Purgatorio Canto 26

Purgatorio Canto 26Translated by Robert Hollander  1 One before the other, we walked along the edge,2 and often the good master said to me:3 'Be careful now, pay attention to my warnings.' 4 The sun was beating down on my right shoulder,5 for now its beams were changing6 the aspect of the west from blue to white 7 and, as my shadow made the flames appear8 more glowing, I saw that many of the shades,9 as they went past, took note of that faint sign. 10 It was this that made them speak of me,11 and they began by telling one another:12 'This man's body does not seem made of air.' 13 Then some of them came up as near me14 as they could, always careful not to venture15 beyond the burning of the flames. 16 'O you who go along behind the others,17 not from sloth but perhaps with reverence,18 answer me, since I burn with thirst and fire. 19 'It is not I alone who crave your answer.20 All these others thirst for it more than the Indian21 or Ethiopian who craves cold water. 22 'Tell us, how can it be your body makes23 a wall against the sun, as if you were24 not yet entangled in the net of death?' 25 asked one of them. I would have then26 made myself known had I not been intent27 on another strange new sight that now appeared, 28 for in the middle of the flaming road29 came people moving in the opposite direction30 who had me staring, all absorbed.  31 There I can see that every shade of either group32 makes haste to kiss another, without stopping,33 and is content with such brief salutation, 34 just as, within their dark-hued files,35 one ant will put its face up to the other's,36 perhaps to inquire of his path and fortune. 37 When they have ceased their friendly greeting,38 before they take a new step to continue,39 each one makes an effort to outshout the rest. 40 The new ones cry: 'Sodom and Gomorrah!'41 and the others: 'Pasiphaë crawls into the cow42 so that the bull may hasten to her lust.' 43 Then, as though cranes were flying, some toward44 cool Riphaean mountains and some toward desert sands,45 these shunning frost and those the sun, 46 the one crowd goes, the other nears,47 and all return, weeping, to their former song48 and to the cry that most befits them. 49 Then the same shades who had entreated me50 drew nearer, as they had before,51 and seemed all eagerness to hear me out. 52 Having twice been made aware of their desire,53 I began: 'O souls secure of gaining,54 whenever it may be, the state of peace, 55 'my limbs have not been left on earth,56 whether green or dried, but are here with me57 intact, in all their blood and joints. 58 'I climb from here no longer to be blind.59 A lady is above through whom I gained the grace60 to bring my mortal parts into your world. 61 'But, so may your greatest longing62 soon be satisfied and the heaven take you in63 that is so full of love and holds the widest space,  64 'tell me, that I may trace it on my pages,65 who you are and who is in that throng66 which is even now receding at your backs?' 67 Not less astounded is the mountaineer,68 struck dumb and staring all around him69 when rough and rustic he comes into a town, 70 than each shade seemed from its expression‎.71 But once they had recovered from amazement,72 which is quickly overcome in noble hearts, 73 he who had questioned me began again:74 'Blessed are you, who, to die a better death,75 here take on board the knowledge that you gain. 76 'Those, who come not with us, all offended77 the same way Caesar did, for which, in triumph,78 he once heard "queen" called out against him. 79 'Thus they move on crying "Sodom,"80 as you heard, in self-reproach.81 And with their shame they fan the flames. 82 'Hermaphroditic was our sin.83 Because we did not follow human law,84 but ran behind our appetites like beasts, 85 'when, in our disgrace, we move off from the others86 we shout her name who made herself a beast87 inside the beast-shaped rough-hewn wood. 88 'Now you know our deeds and know our guilt.89 If, perhaps, you would like to know our names,90 there is no time to tell and I would not know how. 91 'About myself, indeed, I'll satisfy your wish.92 I am Guido Guinizzelli, come so far in my purgation93 because I felt true sorrow well before the end.' 94 As the two sons became on seeing their mother95 caught in Lycurgus' outraged grief,96 so I became, if with less abandon,  97 when he gave his name and I knew he had been98 father to me and to others, my betters,99 who ever used love's sweet and graceful rhymes. 100 And for a long time, deep in thought, I went on101 without listening or speaking as I gazed at him,102 but did not, for the fire, move closer. 103 Once my eyes were satisfied,104 I owned myself ready to do him service105 with such assurance as compels belief. 106 He answered: 'All that I hear you tell107 leaves so deep and clear a trace in me108 that Lethe cannot wipe it out or make it dim, 109 'but if your words just now have sworn the truth,110 tell me what has caused you to disclose111 by speech and look that you still hold me dear.' 112 And I to him: 'Your sweet verses,113 which as long as modern custom lasts,114 will make their very ink seem precious.' 115 'O brother,' he said, 'that one whom I point out116 to you'--and he pointed to a spirit just ahead--117 'was a better craftsman of the mother tongue. 118 'In verses of love and tales of romance119 he surpassed them all, and let the fools go on120 who think that fellow from Limoges was better. 121 'They favor hearsay over truth122 and thus arrive at their opinions123 without the use of skill or reason. 124 'The same was true of many long ago about Guittone,125 voice after voice shouting praise of him alone,126 until for most the truth at last prevailed. 127 'Now, if you possess such ample privilege128 that you are allowed into the cloister129 where Christ is abbot of the brothers,  130 'say a Paternoster there for me,131 as much of it as we have need in this our world,132 where we no longer have the power to sin.' 133 Then, perhaps to make room for another134 who was near him, he vanished through the fire135 as a fish glides to the bottom through the water. 136 I edged forward a little toward the other137 who had been pointed out and said that my desire138 prepared a place of welcome for his name, 139 to which he readily made answer:140 'Your courteous question pleases me so much141 I neither can nor would conceal myself from You. 142 'I am Arnaut, weeping and singing as I make my way.143 I see with grief past follies and I see,144 rejoicing, the joy I hope is coming. 145 'Now I pray You, by that power146 which guides You to the summit of the stairs,147 to remember, when the time is fit, my pain.' 148 Then he vanished in the fire that refines them..