Negligent Rulers
Now was the hour when voyagers at sea
Pine to turn home and their hearts soften,
This first day out, for friends they bid good-bye,
The hour when outsetting pilgrims ache
5 With love to hear the far-off tolling bell
That seems to mourn the dying day with tears,
When I began to let my listening fade
And gazed instead at one of the souls there
Who had stood up and gestured to be heard.
10 He folded his hands in prayer and lifted them,
With his eyes fastened on the east, as if
Saying to God, "I care for nothing else!"
"To You before the light is done" — devoutly
Came from his lips with such melodious tones
15 That it made me step straight out of myself.
Then the rest with sweetness and devotion
Harmonized with him through the whole hymn,
Fixing their eyes on the spheres of heaven.
Hone your sight, reader, keenly on the truth,
20 For here the veil is now made so transparent
That passing to the interior is easy.
I saw that noble host of souls in silence,
After they had sung the hymn, gaze upward,
Subdued and pale, as if in expectation.
25 I saw sweep from above and then fly down
Two angels with two flaming swords that were
Broken short and snapped off at their points.
Green as tender leaves in bud, their robes
Billowed out behind them in the breeze
30 Which their green wings beat and fanned about them.
One came to stand just a short way above us,
And one alighted on the farther bank
So that the company was held between them.
I could quite clearly see their hair of gold,
35 But their bright faces dazzled my eyesight,
As sense is overwhelmed by too much light.
"Both of them come down from Mary’s bosom,"
Sordello said, "to guard those in the valley
Against the serpent that will soon appear."
40 So I, not knowing what way he would come,
Turned all around and, chilled right to the bone,
Pressed closer to my escort’s trusty shoulders.
And Sordello added, "Now let us go down
Among the mighty shades and speak to them,
45 For they will be most gratified to see you."
Only three steps, I think, I then went down
And came below, and I saw one who gaped
At me alone, as if he ought to know me.
Now it was at the time when air grows darker,
50 But not so dark that we could not make out
Between his eyes and mine what had been hidden.
He made toward me and I made way toward him:
Noble Judge Nino! what a joy it was
To see you there and not among the damned!
55 We showed each other every sign of welcome;
Then he asked me, "How long since you have come
Over wide waters to this mountain’s base?"
"Oh!" I told him, "I’ve come this morning from
The sad pit, and I am still in my first life,
60 Although I gain the second by this journey."
And as soon as they both heard my response,
Nino and Sordello started backward,
Like people suddenly caught by surprise.
One turned to Virgil, the other to a soul
65 Seated there and cried out, "Get up, Currado!
Come see what God, by his grace, has now willed!"
Then he turned to me: "By the singular thanks
You owe Him who so hides His primal purpose
In depths we have no way to ford across,
70 "When you are there beyond the wide vast waters,
Tell my Giovanna to pray for me
In the world where the innocent are answered.
"I doubt her mother loves me any longer
Since she put off her widowhood’s white bands
75 Which she, poor soul, must once more want to wear.
"By her behavior one may easily learn
How long the flame of love lasts for a woman
If sight and touch not often kindle it.
"The viper that leads the Milanese afield
80 Will not provide so fine a coat of arms
For her tombstone as would Gallura’s rooster."
So he spoke to me with his features stamped
By the impression of that righteous ardor
Which burns with true control within the heart.
85 My feasting eyes gazed solely at the sky,
Exactly at the point the stars move slowest,
As at the point a wheel turns on its axle.
And my guide: "Son, what do you stare at there?"
And I told him, "I stare at those three torches
90 Which set this polar region all ablaze."
He said to this, "The four bright stars you saw
This morning have now dipped below the hillside,
And these are risen here to take their place."
While he was talking, Sordello seized his arm
95 And cried to him, "Look there! Our adversary!"
And pointed with his finger where to peer.
Along the side on which the little valley
Has no abutment moved a snake, the same
Perhaps that offered Eve the bitter fruit.
100 Amid the grass and flowers slid the streak
Of sin, turning its head from time to time,
And licking its back like a preening beast.
I did not see and so I cannot say
Just how the hawks of heaven set to move,
105 But I saw clearly both of them in motion.
Hearing the green wings slicing through the air,
The snake crawled off; the angels wheeled around
In parallel flights back up to their two posts.
The shade who had drawn closer to Judge Nino
110 When he called out, through that whole incursion
Did not take his eyes off me for an instant.
"So may the lamp that leads you here on high
Find in your will all of the oil it needs
To take you up to the enameled peak,"
115 He began, "if you have accurate news
Of Val di Magra and its neighboring lands,
Tell me, for there I once was prominent.
"My name was Currado Malaspina:
I am not the elder but his grandson.
120 The love I bore my own is here made pure."
"Oh," I said to him, "I have yet to visit
Your countrylands, but where in all of Europe
Do men not mention them with high regard?
"The fame that brings such honor to your house
125 Heralds its lords and realms so far abroad
That folk who have not been there know of them.
"And I swear to you by my hope to reach
The top, your honored line has never shed
The renown of its royal purse and sword.
130 "Custom and nature have so endowed it that,
Although the Head of Sin perverts the world,
It still stays straight and scorns the evil road."
And he: "Go now, for the sun shall not rest
Seven times in the bed the Ram bestrides
135 And covers up with all four feet spread out,
"Before the gracious judgment you just gave
Shall be nailed to the center of your head
With stouter nails than all the talk of men,
"Unless the course of justice can be stayed!"
