We had already left the Angel behind us,
the one who had turned us toward the sixth terrace,
having erased
3
I wiped the last mark from my face, and those souls
whose deepest longing was for justice spoke to us—
their voices crying "Blessed are they" then ending
abruptly with "who thirst," saying nothing more.
7
And I, made lighter than in the passes before,
moved onward with such ease that without effort
I followed the swift spirits climbing upward.
10
Then Virgil began: "Love kindled by virtue
always kindles love in another heart,
as long as its flame shows itself outwardly.
From the moment Juvenal descended
to join us in the infernal Limbo
and revealed to me your deep affection,
my goodwill toward you grew as strong
as any bond between souls who've never met—
so strong that these stairs now seem short to me.
19
But tell me, and forgive me as a friend
if too much trust loosens my tongue,
speak to me now as friend to friend:
how could avarice find room in your heart
alongside all the wisdom you possessed,
earned through such careful study?"
25
These words made Statius laugh at first,
then he answered: "Every word you speak
is a precious sign of love to me.
Truly, things often appear to us
in ways that breed false doubts,
hiding the real causes underneath.
31
Your question tells me you believe
I was miserly in my former life,
perhaps from seeing which circle held me.
Know this: avarice was banished
far from me—this excess, this opposite sin,
thousands of months have punished here.
37
Had I not lifted up my thoughts
when I heard that passage where you cry out,
as if enraged at human nature:
'Cursed hunger for gold, to what extremes
do you not drive the appetite of mortals?'—
had I not turned from my ways then,
I would still be feeling those grim battles.
44
Then I understood that hands could spread
their wings too wide in spending, and I repented
of that sin as much as all my others.
How many will rise again with cropped hair
because of ignorance that cuts them off
from repentance both in life and death!
50
Know that any sin which directly opposes
another sin withers here alongside it.
So if I was among that crowd
that mourns avarice, it was to purify me—
this punishment fell on me for its opposite."
55
"When you sang of the merciless weapons
of Jocasta's double sorrow," the singer
of pastoral songs replied, "judging from what
Clio inspired you to write then,
it doesn't seem that faith had made you faithful yet—
that faith without which good works mean nothing.
If this is true, what candles or what sun
scattered your darkness so completely
that you trimmed your sails to follow the Fisherman?"
64
And Statius answered: "You first directed me
toward Parnassus to drink from its caves,
and you first gave me light concerning God.
You were like someone walking in the night
who carries his lamp behind him—
it doesn't help him, but makes those who follow wary—
when you said: 'The ages begin again,
justice returns with humanity's first time,
and a new generation descends from heaven.'
73
Through you I became a poet, through you a Christian.
But so you see more clearly what I mean,
let me extend my hand to fill in the colors.
76
Already the world in every part
was pregnant with the true faith,
spread by messengers of the eternal kingdom.
Your words that I quoted above
harmonized with these new preachers,
so I made it my custom to seek them out.
82
They grew so holy in my sight
that when Domitian persecuted them,
my tears flowed with their laments.
All the time I remained on earth
I helped them, and their righteous ways
made me scorn all other sects.
88
Before I led the Greeks to Thebes' rivers
in my poetry, I had been baptized—
but out of fear remained secretly Christian,
long pretending to be pagan still.
This lukewarm faith made me circle
the fourth terrace for more than four hundred years.
94
You who have lifted the veil
that hid from me the good I now speak of—
while we still have time as we climb—
tell me where our Terence is now,
Caecilius, Plautus, Varro, if you know.
Tell me if they're damned, and in what district."
100
"These poets, and Persius, and myself, and many others,"
my guide replied, "dwell with that Greek
whom the Muses nursed above all others,
in the first circle of the sightless prison.
We often speak of the mountain
that forever holds our nurses with itself.
Euripides is with us, Antiphon,
Simonides, Agathon, and many other Greeks
who once crowned their brows with laurel.
109
There you can see some of your own characters—
Antigone, Deiphyle, and Argia,
Ismene still as sorrowful as ever.
There is she who showed Langia's spring,
there Tiresias' daughter, there Thetis,
and Deidamia with her sisters."
115
Both poets fell silent now,
intent once more on looking all around,
free from the climb and from the walls.
Four handmaidens of the day
had already been left behind,
and the fifth was pointing upward
its burning horn at the pole,
when my guide said: "I think we should turn
our right shoulders toward the edge,
circling the mountain as we usually do."
125
So custom served as our banner there,
and we resumed our path with less uncertainty,
encouraged by that worthy soul's agreement.
128
They walked ahead, and I alone behind them,
listening to their conversation
which taught me lessons in the art of poetry.
But soon their sweet discourse was interrupted
by a tree we found blocking our path,
heavy with apples sweet and fragrant.
134
As a fir tree tapers upward
from branch to branch, this tree tapered downward—
I think so that no one could climb it.
On the side where our path was enclosed,
clear water fell from the high rock
and spread itself across the leaves.
140
The two poets approached the tree,
and from within the foliage a voice cried:
"You shall be denied this food."
143
Then it said: "Mary cared more about making
the wedding feast complete and honorable
than about her own mouth, which now speaks for you.
The ancient Roman women were content
with water for their drink, and Daniel
scorned food and gained understanding.
149
The first age was beautiful as gold—
hunger made acorns taste delicious,
and thirst made every stream like nectar.
Honey and locusts were the only food
that nourished the Baptist in the wilderness,
which is why he is glorious and magnified
as the Gospel reveals to you."
156