The Divine Comedy by Dante: The Vision Of Purgatory: Canto XXXII

Mine eyes with such an eager coveting,     Were bent to rid them of their ten years' thirst,     No other sense was waking: and e'en they     Were fenc'd on either side from heed of aught;     So tangled in its custom'd toils that smile     Of saintly brightness drew me to itself,     When forcibly toward the left my sight     The sacred virgins turn'd; for from their lips     I heard the warning sounds: "Too fix'd a gaze!"     Awhile my vision labor'd; as when late     Upon the' o'erstrained eyes the sun hath smote:     But soon to lesser object, as the view     Was now recover'd (lesser in respect     To that excess of sensible, whence late     I had perforce been sunder'd) on their right     I mark'd that glorious army wheel, and turn,     Against the sun and sev'nfold lights, their front.     As when, their bucklers for protection rais'd,     A well-rang'd troop, with portly banners curl'd,     Wheel circling, ere the whole can change their ground:     E'en thus the goodly regiment of heav'n     Proceeding, all did pass us, ere the car     Had slop'd his beam. Attendant at the wheels     The damsels turn'd; and on the Gryphon mov'd     The sacred burden, with a pace so smooth,     No feather on him trembled. The fair dame     Who through the wave had drawn me, companied     By Statius and myself, pursued the wheel,     Whose orbit, rolling, mark'd a lesser arch.     Through the high wood, now void (the more her blame,     Who by the serpent was beguil'd) I past     With step in cadence to the harmony     Angelic. Onward had we mov'd, as far     Perchance as arrow at three several flights     Full wing'd had sped, when from her station down     Descended Beatrice. With one voice     All murmur'd "Adam," circling next a plant     Despoil'd of flowers and leaf on every bough.     Its tresses, spreading more as more they rose,     Were such, as 'midst their forest wilds for height     The Indians might have gaz'd at. "Blessed thou!     Gryphon, whose beak hath never pluck'd that tree     Pleasant to taste: for hence the appetite     Was warp'd to evil." Round the stately trunk     Thus shouted forth the rest, to whom return'd     The animal twice-gender'd: "Yea: for so     The generation of the just are sav'd."     And turning to the chariot-pole, to foot     He drew it of the widow'd branch, and bound     There left unto the stock whereon it grew.     As when large floods of radiance from above     Stream, with that radiance mingled, which ascends     Next after setting of the scaly sign,     Our plants then burgeon, and each wears anew     His wonted colours, ere the sun have yok'd     Beneath another star his flamy steeds;     Thus putting forth a hue, more faint than rose,     And deeper than the violet, was renew'd     The plant, erewhile in all its branches bare.     Unearthly was the hymn, which then arose.     I understood it not, nor to the end     Endur'd the harmony. Had I the skill     To pencil forth, how clos'd th' unpitying eyes     Slumb'ring, when Syrinx warbled, (eyes that paid     So dearly for their watching,) then like painter,     That with a model paints, I might design     The manner of my falling into sleep.     But feign who will the slumber cunningly;     I pass it by to when I wak'd, and tell     How suddenly a flash of splendour rent     The curtain of my sleep, and one cries out:     "Arise, what dost thou?" As the chosen three,     On Tabor's mount, admitted to behold     The blossoming of that fair tree, whose fruit     Is coveted of angels, and doth make     Perpetual feast in heaven, to themselves     Returning at the word, whence deeper sleeps     Were broken, that they their tribe diminish'd saw,     Both Moses and Elias gone, and chang'd     The stole their master wore: thus to myself     Returning, over me beheld I stand     The piteous one, who cross the stream had brought     My steps. "And where," all doubting, I exclaim'd,     "Is Beatrice?"--"See her," she replied,     "Beneath the fresh leaf seated on its root.     Behold th' associate choir that circles her.     The others, with a melody more sweet     And more profound, journeying to higher realms,     Upon the Gryphon tend." If there her words     Were clos'd, I know not; but mine eyes had now     Ta'en view of her, by whom all other thoughts     Were barr'd admittance. On the very ground     Alone she sat, as she had there been left     A guard upon the wain, which I beheld     Bound to the twyform beast. The seven nymphs     Did make themselves a cloister round about her,     And in their hands upheld those lights secure     From blast septentrion and the gusty south.     "A little while thou shalt be forester here:     And citizen shalt be forever with me,     Of that true Rome, wherein Christ dwells a Roman     To profit the misguided world, keep now     Thine eyes upon the car; and what thou seest,     Take heed thou write, returning to that place."     Thus Beatrice: at whose feet inclin'd     Devout, at her behest, my thought and eyes,     I, as she bade, directed. Never fire,     With so swift motion, forth a stormy cloud     Leap'd downward from the welkin's farthest bound,     As I beheld the bird of Jove descending     Pounce on the tree, and, as he rush'd, the rind,     Disparting crush beneath him, buds much more     And leaflets. On the car with all his might     He struck, whence, staggering like a ship, it reel'd,     At random driv'n, to starboard now, o'ercome,     And now to larboard, by the vaulting waves.     Next springing up into the chariot's womb     A fox I saw, with hunger seeming pin'd     Of all good food. But, for his ugly sins     The saintly maid rebuking him, away     Scamp'ring he turn'd, fast as his hide-bound corpse     Would bear him. Next, from whence before he came,     I saw the eagle dart into the hull     O' th' car, and leave it with his feathers lin'd;     And then a voice, like that which issues forth     From heart with sorrow riv'd, did issue forth     From heav'n, and, "O poor bark of mine!" it cried,     "How badly art thou freighted!" Then, it seem'd,     That the earth open'd between either wheel,     And I beheld a dragon issue thence,     That through the chariot fix'd his forked train;     And like a wasp that draggeth back the sting,     So drawing forth his baleful train, he dragg'd     Part of the bottom forth, and went his way     Exulting. What remain'd, as lively turf     With green herb, so did clothe itself with plumes,     Which haply had with purpose chaste and kind     Been offer'd; and therewith were cloth'd the wheels,     Both one and other, and the beam, so quickly     A sigh were not breath'd sooner. Thus transform'd,     The holy structure, through its several parts,     Did put forth heads, three on the beam, and one     On every side; the first like oxen horn'd,     But with a single horn upon their front     The four. Like monster sight hath never seen.     O'er it methought there sat, secure as rock     On mountain's lofty top, a shameless whore,     Whose ken rov'd loosely round her. At her side,     As 't were that none might bear her off, I saw     A giant stand; and ever, and anon     They mingled kisses. But, her lustful eyes     Chancing on me to wander, that fell minion     Scourg'd her from head to foot all o'er; then full     Of jealousy, and fierce with rage, unloos'd     The monster, and dragg'd on, so far across     The forest, that from me its shades alone     Shielded the harlot and the new-form'd brute.