66 "O Sun, that healest all distempered vision, Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest, That doubting pleases me no less than knowing! Once more a little backward turn thee," said I, "There where thou sayest that usury offends Noteth, not only in one place alone, From Intellect Divine, and from its art; And if thy Physics carefully thou notest, That this your art as far as possible Follows, as the disciple doth the master; So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind Genesis at the beginning, it behoves Mankind to gain their life and to advance; Nature herself and in her follower But follow, now, as I would fain go on, his hope. For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon, And far beyond there we descend the crag." CANTO XII. THE place where to descend the bank we came Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige, Either by earthquake or by failing stay, For from the mountain's top, from which it moved, Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so, Some path 't would give to him who was above ; Even such was the descent of that ravine, And on the border of the broken chasm The infamy of Crete was stretched along, Who was conceived in the fictitious cow; And when he us beheld, he bit himself, Even as one whom anger racks within. 5 10 15 My Sage towards him shouted: "Peradventure Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens, Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not In order to behold your punishments." And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage; While he is wroth, 't is well thou shouldst descend.' Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden. Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded By that brute anger which just now I quenched. Now will I have thee know, the other time I here descended to the nether Hell, This precipice had not yet fallen down. But truly, if I well discern, a little Before His coming who the mighty spoil Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley Trembled so, that I thought the Universe 20 25 30 35 40 Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think The world ofttimes converted into chaos; And at that moment this primeval crag Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. 45 But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near The river of blood, within which boiling is O blind cupidity, O wrath insane, That spurs us onward so in our short life, And in the eternal then so badly steeps us! I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, As one which all the plain encompasses, Conformable to what my Guide had said. And between this and the embankment's foot Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows, As in the world they used the chase to follow. Beholding us descend, each one stood still, And from the squadron three detached themselves, With bows and arrows in advance selected; And from afar one cried: "Unto what torment Come ye, who down the hillside are descending? My Master said: "Our answer will we make 50 55 60 65 Then touched he me, and said: "This one is Nessus, And for himself, himself did vengeance take. Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles; That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful. Thousands and thousands go about the moat Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges He said to his companions: "Are 70 75 80 And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, Who unto me committed this new office; 85 90 |