Dante's Purgatorio: Canto XXXI

Reproaches of Beatrice and Confession of Dante. The Passage of Lethe. The Seven Virtues. The Griffon.

"O thou who art beyond the sacred river,"
   Turning to me the point of her discourse,
   That edgewise even had seemed to me so keen,

She recommenced, continuing without pause,
   "Say, say if this be true; to such a charge, 5
   Thy own confession needs must be conjoined."

My faculties were in so great confusion,
   That the voice moved, but sooner was extinct
   Than by its organs it was set at large.

Awhile she waited; then she said: "What thinkest? 10
   Answer me; for the mournful memories
   In thee not yet are by the waters injured."

Confusion and dismay together mingled
   Forced such a Yes! from out my mouth, that sight
   Was needful to the understanding of it. 15

Even as a cross-bow breaks, when 'tis discharged
   Too tensely drawn the bowstring and the bow,
   And with less force the arrow hits the mark,

So I gave way beneath that heavy burden,
   Outpouring in a torrent tears and sighs, 20
   And the voice flagged upon its passage forth.

Whence she to me: "In those desires of mine
   Which led thee to the loving of that good,
   Beyond which there is nothing to aspire to,

What trenches lying traverse or what chains 25
   Didst thou discover, that of passing onward
   Thou shouldst have thus despoiled thee of the hope?

And what allurements or what vantages
   Upon the forehead of the others showed,
   That thou shouldst turn thy footsteps unto them?" 30

After the heaving of a bitter sigh,
   Hardly had I the voice to make response,
   And with fatigue my lips did fashion it.

Weeping I said: "The things that present were
   With their false pleasure turned aside my steps, 35
   Soon as your countenance concealed itself."

And she: "Shouldst thou be silent, or deny
   What thou confessest, not less manifest
   Would be thy fault, by such a Judge 'tis known.

But when from one's own cheeks comes bursting forth 40
   The accusal of the sin, in our tribunal
   Against the edge the wheel doth turn itself.

But still, that thou mayst feel a greater shame
   For thy transgression, and another time
   Hearing the Sirens thou mayst be more strong, 45

Cast down the seed of weeping and attend;
   So shalt thou hear, how in an opposite way
   My buried flesh should have directed thee.

Never to thee presented art or nature
   Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein 50
   I was enclosed, which scattered are in earth.

And if the highest pleasure thus did fail thee
   By reason of my death, what mortal thing
   Should then have drawn thee into its desire?

Thou oughtest verily at the first shaft 55
   Of things fallacious to have risen up
   To follow me, who was no longer such.

Thou oughtest not to have stooped thy pinions downward
   To wait for further blows, or little girl,
   Or other vanity of such brief use. 60

The callow birdlet waits for two or three,
   But to the eyes of those already fledged,
   In vain the net is spread or shaft is shot."

Even as children silent in their shame
   Stand listening with their eyes upon the ground, 65
   And conscious of their fault, and penitent;

So was I standing; and she said: "If thou
   In hearing sufferest pain, lift up thy beard
   And thou shalt feel a greater pain in seeing."

With less resistance is a robust holm 70
   Uprooted, either by a native wind
   Or else by that from regions of Iarbas,

Than I upraised at her command my chin;
   And when she by the beard the face demanded,
   Well I perceived the venom of her meaning. 75

And as my countenance was lifted up,
   Mine eye perceived those creatures beautiful
   Had rested from the strewing of the flowers;

And, still but little reassured, mine eyes
   Saw Beatrice turned round towards the monster, 80
   That is one person only in two natures.

Beneath her veil, beyond the margent green,
   She seemed to me far more her ancient self
   To excel, than others here, when she was here.

So pricked me then the thorn of penitence, 85
   That of all other things the one which turned me
   Most to its love became the most my foe.

Such self-conviction stung me at the heart
   O'erpowered I fell, and what I then became
   She knoweth who had furnished me the cause. 90

Then, when the heart restored my outward sense,
   The lady I had found alone, above me
   I saw, and she was saying, "Hold me, hold me."

Up to my throat she in the stream had drawn me,
   And, dragging me behind her, she was moving 95
   Upon the water lightly as a shuttle.

When I was near unto the blessed shore,
   "Asperges me," I heard so sweetly sung,
   Remember it I cannot, much less write it.

The beautiful lady opened wide her arms, 100
   Embraced my head, and plunged me underneath,
   Where I was forced to swallow of the water.

Then forth she drew me, and all dripping brought
   Into the dance of the four beautiful,
   And each one with her arm did cover me. 105

'We here are Nymphs, and in the Heaven are stars;
   Ere Beatrice descended to the world,
   We as her handmaids were appointed her.

We'll lead thee to her eyes; but for the pleasant
   Light that within them is, shall sharpen thine 110
   The three beyond, who more profoundly look.'

Thus singing they began; and afterwards
   Unto the Griffin's breast they led me with them,
   Where Beatrice was standing, turned towards us.

"See that thou dost not spare thine eyes," they said; 115
   "Before the emeralds have we stationed thee,
   Whence Love aforetime drew for thee his weapons."

A thousand longings, hotter than the flame,
   Fastened mine eyes upon those eyes relucent,
   That still upon the Griffin steadfast stayed. 120

As in a glass the sun, not otherwise
   Within them was the twofold monster shining,
   Now with the one, now with the other nature.

Think, Reader, if within myself I marvelled,
   When I beheld the thing itself stand still, 125
   And in its image it transformed itself.

While with amazement filled and jubilant,
   My soul was tasting of the food, that while
   It satisfies us makes us hunger for it,

Themselves revealing of the highest rank 130
   In bearing, did the other three advance,
   Singing to their angelic saraband.

"Turn, Beatrice, O turn thy holy eyes,"
   Such was their song, "unto thy faithful one,
   Who has to see thee ta'en so many steps. 135

In grace do us the grace that thou unveil
   Thy face to him, so that he may discern
   The second beauty which thou dost conceal."

O splendour of the living light eternal!
   Who underneath the shadow of Parnassus 140
   Has grown so pale, or drunk so at its cistern,

He would not seem to have his mind encumbered
   Striving to paint thee as thou didst appear,
   Where the harmonious heaven o'ershadowed thee,

When in the open air thou didst unveil? 145

NOTES

1 - 1

In this canto Dante, having made confession of his sins, is drawn by Matilda through the river Lethe.

2 - 2

Hitherto Beatrice has directed her discourse to her attendant handmaidens around the chariot. Now she speaks directly to Dante.

25 - 25

As in a castle or fortress.

30 - 30

As one fascinated and enamored with them.

42 - 42

The sword of justice is dulled by the wheel being turned against its edge. This is the usual interpretation; but a friend suggests that the allusion may be to the wheel of St. Catherine, which is studded with sword-blades.

46 - 46

The grief which is the cause of your weeping.

59 - 59

There is a good deal of gossiping among the commentators about this little girl or Pargoletta. Some suppose it to be the same as the Gentucca of Canto XXIV. 37, and the Pargoletta of one of the poems in the Canzoniere, which in Mr. Lyell's translation runs as follows:–

“Ladies, behold a maiden fair, and young;
To you I come heaven's beauty to display,
And manifest the place from whence I am.
In heaven I dwelt, and thither shall return,
Joy to impart to angels with my light.
He who shall me behold nor be enamored,
Of Love shall never comprehend the charm;
For every pleasing gift was freely given,
When Nature sought the grant of me from him.
Who willed that your companion I should be.
Each star upon my eyes its influence sheds,
And with its light and virtue I am blest:
Beauties are mine the world hath never seen,
For I obtained them in the realms above;
And ever must their essence rest unknown,
Unless through consciousness of him in whom
Love shall abide through pleasure of another.
These words a youthful angel bore inscribed
Upon her brow, whose vision we beheld;
And I, who to find safety gazed on her,
A risk incur that it may cost my life;
For I received a wound so deep and wide
From one I saw entrenched within her eyes,
That still I weep, nor peace I since have known.”

Others think the allusion is general. The Ottimo says: “Neither that young woman, whom in his Rime he called Pargoletta, nor that Lisetta, nor that other mountain maiden, nor this one, nor that other.” He might have added the lady of Bologna, of whom Dante sings in one of his sonnets:–

“And I may say That in an evil hour I saw Bologna, And that fair lady whom I looked upon.”

Buti gives a different interpretation of the word pargoletta, making it the same as pargultà or pargolezza, “childishness or indiscretion of youth.”

In all this unnecessary confusion one thing is quite evident. As Beatrice is speaking of the past, she could not possibly allude to Gentucca, who is spoken of as one who would make Lucca pleasant to Dante at some future time:–

“'A maid is born, and wears not yet the veil,'
Began he, 'who to thee shall pleasant make
My city, howsoever men may blame it.'”

Upon the whole, the interpretation of the Ottimo is the most satisfactory, or at all events the least open to objection.

63 - 63

Proverbs i. 17: “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.”

72 - 72

Iarbas, king of Gaetulia, from whom Dido bought the land for building Carthage.

77 - 77

The angels described in Canto XXX. 20, as

“Scattering flowers above and round about.”

92 - 92

Matilda, described in Canto XXVIII. 40: –

“A lady alone, who went along
Singing and culling floweret after floweret,
With which her pathway was all painted over.”

95 - 95

Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, the river without a bridge: –

“Now I further saw that betwixt them and the gate was a
river; but there was no bridge to go over: the river was
very deep. At the sight therefore of this river, the
pilgrims were much stunned; but the men that went with them
said, 'You must go through, or you cannot come at the
gate.'....

”They then addressed themselves to the water, and, entering,
Christian began to sink, and crying out to his good friend
Hopeful, he said, 'I sink in deep waters; the billows go
over my head, all his waves go over me. Selah..'...

“Now upon the bank of the river, on the other side, they saw
the two shining men again, who there waited for them.
Wherefore being come out of the river, they saluted them,
saying, 'We are administering spirits, sent forth to
minister for those that shall be heirs of salvation.'”

98 - 98

Psalms li. 7: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”

104 - 104

The four attendant Nymphs on the left of the triumphal chariot. See Canto XXIX. 130: –

“Upon the left hand four made holiday
Vested in purple.”

106 - 106

See Canto I. Note 23.

111 - 111

These four Cardinal Virtues lead to Divine Wisdom, but the three Evangelical Virtues quicken the sight to penetrate more deeply into it.

114 - 114

Standing upon the chariot still; she does not alight till line 36 of the next canto.

116 - 116

The color of Beatrice's eyes has not been passed over in silence by the commentators. Lani, in his Annotazioni, says: “They were of a greenish blue, like the color of the sea.” Mechior Messirini, who thought he had discovered a portrait of Beatrice as old as the fourteenth century, affirms that she had “splendid brown eyes.” Dante here calls them emeralds; upon which the Ottimo comments thus: “Dante very happily introduces this precious stone, considering its properties, and considering that griffins watch over emeralds. The emerald is the prince of all green stones; no gem nor herb has greater greenness; it reflects an image like a mirror; increases wealth; is useful in litigation and to orators; is good for convulsions and epilepsy; preserves and strengthens the sight; restrains lust; restores memory; is powerful against phantoms and demons; calms tempests; stanches blood, and is useful to soothsayers.”

The beauty of green eyes, ojuelos verdes, is extolled by Spanish poets; and is not left unsung by poets of other countries. Lycophron in his “tenebrous poem” of Cassandra, says of Achilles: –

“Lo! the warlike eagle come,
Green of eye, and black of plume.”

And in one of the old French Mysteries, Hist. Théat. Fran., I. 176, Joseph describes the child Jesus as having

“Les yeulx vers, la chair blanche et tendre
Les cheveulx blonds.”

122 - 122

Monster is here used in the sense of marvel or prodigy.

123 - 123

Now as an eagle, now as a lion. The two natures, divine and human, of Christ are reflected in Theology, or Divine Wisdom. Didron, who thinks the Griffin a symbol of the Pope, applies this to his spiritual and temporal power: “As priest he is the eagle floating in the air; as king he is lion walking on the earth.”

132 - 132

The Italian Caribo, like the English Carol or Roundelay, is both song and dance. Some editions read in this line “singing,” instead of “dancing.”