human conduct. And because they are the basis of imperial authority, without which there can be no Earthly Paradise, these four ladies are dressed in purple, the color of Empire.
132. The leading lady among the four cardinal virtues is Prudence, whose function is to apply the restraints of reason to all aspects of our earthly life. Her three eyes indicate her ability to see the past, present, and future.
136. The follower is Luke, the physician of the soul (see Col. 4:14, where he is described as “the beloved physician”), and author of Acts.
139-140. The old man with the sharp, gleaming sword represents the various Epistles of St. Paul.
142. The approaching four represent the minor Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude.
144. This line is a reminder of John’s vision, his dream of the Apocalypse and Second Coming, which inspired him to write Revelation—a book so different from the others of the New Testament that it is most fitting that this figure be presented as moving alone.
And these last seven, just like the group up front, were clad in white, except the wreaths that crowned their heads were not entwined with lily blooms,
147
but roses and other flowers that are red. Had I been farther off, I would have sworn a crown of flames encircled every head.
150
And when the chariot was opposite me, thunder was heard! The exalted creatures, then, as though forbidden to move on, stopped short,