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第47节

the divine comedy(神曲)-第47节

小说: the divine comedy(神曲) 字数: 每页4000字

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  Of Holy Church; into whose keeping Christ
  The keys committed of this lovely flower。

And he who all the evil days beheld;
  Before his death; of her the beauteous bride
  Who with the spear and with the nails was won;

Beside him sits; and by the other rests
  That leader under whom on manna lived
  The people ingrate; fickle; and stiff…necked。

Opposite Peter seest thou Anna seated;
  So well content to look upon her daughter;
  Her eyes she moves not while she sings Hosanna。

And opposite the eldest household father
  Lucia sits; she who thy Lady moved
  When to rush downward thou didst bend thy brows。

But since the moments of thy vision fly;
  Here will we make full stop; as a good tailor
  Who makes the gown according to his cloth;

And unto the first Love will turn our eyes;
  That looking upon Him thou penetrate
  As far as possible through his effulgence。

Truly; lest peradventure thou recede;
  Moving thy wings believing to advance;
  By prayer behoves it that grace be obtained;

Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee;
  And thou shalt follow me with thy affection
  That from my words thy heart turn not aside。〃

And he began this holy orison。



Paradiso: Canto XXXIII


〃Thou Virgin Mother; daughter of thy Son;
  Humble and high beyond all other creature;
  The limit fixed of the eternal counsel;

Thou art the one who such nobility
  To human nature gave; that its Creator
  Did not disdain to make himself its creature。

Within thy womb rekindled was the love;
  By heat of which in the eternal peace
  After such wise this flower has germinated。

Here unto us thou art a noonday torch
  Of charity; and below there among mortals
  Thou art the living fountain…head of hope。

Lady; thou art so great; and so prevailing;
  That he who wishes grace; nor runs to thee;
  His aspirations without wings would fly。

Not only thy benignity gives succour
  To him who asketh it; but oftentimes
  Forerunneth of its own accord the asking。

In thee compassion is; in thee is pity;
  In thee magnificence; in thee unites
  Whate'er of goodness is in any creature。

Now doth this man; who from the lowest depth
  Of the universe as far as here has seen
  One after one the spiritual lives;

Supplicate thee through grace for so much power
  That with his eyes he may uplift himself
  Higher towards the uttermost salvation。

And I; who never burned for my own seeing
  More than I do for his; all of my prayers
  Proffer to thee; and pray they come not short;

That thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud
  Of his mortality so with thy prayers;
  That the Chief Pleasure be to him displayed。

Still farther do I pray thee; Queen; who canst
  Whate'er thou wilt; that sound thou mayst preserve
  After so great a vision his affections。

Let thy protection conquer human movements;
  See Beatrice and all the blessed ones
  My prayers to second clasp their hands to thee!〃

The eyes beloved and revered of God;
  Fastened upon the speaker; showed to us
  How grateful unto her are prayers devout;

Then unto the Eternal Light they turned;
  On which it is not credible could be
  By any creature bent an eye so clear。

And I; who to the end of all desires
  Was now approaching; even as I ought
  The ardour of desire within me ended。

Bernard was beckoning unto me; and smiling;
  That I should upward look; but I already
  Was of my own accord such as he wished;

Because my sight; becoming purified;
  Was entering more and more into the ray
  Of the High Light which of itself is true。

From that time forward what I saw was greater
  Than our discourse; that to such vision yields;
  And yields the memory unto such excess。

Even as he is who seeth in a dream;
  And after dreaming the imprinted passion
  Remains; and to his mind the rest returns not;

Even such am I; for almost utterly
  Ceases my vision; and distilleth yet
  Within my heart the sweetness born of it;

Even thus the snow is in the sun unsealed;
  Even thus upon the wind in the light leaves
  Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost。

O Light Supreme; that dost so far uplift thee
  From the conceits of mortals; to my mind
  Of what thou didst appear re…lend a little;

And make my tongue of so great puissance;
  That but a single sparkle of thy glory
  It may bequeath unto the future people;

For by returning to my memory somewhat;
  And by a little sounding in these verses;
  More of thy victory shall be conceived!

I think the keenness of the living ray
  Which I endured would have bewildered me;
  If but mine eyes had been averted from it;

And I remember that I was more bold
  On this account to bear; so that I joined
  My aspect with the Glory Infinite。

O grace abundant; by which I presumed
  To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal;
  So that the seeing I consumed therein!

I saw that in its depth far down is lying
  Bound up with love together in one volume;
  What through the universe in leaves is scattered;

Substance; and accident; and their operations;
  All interfused together in such wise
  That what I speak of is one simple light。

The universal fashion of this knot
  Methinks I saw; since more abundantly
  In saying this I feel that I rejoice。

One moment is more lethargy to me;
  Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise
  That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo!

My mind in this wise wholly in suspense;
  Steadfast; immovable; attentive gazed;
  And evermore with gazing grew enkindled。

In presence of that light one such becomes;
  That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect
  It is impossible he e'er consent;

Because the good; which object is of will;
  Is gathered all in this; and out of it
  That is defective which is perfect there。

Shorter henceforward will my language fall
  Of what I yet remember; than an infant's
  Who still his tongue doth moisten at the breast。

Not because more than one unmingled semblance
  Was in the living light on which I looked;
  For it is always what it was before;

But through the sight; that fortified itself
  In me by looking; one appearance only
  To me was ever changing as I changed。

Within the deep and luminous subsistence
  Of the High Light appeared to me three circles;
  Of threefold colour and of one dimension;

And by the second seemed the first reflected
  As Iris is by Iris; and the third
  Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed。

O how all speech is feeble and falls short
  Of my conceit; and this to what I saw
  Is such; 'tis not enough to call it little!

O Light Eterne; sole in thyself that dwellest;
  Sole knowest thyself; and; known unto thyself
  And knowing; lovest and smilest on thyself!

That circulation; which being thus conceived
  Appeared in thee as a reflected light;
  When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes;

Within itself; of its own very colour
  Seemed to me painted with our effigy;
  Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein。

As the geometrician; who endeavours
  To square the circle; and discovers not;
  By taking thought; the principle he wants;

Even such was I at that new apparition;
  I wished to see how the image to the circle
  Conformed itself; and how it there finds place;

But my own wings were not enough for this;
  Had it not been that then my mind there smote
  A flash of lightning; wherein came its wish。

Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
  But now was turning my desire and will;
  Even as a wheel that equally is moved;

The Love which moves the sun and the other stars。




APPENDIX


SIX SONNETS ON DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807…1882)


I

Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
  A laborer; pausing in the dust and heat;
  Lay down his burden; and with reverent feet
  Enter; and cross himself; and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er;
  Far off the noises of the world retreat;
  The loud vociferations of the street
  Become an undistinguishable roar。
So; as I enter here from day to day;
  And leave my burden at this minster gate;
  Kneeling in prayer; and not ashamed to pray;
The tumult of the time disconsolate
  To inarticulate murmurs dies away;
  While the eternal ages watch and wait。


II

How strange the sculptures that adorn these towers!
  This crowd of statues; in whose folded sleeves
  Birds build their nests; while canopied with leaves
  Parvis and portal bloom like trellised bowers;
And the vast minster seems a cross of flowers!
  But fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves
  Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves;
  And; underneath; the traitor Judas lowers!
Ah! from what agonies of heart and brain;
  What exultations trampling on despair;
  What tenderness; what tears; what hate of wrong;
What passionate outcry of a soul in pain;
  Uprose this poem of the earth and air;
  This mediaeval miracle of song!


III

I enter; and I see thee in the gloom
  Of the long aisles; O poet saturnine!
  And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine。
  The air is filled with some unknown perfume;
The congregation of the dead make room
  For thee

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