The Chariot Transformed
My eyes were so intent and fixed on her
To satisfy the thirst of those ten years
That every other sense was quenched in me.
On one side and the other, my eyes were walled
5 By indifference to all else: the holy smile
So drew them to itself with the old net
When I was forced to turn my face leftward
By those three goddesses because I heard
From them the words, "You gaze too fixedly!"
10 And my sight was in such a state as when
The eyes have just been struck by too much sun,
So that for some time I could make out nothing;
But when my sight grew used to lesser objects
(I say "to lesser" in relation to
15 The greater one from whom I turned by force),
I saw that the magnificent army there
Had wheeled round to the right, and now was turning
With faces toward the sun and the seven flames.
Just as a squadron, underneath their shields,
20 Turn to retreat and, with the standard, wheel
Around before the rest can swing about,
So the militia of the celestial realm
In the advanced guard passed in front of us
Before the chariot circled on its pole.
25 At that the women turned back to the wheels,
And then the griffin pulled his blissful burden
In such a way none of his feathers stirred.
The lovely woman who towed me at the ford,
And Statius, and I, were following
30 The wheel that makes the smaller arc in turning.
So pacing through the soaring forest, empty
Because of her who trusted in the serpent,
Our steps kept time to an angelic tune.
We had advanced about the distance covered
35 By three flights of an arrow shot from its bow,
When Beatrice stepped down from the chariot.
I heard them all there murmuring "Adam,"
And then they gathered round a tree stripped bare,
On every branch, of foliage and flowers.
40 Its branches, which spread wider as they grow
Higher up, would, with their towering height,
Make even Indians marvel in their forests.
"Blessed are you, griffin, that your beak
Tears nothing from this sweetly-tasting tree
45 Which sadly racks the stomach afterward!"
Around the sturdy tree, the others cried
These words; and the two-natured animal:
"So is preserved the seed of all justice."
And turning to the pole-shaft he had pulled,
50 He dragged it to the foot of the widowed trunk
And tied it to the wood from which it came.
Just as our trees, when the strong light of spring
Streams downward mingled with the rays that glow
Behind the stars of the celestial Fish,
55 Swell into bud, and then renew themselves
In each one’s coloring, before the sun
Yokes its steeds under a new constellation,
So, showing color less deep than the rose
But darker than the violet, the tree
60 That first had boughs so barren was renewed.
I did not understand — it is not sung
On earth — the hymn that company sang there,
Nor could I hear the music to the end.
Could I portray the ruthless eyes of Argus
65 Lulled to sleep, hearing the tale of Syrinx —
The eyes whose long-kept watching cost so dear —
Then like a painter who paints from a model,
I here would picture how I fell asleep,
But let whoever wants to depict sleeping!
70 I move on, then, to when I came awake,
And I tell you a bright light rent the veil
Of sleep, and a voice: "What are you doing? Rise!"
Just as, when brought to see the blossoms of
The apple tree whose fruit the angels crave
75 And makes an endless marriage-feast in heaven,
Peter and John and James were overpowered
And, coming to themselves at that same word
By which slumbers more profound were broken,
They saw their company dwindle away
80 When Moses and Elijah disappeared,
And viewed their Master’s raiment changed again:
So I came to myself and saw that same
Compassionate woman standing over me
Who first had led my steps along the shore.
85 And all perplexed, I asked, "Where is Beatrice?"
She answered, "See her seated on the roots
Of that tree there with its fresh foliage.
"See all the company surrounding her;
The rest behind the griffin rise to heaven
90 With sweeter and with deeper melodies."
If she said more than this I do not know,
For already my eyes filled with sight of her
Who shut me off from every other thought.
She sat there all alone on the bare ground,
95 Left like a lookout for the chariot
Which I had seen the two-form animal tie.
In a ring the seven nymphs now fashioned
A shelter for her; in their hands they held
The lamps the north and south winds cannot quench.
100 "Here, for a short time, you'll be a forest wayfarer;
Then you shall live with me a citizen
Forever of that Rome where Christ is Roman.
"To benefit the world, then, that lives badly,
Fix your eyes on the chariot. What you see,
105 Make sure you write it down when you return there."
So Beatrice spoke. And I, who at the feet
Of her commands was all obedience,
Attached my mind and eyesight where she wished.
Lightning never fell with such swift motion
110 Down from the densest cloud, when it descends
From out the region that lies most remote,
As did the bird of Jove which I watched swoop
Down through the tree, tearing at the bark
And also at the flowers and new leaves.
115 It struck the chariot with its full force,
Making it reel like a ship in a storm,
Tossed, now to starboard, now to port, by waves.
Then I saw leaping up into the body
Of the triumphal vehicle a fox
120 Seemingly starved of wholesome nourishment.
But, reprimanding it for foul offenses,
My lady sent it flying off as fast
As those bones bare of flesh would let it go.
Then, from the tree where it had flown before,
125 I saw the eagle dive inside the chariot
And leave it coated over with its feathers.
And, as a voice breaks from a heart in grief,
There came a voice from heaven and it cried,
"O my small ship, how you are laden down!"
130 Then the ground, it seemed to me, opened up
Between the two wheels, and I saw a dragon
Come out and dash its tail up through the carriage;
And, as a wasp retracts its sting, it drew
Its poisoned tail back to itself, tore out
135 Part of the floor, and gloating wandered off.
What was left was covered once again —
As fertile land with grasses — with the feathers,
Offered perhaps with true and kind intention.
Both one wheel and the other and the pole-shaft
140 Were once more covered with them in less time
Than it would take the mouth to heave a sigh.
Transformed in this way, the sacred structure
Sprouted heads upon its different parts,
Three on the pole and one each at the corners.
145 The three were horned like oxen, but the four
Had just a single horn upon their foreheads:
Never was seen a monster like that rig!
Seated there securely, like a fortress
On a steep hill, a whore appeared to me,
150 Ungirt, with eyes agog to rove about.
And I saw standing by her side a giant,
As if he watched that no one take her from him,
And they, time after time, kissed one another.
But when she turned her lustful, roving eyes
155 On me, then that ferocious paramour
Beat her unmercifully from head to foot.
Then filled with jealousy and fierce with rage,
He tore the monster loose, and dragged it off
So far through the woods that just the trees
160 Screened me from the whore and that strange beast.
