Dante Alighieri: Purgatorio 26 (From Italian)

Purgatorio 26
Dante Alighieri
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

It is around 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun is on its way down in the west on Dante's right hand side. Dante, Virgil and Statius are walking south along the flaming edge of the seventh rung of Purgatory where penitents are serving time for sexual excess. A group of souls watches Dante and wonders why he casts a shadow over the flames. At one soul's request, the poet explains that he is still alive. Another group of souls, the homosexual penitents, joins the first, and the shade of the Bolognese poet Guido Guinizelli explains the nature of their sins. Dante expresses admiration for Guinizelli, and then — as author — pays the Occitan poet Arnaut Daniel the highest of possible compliments, allowing him to close out the Canto with lines of arrestingly simple verse in Lyric Occitan.

As we went on in single file about the edge, time and again my trusty guide told me "Take care, I'll point the perils out."     My shoulder felt the sun strike from the right, its rays already turning the west sky from azure to a countenance of white.    My shadow thrown as shade across the high flames made the burning red a deeper ruddy, and I saw several shades as they went by    take notice. Looking, they began to study and talk about me. One that I could hear said "he seems not to have a fictive body"    Then some of them came up to me, as near as possible, remaining careful to stay well within the bounds of burning there    "You there who walk behind the other two, (not out of sloth perhaps, but reverence) I  who burn in fire and thirst want words with you.    Nor is it just me who needs your reply. These others here are thirstier for it than Ethiops for cold drink beneath hot sky.     Tell us: how do you cast a shadow yet,  raise ramparts against sunlight with your skin? It's like death never snatched you in his net."    These words from one of them. I would have been      explaining things already. But the flare of something else surprised my eyes just then:     middlemost down that flamey thoroughfare came other people facing these. Forgetting what I had meant to say, I stood to stare,    as I saw shades rushing from each side, meeting to kiss each other's cheek, not lingering but satisfied with momentary greeting.    Ants in their black ranks do this kind of thing: each nuzzling at the other as if to seek news of their recent luck and traveling.    When each had kissed the other's friendly cheek, before departing that phantasmagora each shade tried to outscream the other's shriek...    The newcomers howled "Sodom and Gamorrah" The rest: "Pasiphaë enters the cow and bends to let the bullcalf rut and gore her"    Then as two flocks of cranes divide and go, (one south to Africa, one to the Riphean Height, these shying from the sun, those shirking snow)    the two groups parted. One left, one went right to us. Then went back, tearful in chagrin, to crying out the mantra of their blight;    then those who'd come my way drew close again, — the shades that first entreated me — their eyes as eager for my tale as they had been.    Now having seen their wish presented twice, I made to answer: "oh souls sure to gain, whenever it comes, your peace in Paradise,    my limbs of human life did not remain,  age-ripe or green, back there. They did not die. They are on me here, complete with bone and brain.     I go through here to stop being blind. On high  there is a lady who has won me grace to bear across your world my mortal I.     But please — so that you may more quickly taste what you want most of all, and heaven set you in its loving, sheltering embrace,    tell me (and I will make a place for it in what I write): who are you? Who's that faction  of people that just now ran opposite?"     With no less than a mountain man's reaction when he comes red-necked to a metropolis and stares in speechless downtowned stupefaction,    the shades seemed flabbergasted hearing this. But when their shock was laid under control and blunted (as, in great hearts, it soon is)    the shade spoke who'd addressed me first of all:  "Blessed are you who from our shores ship keen experience back, to die a better soul.         That other group committed the obscene    same sex-act for which Caesar won the shame   in victory of being called a Queen.     so they leave crying out 'Sodom' and blame themselves aloud as you heard. The contrite self-loathing that they feel sustains the flame.     Our sins were rather more hermaphrodite but since, in disregard of man's law, we   acted upon on our bestial appetite,    when we pass them we scream shame-heartedly  the name of her who in the mockbeast's slime got on all fours for bestiality.     Now you know all about our guilt and crime: if you want names, I don't know all of them, and even if I did, there isn't time.      I'll rid you of your want for mine. My name is Guinizelli, brought straight here at once, as I repented well before death came."    While King Lycurgus grieved berserk, twin sons discovered their lost mother and made him see. Thus was I moved (though not to their response)    hearing him name his name: father to me and of my betters who gave the world the dear and graceful rhymes of love and courtesie.    Thoughtstruck, I seemed to have no tongue or ear as we walked on. I simply stared, then stood a while as flames kept me from coming near.    When I had stared my fill, more than I should, I offered, in such terms as win good faith, to serve him in whatever way I could.    He said: "The things that I just heard you say will leave in memory such clear residue as Lethe can't blur out or wash away.    But if the words you swore just now are true then tell me why your speech and your look declare the kind of love I think I see in you."     I said: "It is your verse, graceful and clear which shall, so long as modern style is sung, render the very ink that penned it dear"    "Brother" he said, pointing out one among the shades ahead "that soul you see there rose as the best of craftsmen in the mother tongue.     He excels all who wrote in verse or prose of love and loss, though idiots for their part will still prefer that rhymer from Limoges.     Such men turn more to talk than truth and heart, following familiar fames, set in their praise with no regard to reasoning or art.    Thus with Guittone whom they used to raise above all others, with cry on cry galore, though truth prevails with most of them these days.     Now if almighty privilege affords you entry to that cloister where the master and abbot of the college is Our Lord,    then say on my behalf a Paternoster or as much of one as we need, who can't be led to temptation, but delivered faster."      And then, as if to yield his place with me to someone else, he vanished in the flame as a fish toward the bottom of the sea.    I drew ahead a bit beside the same shade he'd shown me, and said my heart and ear would set a place of honor for his name.    He answered in the language I hold dear: "Tan m'abellis vostre cortes deman, qu'ieu no me puesc ni voill a vos cobrir    Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan; cossiros vei la passada folor, e vei jauzen lo joi qu'esper, denan.    Ara vos prec, per aquella valor que vos guida al som de l'escalai  sovenha vos a temps de ma dolor!"    Then he was hidden in flames that purify.

3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 63 66 69 72 75 78 81 84 87 90 93 96 99 102 105 108 111 114 117 120 123 126 129 132 135 138 141 144 147

Notes:

Line 8:
There is some uncertainty about how the word pur is to be read here. My translation is at this point paraphrastical enough for me not to worry a great deal.

Line 32:
See Romans 16:16

Line 34-36:
See Aeneid IV.402-407

Line 40:
Those who have tried to argue that the sin punished in Inferno XV and XVI is not homosexuality are hard pressed to explain this passage in the Purgatorio. Even more absurd is the attempt by some modern commentators, desperate to see in Dante some kind of moral inspiration for the modern era, to read into this passage a tacit approval of moderate same-sex romantic relationships. It goes without saying that moderation of heterosexual lust is acceptable in Dante's view. It in no way follows that, by placing homosexual and heterosexual penitents in the same part of Purgatory, Dante was expressing the view that homosexual lust is also acceptable in moderation. Some amount of hay has been made of the fact that Dante here portrays homosexual and heterosexual lust as arising from the same source, unlike the Inferno where heterosexual vice is punished in the realm of Incontinence while homosexual behavior is punished as Violence. This probably has nothing to do with "softened views" about homosexuality, so much as the fact that Dante has painted himself into a corner by sticking to the seven capital vices in the layout of Purgatory, unlike Hell where he could maneuver more on the moral grid. The fact is that Dante thinks homosexuality is wrong, and this is not surprising from a vernacular poet writing in 14th century Europe. If any reader needs to find a way to square themselves with this fact, I would suggest that they take a leaf from Dante's book when it comes to cultural context. In Dante's Hell, nobody is punished for something they couldn't have been expected to know was wrong. The only people punished for sodomy or suicide are Christians who would have understood these things to be sinful. Greek and Roman polytheists, in whose culture these were acceptable, are not punished for them but are placed alongside the virtuous unbaptized in Limbo a.k.a Pagan Heaven. If Dante can give Sophocles a pass for sodomy, then I don't really mind giving him a pass in return on this.

Line 91:
While the basic meaning of this line is clear, the contorted syntax is puzzling and has occasioned multiple attempts to parse it, with quite different conclusions.

Line 92:
It is worth noting that Dante doesn't bother informing Guido that the other two individuals walking with him are Statius and Vergil. Presumably this would have been of interest to Guinizzelli. But as the focus of the Canto is on (medieval) vernacular poetry, Dante probably had narrative reason to keep the Latin-writing Romans out of it. No other part of the Commedia is as concerned with poetry and poetic merit.

Lines 140-147:
Dante has Arnaut Daniel speak in (slightly Italianized) Old Occitan as a nod to his lyric predecessor. It is the only extended passage of a language other than Italian in the Commedia. (And even the Latin passages are mostly scriptural quotation.) There is no other language — not even French — in which a quotation in Occitan would have precisely this effect.
What to do in translation?
Most translators, such as Longfellow and Clive James, have rendered Arnaut's speech into the same kind of English as the rest of the Commedia. Some have kept the speech in Occitan. Others have found more creative solutions. Dorothy L. Sayers has him speak pastiche Scots. John Ciardi has him speak mock-Spenserian English. Anthony Esolen makes the offensively ironic move of trying to have Arnaut speak French rather than Occitan, revealing how little he knows of either language.

One possibility is to use medieval English:

I drew ahead a bit beside that same
shade he'd shown me, and said my heart would lay 
a grateful place of honor for his name,
and of his own free will he turned to say: 

"Me pleseth so yowr courteys requeringe 
that I ne can nor wol behiden me. 
I am Arnault who sorwe and whilom singe. 
I soorè see my past follious houre,
And joying see my bidden joys cominge
Anow I preye of yow by that valoure
which gydeth to the steirès cop yowr wey: 
Remembre yow bytime of my doloure"

Then he was hidden in fires that purify.

Ultimately I decided to leave the passage in Old Occitan and simply alter it slightly for rhyme's sake. In both cases I altered items (the infinitive cobrire and the form escalina) which were Italianate insertions probably justified by rhyme considerations to begin with. (Escalina appears to be a coinage original to Dante. The form escalai is a coinage original to me.) Here is a verse translation that can also be read in its place:

He answered in the language I hold dear: 
Your courtly question is so gladdening
that I cannot, will not, stay hidden here.
   I am Arnaut who go in tears and sing
in pain I see the folly of my prime 
and rejoice seeing the joy that time will bring. 
   I beg you by the power that helps you climb
to the summit of that flight of stairs on high:
remember how I suffer in good time. 

The Original:

   Mentre che sì per l'orlo, uno innanzi altro,

ce n'andavamo, e spesso il buon maestro

diceami: «Guarda: giovi ch'io ti scaltro»;

   feriami il sole in su l'omero destro,

che già, raggiando, tutto l'occidente

mutava in bianco aspetto di cilestro;

   e io facea con l'ombra più rovente

parer la fiamma; e pur a tanto indizio

vidi molt' ombre, andando, poner mente.

   Questa fu la cagion che diede inizio

loro a parlar di me; e cominciarsi

a dir: «Colui non par corpo fittizio»;

   poi verso me, quanto potëan farsi,

certi si fero, sempre con riguardo

di non uscir dove non fosser arsi.

   «O tu che vai, non per esser più tardo,

ma forse reverente, a li altri dopo,

rispondi a me che 'n sete e 'n foco ardo.

   Né solo a me la tua risposta è uopo;

ché tutti questi n'hanno maggior sete

che d'acqua fredda Indo o Etïopo.

   Dinne com' è che fai di te parete

al sol, pur come tu non fossi ancora

di morte intrato dentro da la rete».

   Sì mi parlava un d'essi; e io mi fora

già manifesto, s'io non fossi atteso

ad altra novità ch'apparve allora;

   ché per lo mezzo del cammino acceso

venne gente col viso incontro a questa,

la qual mi fece a rimirar sospeso.

   Lì veggio d'ogne parte farsi presta

ciascun' ombra e basciarsi una con una

sanza restar, contente a brieve festa;

   così per entro loro schiera bruna

s'ammusa l'una con l'altra formica,

forse a spïar lor via e lor fortuna.

   Tosto che parton l'accoglienza amica,

prima che 'l primo passo lì trascorra,

sopragridar ciascuna s'affatica:

   la nova gente: «Soddoma e Gomorra»;

e l'altra: «Ne la vacca entra Pasife,

perché 'l torello a sua lussuria corra».

   Poi, come grue ch'a le montagne Rife

volasser parte, e parte inver' l'arene,

queste del gel, quelle del sole schife,

   l'una gente sen va, l'altra sen vene;

e tornan, lagrimando, a' primi canti

e al gridar che più lor si convene;

   e raccostansi a me, come davanti,

essi medesmi che m'avean pregato,

attenti ad ascoltar ne' lor sembianti.

   Io, che due volte avea visto lor grato,

incominciai: «O anime sicure

d'aver, quando che sia, di pace stato,

   non son rimase acerbe né mature

le membra mie di là, ma son qui meco

col sangue suo e con le sue giunture.

   Quinci sù vo per non esser più cieco;

donna è di sopra che m'acquista grazia,

per che 'l mortal per vostro mondo reco.

   Ma se la vostra maggior voglia sazia

tosto divegna, sì che 'l ciel v'alberghi

ch'è pien d'amore e più ampio si spazia,

   ditemi, acciò ch'ancor carte ne verghi,

chi siete voi, e chi è quella turba

che se ne va di retro a' vostri terghi».

   Non altrimenti stupido si turba

lo montanaro, e rimirando ammuta,

quando rozzo e salvatico s'inurba,

   che ciascun' ombra fece in sua paruta;

ma poi che furon di stupore scarche,

lo qual ne li alti cuor tosto s'attuta,

   «Beato te, che de le nostre marche»,

ricominciò colei che pria m'inchiese,

«per morir meglio, esperïenza imbarche!

   La gente che non vien con noi, offese

di ciò per che già Cesar, trïunfando,

"Regina" contra sé chiamar s'intese:

   però si parton "Soddoma" gridando,

rimproverando a sé com' hai udito,

e aiutan l'arsura vergognando.

   Nostro peccato fu ermafrodito;

ma perché non servammo umana legge,

seguendo come bestie l'appetito,

   in obbrobrio di noi, per noi si legge,

quando partinci, il nome di colei

che s'imbestiò ne le 'mbestiate schegge.

   Or sai nostri atti e di che fummo rei:

se forse a nome vuo' saper chi semo,

tempo non è di dire, e non saprei.

   Farotti ben di me volere scemo:

son Guido Guinizzelli, e già mi purgo

per ben dolermi prima ch'a lo stremo».

   Quali ne la tristizia di Ligurgo

si fer due figli a riveder la madre,

tal mi fec' io, ma non a tanto insurgo,

   quand' io odo nomar sé stesso il padre

mio e de li altri miei miglior che mai

rime d'amore usar dolci e leggiadre;

   e sanza udire e dir pensoso andai

lunga fïata rimirando lui,

né, per lo foco, in là più m'appressai.

   Poi che di riguardar pasciuto fui,

tutto m'offersi pronto al suo servigio

con l'affermar che fa credere altrui.

   Ed elli a me: «Tu lasci tal vestigio,

per quel ch'i' odo, in me, e tanto chiaro,

che Letè nol può tòrre né far bigio.

   Ma se le tue parole or ver giuraro,

dimmi che è cagion per che dimostri

nel dire e nel guardar d'avermi caro».

   E io a lui: «Li dolci detti vostri,

che, quanto durerà l'uso moderno,

faranno cari ancora i loro incostri».

   «O frate», disse, «questi ch'io ti cerno

col dito», e additò un spirto innanzi,

«fu miglior fabbro del parlar materno.

   Versi d'amore e prose di romanzi

soverchiò tutti; e lascia dir li stolti

che quel di Lemosì credon ch'avanzi.

   A voce più ch'al ver drizzan li volti,

e così ferman sua oppinïone

prima ch'arte o ragion per lor s'ascolti.

   Così fer molti antichi di Guittone,

di grido in grido pur lui dando pregio,

fin che l'ha vinto il ver con più persone.

   Or se tu hai sì ampio privilegio,

che licito ti sia l'andare al chiostro

nel quale è Cristo abate del collegio,

   falli per me un dir d'un paternostro,

quanto bisogna a noi di questo mondo,

dove poter peccar non è più nostro».

   Poi, forse per dar luogo altrui secondo

che presso avea, disparve per lo foco,

come per l'acqua il pesce andando al fondo.

   Io mi fei al mostrato innanzi un poco,

e dissi ch'al suo nome il mio disire

apparecchiava grazïoso loco.

   El cominciò liberamente a dire:

«Tan m'abellis vostre cortes deman,

qu'ieu no me puesc ni voill a vos cobrire.

   Ieu sui Arnaut, que plor e vau cantan;

consiros vei la passada folor,

e vei jausen lo joi qu'esper, denan.

   Ara vos prec, per aquella valor

que vos guida al som de l'escalina,

sovenha vos a temps de ma dolor!».

   Poi s'ascose nel foco che li affina.