Purgatory: Canto XXXII. The Earthly Paradise..--Return Of The Triumphal Procession.
The Earthly Paradise.--Return of the Triumphal
procession.--The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree.--Sleep of
Dante.--His waking to find the Triumph departed.--Transformation
of the Chariot.--The Harlot and the Giant.
So fixed and intent were mine eyes to relieve their ten years'
thirst, that my other senses were all extinct: and they
themselves, on one side and the other, had a wall of disregard,
so did the holy smile draw them to itself with the old net; when
perforce my sight was turned toward my left by those
goddesses,[1] because I heard from them a "Too fixedly."[2] And
the condition which exists for seeing in eyes but just now
smitten by the sun caused me to be some time without sight. But
when the sight reshaped itself to the little (I say to the
little, in respect to the great object of the sense wherefrom by
force I had removed myself), I saw that the glorious army had
wheeled upon its right flank, and was returning with the sun and
with the seven flames in its face.
[1] The three heavenly Virtues.
[2] "Thou lookest too fixedly; thou hast yet other duties than
contemplation."
As under its shields to save itself a troop turns and wheels with
its banner, before it all can change about, that soldiery of the
celestial realm which was in advance had wholly gone past us
before its front beam[1] had bent the chariot round. Then to the
wheels the ladies returned, and the griffon moved his blessed
burden, in such wise however that no feather of him shook. The
beautiful lady who had drawn me at the ford, and Statius and I
were following the wheel which made its orbit with the smaller
arc. So walking through the lofty wood, empty through fault of
her who trusted to the serpent, an angelic song set the time to
our steps. Perhaps an arrow loosed from the bow had in three
flights reached such a distance as we had advanced, when Beatrice
descended. I heard "Adam!" murmured by all:[2] then they circled
a plant despoiled of flowers and of other leafage on every
bough.[3] Its branches, which so much the wider spread the higher
up they are,[4] would be wondered at for height by the Indians in
their woods.
[1] Its pole.
[2] In reproach of him who had in disobedience tasted of the
fruit of this tree.
[3] After the sin of Adam the plant was despoiled of virtue till
the coming of Christ.
[4] The branches of the tree of knowledge spread widest as they
are nearest to the Divine Source of truth.
"Blessed art thou, Griffon, that thou dost not break off with thy
beak of this wood sweet to the taste, since the belly is ill
racked thereby."[1] Thus around the sturdy tree the others cried;
and the animal of two natures: "So is preserved the seed of all
righteousness."[2] And turning to the pole that he had drawn, he
dragged it to the foot of the widowed trunk, and that which was
of it[3] he left bound to it.
[1] "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."--Romans,
v. 19.
[2] "That as sin had reigned unto deaths, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ,
our Lord."--Id., v. 21.
[3] This pole, the mystic type of the cross of Christ, supposed
to have been made of the wood of this tree.
As our plants, when the great light falls downward mingled with
that which shines behind the celestial Carp,[1] become swollen,
and then renew themselves, each in its own color, ere the sun
yoke his coursers under another star, so disclosing a color less
than of roses and more than of violets, the plant renewed itself,
which first had its boughs so bare.[2] I did not understand the
hymn, and it is not sung here,[3] which that folk then sang, nor
did I hear the melody to the end.
[1] In this spring, when the Sun is in Aries, the sign which
follows that of the Pisces here termed the Carp.
[2] This tree, after the death of Christ, still remains this
symbol of the knowledge of good and of evil, as well as this sign
of obedience to the Divine Will. Its renewal with flowers and
foliage seems to he the image at once of the revelation of Divine
truth through Christ, and of his obedience unto death.
[3] On earth.
If I could portray how the pitiless eyes[1] sank to slumber,
while hearing of Syrinx, the eyes to which too much watching cost
so dear, hike a painter who paints from a model I would depict
how I fell asleep; but whoso would, let him be one who can
picture slumber well.[2] Therefore I pass on to when I awoke, and
say that a splendor rent for me the veil of sleep, and a call,
"Arise, what doest thou?"
[1] The hundred eyes of Argus, who, when watching Io, fell asleep
while listening to the tale of the loves of Pan and Syrinx, and
was then slain by Mercury.
[2] The sleep of Dante may signify the impotency of human reason
to explain the mysteries of redemption.
As, to see some of the flowerets of the apple-tree[1] which makes
the Angels greedy of its fruit,[2] and makes perpetual bridal
feasts in Heaven,[3] Peter and John and James were led,[4] and
being overcome, came to themselves at the word by which greater
slumbers[5] were broken, and saw their band diminished alike by
Moses and Elias, and the raiment of their Master changed, so I
came to myself, and saw that compassionate one standing above me,
who first had been conductress of my steps along the stream; and
all in doubt I said, "Where is Beatrice?" And she, "Behold her
under the new leafage sitting upon its root. Behold the company
that surrounds her; the rest are going on high behind the
griffon, with sweeter song and more profound."[6] And if her
speech was more diffuse I know not, because already in my eyes
was she who from attending to aught else had closed me in. Alone
she was sitting upon the bare ground, like a guard left there of
the chariot which I had seen bound by the biform animal. In a
circle the seven Nymphs were making of themselves an enclosure
for her, with those lights in their hands that are secure from
Aquilo and from Auster.[7]
[1] "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my
beloved among the suns."--The Song of Solomon, ii. 3.
[2] The full glory of Christ in Heaven.
[3] The marriage supper of the Lamb--Revelation, xix. 9.
[4] The transfiguration--Matthew, xvii. 1-8.
[5] Those of the dead called back to life by Jesus.
[6] Christ having ascended, Beatrice, this type of Theology, is
left by the chariot, the type of the Church on earth.
[7] From the north wind or the south; that is, from any earthly
blast.
"Here shalt thou be short time a forester; and thou shalt be with
me without end a citizen of that Rome whereof Christ is a Roman.
Therefore for profit of the world that lives ill, keep now thine
eyes upon the chariot; amid what thou seest, having returned to
earth, mind that thou write." Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the
feet of her commands was all devout, gave my mind and my eyes
where she willed.
Never with so swift a motion did fire descend from a dense cloud,
when it is raining from that region which stretches most remote,
as I saw the bird of Jove stoop downward through the tree,
breaking the bark, as well as the flowers and new leaves; and he
struck the chariot with all his force, whereat it reeled, like a
ship in a tempest beaten by the waves now to starboard, now to
larboard.[1] Then I saw leap into the body of the triumphal
vehicle a she fox,[2] which seemed fasting from all good food;
but rebuking her for her foul sins my Lady turned her to such
flight as her fleshless bones allowed. Then, from there whence he
had first come, I saw the eagle descend down into the ark of the
chariot and leave it feathered from himself.[3] And a voice such
as issues from a heart that is afflicted issued from Heaven, and
thus spake, "O little bark of mine, how ill art thou laden!" Then
it seemed to me that the earth opened between the two wheels, and
I saw a dragon issue from it, which through the chariot upward
fixed his tail: and, like a wasp that retracts its sting, drawing
to himself his malign tail, drew out part of the bottom, and went
wandering away.[4] That which remained covered itself again, as
lively soil with grass, with the plumage, offered perhaps with
sane and benign intention; and both one and the other wheel and
the pole were again covered with it in such time that a sigh
holds the mouth open longer.[5] Thus transformed, the holy
structure put forth heads upon its parts, three upon the pole,
and one on each corner. The first were horned like oxen, but the
four had a single horn upon the forehead.[6] A like prodigy was
never seen before. Secure, as fortress on a high mountain, there
appeared to me a loose harlot sitting upon it, with eyes roving
around. And, as if in order that she should not be taken from
him, I saw standing at her side a giant, and some while they
kissed each other. But because she turned her lustful and
wandering eye on me that fierce paramour scourged her from head
to foot. Then full of jealousy, and cruel with anger, he loosed
the monster, and drew it through the wood so far that only of
that he made a shield from me for the harlot and for the strange
beast.[7]
[1] The descent and the attack of the eagle symbolize the
rejection of Christianity and the persecution of the Church by
the emperors.
[2] The fox denotes the early heresies.
[3] The feathering of the car is the type of the donation of
Constantine,--the temporal endowment of the Church.
[4] The dragging off by the dragon of a part of the car probably
figures the schism of the Greek Church in the 9th century.
[5] This new feathering signifies the fresh and growing
endowments of the Church.
[6] The seven heads have been interpreted as the seven mortal
sins, which grew up in the transformed church, the result of its
wealth and temporal power.
[7] The harlot and the giant stand respectively for the Pope
(both Boniface VIII. and him successor Clement V.) and the kings
of France, especially Philip the Fair. The turning of the eyes of
the harlot upon Dante seems to signify the dealings of Boniface
with the Italians, which awakened the jealousy of Philip; and the
dragging of the car, transformed into a monster, through the
wood, so far as to hide it from the poet, may be taken as
typifying the removal of the seat of the Papacy from Rome to
Avignon, in 1305.
procession.--The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree.--Sleep of
Dante.--His waking to find the Triumph departed.--Transformation
of the Chariot.--The Harlot and the Giant.
So fixed and intent were mine eyes to relieve their ten years'
thirst, that my other senses were all extinct: and they
themselves, on one side and the other, had a wall of disregard,
so did the holy smile draw them to itself with the old net; when
perforce my sight was turned toward my left by those
goddesses,[1] because I heard from them a "Too fixedly."[2] And
the condition which exists for seeing in eyes but just now
smitten by the sun caused me to be some time without sight. But
when the sight reshaped itself to the little (I say to the
little, in respect to the great object of the sense wherefrom by
force I had removed myself), I saw that the glorious army had
wheeled upon its right flank, and was returning with the sun and
with the seven flames in its face.
[1] The three heavenly Virtues.
[2] "Thou lookest too fixedly; thou hast yet other duties than
contemplation."
As under its shields to save itself a troop turns and wheels with
its banner, before it all can change about, that soldiery of the
celestial realm which was in advance had wholly gone past us
before its front beam[1] had bent the chariot round. Then to the
wheels the ladies returned, and the griffon moved his blessed
burden, in such wise however that no feather of him shook. The
beautiful lady who had drawn me at the ford, and Statius and I
were following the wheel which made its orbit with the smaller
arc. So walking through the lofty wood, empty through fault of
her who trusted to the serpent, an angelic song set the time to
our steps. Perhaps an arrow loosed from the bow had in three
flights reached such a distance as we had advanced, when Beatrice
descended. I heard "Adam!" murmured by all:[2] then they circled
a plant despoiled of flowers and of other leafage on every
bough.[3] Its branches, which so much the wider spread the higher
up they are,[4] would be wondered at for height by the Indians in
their woods.
[1] Its pole.
[2] In reproach of him who had in disobedience tasted of the
fruit of this tree.
[3] After the sin of Adam the plant was despoiled of virtue till
the coming of Christ.
[4] The branches of the tree of knowledge spread widest as they
are nearest to the Divine Source of truth.
"Blessed art thou, Griffon, that thou dost not break off with thy
beak of this wood sweet to the taste, since the belly is ill
racked thereby."[1] Thus around the sturdy tree the others cried;
and the animal of two natures: "So is preserved the seed of all
righteousness."[2] And turning to the pole that he had drawn, he
dragged it to the foot of the widowed trunk, and that which was
of it[3] he left bound to it.
[1] "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."--Romans,
v. 19.
[2] "That as sin had reigned unto deaths, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ,
our Lord."--Id., v. 21.
[3] This pole, the mystic type of the cross of Christ, supposed
to have been made of the wood of this tree.
As our plants, when the great light falls downward mingled with
that which shines behind the celestial Carp,[1] become swollen,
and then renew themselves, each in its own color, ere the sun
yoke his coursers under another star, so disclosing a color less
than of roses and more than of violets, the plant renewed itself,
which first had its boughs so bare.[2] I did not understand the
hymn, and it is not sung here,[3] which that folk then sang, nor
did I hear the melody to the end.
[1] In this spring, when the Sun is in Aries, the sign which
follows that of the Pisces here termed the Carp.
[2] This tree, after the death of Christ, still remains this
symbol of the knowledge of good and of evil, as well as this sign
of obedience to the Divine Will. Its renewal with flowers and
foliage seems to he the image at once of the revelation of Divine
truth through Christ, and of his obedience unto death.
[3] On earth.
If I could portray how the pitiless eyes[1] sank to slumber,
while hearing of Syrinx, the eyes to which too much watching cost
so dear, hike a painter who paints from a model I would depict
how I fell asleep; but whoso would, let him be one who can
picture slumber well.[2] Therefore I pass on to when I awoke, and
say that a splendor rent for me the veil of sleep, and a call,
"Arise, what doest thou?"
[1] The hundred eyes of Argus, who, when watching Io, fell asleep
while listening to the tale of the loves of Pan and Syrinx, and
was then slain by Mercury.
[2] The sleep of Dante may signify the impotency of human reason
to explain the mysteries of redemption.
As, to see some of the flowerets of the apple-tree[1] which makes
the Angels greedy of its fruit,[2] and makes perpetual bridal
feasts in Heaven,[3] Peter and John and James were led,[4] and
being overcome, came to themselves at the word by which greater
slumbers[5] were broken, and saw their band diminished alike by
Moses and Elias, and the raiment of their Master changed, so I
came to myself, and saw that compassionate one standing above me,
who first had been conductress of my steps along the stream; and
all in doubt I said, "Where is Beatrice?" And she, "Behold her
under the new leafage sitting upon its root. Behold the company
that surrounds her; the rest are going on high behind the
griffon, with sweeter song and more profound."[6] And if her
speech was more diffuse I know not, because already in my eyes
was she who from attending to aught else had closed me in. Alone
she was sitting upon the bare ground, like a guard left there of
the chariot which I had seen bound by the biform animal. In a
circle the seven Nymphs were making of themselves an enclosure
for her, with those lights in their hands that are secure from
Aquilo and from Auster.[7]
[1] "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my
beloved among the suns."--The Song of Solomon, ii. 3.
[2] The full glory of Christ in Heaven.
[3] The marriage supper of the Lamb--Revelation, xix. 9.
[4] The transfiguration--Matthew, xvii. 1-8.
[5] Those of the dead called back to life by Jesus.
[6] Christ having ascended, Beatrice, this type of Theology, is
left by the chariot, the type of the Church on earth.
[7] From the north wind or the south; that is, from any earthly
blast.
"Here shalt thou be short time a forester; and thou shalt be with
me without end a citizen of that Rome whereof Christ is a Roman.
Therefore for profit of the world that lives ill, keep now thine
eyes upon the chariot; amid what thou seest, having returned to
earth, mind that thou write." Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the
feet of her commands was all devout, gave my mind and my eyes
where she willed.
Never with so swift a motion did fire descend from a dense cloud,
when it is raining from that region which stretches most remote,
as I saw the bird of Jove stoop downward through the tree,
breaking the bark, as well as the flowers and new leaves; and he
struck the chariot with all his force, whereat it reeled, like a
ship in a tempest beaten by the waves now to starboard, now to
larboard.[1] Then I saw leap into the body of the triumphal
vehicle a she fox,[2] which seemed fasting from all good food;
but rebuking her for her foul sins my Lady turned her to such
flight as her fleshless bones allowed. Then, from there whence he
had first come, I saw the eagle descend down into the ark of the
chariot and leave it feathered from himself.[3] And a voice such
as issues from a heart that is afflicted issued from Heaven, and
thus spake, "O little bark of mine, how ill art thou laden!" Then
it seemed to me that the earth opened between the two wheels, and
I saw a dragon issue from it, which through the chariot upward
fixed his tail: and, like a wasp that retracts its sting, drawing
to himself his malign tail, drew out part of the bottom, and went
wandering away.[4] That which remained covered itself again, as
lively soil with grass, with the plumage, offered perhaps with
sane and benign intention; and both one and the other wheel and
the pole were again covered with it in such time that a sigh
holds the mouth open longer.[5] Thus transformed, the holy
structure put forth heads upon its parts, three upon the pole,
and one on each corner. The first were horned like oxen, but the
four had a single horn upon the forehead.[6] A like prodigy was
never seen before. Secure, as fortress on a high mountain, there
appeared to me a loose harlot sitting upon it, with eyes roving
around. And, as if in order that she should not be taken from
him, I saw standing at her side a giant, and some while they
kissed each other. But because she turned her lustful and
wandering eye on me that fierce paramour scourged her from head
to foot. Then full of jealousy, and cruel with anger, he loosed
the monster, and drew it through the wood so far that only of
that he made a shield from me for the harlot and for the strange
beast.[7]
[1] The descent and the attack of the eagle symbolize the
rejection of Christianity and the persecution of the Church by
the emperors.
[2] The fox denotes the early heresies.
[3] The feathering of the car is the type of the donation of
Constantine,--the temporal endowment of the Church.
[4] The dragging off by the dragon of a part of the car probably
figures the schism of the Greek Church in the 9th century.
[5] This new feathering signifies the fresh and growing
endowments of the Church.
[6] The seven heads have been interpreted as the seven mortal
sins, which grew up in the transformed church, the result of its
wealth and temporal power.
[7] The harlot and the giant stand respectively for the Pope
(both Boniface VIII. and him successor Clement V.) and the kings
of France, especially Philip the Fair. The turning of the eyes of
the harlot upon Dante seems to signify the dealings of Boniface
with the Italians, which awakened the jealousy of Philip; and the
dragging of the car, transformed into a monster, through the
wood, so far as to hide it from the poet, may be taken as
typifying the removal of the seat of the Papacy from Rome to
Avignon, in 1305.
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