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The natural was ever without error;
  But err the other may by evil object;
  Or by too much; or by too little vigour。

While in the first it well directed is;
  And in the second moderates itself;
  It cannot be the cause of sinful pleasure;

But when to ill it turns; and; with more care
  Or lesser than it ought; runs after good;
  'Gainst the Creator works his own creation。

Hence thou mayst comprehend that love must be
  The seed within yourselves of every virtue;
  And every act that merits punishment。

Now inasmuch as never from the welfare
  Of its own subject can love turn its sight;
  From their own hatred all things are secure;

And since we cannot think of any being
  Standing alone; nor from the First divided;
  Of hating Him is all desire cut off。

Hence if; discriminating; I judge well;
  The evil that one loves is of one's neighbour;
  And this is born in three modes in your clay。

There are; who; by abasement of their neighbour;
  Hope to excel; and therefore only long
  That from his greatness he may be cast down;

There are; who power; grace; honour; and renown
  Fear they may lose because another rises;
  Thence are so sad that the reverse they love;

And there are those whom injury seems to chafe;
  So that it makes them greedy for revenge;
  And such must needs shape out another's harm。

This threefold love is wept for down below;
  Now of the other will I have thee hear;
  That runneth after good with measure faulty。

Each one confusedly a good conceives
  Wherein the mind may rest; and longeth for it;
  Therefore to overtake it each one strives。

If languid love to look on this attract you;
  Or in attaining unto it; this cornice;
  After just penitence; torments you for it。

There's other good that does not make man happy;
  'Tis not felicity; 'tis not the good
  Essence; of every good the fruit and root。

The love that yields itself too much to this
  Above us is lamented in three circles;
  But how tripartite it may be described;

I say not; that thou seek it for thyself。〃



Purgatorio: Canto XVIII


An end had put unto his reasoning
  The lofty Teacher; and attent was looking
  Into my face; if I appeared content;

And I; whom a new thirst still goaded on;
  Without was mute; and said within: 〃Perchance
  The too much questioning I make annoys him。〃

But that true Father; who had comprehended
  The timid wish; that opened not itself;
  By speaking gave me hardihood to speak。

Whence I: 〃My sight is; Master; vivified
  So in thy light; that clearly I discern
  Whate'er thy speech importeth or describes。

Therefore I thee entreat; sweet Father dear;
  To teach me love; to which thou dost refer
  Every good action and its contrary。〃

〃Direct;〃 he said; 〃towards me the keen eyes
  Of intellect; and clear will be to thee
  The error of the blind; who would be leaders。

The soul; which is created apt to love;
  Is mobile unto everything that pleases;
  Soon as by pleasure she is waked to action。

Your apprehension from some real thing
  An image draws; and in yourselves displays it
  So that it makes the soul turn unto it。

And if; when turned; towards it she incline;
  Love is that inclination; it is nature;
  Which is by pleasure bound in you anew

Then even as the fire doth upward move
  By its own form; which to ascend is born;
  Where longest in its matter it endures;

So comes the captive soul into desire;
  Which is a motion spiritual; and ne'er rests
  Until she doth enjoy the thing beloved。

Now may apparent be to thee how hidden
  The truth is from those people; who aver
  All love is in itself a laudable thing;

Because its matter may perchance appear
  Aye to be good; but yet not each impression
  Is good; albeit good may be the wax。〃

〃Thy words; and my sequacious intellect;〃
  I answered him; 〃have love revealed to me;
  But that has made me more impregned with doubt;

For if love from without be offered us;
  And with another foot the soul go not;
  If right or wrong she go; 'tis not her merit。〃

And he to me: 〃What reason seeth here;
  Myself can tell thee; beyond that await
  For Beatrice; since 'tis a work of faith。

Every substantial form; that segregate
  From matter is; and with it is united;
  Specific power has in itself collected;

Which without act is not perceptible;
  Nor shows itself except by its effect;
  As life does in a plant by the green leaves。

But still; whence cometh the intelligence
  Of the first notions; man is ignorant;
  And the affection for the first allurements;

Which are in you as instinct in the bee
  To make its honey; and this first desire
  Merit of praise or blame containeth not。

Now; that to this all others may be gathered;
  Innate within you is the power that counsels;
  And it should keep the threshold of assent。

This is the principle; from which is taken
  Occasion of desert in you; according
  As good and guilty loves it takes and winnows。

Those who; in reasoning; to the bottom went;
  Were of this innate liberty aware;
  Therefore bequeathed they Ethics to the world。

Supposing; then; that from necessity
  Springs every love that is within you kindled;
  Within yourselves the power is to restrain it。

The noble virtue Beatrice understands
  By the free will; and therefore see that thou
  Bear it in mind; if she should speak of it。〃

The moon; belated almost unto midnight;
  Now made the stars appear to us more rare;
  Formed like a bucket; that is all ablaze;

And counter to the heavens ran through those paths
  Which the sun sets aflame; when he of Rome
  Sees it 'twixt Sardes and Corsicans go down;

And that patrician shade; for whom is named
  Pietola more than any Mantuan town;
  Had laid aside the burden of my lading;

Whence I; who reason manifest and plain
  In answer to my questions had received;
  Stood like a man in drowsy reverie。

But taken from me was this drowsiness
  Suddenly by a people; that behind
  Our backs already had come round to us。

And as; of old; Ismenus and Asopus
  Beside them saw at night the rush and throng;
  If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus;

So they along that circle curve their step;
  From what I saw of those approaching us;
  Who by good…will and righteous love are ridden。

Full soon they were upon us; because running
  Moved onward all that mighty multitude;
  And two in the advance cried out; lamenting;

〃Mary in haste unto the mountain ran;
  And Caesar; that he might subdue Ilerda;
  Thrust at Marseilles; and then ran into Spain。〃

〃Quick! quick! so that the time may not be lost
  By little love!〃 forthwith the others cried;
  〃For ardour in well…doing freshens grace!〃

〃O folk; in whom an eager fervour now
  Supplies perhaps delay and negligence;
  Put by you in well…doing; through lukewarmness;

This one who lives; and truly I lie not;
  Would fain go up; if but the sun relight us;
  So tell us where the passage nearest is。〃

These were the words of him who was my Guide;
  And some one of those spirits said: 〃Come on
  Behind us; and the opening shalt thou find;

So full of longing are we to move onward;
  That stay we cannot; therefore pardon us;
  If thou for churlishness our justice take。

I was San Zeno's Abbot at Verona;
  Under the empire of good Barbarossa;
  Of whom still sorrowing Milan holds discourse;

And he has one foot in the grave already;
  Who shall erelong lament that monastery;
  And sorry be of having there had power;

Because his son; in his whole body sick;
  And worse in mind; and who was evil…born;
  He put into the place of its true pastor。〃

If more he said; or silent was; I know not;
  He had already passed so far beyond us;
  But this I heard; and to retain it pleased me。

And he who was in every need my succour
  Said: 〃Turn thee hitherward; see two of them
  Come fastening upon slothfulness their teeth。〃

In rear of all they shouted: 〃Sooner were
  The people dead to whom the sea was opened;
  Than their inheritors the Jordan saw;

And those who the fatigue did not endure
  Unto the issue; with Anchises' son;
  Themselves to life withouten glory offered。〃

Then when from us so separated were
  Those shades; that they no longer could be seen;
  Within me a new thought did entrance find;

Whence others many and diverse were born;
  And so I lapsed from one into another;
  That in a reverie mine eyes I closed;

And meditation into dream transmuted。



Purgatorio: Canto XIX


It was the hour when the diurnal heat
  No more can warm the coldness of the moon;
  Vanquished by earth; or peradventure Saturn;

When geomancers their Fortuna Major
  See in the orient before the dawn
  Rise by a path that long remains not dim;

There came to me in dreams a stammering woman;
  Squint in her eyes; and in her feet distorted;
  With hands dissevered and of sallow hue。

I looked at her; and as the sun restores
  The frigid members which the night benumbs;
  Even thus my gaze did render voluble

Her tongue; and made her all erect thereafter
  In little while; and the lost countenance
  As love desires it so in her

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