menu_book Chapter 59

chapter fifty nine of jerusalem to revelations a quartet of spiritual experience by william blake and others this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by terny addison purgatorio seventeen purgatory the third ring anger instances of punished anger the angel of peace love remind thyself if e'er a fog overtook thee on a mountain one through which thou couldst not see in any other way than moles do through the membranes of their eyes how when the damp thick mists begin to thin the sun's orb feebly pierces them and quickly will thine imagination come to see how i first saw the sun again which now was at its setting thus as i mine own was matching with my teacher's trusty steps from such a cloud i came into the beam already dead upon the shores below

o thou imagination which at times dost steal us so from outer things that though a thousand trumpets blow one hears them not what moveth thee if sense contribute not a light which takes in heaven its form impels thee freely or by a will which sends it down the vision of her cruelty who changed her form into the bird which most delights in song appeared in my imagination and hereupon my mind was so shut up within itself that nothing that was then received by it came to it from without then into my high fantasy there reigned one crucified contemptuous and proud in aspect and as such he met his death

around him were the great ahasuerus esther his wife and righteous mordecai who so whole-hearted was in word and deed and as this picture of its own accord broke up as doth a bubble when it lacks the water it was formed withal a maid rose in my vision neck who bitterly was weeping and was saying why o queen didst thou through anger wish to be no more lavinia not to lose thyself hast slain and now hast lost me mother this is i whoe'er i mourn another's last mourn thine as sleep is broken when unwonted light strikes closed eyes suddenly and being broken quivers before it wholly dies awake even so did my imagining break up as soon as on my face there smote a light brighter by far than we all wont to see i turned around to notice where i was when lo

a voice which said the assent is here from every other interest turned my mind and made my will so eager to behold the speaker that when such it never rests until it sees its object face to face but as before the sun which whelms our eyes and veils its figure through excessive light so likewise here my visual powers failed A godlike spirit, this, who, though unasked, is pointing out to us our upward path, and with his own light is himself concealing. With us he deals as one would with himself, for he that waits till asked when seeing need

inclines already meanly to refuse. To such a bidding let us now accord our feet, and try to climb ere darkness come, for later one could not. till day returned. Thus said my leader then, and I with him, turned toward a flight of stairs at feet, and I, when on its first step near me felt as twere the motion of a wing, and on my face

a fanning, while a voice said, Blessed are the peaceful, who are free from evil wrath. so high above us now were those last beams which by the night are followed that the stars were coming out on many sides and oh my strength why dost thou fade away so fast i to myself was saying for a truce i felt was set the powers of my legs we now were where the flight of stairs went up no further and as motionless we were as is a vessel when the shore is reached and for a while i waited to find out if aught upon the new ring could be heard then toward my teacher turning round i said say my dear father what offence is purged in this ring here where now we are although our feet keep still let not thy talking cease and he to me the love of good when scant of what it should have been is here atoned here beats again the ill-retarded

but now in order that thou understand more clearly still turn thou thy mind to me and some good fruit thou'lt gather from our stay neither creator he began nor creature was e'er devoid of either innate love or that which conscious is and this thou knowest the innate love is always free from error but the other kind can err through evil aim or through deficient or excessive strength while well directed toward the primal goods and toward the secondary self-restrained it cannot be the cause of sinful pleasure but when it turns toward evil things or runs to good with more or less zeal than it ought the creature then against his maker works from this then thou canst understand that love must be the seed in you of every virtue and every deed that merits punishment and now since love can never turn its face from its own subject's welfare

from self-hate all are secure and since one cannot think of any self as being from the first divided and existing of itself all hearts are thus debarred from hating him it follows that if i in arguing judge well one's neighbours is the harm one loves and this is borne in three ways in your clay that's he who on the abasement of his neighbour his hope of rising sets and only longs that from his greatness he may be brought low and he who fears the loss of power favour renown and honour should another rise and grieves so that he loves the contrary then he who by injustice seems so shamed that greedy he becometh for revenge and such must needs prepare for others harm this triform love is wept for here below

but now i'd have thee hear about the other which runs to love in a corrupted way all apprehend confusedly a good wherein the mind can rest and long for it and therefore every one attempts to reach it if slothful be the love impelling you to see or win it after just repentance this present cornice tortures you for that another good there is which never makes man happy it is not real happiness nor the good essence fruit and root of all that's good the love that yields too much to that is wept for in three rings above us here but why it's reckoned threefold i say not that thou mayst seek the reason for thyself purgatorio eighteen purgatory the fourth ring sloth love and free-will instances of punished the lofty doctor having ended thus his argument was looking in my eyes eager to see if i seemed satisfied and i who by new thirst was still spurred on was silent outwardly and in me said

my many questions trouble him perhaps but that true father who perceived the wish which being shy did not disclose itself by speaking first emboldened me to speak hence i my vision teacher in thy light becomes so keen that clearly i discern all that thy talk implieth or unfolds i therefore beg of thee sweet father dear explain to me why thou ascribest to love every good action and its contrary direct thine understandings sharpened eyes toward me he said and clear to thee will be the error of the blind who pose as guide the mind which is created prone to love inclines toward everything that pleases it when roused by pleasure to activity your faculty of apprehending stores an image from reality and so displays it in you that your mind is caused to turn to it and if thus turned your mind inclines thereto that tendency is love is nature bound in you again by pleasure

then just as fire by reason of its form moves upward being made for mounting thither where in its element it longer lasts even so the captive mind begins to yearn a motion of the soul and never rests until the thing it loveth gives it joy apparent to thee now can be the extent to which the truth is hid from those that claim that each love in itself deserveth praise because perhaps its object in itself seems always to be good and yet not good is every seal though good may be its wax thy words together with my heeding mind i answered him have shown me what love is but this hath made me bigger with a doubt for if love from without is born in us and if the soul can do nought else her doing or right or wrong is no desert of hers and he what reason sees here i can tell thee

for aught beyond its can look thou alone to be atweets for that's a work of faith every substantial form which is distinct from matter and is also joined with it hath in it a specific power collected which save in operation is not seen and only shows itself in its effects as life doth by its green leaves in a plant none knows however whence the understanding of first cognitions comes or whence the bent toward those first appetites which are in you as zeal for making honey is in bees this first will hence deserves nor praise nor blame now that all others be conformed to this the power which counsels inborn is in you and ought to hold the threshold of assent this is the source whence comes the ground of merit in you as it gathers in and winnows out your good and guilty loves

those who in reasoning attained the bottom perceived this inborn liberty and left the world the teachings of morality supposing then that every love that flames within you rises of necessity within you lies the power to master it this noble virtue is by beatrice called freedom of the will hence see that thou recall it should she speak of it to thee the moon in rising close to midnight late and looking like a bucket all on fire was causing now the stars to seem more rare as counter to the heavens it caused the paths the sun and flames whene'er the roman sees it setting between the sards and crossacans and now that noble shade whence piatola hath greater fame than any mantuan village had put aside the load i laid on him

hence i who as an answer to my questions had reaped his clear and easy talk remained like one confused because of drowsiness but suddenly this sleepiness of mine was taken from me by a crowd of people who back of us were circling toward us now and as ismenus and asopus once along their banks saw maddened throngs at night whene'er the thebans needed bacchus such were those who sweeping scythelike round that ring were coming on from what i saw of them by good will ridden and by righteous love and soon were they upon us for the whole of that great crowd was moving at a run and two ahead in tears were crying out

Mary proceeded to the hills in haste, and Caesar, in order to subdue, I led her, struck Marseille, then hurried on to Spain. Quick, quick, lest time be lost through lack of love, cried those that came behind them, so that zeal in doing good may make grace green again. O folk, in whom keen fervour now redeems, perhaps, the negligence and slowness shown by your tepidity in doing good, this man who lives, and truly I lie not, desires when sunlight once returns to man. hence tell us where the nearest opening lies these were my leader's words

and one of those same spirits said come on behind us then and thou wilt find the hall so keen we are to keep on moving that we cannot stop

forgive us then if lack of courtesy thou deem what we consider righteousness I was San Zeno's abbot at Verona under the rule of worthy Barbarossa of whom Milan in sorrow talketh still, and he has one foot in the grave already, who soon will for

that monastery weep, and grieve because he had it in his power, for he his son in body wholly sick, was still in mind, and also ill-begot, as had installed in its true shepherd's place. I know not if aught else he said or ceased, so far had he run past us now, but this I heard, and I've enjoyed retaining it. Then he who was my help in every need said, Turn in this direction, and behold two coming on, who give a bite to Sloth,

moving behind them all, they said. The folk for whom the sea was opened up were dead before the Jordan had perceived their heirs, and those who were the son of Anchises could not endure to toil until the end

gave themselves up to lead inglorious lives. Then, when those shades were separated from us so far that they no longer could be seen, A new thought made its way into my mind, whence many other different thoughts were born, and I between them so confused became, that wandering to and fro, I closed mine eyes, and changed what I had thought into a dream. Purgatorio, 19

Purgatory, the fourth ring, Sloth Dante's second dream The angel of zeal, the fifth ring Avarice and prodigality Within the hour, when, vanquished by the earth

Or even at times by Saturn daytime's heat can warm the coldness of the moon no longer, when geomancers see their greater fortune rise in the east air-dorn, and on a path which doth not long stay dark for it, a female approached me in a dream, with stammering tongue, with eyes a-squint and crooked on her feet, with hands lopped off and pallor on her face. I fixed my gaze on her, and as the sun brings comfort to

cold limbs which night-time chills, even so my looking at her freed her tongue, and afterward, in but a little time, completely straightened her, and gave that hue to her discoloured face, which love desires. As soon as she had thus unloosed her speech,

she then began to sing in such a way that from her I could hardly take my gaze. I am, she sang,

the lovely siren she who in mid-ocean mariners bewitches. So much I please whoever heareth me.

I turned Ulysses from his wandering course to hear my song, and who gets used to me seldom depart, so wholly I content him. Her mouth had not yet closed, and low, a holy lady at my side appeared, who ready was to put her to confusion. Oh, Virgil, Virgil, who is this? she cried in scornful tones. Whereat? he then advanced with

eyes set only on the modest one. She seized the other, opened her in front, and rent her garments, showing me her belly. This woke me with the stench that issued from it. I turned my eyes, and my good teacher said, I've called thee thrice at least. Arise and come, we'll find the gate through which thou mayest ascend. I rose, and all the holy mountain's rings were with the high day's light already filled, as with the new sun back of us we moved. While I was following him,

I held my head, like one who, having it bowed down by thought, makes of himself a half-arch of a bridge, and then I heard, Come on, the pass is here, uttered in such a gentle, kindly way as in this mortal land is never heard, with outspread wings, which seemed the wings of swan. He who thus spoke directed us on high between the two sidewalls of the granite rock.

He moved his pinions then, and fanning us, affirmed that those who mourn are happy, since possessed of comfort shall their spirits be. What aileth thee that only on the ground thou gazest? said my guide when past the angel both he and i had climbed a little way and i a recent dream which to itself inclines me makes me with such doubt advance that i cannot refrain from thought of it

thou hast perceived said he that ancient witch who henceforth o'er us is alone lamented and seen how from her one is freed let that suffice thee strike thy heels upon the ground and turn thine eyes up toward the calling loo the eternal king whirls with the mighty wheel as is the falcon which at first looks down then turns around when called and spreads his wings keen for the quarry which attracts him such was i and thus as long as ere the rock was clucked to make a path for those that climb i went along to where the circling starts when out upon the fifth ring i had come people therein i saw whose shedding tears were lying wholly prone upon its bed my soul hath cloven to the trodden ground i heard them saying with such heavy sighs that what they said could hardly be made out

o ye elect of god whose sufferings here justice and hope are making less intent direct us toward the steps that lead on high if ye are come exempt from lying down and wish to find the path with greatest speed let your right sides be always outward turned thus asked the poet and not far ahead thus was the answer given hence as he spoke i noticed where the other speaker hid and then i turned my eyes unto my lord whereat he granted with a cheerful nod that which the looks of my desiring ass when i was free to act as i inclined i came and stood above the soul whose words had made me notice him at first and said spirit who by thy tears art ripening that without which one cannot return to god for my sake stay a while thy greater care

say who thou wast why ye hold up your backs and whether thou wouldst have me get thee aught from there whence i a living man set forth and he to me wide toward itself the sky is turning here our backs thou'lt know but first know thou that i once sat in peter's chair between siestri and chiaveri there descends a lovely mountain stream and from its name my race's title takes its greatest boast for one month and a little more i felt how much the mighty mantle weighs on him and keeps it from the mire for all loads else seem feathers my conversion was alas delayed but when rome's shepherd i was made i came to know how false the world's life was i saw that in it hearts can find no rest nor could one in it higher eyes than I.

The love of this life hence was kindled in me. Till that time I had been a wretched soul, cut off from God and wholly given to greed. Now, as thou seest, I'm punished for it here. What avarice doth is here made manifest

in this purgation of converted souls. nor hath this meant a penalty more bitter and as our eyes were never upward turned because intently fixed on earthly things so justice here hath turned them to the ground

as avarice quenched our love for all good things until well-doing had completely ceased so here doth justice hold us in restraint bound fast and fettered in her hands and feet, and here will stay, stretched out and motionless, as long as it shall please the righteous Lord. I had knelt down, and wished to speak,

but just as I began, and he was made aware by listening only of my reverence, What cause, said he, hath bent thee down with us? And I to him, because of your high rank, my conscience troubled me for standing up straighten thy legs my brother he replied and rise ere not with thee and with the rest a fellow-servant of one power am i if thou hast ever fully understood those holy gospel words they neither marry well canst thou see why i am speaking that and now be gone and have thee stay no more for lingering here thou hinderest the tears wherewith i ripen that which thou hast said a niece i have up yonder called alagia good in herself so be it that our house by its example do not make her bad

and she is all that's left to me up there purgatorio twenty purgatory the fifth ring avarice and prodigality instances of liberality and of greed the earthquake a will fights weakly gains to stronger will hence i myself displeasing him to please out of the water drew my sponge unfilled i started and along the space left clear close to the rocky cliff my leader moved as neath its battlements one hugs a war for those who through their eyes pour drop by drop the evil which pervadeth all the world approach too closely to the outer edge be thou accursed thou ancient wolf that prey far greater hast than have all other beasts by reason of thy hunger's endless o heaven to whose revolving sum it seems believe that here below conditions change when will he come to whom this beast shall leave

as on we went with slow and scanted steps and i was listening to the shades i heard weeping and uttering piteous lamentations by chance i heard in front of us a voice cry out sweet mary in the tearful tones wherewith a woman cries in childbirth's pangs and this was followed by as poor thou wast as by the hostelry may be perceived where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down next after this i heard o good fabricius with virtue thou didst poverty prefer to great possessions with iniquity so pleasing had these last words been to me that further on i moved that i might know the spirit from whose lips they seemed to come he now was speaking of the generous gift bestowed by nicholas upon the maids to guide their youth into an honoured part o soul that speakest of such worthy deeds say who thou wast said i

and why alone thou thus renewest this deserved praise thy words will not remain without reward if i return to end that life's short course which flieth onward towards its final term and he i'll tell it thee though not for help that i may look for yonder but because grace shines so brightly in thee ere thy death i was the root of that malignant plant whose shadow darkens all the christian land so that good fruit is seldom picked from it but if do i lille gente and bruges could vengeance would soon be wrought for this and i of him requested who is judge of all yonder my name was hugh from me have sprung the phillips and the louis who have in recent ages governed france a paris butcher's son i was when all the ancient kings had passed away save one a grey-robed monk

tight in my hands i found the bridle of the kingdom's government with so much power of recent game and such a host of friends that to the widowed crown was raised the head of mine own son with whom the line of their anointed bones began as long as its great diary of provence had not deprived my family of shame its worth was small but still it did no harm with that began its theft by force and fraud for afterward to make amends pontier it seized with normandy and gascony charles came to italy and there to make amends a victim made of conrad and then to make amends drave thomas back to heaven a time i see not very long from now which out of france will bring another charles to make both him and his the better known

he issues thence alone and with no host but with the jousting lance of judas this he thrusts so that he bursts the paunch of florence as a result not land but sin and shame he'll whim of so much greater weight for him the lighter he accounts such loss i see the other charles once captured from his ship his daughter's cell and haggle for the price as corsairs do with slave girls not their own what more o avarice canst thou do with us since thou hast to thyself so drawn my race that even for its own flesh it careth not that future ills and past ones may seem less. I see Alanya by the lily entered,

and in his vicar Christ a prister made. I see the latter mocked a second time. I see the vinegar and gore renewed, and him I see among living robbers killed. And this new pilot I behold so ruthless that,

not content with this, he lawlessly into the temple bears his greedy sails. O when, my lord, shall I rejoice to see the vengeance in thy secret council-head, which now avails to make thine anger sweet? What of the Holy Spirit's only bride, I said just now,

and thereby made thee turn to me for explanation, serves as answer to all our prayers as long as daylight lasts, But soon as night returns instead of these, we utter words which sound the opposite. We thereupon rehearse Pygmalion's story, and how of him his greedy lust for gold, a traitor maid, a thief and parasite, and avaricious Midas misery,

which followed from his covetous request, an act which one will always have to laugh. next foolish Acon everyone recalls who stole the plunder so that even here the wrath of Joshua seems to bite him still we then accuse Sapphira with her husband we praise the kicks which Heliodorus got while Polymnestor circles all the mount in infamy who Polydorus killed And finally Acra is, Tell us, Crassus, for thou dost know it, what's the taste of gold?

Aloud, at times, speaks one another low, as each one's feelings spur him on to speak, in stronger now, and now in weaker tones, hence I, in speaking of the good, which here is talked about by day, was not alone, but nearer here, none other spoke aloud. already had we gone away from him striving to make our way along the path

as fast as was allowed our powers when I, like something falling felt the mountain quake then such a chill took hold of me as he is wont to have

who goeth to his death Delos, indeed shook not so terribly before Latona made there in her nest in order to give birth to heaven's two eyes

then such a cry arose on every side that close to me my teacher drew and said be not afraid while i am guiding thee glory to god they all said in the highest as far as i could understand from those near by where what was being shouted could be heard both motionless and in suspense we stood as stood the shepherds who first heard that song till when the trembling stopped the shouting ceased thereafter we resumed our holy journey watching the shades that lay upon the ground returned already to their wonted plaint no ignorance had ever with as great anxiety made me desire to know unless in this my memory go astray as that which as i thought i seemed to have i neither dared to ask because of haste nor could i see there anything myself so on i went timid and lost in thought chapter fifty nine