Purgatorio (26 page)

               
‘In a month and little more I learned how heavy

               
the mantle weighs on one who keeps it from the mud,   
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making any other burden seem a feather.

               
‘My conversion, alas, came late—   
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but when I became the shepherd of Rome,

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I discovered a life full of lies.

               
‘I saw that there the heart was not at peace,

               
nor was preferment possible in that life,

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and for this higher state my love was kindled.

               
‘Until that moment I was a wretched soul,

               
cut off from God, and filled with avarice.

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Now, as you see, I am punished for that here.

               
‘The work of avarice is here proclaimed   
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in the purging of the down-turned souls,

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and the mountain gives no punishment more bitter.

               
‘Just as we failed to lift our eyes on high

               
because they were fixed on earthly things,

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so justice here has turned them to the earth.

               
‘As avarice quenched our love of worthy things,

               
wasting our chance to do good works,

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so justice here has bound us fast.

               
‘Securely bound are our hands and feet.

               
As long as it shall please the righteous Lord

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so long shall we, unmoving, lie here prone.’

               
I had kneeled and was about to speak,   
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but as soon as I began and he perceived,

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only by listening, that I in reverence had knelt,

               
‘Why,’ he asked, ‘did you kneel down that way?’

               
And I: ‘Because the dignity of Your high office   
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stung my conscience as I stood erect.’

               
‘Straighten your legs, stand up, brother,’   
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he replied, ‘make no mistake. I am a fellow-servant   
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with you, and with the others, of a single Power.

               
‘If ever you did understand the holy passage   
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in the Gospel where it tells us
“Neque nubent,”

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you may well perceive just why I say this.

               
‘Now go your way. I would not keep you longer,

               
for your being here prevents the tears

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with which I ripen that of which you spoke.   
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‘On earth I have a niece who is called Alàgia—   
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she is still virtuous, if indeed our house

               
has not by its example made her wicked,

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and she alone is left to me back there.’

               
The will strives ill against a worthier will.   
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Therefore, against my wish but granting his,

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I drew the sponge, not full yet, from the water.

               
I moved on and my leader picked his way,   
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keeping to the clear path near the rock

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as one must walk on ramparts, tight against the wall,

               
for the people from whose eyes dissolves,

               
drop by drop, the evil filling all the world

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were crowded near the outer edge’s rim.

               
May you be cursed, you age-old wolf,   
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who take more prey than any other beast

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to feed your bottomless appetite!

               
O heavens, whose wheels transmute   
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the state of those on earth, as some believe,

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when will he come from whom the wolf shall flee?   
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We made our way with scant, slow steps,

               
my attention fixed upon those weeping shades

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as I listened to their piteous lamentations,

               
when by chance I heard one up ahead call out   
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‘Sweet Mary!’ through his tears,

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even as a woman does in labor,

               
and I heard the voice go on:

               
‘How poor you were is witnessed by the inn

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where you set down your holy burden.’

               
After that I heard: ‘O good Fabricius,   
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you chose poverty with virtue

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rather than possess great wealth in wickedness.’

               
These words gave me such pleasure

               
that I pressed forward to encounter

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the spirit who I thought had spoken

               
and he went on to tell the generous gifts   
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that Nicholas conferred upon the maidens

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to guide their youthful innocence to honor.

               
‘O soul that speak of so much goodness,   
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tell me who you were,’ I said, ‘and why you alone

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rehearse these deeds so fit for praise.

               
‘Your words shall not go unrewarded

               
if I return to finish my brief journey

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in that life which rushes to its ending.’

               
And he: ‘I will tell you, not for any comfort   
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I await from there, but for the grace that shines

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in you, reflected even short of death.

               
‘I was the root of the evil tree   
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that casts its shadow over all the Christian lands

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so that good fruit is rarely gathered there.

               
‘If Douai, Lille, Ghent, and Bruges   
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but had the power, there would soon be vengeance—

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and this I beg of Him who judges all.

               
‘On earth I was known as Hugh Capet.   
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Of me were born the Philips and the Louis   
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who lately have been rulers over France.

               
‘I was the son of a butcher of Paris.   
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When the ancient line of kings had all died out,   
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except for one, a gray-robed monk,

               
‘I found the reins to govern all the kingdom   
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firm in my hands, and soon had in possession

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such power and so very many friends

               
‘that to the widowed crown

               
my son’s head was put forward.

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His issue is entombed as consecrated bones.