We moved forward one behind the other,
my good Master often saying: "Watch your step!
Let my warning be enough for you."
3
The sun now struck my right shoulder,
its rays already transforming the whole west
from azure blue to white.
My shadow made the flames appear more red,
and I saw many shades take notice of this sign
as they passed by.
9
This gave them reason to begin speaking of me.
They started saying to each other:
"That doesn't look like a phantom body!"
12
Then some of them came toward me,
as close as they could manage
while being careful not to step outside the fire
where they would burn.
16
"You who walk behind the others—
not from slowness, it seems, but from reverence—
answer me, I who burn in thirst and flame.
Your answer isn't needed by me alone;
all of these souls thirst for it more desperately
than any Ethiopian or Indian thirsts for cold water.
22
Tell us how you cast a shadow against the sun,
as if you haven't yet been caught
in death's net."
25
One of them spoke to me this way,
and I would have revealed myself immediately,
except I was distracted by something new appearing.
28
Through the middle of the burning road
came another group of souls, face to face with these,
and I stared at them in suspense.
31
I watched as shades from both sides
rushed toward each other, kissing quickly
without pause, content with brief greeting.
Like ants in their dark battalions
meeting muzzle to muzzle,
perhaps to learn of journey or fortune.
37
As soon as the friendly greeting ended,
before even the first step could pass onward,
each group tried to outcry the other:
The newcomers shouted: "Sodom and Gomorrah!"
The others: "Pasiphaë enters the cow
so the bull can service her lust!"
43
Then like cranes that might fly partly
toward the northern mountains, partly toward warm sands—
some avoiding frost, others avoiding sun—
one group departed while the other approached,
weeping as they returned to their first songs
and to the cry that best suited them.
49
The same souls who had questioned me before
came close again, their faces eager to listen.
51
Having seen their desire twice now, I began:
"Souls who are assured of eventually reaching
a state of peace, whenever that may be—
my limbs have remained neither unripe nor overripe
on earth, but are here with me still
with their blood and joints intact.
57
I climb upward to be blind no longer.
A Lady above wins this grace for me,
allowing me to carry my mortal body through your world.
60
But so that your greatest longing may soon
be satisfied, and Heaven may house you—
that Heaven which is full of love and spreads most wide—
tell me, so I may write it in my books again:
Who are you? And who is that multitude
walking away behind your backs?"
66
A mountaineer is never more bewildered,
staring around speechless when rough and rustic
he first enters a town,
than every shade appeared at that moment.
70
But once they recovered from their amazement—
which in noble hearts is quickly calmed—
the one who had first questioned me began again:
73
"Blessed are you, who freight yourself
with experience of our borderlands
for a better life!
76
The people who don't walk with us
sinned in the way for which Caesar once heard himself
mockingly called 'Queen' during his triumph.
That's why they separate crying 'Sodom!'—
reproaching themselves, as you heard,
adding shame to their burning.
82
Our transgression was hermaphroditic.
But because we didn't observe human law,
following our appetites like beasts,
we read out in our disgrace, when we part,
the name of her who made herself bestial
in the bestial wood.
88
Now you know our acts and our crime.
If you'd like to know our names,
there isn't time to tell them, nor could I.
91
Your wish to know me will indeed be granted:
I am Guido Guinicelli, and I purge myself here
because I repented before my final hour."
94
Like the two sons who, in Lycurgus's grief,
saw their mother again—
such I became, though I didn't rise to such heights—
the moment I heard him name himself the father
of me and my betters, who had always
practiced the sweet and gracious rhymes of love.
100
Without speaking or listening, lost in thought
for a long time I walked, gazing at him,
nor did the fire make me approach him closer.
103
When I had fed on looking at him,
I offered myself completely for his service
with words that compel belief.
106
And he to me: "From what I hear,
you leave such clear footprints in me
that Lethe cannot wash them away or dim them.
109
But if your words just now swore truth,
tell me why you show in word and look
that you hold me dear?"
112
And I to him: "Those sweet songs of yours—
which, as long as our modern language endures,
will make their very ink forever precious!"
115
"Brother," he said, "the one I point out to you"—
and here he indicated a spirit ahead—
"was a better craftsman of our mother tongue.
118
In verses of love and prose romances
he surpassed all others. Let the fools talk
who think the poet from Limoges was greater.
121
They turn toward clamor rather than truth,
establishing their opinions this way
before art or reason reaches them.
124
Many ancients did this with Guittone,
cry after cry still giving him praise,
until truth conquered with most people.
127
Now, if you have such ample privilege
that you're permitted to reach the cloister
where Christ is abbot of the college,
say a Our Father for me there—
as much as we need in this world
where we no longer have the power to sin."
133
Then, perhaps to make room for someone behind him,
he vanished in the fire
like a fish diving deep in water.
136
I moved a little toward the one he had indicated,
saying that my desire was preparing
an honored place for his name.
139
He began to speak of his own free will:
"Your courteous request so pleases me
that I cannot and will not hide from you.
I am Arnaut, who weep and go singing.
I see my past folly with sorrow,
and I see with joy the day I hope for ahead.
Now I beg you, by that power
which guides you to the summit of the stairs,
remember to ease my pain in time!"
148
Then he hid himself in the fire that purifies them.
149