Purgatorio, Canto 15
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
As the sun nears evening on Purgatory and it is midnight in Italy, Dante and Virgil have circled the mountain until they face west. Dante feels a stronger splendor press on his forehead and shields his eyes. A reflected-light simile explains the angelic brightness before them, and Virgil tells Dante not to marvel if the family of Heaven still dazzles him: a messenger comes to invite ascent, and soon such sights will become delight. The angel of mercy welcomes them to a less steep stair. As they climb from the second terrace, the beatitude Beati misericordes is sung behind them, together with the rejoicing promised to the one who conquers. Dante, alone with Virgil, asks about Guido del Duca's words on exclusion and partnership. Virgil explains that Guido knows the harm of his own chief fault and reproves it so others may suffer less. Envy arises because human desires are aimed at goods where sharing diminishes the share; if desire were turned upward by love of the highest sphere, each would possess more good as more souls say ours, and charity would burn more intensely. Dante's doubt deepens: how can a shared good make more possessors richer? Virgil answers that Dante still fixes his mind on earthly things and gathers darkness from true light. The infinite and ineffable Good gives itself to love as a ray comes to a luminous body; the more charity extends, the more eternal value grows over it, and souls reflect love to one another like mirrors. If Virgil's reason cannot satisfy Dante's hunger, Beatrice will. Dante must strive to have the remaining five wounds extinguished as the first two already are. Before Dante can say he is satisfied, he has reached the third terrace and is drawn into ecstatic visions: Mary gently reproving the child Jesus in the temple, Pisistratus answering his angry wife with mild restraint, and Stephen praying for his persecutors while he is stoned. Returning to outward truth, Dante staggers like someone waking from sleep. Virgil says he asked what was wrong not from ignorance, since no mask could hide Dante's thoughts, but to strengthen his feet. The visions were given so Dante will open his heart to the waters of peace from the eternal fountain; the sluggish must be spurred when wakefulness returns. The poets continue into evening, peering against the shining rays, until dark smoke forms toward them with no place to avoid it, taking away their sight and the pure air.
Narrative arc
- The evening time calculation, west-facing path, stronger angelic splendor, and Dante's hand-made visor
- The reflected-light simile, Dante's question, and Virgil's explanation that a heavenly messenger comes to invite ascent
- The angel of mercy, the less-steep stair, the beatitude, and Dante's question about Guido's exclusion and partnership
- Virgil explains envy, shared heavenly good, charity's increase, Beatrice's future answer, and the remaining five wounds
- Dante enters ecstatic visions of meekness: Mary in the temple, Pisistratus, and Stephen's prayer for persecutors
- Dante returns from vision; Virgil explains the waters of peace and his spur to Dante's feet
- The poets move through evening rays into the dark smoke of wrath, losing sight and pure air
Central themes
- envy
- shared good
- mercy
The evening time calculation, west-facing path, stronger angelic splendor, and Dante's hand-made visor XV.1–15
1Quanto tra l’ultimar de l’ora terza
e ’l principio del dì par de la spera
che sempre a guisa di fanciullo scherza,
tanto pareva già inver’ la sera
5essere al sol del suo corso rimaso;
vespero là, e qui mezza notte era.
E i raggi ne ferien per mezzo ’l naso,
perché per noi girato era sì ’l monte,
che già dritti andavamo inver’ l’occaso,
10quand’ io senti’ a me gravar la fronte
a lo splendore assai più che di prima,
e stupor m’eran le cose non conte;
ond’ io levai le mani inver’ la cima
de le mie ciglia, e fecimi ’l solecchio,
15che del soverchio visibile lima.
1As much, between the ending of the third hour
and the beginning of day, appears of the sphere
that always plays like a child,
so much, now toward evening,
5seemed to remain of the sun's course;
it was vespers there, and here midnight.
And the rays struck us through the middle of the nose,
because the mountain had been so circled by us
that now we were going straight toward the west,
10when I felt my forehead weighed down
by splendor far more than before,
and unknown things were a wonder to me;
so I lifted my hands toward the top
of my brows, and made myself the little visor
15that pares down excess visibility.
Commentary
This passage covers the evening time calculation, west-facing path, stronger angelic splendor, and Dante's hand-made visor.
XV.1–3 The opening preserves the astronomical comparison without resolving the sphere beyond the canto's timekeeping function.
XV.1–3 The opening preserves the astronomical comparison without resolving the sphere beyond the canto's timekeeping function. Line 3: The opening preserves the astronomical comparison without resolving the sphere beyond the canto's timekeeping function.
XV.3 The opening preserves the astronomical comparison without resolving the sphere beyond the canto's timekeeping function. The opening preserves the astronomical comparison without resolving the sphere beyond the canto's timekeeping function.
XV.4–6 The line keeps Dante's there/here contrast between Purgatory and the Italian world.
XV.4–6 The line keeps Dante's there/here contrast between Purgatory and the Italian world. Line 6: The line keeps Dante's there/here contrast between Purgatory and the Italian world.
XV.6 The line keeps Dante's there/here contrast between Purgatory and the Italian world. The line keeps Dante's there/here contrast between Purgatory and the Italian world.
XV.13–15 Lima is kept as a tactile paring-down verb for excessive sight, matching the canto's training of vision.
XV.13–15 Lima is kept as a tactile paring-down verb for excessive sight, matching the canto's training of vision. Line 15: Lima is kept as a tactile paring-down verb for excessive sight, matching the canto's training of vision.
XV.15 Lima is kept as a tactile paring-down verb for excessive sight, matching the canto's training of vision. Lima is kept as a tactile paring-down verb for excessive sight, matching the canto's training of vision.
The reflected-light simile, Dante's question, and Virgil's explanation that a heavenly messenger comes to invite ascent XV.16–33
16Come quando da l’acqua o da lo specchio
salta lo raggio a l’opposita parte,
salendo su per lo modo parecchio
a quel che scende, e tanto si diparte
20dal cader de la pietra in igual tratta,
sì come mostra esperïenza e arte;
così mi parve da luce rifratta
quivi dinanzi a me esser percosso;
per che a fuggir la mia vista fu ratta.
25«Che è quel, dolce padre, a che non posso
schermar lo viso tanto che mi vaglia»,
diss’ io, «e pare inver’ noi esser mosso?».
«Non ti maravigliar s’ancor t’abbaglia
la famiglia del cielo», a me rispuose:
30«messo è che viene ad invitar ch’om saglia.
Tosto sarà ch’a veder queste cose
non ti fia grave, ma fieti diletto
quanto natura a sentir ti dispuose».
16As when from water or from a mirror
the ray leaps to the opposite side,
rising upward in a matching manner
to what descends, and departs as far
20from the fall of a stone in equal measure,
as experience and art show;
so it seemed to me that by reflected light
there before me I was struck;
therefore my sight was swift to flee.
25"What is that, sweet father, from which I cannot
shield my face enough for it to help me,"
I said, "and which seems to be moving toward us?"
"Do not marvel if still you are dazzled
by the family of heaven," he answered me;
30"it is a messenger who comes to invite one upward.
Soon it will be that seeing these things
will not be burdensome to you, but will be delight
as much as nature disposed you to feel."
Commentary
This passage covers the reflected-light simile, Dante's question, and Virgil's explanation that a heavenly messenger comes to invite ascent.
XV.19–21 Arte here is practical/scientific knowledge of optics, distinct from the earlier divine art of the first terrace reliefs.
XV.19–21 Arte here is practical/scientific knowledge of optics, distinct from the earlier divine art of the first terrace reliefs. Line 21: Arte here is practical/scientific knowledge of optics, distinct from the earlier divine art of the first terrace reliefs.
XV.21 Arte here is practical/scientific knowledge of optics, distinct from the earlier divine art of the first terrace reliefs. Arte here is practical/scientific knowledge of optics, distinct from the earlier divine art of the first terrace reliefs.
XV.28–30 Om is kept general as "one," so the angel's invitation is broader than Dante alone.
XV.28–30 Om is kept general as "one," so the angel's invitation is broader than Dante alone. Line 30: Om is kept general as "one," so the angel's invitation is broader than Dante alone.
XV.30 Om is kept general as "one," so the angel's invitation is broader than Dante alone. Om is kept general as "one," so the angel's invitation is broader than Dante alone.
The angel of mercy, the less-steep stair, the beatitude, and Dante's question about Guido's exclusion and partnership XV.34–45
34Poi giunti fummo a l’angel benedetto,
35con lieta voce disse: «Intrate quinci
ad un scaleo vie men che li altri eretto».
Noi montavam, già partiti di linci,
e ‘Beati misericordes!’ fue
cantato retro, e ‘Godi tu che vinci!’.
40Lo mio maestro e io soli amendue
suso andavamo; e io pensai, andando,
prode acquistar ne le parole sue;
e dirizza’mi a lui sì dimandando:
«Che volse dir lo spirto di Romagna,
45e ‘divieto’ e ‘consorte’ menzionando?».
34Then when we had reached the blessed angel,
35with joyful voice he said: "Enter here
to a little stair far less steep than the others."
We were climbing, already gone from there,
and "Blessed are the merciful!" was
sung behind us, and "Rejoice, you who conquer!"
40My master and I alone, both of us,
were going upward; and I thought, as I went,
to gain profit from his words;
and I turned myself to him, asking thus:
"What did the spirit from Romagna mean,
45mentioning 'exclusion' and 'partnership'?"
Commentary
The passage gives the angelic invitation, the less-steep stair, the mercy beatitude, and Dante's return to Guido del Duca's divieto and consorte terms. The translation keeps divieto as exclusion and consorte as partnership to preserve the second terrace's anti-envy logic.
XV.37–39 The beatitude marks the exit from envy through mercy and begins the transition toward wrath's opposing virtue.
XV.37–39 The beatitude marks the exit from envy through mercy and begins the transition toward wrath's opposing virtue. Line 39: The beatitude marks the exit from envy through mercy and begins the transition toward wrath's opposing virtue.
XV.39 The beatitude marks the exit from envy through mercy and begins the transition toward wrath's opposing virtue. The beatitude marks the exit from envy through mercy and begins the transition toward wrath's opposing virtue.
XV.43–45 The line carries forward Guido del Duca's anti-envy phrase from Purgatorio XIV.
XV.43–45 The line carries forward Guido del Duca's anti-envy phrase from Purgatorio XIV. Line 45: The line carries forward Guido del Duca's anti-envy phrase from Purgatorio XIV.
XV.45 The line carries forward Guido del Duca's anti-envy phrase from Purgatorio XIV. The line carries forward Guido del Duca's anti-envy phrase from Purgatorio XIV.
Virgil explains envy, shared heavenly good, charity's increase, Beatrice's future answer, and the remaining five wounds XV.46–81
46Per ch’elli a me: «Di sua maggior magagna
conosce il danno; e però non s’ammiri
se ne riprende perché men si piagna.
Perché s’appuntano i vostri disiri
50dove per compagnia parte si scema,
invidia move il mantaco a’ sospiri.
Ma se l’amor de la spera supprema
torcesse in suso il disiderio vostro,
non vi sarebbe al petto quella tema;
55ché, per quanti si dice più lì ‘nostro’,
tanto possiede più di ben ciascuno,
e più di caritate arde in quel chiostro».
«Io son d’esser contento più digiuno»,
diss’ io, «che se mi fosse pria taciuto,
60e più di dubbio ne la mente aduno.
Com’ esser puote ch’un ben, distributo
in più posseditor, faccia più ricchi
di sé che se da pochi è posseduto?».
Ed elli a me: «Però che tu rificchi
65la mente pur a le cose terrene,
di vera luce tenebre dispicchi.
Quello infinito e ineffabil bene
che là sù è, così corre ad amore
com’ a lucido corpo raggio vene.
70Tanto si dà quanto trova d’ardore;
sì che, quantunque carità si stende,
cresce sovr’ essa l’etterno valore.
E quanta gente più là sù s’intende,
più v’è da bene amare, e più vi s’ama,
75e come specchio l’uno a l’altro rende.
E se la mia ragion non ti disfama,
vedrai Beatrice, ed ella pienamente
ti torrà questa e ciascun’ altra brama.
Procaccia pur che tosto sieno spente,
80come son già le due, le cinque piaghe,
che si richiudon per esser dolente».
46Whereupon he to me: "Of his greatest fault
he knows the harm; and therefore no one should marvel
if he reproves it so that less may be mourned.
Because your desires point themselves
50where by companionship each share is lessened,
envy moves the bellows to your sighs.
But if love of the supreme sphere
turned your desire upward,
that fear would not be in your breast;
55for the more people there say 'ours,'
the more of good each one possesses,
and the more charity burns in that cloister."
"I am hungrier to be content,"
I said, "than if it had first been kept silent from me,
60and I gather more doubt in my mind.
How can it be that one good, distributed
among more possessors, makes them richer
in itself than if it is possessed by few?"
And he to me: "Because you keep fastening
65your mind only on earthly things,
you pluck darkness from true light.
That infinite and ineffable good
that is up there runs so to love
as a ray comes to a luminous body.
70It gives itself as much as it finds ardor;
so that, however far charity extends,
the eternal worth grows beyond it.
And the more people are intent up there,
the more good there is to love, and the more love there is,
75and like a mirror one gives back to another.
And if my reasoning does not satisfy your hunger,
you will see Beatrice, and she fully
will take this and every other longing from you.
Strive only that soon they be extinguished,
80as the two already are, the five wounds
that close again by being painful."
Commentary
Virgil explains that envy arises when desire is fixed on shareable-by-loss goods, while heavenly good increases by shared charity. The translation keeps hunger, true light, darkness, infinite good, ardor, charity, mirror reflection, Beatrice's future correction, and the remaining five wounds as active motif language.
XV.49–51 The bellows image keeps envy as an inward pressure producing sighs from wrongly aimed desire.
XV.49–51 The bellows image keeps envy as an inward pressure producing sighs from wrongly aimed desire. Line 51: The bellows image keeps envy as an inward pressure producing sighs from wrongly aimed desire.
XV.51 The bellows image keeps envy as an inward pressure producing sighs from wrongly aimed desire. The bellows image keeps envy as an inward pressure producing sighs from wrongly aimed desire.
XV.55–57 The heavenly nostro reverses envy: shared good increases possession rather than diminishing it.
XV.55–57 The heavenly nostro reverses envy: shared good increases possession rather than diminishing it. Line 57: The heavenly nostro reverses envy: shared good increases possession rather than diminishing it.
XV.57 The heavenly nostro reverses envy: shared good increases possession rather than diminishing it. The heavenly nostro reverses envy: shared good increases possession rather than diminishing it.
XV.64–66 The line keeps the paradox: Dante's earthly frame extracts darkness even from true light.
XV.64–66 The line keeps the paradox: Dante's earthly frame extracts darkness even from true light. Line 66: The line keeps the paradox: Dante's earthly frame extracts darkness even from true light.
XV.66 The line keeps the paradox: Dante's earthly frame extracts darkness even from true light. The line keeps the paradox: Dante's earthly frame extracts darkness even from true light.
XV.76–78 Virgil's reason remains useful but incomplete; Beatrice is deferred as fuller illumination.
XV.76–78 Virgil's reason remains useful but incomplete; Beatrice is deferred as fuller illumination. Line 78: Virgil's reason remains useful but incomplete; Beatrice is deferred as fuller illumination.
XV.78 Virgil's reason remains useful but incomplete; Beatrice is deferred as fuller illumination. Virgil's reason remains useful but incomplete; Beatrice is deferred as fuller illumination.
XV.79–81 The remaining P's are treated as wounds whose healing requires penitential pain.
XV.79–81 The remaining P's are treated as wounds whose healing requires penitential pain. Line 81: The remaining P's are treated as wounds whose healing requires penitential pain.
XV.81 The remaining P's are treated as wounds whose healing requires penitential pain. The remaining P's are treated as wounds whose healing requires penitential pain.
Dante enters ecstatic visions of meekness: Mary in the temple, Pisistratus, and Stephen's prayer for persecutors XV.82–114
82Com’ io voleva dicer ‘Tu m’appaghe’,
vidimi giunto in su l’altro girone,
sì che tacer mi fer le luci vaghe.
85Ivi mi parve in una visïone
estatica di sùbito esser tratto,
e vedere in un tempio più persone;
e una donna, in su l’entrar, con atto
dolce di madre dicer: «Figliuol mio,
90perché hai tu così verso noi fatto?
Ecco, dolenti, lo tuo padre e io
ti cercavamo». E come qui si tacque,
ciò che pareva prima, dispario.
Indi m’apparve un’altra con quell’ acque
95giù per le gote che ’l dolor distilla
quando di gran dispetto in altrui nacque,
e dir: «Se tu se’ sire de la villa
del cui nome ne’ dèi fu tanta lite,
e onde ogne scïenza disfavilla,
100vendica te di quelle braccia ardite
ch’abbracciar nostra figlia, o Pisistràto».
E ’l segnor mi parea, benigno e mite,
risponder lei con viso temperato:
«Che farem noi a chi mal ne disira,
105se quei che ci ama è per noi condannato?»,
Poi vidi genti accese in foco d’ira
con pietre un giovinetto ancider, forte
gridando a sé pur: «Martira, martira!».
E lui vedea chinarsi, per la morte
110che l’aggravava già, inver’ la terra,
ma de li occhi facea sempre al ciel porte,
orando a l’alto Sire, in tanta guerra,
che perdonasse a’ suoi persecutori,
con quello aspetto che pietà diserra.
82As I wanted to say, 'You satisfy me,'
I saw myself arrived upon the other ring,
so that my eager eyes made me silent.
85There it seemed to me, in a vision,
to be suddenly drawn into ecstasy
and to see many people in a temple;
and a woman, at the entrance, with a bearing
sweet as a mother's, saying: "My son,
90why have you done this to us?
See, sorrowing, your father and I
were seeking you." And when she fell silent here,
what had appeared at first disappeared.
Then another appeared to me, with those waters
95down over her cheeks that grief distills
when it is born from great resentment toward another,
and saying: "If you are lord of the city
about whose name there was such strife among the gods,
and from which all knowledge sparkles,
100avenge yourself on those bold arms
that embraced our daughter, O Pisistratus."
And the lord seemed to me, benign and mild,
to answer her with tempered face:
"What shall we do to one who wishes us harm,
105if one who loves us is condemned by us?"
Then I saw people kindled in the fire of anger
killing a young man with stones, loudly
crying only to themselves: "Martyr him, martyr him!"
And I saw him bending, because of the death
110that already weighed him down, toward the earth,
but of his eyes he always made gates to heaven,
praying to the high Lord, in so great a war,
that He forgive his persecutors,
with that look which unlocks pity.
Commentary
The three visions are Mary and Jesus in the temple, Pisistratus's mild answer, and Stephen's martyrdom. The translation keeps them as examples of meekness against wrath without importing explanatory commentary into the line text.
XV.88–90 The first meekness vision follows Luke's temple episode and keeps Mary's speech gentle rather than accusatory.
XV.88–90 The first meekness vision follows Luke's temple episode and keeps Mary's speech gentle rather than accusatory. Line 90: The first meekness vision follows Luke's temple episode and keeps Mary's speech gentle rather than accusatory.
XV.90 The first meekness vision follows Luke's temple episode and keeps Mary's speech gentle rather than accusatory. The first meekness vision follows Luke's temple episode and keeps Mary's speech gentle rather than accusatory.
XV.94–96 Dispetto is rendered as resentment here because the scene tests anger restrained by meek rule, not righteous disdain.
XV.94–96 Dispetto is rendered as resentment here because the scene tests anger restrained by meek rule, not righteous disdain. Line 96: Dispetto is rendered as resentment here because the scene tests anger restrained by meek rule, not righteous disdain.
XV.96 Dispetto is rendered as resentment here because the scene tests anger restrained by meek rule, not righteous disdain. Dispetto is rendered as resentment here because the scene tests anger restrained by meek rule, not righteous disdain.
XV.97–99 The city is Athens; the line leaves the classical allusion active without glossing it in the translation.
XV.97–99 The city is Athens; the line leaves the classical allusion active without glossing it in the translation. Line 99: The city is Athens; the line leaves the classical allusion active without glossing it in the translation.
XV.99 The city is Athens; the line leaves the classical allusion active without glossing it in the translation. The city is Athens; the line leaves the classical allusion active without glossing it in the translation.
XV.103–105 Pisistratus's answer is kept as a counter-example to retaliatory anger.
XV.103–105 Pisistratus's answer is kept as a counter-example to retaliatory anger. Line 105: Pisistratus's answer is kept as a counter-example to retaliatory anger.
XV.105 Pisistratus's answer is kept as a counter-example to retaliatory anger. Pisistratus's answer is kept as a counter-example to retaliatory anger.
XV.106–108 The literal martyr language preserves the violent irony around Stephen's death.
XV.106–108 The literal martyr language preserves the violent irony around Stephen's death. Line 108: The literal martyr language preserves the violent irony around Stephen's death.
XV.108 The literal martyr language preserves the violent irony around Stephen's death. The literal martyr language preserves the violent irony around Stephen's death.
Dante returns from vision; Virgil explains the waters of peace and his spur to Dante's feet XV.115–138
115Quando l’anima mia tornò di fori
a le cose che son fuor di lei vere,
io riconobbi i miei non falsi errori.
Lo duca mio, che mi potea vedere
far sì com’ om che dal sonno si slega,
120disse: «Che hai che non ti puoi tenere,
ma se’ venuto più che mezza lega
velando li occhi e con le gambe avvolte,
a guisa di cui vino o sonno piega?».
«O dolce padre mio, se tu m’ascolte,
125io ti dirò», diss’ io, «ciò che m’apparve
quando le gambe mi furon sì tolte».
Ed ei: «Se tu avessi cento larve
sovra la faccia, non mi sarian chiuse
le tue cogitazion, quantunque parve.
130Ciò che vedesti fu perché non scuse
d’aprir lo core a l’acque de la pace
che da l’etterno fonte son diffuse.
Non dimandai “Che hai?” per quel che face
chi guarda pur con l’occhio che non vede,
135quando disanimato il corpo giace;
ma dimandai per darti forza al piede:
così frugar conviensi i pigri, lenti
ad usar lor vigilia quando riede».
115When my soul returned outward
to the things outside it that are true,
I recognized my wanderings, which were not false.
My leader, who could see me
acting like one who loosens himself from sleep,
120said: "What have you, that you cannot hold yourself up,
but have come more than half a league
veiling your eyes and with your legs entangled,
in the manner of one whom wine or sleep bends?"
"O my sweet father, if you listen to me,
125I will tell you," I said, "what appeared to me
when my legs were so taken from me."
And he: "If you had a hundred masks
over your face, your thoughts would not be closed
to me, however small they were.
130What you saw was so that you not excuse yourself
from opening the heart to the waters of peace
that are poured forth from the eternal fountain.
I did not ask "What have you?" for what he does
who looks only with the eye that does not see,
135when the body lies without soul;
but I asked to give strength to your foot:
thus it is needful to spur the sluggish,
slow to use their wakefulness when it returns."
Commentary
Dante returns from ecstatic vision, Virgil knows his thought, the waters of peace flow from the eternal fountain, and sluggish souls need spurring after wakefulness returns. The translation keeps the correction educational rather than punitive.
XV.115–117 The errori are ecstatic wanderings or appearances, not falsehoods.
XV.115–117 The errori are ecstatic wanderings or appearances, not falsehoods. Line 117: The errori are ecstatic wanderings or appearances, not falsehoods.
XV.117 The errori are ecstatic wanderings or appearances, not falsehoods. The errori are ecstatic wanderings or appearances, not falsehoods.
XV.130–132 The waters of peace answer the third terrace's wrath through openness rather than repression.
XV.130–132 The waters of peace answer the third terrace's wrath through openness rather than repression. Line 132: The waters of peace answer the third terrace's wrath through openness rather than repression.
XV.132 The waters of peace answer the third terrace's wrath through openness rather than repression. The waters of peace answer the third terrace's wrath through openness rather than repression.
XV.136–138 Virgil's question is pedagogical: the guide knows Dante's state but uses speech to restore movement.
XV.136–138 Virgil's question is pedagogical: the guide knows Dante's state but uses speech to restore movement. Line 138: Virgil's question is pedagogical: the guide knows Dante's state but uses speech to restore movement.
XV.138 Virgil's question is pedagogical: the guide knows Dante's state but uses speech to restore movement. Virgil's question is pedagogical: the guide knows Dante's state but uses speech to restore movement.
The poets move through evening rays into the dark smoke of wrath, losing sight and pure air XV.139–145
139Noi andavam per lo vespero, attenti
140oltre quanto potean li occhi allungarsi
contra i raggi serotini e lucenti.
Ed ecco a poco a poco un fummo farsi
verso di noi come la notte oscuro;
né da quello era loco da cansarsi.
145Questo ne tolse li occhi e l’aere puro.
139We went through the evening, intent
140as far ahead as the eyes could stretch
against the late and shining rays.
And behold, little by little a smoke forming
toward us, dark as night;
nor was there place to avoid it.
145This took from us our eyes and the pure air.
Commentary
The canto moves through evening rays into dark smoke, the threshold of the third terrace of wrath. The translation keeps the loss of eyes and pure air as perceptual training, not merely atmospheric description.
XV.145 The canto ends by removing sight and clear air as the poets enter the purgation of wrath. The canto ends by removing sight and clear air as the poets enter the purgation of wrath.