the divine comedy(神曲)-第65节
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As was my understanding to his words;
Appeared to me with laden and living boughs
Another apple…tree; and not far distant;
From having but just then turned thitherward。
People I saw beneath it lift their hands;
And cry I know not what towards the leaves;
Like little children eager and deluded;
Who pray; and he they pray to doth not answer;
But; to make very keen their appetite;
Holds their desire aloft; and hides it not。
Then they departed as if undeceived;
And now we came unto the mighty tree
Which prayers and tears so manifold refuses。
〃Pass farther onward without drawing near;
The tree of which Eve ate is higher up;
And out of that one has this tree been raised。〃
Thus said I know not who among the branches;
Whereat Virgilius; Statius; and myself
Went crowding forward on the side that rises。
〃Be mindful;〃 said he; 〃of the accursed ones
Formed of the cloud…rack; who inebriate
Combated Theseus with their double breasts;
And of the Jews who showed them soft in drinking;
Whence Gideon would not have them for companions
When he tow'rds Midian the hills descended。〃
Thus; closely pressed to one of the two borders;
On passed we; hearing sins of gluttony;
Followed forsooth by miserable gains;
Then set at large upon the lonely road;
A thousand steps and more we onward went;
In contemplation; each without a word。
〃What go ye thinking thus; ye three alone?〃
Said suddenly a voice; whereat I started
As terrified and timid beasts are wont。
I raised my head to see who this might be;
And never in a furnace was there seen
Metals or glass so lucent and so red
As one I saw who said: 〃If it may please you
To mount aloft; here it behoves you turn;
This way goes he who goeth after peace。〃
His aspect had bereft me of my sight;
So that I turned me back unto my Teachers;
Like one who goeth as his hearing guides him。
And as; the harbinger of early dawn;
The air of May doth move and breathe out fragrance;
Impregnate all with herbage and with flowers;
So did I feel a breeze strike in the midst
My front; and felt the moving of the plumes
That breathed around an odour of ambrosia;
And heard it said: 〃Blessed are they whom grace
So much illumines; that the love of taste
Excites not in their breasts too great desire;
Hungering at all times so far as is just。〃
Purgatorio: Canto XXV
Now was it the ascent no hindrance brooked;
Because the sun had his meridian circle
To Taurus left; and night to Scorpio;
Wherefore as doth a man who tarries not;
But goes his way; whate'er to him appear;
If of necessity the sting transfix him;
In this wise did we enter through the gap;
Taking the stairway; one before the other;
Which by its narrowness divides the climbers。
And as the little stork that lifts its wing
With a desire to fly; and does not venture
To leave the nest; and lets it downward droop;
Even such was I; with the desire of asking
Kindled and quenched; unto the motion coming
He makes who doth address himself to speak。
Not for our pace; though rapid it might be;
My father sweet forbore; but said: 〃Let fly
The bow of speech thou to the barb hast drawn。〃
With confidence I opened then my mouth;
And I began: 〃How can one meagre grow
There where the need of nutriment applies not?〃
〃If thou wouldst call to mind how Meleager
Was wasted by the wasting of a brand;
This would not;〃 said he; 〃be to thee so sour;
And wouldst thou think how at each tremulous motion
Trembles within a mirror your own image;
That which seems hard would mellow seem to thee。
But that thou mayst content thee in thy wish
Lo Statius here; and him I call and pray
He now will be the healer of thy wounds。〃
〃If I unfold to him the eternal vengeance;〃
Responded Statius; 〃where thou present art;
Be my excuse that I can naught deny thee。〃
Then he began: 〃Son; if these words of mine
Thy mind doth contemplate and doth receive;
They'll be thy light unto the How thou sayest。
The perfect blood; which never is drunk up
Into the thirsty veins; and which remaineth
Like food that from the table thou removest;
Takes in the heart for all the human members
Virtue informative; as being that
Which to be changed to them goes through the veins
Again digest; descends it where 'tis better
Silent to be than say; and then drops thence
Upon another's blood in natural vase。
There one together with the other mingles;
One to be passive meant; the other active
By reason of the perfect place it springs from;
And being conjoined; begins to operate;
Coagulating first; then vivifying
What for its matter it had made consistent。
The active virtue; being made a soul
As of a plant; (in so far different;
This on the way is; that arrived already;)
Then works so much; that now it moves and feels
Like a sea…fungus; and then undertakes
To organize the powers whose seed it is。
Now; Son; dilates and now distends itself
The virtue from the generator's heart;
Where nature is intent on all the members。
But how from animal it man becomes
Thou dost not see as yet; this is a point
Which made a wiser man than thou once err
So far; that in his doctrine separate
He made the soul from possible intellect;
For he no organ saw by this assumed。
Open thy breast unto the truth that's coming;
And know that; just as soon as in the foetus
The articulation of the brain is perfect;
The primal Motor turns to it well pleased
At so great art of nature; and inspires
A spirit new with virtue all replete;
Which what it finds there active doth attract
Into its substance; and becomes one soul;
Which lives; and feels; and on itself revolves。
And that thou less may wonder at my word;
Behold the sun's heat; which becometh wine;
Joined to the juice that from the vine distils。
Whenever Lachesis has no more thread;
It separates from the flesh; and virtually
Bears with itself the human and divine;
The other faculties are voiceless all;
The memory; the intelligence; and the will
In action far more vigorous than before。
Without a pause it falleth of itself
In marvellous way on one shore or the other;
There of its roads it first is cognizant。
Soon as the place there circumscribeth it;
The virtue informative rays round about;
As; and as much as; in the living members。
And even as the air; when full of rain;
By alien rays that are therein reflected;
With divers colours shows itself adorned;
So there the neighbouring air doth shape itself
Into that form which doth impress upon it
Virtually the soul that has stood still。
And then in manner of the little flame;
Which followeth the fire where'er it shifts;
After the spirit followeth its new form。
Since afterwards it takes from this its semblance;
It is called shade; and thence it organizes
Thereafter every sense; even to the sight。
Thence is it that we speak; and thence we laugh;
Thence is it that we form the tears and sighs;
That on the mountain thou mayhap hast heard。
According as impress us our desires
And other affections; so the shade is shaped;
And this is cause of what thou wonderest at。〃
And now unto the last of all the circles
Had we arrived; and to the right hand turned;
And were attentive to another care。
There the embankment shoots forth flames of fire;
And upward doth the cornice breathe a blast
That drives them back; and from itself sequesters。
Hence we must needs go on the open side;
And one by one; and I did fear the fire
On this side; and on that the falling down。
My Leader said: 〃Along this place one ought
To keep upon the eyes a tightened rein;
Seeing that one so easily might err。〃
〃Summae Deus clementiae;〃 in the bosom
Of the great burning chanted then I heard;
Which made me no less eager to turn round;
And spirits saw I walking through the flame;
Wherefore I looked; to my own steps and theirs
Apportioning my sight from time to time。
After the close which to that hymn is made;
Aloud they shouted; 〃Virum non cognosco;〃
Then recommenced the hymn with voices low。
This also ended; cried they: 〃To the wood
Diana ran; and drove forth Helice
Therefrom; who had of Venus felt the poison。〃
Then to their song returned they; then the wives
They shouted; and the husbands who were chaste。
As virtue and the marriage vow imposes。
And I believe that them this mode suffices;
For all the time the fire is burning them;
With such care is it needful; and such food;
That the last wound of all should be closed up。
Purgatorio: Canto XXVI
While on the brink thus one before the other
We went upon our way; oft the good Master
Said: 〃Take thou heed! suffice it that I warn thee。〃
On the right shoulder smote me now the sun;
That; raying out; already the whole west
Changed from its azure aspect into white。
And with my shadow did I make the flame
Appear more red; and even to such a sign
Shades saw I many; as they went; give heed。
This was the cause that ga