Ascent to the Sixth Ledge. — Discourse of Statius and Virgil. — Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous. — The Mystic Tree. — Examples of Temperance.
Already was the Angel left behind us, — the Angel who had turned us to the sixth round, — having erased a stroke1 from my face; and he had said to us that those who have their desire set on justice are Beati, and his words ended with sitiunt, without the rest.2 And I, more light than through the other passes, was going on so that without any labor I was following upward the swift spirits, when Virgil began, “Love kindled by virtue always kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly; wherefore from the hour when amid us Juvenal descended into the limbo of Hell, and made known to me thy affection, my own good will toward thee was such that more never bound one to an unseen person; so that these stairs will now seem short to me. But tell me (and as a friend pardon me, if too great confidence let loose my rein, and as a friend now talk with me) boxy avarice could find a place within thy breast, amid wisdom so great as that wherewith through thy diligence thou wast filled?”
1 The fifth P.
2 The Angel had not recited all the words of the Beatitude, but only, “Blessed are they which do thirst after righteousness,” contrasting this thirst with the thirst for riches.
These words first moved Statius a little to smiling; then he replied, “Every word of thine is a dear sign to me of love. Truly oftentimes things have such appearance that they give false material for suspicion, because the true reasons lie hid. Thy question assures me of thy belief, perhaps because of that circle where I was, that I was avaricious in the other life; know then that avarice was too far removed from me, and this want of measure thousands of courses of the moon have punished. And had it not been that I set right my care, when I understood the passage where thou dost exclaim, as if indignant with human nature, “O cursed hunger of gold, to what dost thou not impel the appetite of mortals?”1 I, rolling, should share the dismal jousts.2 Then I perceived that the bands could spread their wings too much in spending; and I repented as well of that as of my other sins. How many shall rise with cropped hair3 through ignorance, which during life and in the last hours prevents repentance for this sin! And know, that the vice which rebuts any sin with direct opposition,4 together with it here dries up its verdure. Wherefore if to purify myself I have been among the people who lament their avarice, because of its contrary this has befallen me.” “Now when thou wast singing5the cruel strife of the twofold affliction6 of Jocasta,” said the Singer of the Bucolic songs, “it does not appear from that which Clio touches7 with thee there,8 that the faith, without which good works suffice not, had yet made thee faithful. If this be so, what sun, or what candles dispersed thy darkness so that thou didst thereafter set thy sails behind the Fisherman?”9 And he to him, “Thou first directedst me toward Parnassus to drink in its grots, and then, on the way to God, thou enlightenedst me. Thou didst like him, who goes by night, and carries the light behind him, and helps not himself, but makes the persons following him wise, when thou saidst, ‘The ages are renewed; Justice returns, and the primeval time of man, and a new progeny descends from heaven.’10 Through thee I became a poet, through thee a Christian. But in order that thou mayst better see that which I sketch, I will stretch out my hand to color it. Already was the whole world teeming with the true belief, sown by the messengers of the eternal realm; and these words of thine touched upon just now were in harmony with the new preachers, wherefore I adopted the practice of visiting them. They came to me then appearing so holy, that, when Domitian persecuted them, not without my tears were their lamentings. And so long as I remained on earth I succored them; and their upright customs made me scorn all other sects. And before I had led the Greeks to the rivers of Thebes in my verse, I received baptism; but out of fear I was a secret Christian, for a long while making show of paganism: and this lukewarmness made me circle round the fourth circle,11 longer than to the fourth century. Thou, therefore, that didst lift for me the covering that was hiding from me such great good as I say, while we have remainder of ascent, tell me where is our ancient Terence, Caecilius, Plautus, and Varro, if thou knowest it; tell me if they are damned, and in what region?” “They, and Persius, and I, and many others,” replied my Leader, “are with that Greek whom the Muses suckled more than any other ever, in the first girdle of the blind prison. Oftentimes we discourse of the mountain12 that hath our nurses13 always with itself. Euripides is there with us, and Antiphon, Simonides, Agathon, and many other Greeks who of old adorned their brows with laurel. There of thine own people14 are seen Antigone, Deiphile, and Argia, and Ismene sad15 even as she was. There she is seen who showed Langia;16 there is the daughter of Tiresias and Thetis,17 and Deidamia with her sisters.”
1 Quid non mortalia peetora yogis,
Auri sacra fames?
Aeneid. iii. 56-57.
2 I should be in Hell among the prodigals rolling heavy weights and striking them against those rolled by the avaricious. See Hell, Canto VII.
3 A reference to the symbolic short hair of prodigals in Hell.
4 As, for instance, avarice and prodigality.
5 In the Thebaid.
6 Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Jocasta. See Hell, Canto XXVI.
7 On her lyre.
8 From the general course of thy poems.
9 St. Peter.
10 The famous prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied to the coming of Christ: — Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna: Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. — Ecloga, iv. 5-7.
11 Where love too slack is punished.
12 Parnassus.
13 The Muses.
14 The people celebrated in thy poems.
15 Two pairs of sisters, and, of the four, Ismene, sister of Antigone, had the hardest lot.
16 Hypsipyle, who showed the fountain Langia to Adrastus, and the other kings, when their army was perishing with thirst.
17 Manto is the only daughter of Tiresias, who is mentioned by Statius; but Manto is in the eighth circle in Hell. See Canto XX.
Now both the poets became silent, once more intent on looking around, free from the ascent and from the walls; and four of the handmaids of the day were now remaining behind,1 and the fifth was at the pole,2 directing still upward its burning horn, when my Leader, “I think that it behoves us to turn our right shoulders to the outer edge, circling the Mount as we are wont to do.” Thus usage was there our guide, and we took the way with less doubt because of the assent of that worthy soul.
1 The first four hours of the day were spent. It was between ten and eleven o’clock.
2 Of the car.
They were going on in front, and I solitary behind, and I was listening to their speech which gave me understanding in poesy. But soon the pleasant discourse was interrupted by a tree which we found in the mid road, with apples sweet and pleasant to the smell. And as a fir-tree tapers upward from branch to branch, so downwardly did that, I think in order that no one may go up. On the side on which our way was closed, a clear water fell from the high rock and spread itself over the heaves above. The two poets approached the tree, and a voice from within the heaves cried: “Of this food ye shall have want.” Then it said, “Mary thought more, how the wedding1 should be honorable and complete, than of her mouth,2 which answers now for you; and the ancient Roman women were content with water for their drink; and Daniel despised food and gained wisdom. The primal age, which was beautiful as gold, with hunger made acorns savory, and with thirst every streamlet nectar. Honey and locusts were the viands that nourished the Baptist in the desert, wherefore he is in glory, and so great as by the Gospel is revealed to you.
1 At Cana.
2 Than of gratifying her appetite.