Canto XXXII

I notice you've only provided the canto title and the very beginning of a line from Longfellow's translation of Purgatorio Canto 32. To provide you with a proper modern translation, I would need the complete passage you'd like me to work with.

Could you please provide the full text from Longfellow that you'd like me to translate into contemporary English? Once I have the complete passage, I'll be happy to render it in the modern, accessible style you've described while preserving Dante's meaning and imagery.

As I satisfied that ten-year thirst for knowledge,

all my other senses fell silent,

and walls of sacred indifference rose on either side—

the holy smile drew them in with ancient nets.

But suddenly those goddesses forced my gaze

leftward, crying out: "You stare too intently!"

That condition which strikes eyes

freshly wounded by the sun

robbed me of vision for a moment.

When sight reshaped itself to lesser things—

lesser, I say, compared to the greater splendor

I had been compelled to abandon—

I saw on the right wing the glorious host

wheeling back with the sun

and the sevenfold flames blazing on their faces.

Like a squadron turning beneath its shields,

wheeling with its banner to save itself

before the whole formation can change direction,

that army of the celestial kingdom

marching in advance had completely passed us

before the chariot could turn its pole.

The maidens returned to the wheels,

and the Griffin moved his blessed burden forward

without a single feather stirring.

The beautiful lady who drew me through the ford,

Statius and I followed the wheel

that traced the smaller arc in its orbit.

Moving through the lofty forest—

emptied by her who trusted the serpent—

angelic music kept time with our steps.

Perhaps the distance an arrow travels

in three flights from a released bowstring

was how far we had gone when Beatrice stopped.

I heard them all murmur together: "Adam!"

Then they circled a tree stripped bare

of flowers and leaves on every branch.

Its crown, spreading wider as it climbed higher,

would have amazed the Indians

in their forests for its incredible height.

"Blessed are you, Griffin, who do not

tear with your beak these branches sweet to taste,

since appetite here twisted into evil."

The others shouted this around the mighty tree,

and the twofold creature replied:

"Thus the seed of all justice is preserved."

Turning to the pole he had dragged,

he drew it close beneath the widowed bough

and bound what was his own to it.

Like our trees when the great light falls

mingled with that which shines

after the celestial Fish—

how they begin to swell and renew themselves,

each with its own color, before the Sun

harnesses his horses beneath another constellation—

revealing a hue less than rose

but more than violet,

the tree that had stood so desolate was renewed.

I never heard—nor is it sung here below—

the hymn that people sang afterward,

nor could I bear the full melody.

If I had the power to paint how those pitiless eyes

fell asleep hearing Syrinx's story—

eyes for which keeping watch cost so dearly—

like a painter working from a model,

I would portray how sleep overcame me.

Let whoever can paint drowsiness do so.

Therefore I skip to when I awoke

and say a brilliance tore the veil

of slumber from me, and a voice calling: "Rise! What are you doing?"

As Peter, John, and James were led

to see the apple tree in blossom

that makes Angels hunger for its fruit

and celebrates eternal marriage in Heaven,

and, overwhelmed, they recovered at the word

that broke even deeper slumbers,

seeing their company diminished

by the loss of both Elijah and Moses

and their Master's clothing transformed—

so I revived and saw that compassionate one

standing over me, she who had been

my guide along the river before.

Confused, I asked, "Where is Beatrice?"

"Look," she said, "she sits beneath

the new foliage, at the tree's root.

See the company surrounding her.

The others are ascending behind the Griffin

with song more melodious and profound."

I don't know if she said more,

because already in my sight was she

who had shut me off from hearing anything else.

She sat alone upon the earth itself,

left as guardian of the chariot

I had seen the two-formed creature bind to the tree.

The seven Nymphs made a cloister around her,

holding in their hands those lights

secure from north wind and south.

"You will be a forester here briefly,

but you will be with me forever

a citizen of that Rome where Christ is Roman.

For the good of that world which lives badly,

fix your eyes upon the chariot,

and when you return to earth,

be sure to write what you see."

So spoke Beatrice. I, completely devoted

to her commands, directed my mind

and eyes where she wished.

Never did fire descend with such swift motion

from a heavy cloud in the season of rain,

falling from the most distant region,

as I saw Jove's bird plunge

down through the tree, tearing away bark,

flowers, and new leaves alike.

With all his might he struck the chariot,

making it reel like a ship in a storm

tossed by waves, lurching port and starboard.

Then I saw a Fox leap

into the body of the triumphal vehicle—

a fox that seemed starved of wholesome food.

But reproaching him for his hideous sins,

my Lady put him to flight as swift

as such a fleshless skeleton could manage.

Then by the same path it had come,

I saw the Eagle descend into the chariot's chest

and leave it feathered with his plumes.

Like a voice issuing from a mourning heart,

a voice from Heaven spoke:

"Oh my little boat, how badly you are loaded!"

Then I thought the earth split open

between both wheels, and I saw rise from it

a Dragon who thrust his tail upward through the chariot.

Like a wasp drawing back its sting,

pulling his malicious tail to himself,

he tore out part of the floor and went away rejoicing.

What remained, like a fertile field with grass,

covered itself again with the feathers—

perhaps offered with pure and kind intention—

and both the pole and wheels were re-clothed

with them so quickly that a sigh

would keep lips parted longer.

Transformed this way, the holy structure

thrust forward heads from its parts:

three on the pole, one at each corner.

The first had horns like oxen,

but the four others had single horns

on their foreheads—such a monster had never been seen!

Secure as a rock on a high mountain,

I saw seated upon it

a shameless whore, her eyes darting about.

As if to prevent her being taken from him,

I saw a giant standing upright beside her,

and they kissed each other again and again.

But because she turned her lustful,

wandering eye toward me,

her angry lover scourged her

from head to foot.

Then, full of jealousy and fierce with rage,

he unleashed the monster and dragged it

so far across the forest

that he made the trees alone

a shield for the whore and the strange beast.