What avarice does is here made manifest In the purgation of these souls converted, And no more bitter pain the Mountain has. Even as our eye did not uplift itself Aloft, being fastened upon earthly things, So justice here has merged it in the earth. As avarice had extinguished our affection For every good, whereby was action lost, So justice here doth hold us in restraint, Bound and imprisoned by the feet and hands; And so long as it pleases the just Lord Shall we remain immovable and prostrate." I on my knees had fallen, and wished to speak; But even as I began, and he was 'ware, Only by listening, of my reverence, "What cause," he said, "has downward bent thee thus?" And I to him: "For your own dignity, Standing, my conscience stung me with remorse." "Straighten thy legs, and upward raise thee, brother," He answered: "Err not, fellow-servant am I With thee and with the others to one power. If e'er that holy, evangelic sound, Which sayeth neque nubent, thou hast heard, Now go; no longer will I have thee linger, Because thy stay doth incommode my weeping, With which I ripen that which thou hast said. On earth I have a grandchild named Alagia, Good in herself, unless indeed our house Malevolent may make her by example, And she alone remains to me on earth." 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 CANTO XX. ILL strives the will against a better will; On the other side too near the verge approach. Accursed mayst thou be, thou old she-wolf, That more than all the other beasts hast prey, O heaven, in whose gyrations some appear To think conditions here below are changed, And I attentive to the shades I heard Where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down." Virtue with poverty didst thou prefer To the possession of great wealth with vice." So pleasurable were these words to me That I drew farther onward to have knowledge He furthermore was speaking of the largess Which Nicholas unto the maidens gave, "O soul that dost so excellently speak, Tell me who wast thou,” said I, "and why only I may expect from earth, but that so much I was the root of that malignant plant Which overshadows all the Christian world, But if Douay and Ghent, and Lille and Bruges Had power, soon vengeance would be taken on it; Hugh Capet was I called upon the earth; From me were born the Louises and Philips, By whom in later days has France been governed. I was the son of a Parisian butcher, What time the ancient kings had perished all, 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 PURGATORIO, XX. I found me grasping in my hands the rein Of the realm's government, and so great power The head of mine own offspring was, from whom Out of my blood took not the sense of shame, 'Twas little worth, but still it did no harm. Then it began with falsehood and with force Its rapine; and thereafter, for amends, Took Ponthieu, Normandy, and Gascony. Charles came to Italy, and for amends A victim made of Conradin, and then Thrust Thomas back to heaven, for amends. A time I see, not very distant now, Which draweth forth another Charles from France, Unarmed he goes, and only with the lance That Judas jousted with; and that he thrusts So that he makes the paunch of Florence burst. He thence not land, but sin and infamy, Shall gain, so much more grievous to himself As the more light such damage he accounts, The other, now gone forth, ta'en in his ship, See I his daughter sell, and chaffer for her Since thou my blood so to thyself hast drawn, I see renewed the vinegar and gall, I see the modern Pilate so relentless, This does not sate him, but without decretal By looking on the vengeance which, concealed, What I was saying of that only bride Of the Holy Ghost, and which occasioned thee Y 2 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 So long has been ordained to all our prayers As the day lasts; but when the night comes on, At that time we repeat Pygmalion, Of whom a traitor, thief, and parricide And the misery of avaricious Midas, That followed his inordinate demand, At which forevermore one needs but laugh. The foolish Achan each one then records, And how he stole the spoils; so that the wrath Then we accuse Sapphira with her husband, Here finally is cried: 'O Crassus, tell us, According to desire of speech, that spurs us And made endeavour to o'ercome the road When I perceived, like something that is falling, The mountain tremble, whence a chill seized on me, Certes so violently shook not Delos, Before Latona made her nest therein 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 To give birth to the two eyes of the heaven. Then upon all sides there began a cry, Such that the Master drew himself towards me, 135 "Gloria in excelsis Deo," all Were saying, from what near I comprehended, We paused immovable and in suspense, Even as the shepherds who first heard that song, Then we resumed again our holy path, Watching the shades that lay upon the ground, 140 No ignorance ever with so great a strife Nor out of haste to question did I dare, So I went onward timorous and thoughtful. 145 150 CANTO XXI. THE natural thirst, that ne'er is satisfied Put me in travail, and haste goaded me Along the encumbered path behind my Leader Thee may the court veracious place in peace, That me doth banish in eternal exile!" "How," said he, and the while we went with speed, "If ye are shades whom God deigns not on high, Who up his stairs so far has guided you?" And said my Teacher: "If thou note the marks Which this one bears, and which the Angel traces For him had not yet drawn the distaff off, His soul, which is thy sister and my own, In coming upwards could not come alone, Of Hell to be his guide, and I shall guide him 5 10 15 20 25 30 |