The Proud, Omberto, Oderisi
"Our Father, who art in heaven, not bound there,
But dwelling in it for the greater love
Thou bearest toward thy firstborn works on high,
"Hallowed be thy name and be thy worthiness
5 Through every creature, as it is most fitting
To thank thee for the sweet breath of thy wisdom.
"Thy kingdom come to us in peacefulness,
Because we cannot reach it by ourselves,
Unless it come, for all our striving effort.
10 "And as the angels do thy will in heaven
By sacrificing theirs, singing hosanna,
So let the men on earth do with their wills.
"Give us this day our daily manna, since
Without it, through this bitter wilderness
15 He retreats who tries hardest to advance.
"And as we pardon all for the trespasses
That we have suffered, so in loving kindness
Forgive us: do not judge by our deserving.
"Our strength so easily fails: lead us not
20 Into temptation through our ancient foe,
But deliver us from the evil he provokes.
"This last petition, dearest Lord, we make
Not for our sake, since now we have no need,
But for those people who remain behind us."
25 This way the souls, praying godspeed for both
Themselves and us, trudged on beneath a burden
Like that one pictures sometimes in a dream,
Unequal in their anguish, all of them
Plodding wearily around the first terrace,
30 Purging away the black dross of the world.
If there they always speak up for our good,
What for their good can here be said or done
By those whose prayers are rooted in goodwill?
Surely we should help them cleanse the stains
35 They brought from here, so that, buoyant and pure,
They may take flight up to the wheeling stars.
"Ah, so may justice and pity soon remove
Your load of guilt that you may spread out wings
Which will lift you to the limit of your longing,
40 "Show us on which side is the shortest way
To reach the stairs, and if there’s more than one,
Instruct us to the path that is least steep,
"Because this man who walks with me, weighed down
By Adam’s flesh, which he still wears about him,
45 Is slowed, against his will, in his climb up."
Words of theirs were then returned in answer
To those the guide I followed had addressed,
But one could not be sure from whom they came:
The words were: "Come with us along this bank
50 To the right, and you’ll find the passageway
Possible for a living person to ascend.
"And were I not encumbered by this stone
Which has so tamed my proud neck to submission
That I am forced to keep my face bent down,
55 "I would now gaze upon this man who lives
But remains nameless, to see if I know him
And to make him feel compassion for my load.
"I was Italian, son of a great Tuscan:
Guglielmo Aldobrandesco was my father;
60 I do not know if you ever heard his name.
"The age-old blood and the gallant exploits
Of my forebears made me so arrogant
That, not thinking of our common mother,
"I held all men in such complete contempt
65 It killed me, as the Sienese all know
And every child in Campagnatico.
"I am Omberto. And not only has pride
Damaged me but it has dragged down all
My kinsfolk with it into catastrophe.
70 "And for this sin I here must bear this weight
Until I give God satisfaction — since I
Gave none among the living — among the dead."
Listening to him I held my head down lower;
And one of them — not the one who’d spoken —
75 Shifted under the mass that pressed upon him
And noticed me and knew me and called out,
Struggling to keep his eyes fixed upon me
While I, stooped over, walked along with them.
"Oh," I cried out, "are you not Oderisi,
80 Honor of Gubbio, glory of that art
Which in Paris they call ‘illuminating’?"
"Brother," he said, "the pages painted by
Franco Bolognese smile more brightly:
All his the honor now — and partly mine.
85 "Certainly I would have been less courteous
While I was alive, through my vaulting zeal
For excellence to which my heart aspired.
"The price of pride like this is paid out here;
And still I’d not be here if it were not
90 That, capable of sin, I turned to God.
"Oh, the vainglory of our human powers!
How brief the time the green grows on the hilltop,
Unless the age that follows it is barren!
"Cimabue thought he held the field
95 In painting, but now the hue and cry is for
Giotto, and the other’s fame is dulled.
"So, one Guido has snatched from another
Poetic glory, and perhaps the man
Has been born who will chase both from the nest!
100 "Earthly fame is but a breath of wind,
No more; huffing here and puffing there,
It changes name when it changes quarter.
"What more renown will you have, if you lose
Your flesh through old age, than if you had died
105 Before you left your baby-talk behind you
"In, say, a thousand years? That is a shorter
Span to the eternal than the blink of an eye
Is to the turn of the slowest of the spheres.
"All Tuscany resounded with the name
110 Of him who creeps before me on this path:
Now’s scarce a whisper of him in Siena
"Where he was lord when they together crushed
The rage of Florence — who was then in wartime
As proud as she is prostituted now.
115 "Your reputation is like the shade of grass
Which comes and goes: the sun that makes it spring
Green from the ground soon causes it to fade."
And I told him, "Your words ring true to my heart
With fit humility and cure my puffed-up pride:
120 But who is he of whom you spoke just now?"
"That," he replied, "is Provenzan Salvani,
And he is here because in his presumption
He tried to get his hands on all Siena.
"So he goes on and has gone since he died,
125 Without rest: such is the coin which those
Who dare too much must pay in satisfaction."
And I: "If souls who postpone until the last
Moment of life before they show repentance
Stay there below and do not mount up here
130 "Until they wait as long as they once lived —
Unless propitious prayers come to their aid —
Then how was he allowed to hasten here?"
"When he lived at the height of his own glory,"
He said, "he in Siena’s marketplace,
135 Shunning all shame, freely took his stand:
"And there, to gain release for his good friend
From sufferings he endured in Charles’ dungeon,
He reduced himself to shivering in his veins.
"I say no more: I know that I speak darkly,
140 But after a short time has passed, your neighbors
Will so behave that you can gloss it out:
"This act delivered him from that confinement."
