In spirit." Ah! how far unlike to these Than on the plain before; whence thus I spake : 66 Say, master, of what heavy thing have I Been lighten'd; that scarce aught the sense of toil CANTO XIII. ARGUMENT. They gain the second cornice, where the sin of envy is purged; and having proceeded a little to the right, they hear voices uttered by invisible spirits recounting famous examples of charity, and next behold the shades, or souls, of the envious clad in sackcloth, and having their eyes sewed up with an iron thread. Amongst these Dante finds Sapia, a Siennese lady, from whom he learns the cause of her being there. WE reach'd the summit of the scale, and stood 1 Sin's broad characters.] Of the seven P's, that denoted the same number of sins (Peccata) whereof he was to be cleansed (See Canto ix. 100), the first had now vanished in consequence of his having past the place where the sin of pride, the chief of them, was expiated. The rampart and the path, reflecting nought He fasten'd; made his right the central point In brief space had we journey'd; such prompt will Unto love's table bade the welcome guest. In the faint distance, when another came Wing'd its fleet way. "O father!" I exclaim'd, "This circuit," said my teacher, "knots the For envy; and the cords are therefore drawn By charity's correcting hand. The curb Is of a harsher sound; as thou shalt hear Along the shelving grot." Then more than erst 1 If] "Unless there be some urgent necessity for traveling by night, the day-light should be preferred for that purpose." 2 They have no wine.] John ii. 3. These words of the Virgin are referred to as an instance of charity. 3 Orestes.] Alluding to his friendship with Pylades. 4 Love ye those have wrong'd you.] "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. v. 44. 5 The scourge.] "The chastisement of envy consists in hearing examples of the opposite virtue, charity. As a curb and restraint on this vice, you will presently hear very different sounds, those of threatening and punishment." I oped mine eyes; before me view'd; and saw I do not think there walks on earth this day It were a wrong, methought, to pass and look On others, yet myself the while unseen. To my sage counsel therefore did I turn. He knew the meaning of the mute appeal, Nor waited for my questioning, but said : 66 Speak; and be brief, be subtile in thy words." That through the dread impalement forced a way. 1 So may heaven's grace.] Se tosto grazia risolva le schiume Per esso scenda della mente il fiume. This is a fine moral, and finely expressed. Unless the conscience be cleared from its impurity, which it can only thoroughly be by an influence from above, the mind itself cannot act freely and clearly." If ye will do his will, ye shall know of the doctrine." Floats turbid on the conscience, that thenceforth The stream of mind roll limpid from its source; As ye declare (for so shall ye impart A boon I dearly prize) if any soul Of Latium dwell among ye: and perchance 66 My brother! we are, each one, citizens Of one true city1. Any, thou wouldst say, Who lived a stranger in Italia's land." 66 So heard I answering, as appear'd, a voice That onward came some space from whence I stood. A spirit I noted, in whose look was mark'd Expectance. Ask ye how? The chin was raised As in one reft of sight. Spirit," said I, "Who for thy rise art tutoring, (if thou be That which didst answer to me) or by place, Or name, disclose thyself, that I may know thee." "I was," it answer'd, "of Sienna: here I cleanse away with these the evil life, Soliciting with tears that He, who is, Vouchsafe him to us. Though Sapia2 named, In sapience I excell'd not; gladder far Of other's hurt, than of the good befel me. That thou mayst own I now deceive thee not, Hear, if my folly were not as I speak it. When now my years sloped waning down the arch, Near Colle met their enemies in the field; I mark'd the hunt; and waxing out of bounds Of one true city.] "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Heb. xiii. 14. 2 Sapia.] A lady of Sienna, who living in exile at Colle, was so overjoyed at a defeat which her countrymen sustained near that place, that she declared nothing more was wanting to make her die contented. The Latin annotator on the Monte Casino MS. says of this lady: "fuit uxor D. Cinii de Pigezo de Senis." 3 And I pray'd God to grant what He had will'd.] That her countrymen should be defeated in battle. 4 The merlin.] The story of the merlin is, that having been induced by a gleam of fine weather in the winter to escape from his master, he was soon oppressed by the rigour of the season. Cried, It is over. Heaven! I fear thee not.' 66 And breathest in thy talk?"-" Mine eyes," said I, With envious glances. But the woe beneath? Confounded, more than when the fancied stream The hermit Piero.] Piero Pettinagno, a holy hermit of Florence. 2 The woe beneath.] Dante felt that he was much more subject to the sin of pride, than to that of envy; and this is just what we should have concluded of a mind such as his. 3 That vain multitude.] The Siennese. See Hell, c. xxix. 118. "Their acquisition of Telamone, a seaport on the confines of the Maremma, has led them to conceive hopes of becoming a naval power: but this scheme will prove as chimerical as their former plan for the discovery of a subterraneous stream under their city." Why they gave the appellation of Diana to the imagined stream, Venturi says he leaves it to the antiquaries of Sienna to conjecture. 4 They, who lead.] The Latin note to the Monte Casino MS. informs us, that those who were to command the fleets of the Siennese, in the event of their becoming a naval power, lost their lives during their employment at Telamone, through the pestilent air of the Maremma, which lies near that place. |