Canto XXXII

So steadfast and attentive were mine eyes¹In satisfying their decennial thirst,²That all my other senses were extinct,And upon this side and on that they hadWalls of indifference, so the holy smileDrew them unto itself with the old net;When forcibly my sight was turned awayTowards my left hand by those goddesses,Because I heard from them a “Too intently!”And that condition of the sight which is³In eyes but lately smitten by the sunBereft me of my vision some short while;But to the less when sight reshaped itself,I say the less in reference to the greaterSplendor from which perforce I had withdrawn,I saw upon its right wing wheeled aboutThe glorious host returning with the sunAnd with the sevenfold flames upon their faces.As underneath its shields, to save itself,A squadron turns, and with its banner wheels,Before the whole thereof can change its front,That soldiery of the celestial kingdomWhich marched in the advance had wholly passed usBefore the chariot had turned its pole.Then to the wheels the maidens turned themselves,And the Griffin moved his burden benedight,But so that not a feather of him fluttered.The lady fair who drew me through the fordFollowed with Statius and myself the wheelWhich made its orbit with the lesser arc.So passing through the lofty forest, vacantBy fault of her who in the serpent trusted,Angelic music made our steps keep time.Perchance as great a space had in three flightsAn arrow loosened from the string o’erpassed,⁴As we had moved when Beatrice descended.I heard them murmur altogether, “Adam!”Then circled they about a tree despoiled⁵Of blooms and other leafage on each bough.Its tresses, which so much the more dilateAs higher they ascend, had been by Indians⁶Among their forests marvelled at for height.“Blessed art thou, O Griffin, who dost not⁷Pluck with thy beak these branches sweet to taste,Since appetite by this was turned to evil.”After this fashion round the tree robustThe others shouted; and the twofold creature:“Thus is preserved the seed of all the just.”And turning to the pole which he had dragged,He drew it close beneath the widowed bough,And what was of it unto it left bound.⁸In the same manner as our trees (when downwardFalls the great light, with that together mingledWhich after the celestial Lasca shines)⁹Begin to swell, and then renew themselves,Each one with its own color, ere the SunHarness his steeds beneath another star:¹⁰Less than of rose and more than violetA hue disclosing, was renewed the treeThat had erewhile its boughs so desolate.I never heard, nor here below is sung,The hymn which afterward that people sang,Nor did I bear the melody throughout.Had I the power to paint how fell asleepThose eyes compassionless, of Syrinx hearing,¹¹Those eyes to which more watching cost so dear,Even as a painter who from model paintsI would portray how I was lulled asleep;He may, who well can picture drowsihood.Therefore I pass to what time I awoke,And say a splendor rent from me the veilOf slumber, and a calling: “Rise, what dost thou?”As to behold the apple-tree in blossom¹²Which makes the Angels greedy for its fruit,And keeps perpetual bridals in the Heaven,Peter and John and James conducted were,And, overcome, recovered at the word¹³By which still greater slumbers have been broken,And saw their school diminished by the lossNot only of Elias, but of Moses,And the apparel of their Master changed;So I revived, and saw that piteous one¹⁴Above me standing, who had been conductressAforetime of my steps beside the river,And all in doubt I said, “Where’s Beatrice?”And she: “Behold her seated underneathThe leafage new, upon the root of it.Behold the company that circles her;The rest behind the Griffin are ascendingWith more melodious song, and more profound.”And if her speech were more diffuse I know not,Because already in my sight was sheWho from the hearing of aught else had shut me.Alone she sat upon the very earth,Left there as guardian of the chariotWhich I had seen the biform monster fasten.Encircling her, a cloister made themselvesThe seven Nymphs, with those lights in their hands¹⁵Which are secure from Aquilon and Auster.“Short while shalt thou be here a forester,And thou shalt be with me for evermoreA citizen of that Rome where Christ is Roman.Therefore, for that world’s good which liveth ill,Fix on the car thine eyes, and what thou seest,Having returned to earth, take heed thou write.”Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the feetOf her commandments all devoted was,My mind and eyes directed where she willed.Never descended with so swift a motionFire from a heavy cloud, when it is rainingFrom out the region which is most remote,As I beheld the bird of Jove descend¹⁶Down through the tree, rending away the bark,As well as blossoms and the foliage new,And he with all his might the chariot smote,¹⁷Whereat it reeled, like vessel in a tempestTossed by the waves, now starboard and now larboard.Thereafter saw I leap into the bodyOf the triumphal vehicle a Fox,¹⁸That seemed unfed with any wholesome food.But for his hideous sins upbraiding him,My Lady put him to as swift a flightAs such a fleshless skeleton could bear.Then by the way that it before had come,Into the chariot’s chest I saw the EagleDescend, and leave it feathered with his plumes.¹⁹And such as issues from a heart that mourns,A voice from Heaven there issued, and it said:“My little bark, how badly art thou freighted!”Methought, then, that the earth did yawn betweenBoth wheels, and I saw rise from it a Dragon,²⁰Who through the chariot upward fixed his tail,And as a wasp that draweth back its sting,Drawing unto himself his tail malign,Drew out the floor, and went his way rejoicing.That which remained behind, even as with grassA fertile region, with the feathers, offeredPerhaps with pure intention and benign,Reclothed itself, and with them were reclothedThe pole and both the wheels so speedily,A sigh doth longer keep the lips apart.Transfigured thus the holy edificeThrust forward heads upon the parts of it,Three on the pole and one at either corner.²¹The first were horned like oxen; but the fourHad but a single horn upon the forehead;A monster such had never yet been seen!Firm as a rock upon a mountain high,Seated upon it, there appeared to meA shameless whore, with eyes swift glancing round,²²And, as if not to have her taken from him,Upright beside her I beheld a giant;²³And ever and anon they kissed each other.But because she her wanton, roving eyeTurned upon me, her angry paramourDid scourge her from her head unto her feet.²⁴Then full of jealousy, and fierce with wrath,He loosed the monster, and across the forestDragged it so far, he made of that alone²⁵A shield unto the whore and the strange beast.