Cunizza, Folco
Lovely Clemence, when your Charles had shed
Light in my mind, he told me of the plots
That would defraud his offspring; then he added,
"Keep silent, and allow the years to roll":
5 So I can say no more than that real tears
Shall follow on the damage done against you.
And now the life within that holy light
Had turned it once more to the sun that fills it,
As to that Good which is the wealth of all.
10 Ah, misguided souls and impious creatures
Who turn your hearts away from such a Good,
Lifting your faces up to vanity!
But look! another of those splendors came
Toward me and, growing brighter outwardly,
15 Showed me a sign of wishing to please me.
The eyes of Beatrice, firmly fixed on me
As they had been before, gave me assurance
Of her own dear assent to my desire.
"Come, blessed spirit," I said, "let me have
20 A speedy answer to my wish, and proof
That I can mirror in you what I think."
At that the light, which was still new to me,
Out of the depth from which welled up its song,
Went on as one delighted to do favors:
25 "In evil Italy there lies a region
Which runs between the Rialto and the springs
Of both the Brenta and Piave rivers.
"A hill looms there (it is not very high)
From which there once came down a firebrand
30 That waged a huge assault against the country.
"From one same root both he and I sprang up.
Cunizza I was called, and I blaze here
Because the light of this star conquered me.
"Yet happily I here forgive myself
35 The reason for my lot, nor does it grieve me,
Although this may seem strange to common people.
"This brilliant and beloved jewel who
Stands closest to me in this heaven of ours
Left lofty fame behind: before it dies
40 "Five times this century shall have passed away.
See how man should make himself so excellent
That his first life might leave life after it!
"And today’s crowd, enclosed by the Adige
And Tagliamento, have no thought of this,
45 And, though they are whipped hard, do not repent.
"But soon it shall befall that Padua
At the marsh, since people shun their duty,
Will stain the waters red that wash Vicenza.
"And where the Sile and Cagnano join
50 One plays the lord and holds his head up high
While all the time the net is laid to catch him.
"Feltro shall yet moan for the treachery
Of its besotted shepherd — a crime so shameful
That for the like none went to Malta prison.
55 "Huge would be the bucket that could hold
The blood of the Ferrarans: whoever had
To weigh it ounce by ounce would be worn out!
"This vat the generous priest shall offer up
To prove himself a supporter of his party:
60 Such gifts befit the country’s way of living!
"Up there are mirrors — you could call them Thrones —
From which in judgment God beams down on us
So that we think it good to say these things."
Here she grew still and had, I thought, the likeness
65 Of turning now to other things by wheeling
Where she took up the place she’d left behind.
The other bliss, whom I already knew
To be beloved, became before my sight
A sparkling ruby struck by rays of sunlight.
70 Through their rejoicing, souls gain brilliance there
On high, as here a smile gains light, but below
Shades darken outwardly as minds grow sad.
"God sees all, and your sight sinks into his,"
I said, "blissful spirit, and for this reason
75 No wish may hide itself away from you.
"Why does your voice, then, making heaven glad
Forever with the song of these blest flames
Which make themselves, with their six wings, a cowl,
"Not fulfill the longing which I feel?
80 I surely would not wait for you to ask
Were I in your mind as you are in mine."
"The largest valley in which water spreads
Out from the sea that girdles all the world,"
He then began to speak these words to me —
85 "Stretches its opposing shores so far
Counter to the sun’s course that its zenith
Lies where at first the sun formed its horizon.
"I had my dwelling on that valley’s shore,
Between Ebro and Macra whose short course
90 Divides the Tuscans from the Genoese.
"With almost the same sunset and same sunrise
Stand Bougie and the city I am from,
Which once made its port warm with its own blood.
"Folco I was called then by the people
95 Who knew my name, and this heaven having once
Signed me at my birth now bears my signal.
"For Belus’s daughter Dido did not burn,
In wronging both Sychaeus and Creusa,
More than I burned, before my locks were clipped;
100 "Nor the girl from Rhodope when beguiled
By Demophoon, nor Hercules himself
When he enshrined Iole in his heart.
"But here we don’t repent; instead, we smile,
Not for the fault, which never comes to mind,
105 But for the Power that ordered and foresaw.
"Here we look wondering at the art that love
Makes beautiful, and find the good through which
The world below turns to the world above.
"And that you may take with you all your longings,
110 Which have been born within this sphere, fulfilled,
I am obliged to go on with my discourse.
"You want to know who is within this light
Which glitters in this manner next to me,
Just like a sunbeam on the crystal water.
115 "Now you should know that Rahab rests inside
And that, as soon as she joined with our order,
She sealed it in the loftiest degree.
"She was swept upward through this heaven, where
The shadow-cone of your earth casts its point,
120 Before any other soul, by Christ in triumph.
"It was most fitting to leave her in a heaven
To be a palm of the high victory
Won by his one and by his other palm,
"Because she lent her help to Joshua
125 With his first glory in the Holy Land —
That little touches the Pope’s memory.
"Your city, which was planted by the One
Who first turned his back upon his Maker and
Whose envy has provoked so many tears,
130 "Produces and spreads far the cursed flower
Which caused the sheep and lambs to go astray
Because it changed the shepherd to a wolf.
"This is why the Gospel and Great Doctors
Are tossed aside, and only the Decretals
135 Are studied, as their scribbled margins show.
"On them the pope and cardinals pore intently
And never turn their thoughts to Nazareth
Where Gabriel unfolded wide his wings.
"The Vatican, however, and the other
140 Choice parts of Rome which are the burial ground
Of the brave soldiery that followed Peter
"Will soon be freed from this adultery."
