And if the world below would fix its mind
On the foundation which is laid by nature,
Pursuing that, 't would have the people good.
But you unto religion wrench aside

Him who was born to gird him with the sword, And make a king of him who is for sermons; Therefore your footsteps wander from the road."

145

B

CANTO IX.

EAUTIFUL Clemence, after that thy Charles

Had me enlightened, he narrated to me

The treacheries his seed should undergo;

But said: "Be still and let the years roll round";
So I can only say, that lamentation
Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.
And of that holy light the life already

Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,
As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.
Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,

Who from such good do turn away your hearts,
Directing upon vanity your foreheads!
And now, behold, another of those splendors
Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
It signified by brightening outwardly.

The
eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were
Upon me, as before, of dear assent

Το

my desire assurance gave to me.

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"Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,

Thou blessed spirit," I said, "and give me proof That what I think in thee I can reflect! Whereat the light, that still was new to me, Out of its depths, whence it before was singing, As one delighted to do good, continued: "Within that region of the land depraved

Of Italy, that lies between Rialto

And fountain-heads of Brenta and of Piava, Rises a hill, and mounts not very high, Wherefrom descended formerly a torch That made upon that region great assault. Out of one root were born both I and it;

Cunizza was I called, and here I shine Because the splendor of this star o'ercame me. But gladly to myself the cause I pardon

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Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me; 35. Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar. Of this so luculent and precious jewel,

Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,
Great fame remained; and ere it die away
This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
See if man ought to make him excellent,
So that another life the first may leave!
And thus thinks not the present multitude
Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,
Nor yet for being scourged is penitent.
But soon 't will be that Padua in the marsh
Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
Because the folk are stubborn against duty;

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And where the Sile and Cagnano join

One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,

For catching whom e'en now the net is making. Feltro moreover of her impious pastor

50

Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be That for the like none ever entered Malta. Ample exceedingly would be the vat

That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,

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And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce, Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift To show himself a partisan; and such gifts Will to the living of the land conform. Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them, From which shines out on us God Judicant, So that this utterance seems good to us." Here it was silent, and it had the semblance Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel On which it entered as it was before. The other joy, already known to me,

Became a thing transplendent in my sight, As a fine ruby smitten by the sun. Through joy effulgence is acquired above,

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As here a smile; but down below, the shade Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad. "God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit, Thy sight is," said I, “so that never will Of his can possibly from thee be hidden; Thy voice, then, that forever makes the heavens Glad, with the singing of those holy fires Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,

75

Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?

Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning If I in thee were as thou art in me." "The greatest of the valleys where the water Expands itself," forthwith its words began, "That sea excepted which the earth engarlands, Between discordant shores against the sun Extends so far, that it meridian makes

Where it was wont before to make the horizon.

I was a dweller on that valley's shore

'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese. With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly Sit Buggia and the city whence I was, That with its blood once made the harbor hot. Folco that people called me unto whom

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My name was known; and now with me this heaven
Imprints itself, as I did once with it;

For more the daughter of Belus never burned,
Offending both Sichæus and Creusa,
Than I, so long as it became my locks,
Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded
Was by Demophoön, nor yet Alcides,

When Iole he in his heart had locked.

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Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,

Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind, But at the power which ordered and foresaw. Here we behold the art that doth adorn

With such affection, and the good discover
Whereby the world above turns that below.

105

But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear

Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born, 110
Still farther to proceed behoveth me.

Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light
That here beside me thus is scintillating,

Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water.
Then know thou, that within there is at rest
Rahab, and being to our order joined,
With her in its supremest grade 't is sealed.
Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone
Cast by your world, before all other souls
First of Christ's Triumph was she taken up.
Full meet it was to leave her in some heaven,
Even as a palm of the high victory

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Which he acquired with one palm and the other, Because she favored the first glorious deed

Of Joshua upon the Holy Land,

That little stirs the memory of the Pope.
Thy city, which an offshoot is of him

Who first upon his Maker turned his back,
And whose ambition is so sorely wept,

Brings forth and scatters the accursed flower

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Which both the sheep and lambs hath led astray, Since it has turned the shepherd to a wolf.

For this the Evangel and the mighty Doctors

Are derelict, and only the Decretals

So studied that it shows upon their margins. 135

On this are Pope and Cardinals intent;

Their meditations reach not Nazareth,

There where his pinions Gabriel unfolded ;