Part 96

I only smiled, as one who gives the wink; Whereat the shade was silent, and it gazed Into mine eyes, where most expression dwells;

And, “As thou well mayst consummate a labour So great,” it said, “why did thy face just now Display to me the lightning of a smile?”

Now am I caught on this side and on that; One keeps me silent, one to speak conjures me, Wherefore I sigh, and I am understood.

“Speak,” said my Master, “and be not afraid Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him What he demands with such solicitude.”

Whence I: “Thou peradventure marvellest, O antique spirit, at the smile I gave; But I will have more wonder seize upon thee.

This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine, Is that Virgilius, from whom thou didst learn To sing aloud of men and of the Gods.

If other cause thou to my smile imputedst, Abandon it as false, and trust it was Those words which thou hast spoken concerning him.”

Already he was stooping to embrace My Teacher’s feet; but he said to him: “Brother, Do not; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest.”

And he uprising: “Now canst thou the sum Of love which warms me to thee comprehend, When this our vanity I disremember,

Treating a shadow as substantial thing.”

Purgatorio: Canto XXII

Already was the Angel left behind us, The Angel who to the sixth round had turned us, Having erased one mark from off my face;

And those who have in justice their desire Had said to us, “Beati,” in their voices, With “sitio,” and without more ended it.

And I, more light than through the other passes, Went onward so, that without any labour I followed upward the swift-footed spirits;

When thus Virgilius began: “The love Kindled by virtue aye another kindles, Provided outwardly its flame appear.

Hence from the hour that Juvenal descended Among us into the infernal Limbo, Who made apparent to me thy affection,

My kindliness towards thee was as great As ever bound one to an unseen person, So that these stairs will now seem short to me.

But tell me, and forgive me as a friend, If too great confidence let loose the rein, And as a friend now hold discourse with me;

How was it possible within thy breast For avarice to find place, ’mid so much wisdom As thou wast filled with by thy diligence?”

These words excited Statius at first Somewhat to laughter; afterward he answered: “Each word of thine is love’s dear sign to me.

Verily oftentimes do things appear Which give fallacious matter to our doubts, Instead of the true causes which are hidden!

Thy question shows me thy belief to be That I was niggard in the other life, It may be from the circle where I was;

Therefore know thou, that avarice was removed Too far from me; and this extravagance Thousands of lunar periods have punished.

And were it not that I my thoughts uplifted, When I the passage heard where thou exclaimest, As if indignant, unto human nature,

‘To what impellest thou not, O cursed hunger Of gold, the appetite of mortal men?’ Revolving I should feel the dismal joustings.

Then I perceived the hands could spread too wide Their wings in spending, and repented me As well of that as of my other sins;

How many with shorn hair shall rise again Because of ignorance, which from this sin Cuts off repentance living and in death!

And know that the transgression which rebuts By direct opposition any sin Together with it here its verdure dries.