Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard, Because some people of much worthiness I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. "Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord," Began I, with desire of being certain Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error, "Came any one by his own merit hence, Or by another's, who was blessed thereafter?" Replied: "I was a novice in this state, When I saw hither come a Mighty One, 45 50 With sign of victory incoronate. Hence he drew forth the shade of the First Parent, 55 And that of his son Abel, and of Noah, Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient Abraham, patriarch, and David, king, Israel with his father and his children, And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, And thou must know, that earlier than these But still were passing onward through the forest, 60 65 Not very far as yet our way had gone This side the summit, when I saw a fire We were a little distant from it still, But not so far that I in part discerned not That honorable people held that place. "O thou who honorest every art and science, 70 Who may these be, which such great honor have, That from the fashion of the rest it parts them?" 75 And he to me: "The honorable name, That sounds of them above there in thy life, In the mean time a voice was heard by me: "All honor be to the pre-eminent Poet; His shade returns again, that was departed." After the voice had ceased and quiet was, Four mighty shades I saw approaching us; To say to me began my gracious Master: "Him with that falchion in his hand behold, That one is Homer, Poet sovereign; He who comes next is Horace, the satirist; The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. 80 85 90 Because to each of these with me applies The name that solitary voice proclaimed, Of that lord of the song pre-eminent, Things saying 't is becoming to keep silent, We came unto a noble castle's foot, Seven times encompassed with lofty walls, Defended round by a fair rivulet; This we passed over even as firm ground; Through portals seven I entered with these Sages; We came into a meadow of fresh verdure. People were there with solemn eyes and slow, They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. 95 100 105 109 Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side So that they all of them were visible. Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits, I saw Electra with companions many, 'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Æneas, I saw Camilla and Penthesilea On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, Who with Lavinia his daughter sat; I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth, And saw alone, apart, the Saladin. 115 120 125 When I had lifted up my brows a little, 130 The Master I beheld of those who know, Sit with his philosophic family. All gaze upon him, and all do him honor. There I beheld both Socrates and Plato, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales, 135 Of qualities I saw the good collector, Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca, Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy, Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna, Averroes, who the great Comment made. I cannot all of them portray in full, Because so drives me onward the long theme, That many times the word comes short of fact. The sixfold company in two divides; Another way my sapient Guide conducts me Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles; And to a place I come where nothing shines. 140 145 150 |