Purgatorio, Canto 19
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
In the truth-bearing hour before dawn, when the last cold of night defeats the day's warmth and geomancers see Greater Fortune rising in the east, Dante dreams of a stammering, squint-eyed, maimed, pallid woman. His gaze falsely repairs her: it loosens her tongue, straightens her body, and colors her face as love wills. She becomes the sweet Siren, claiming to bewilder sailors, turn Ulysses from his wandering way, and satisfy those who stay with her. Before her mouth closes, a holy and ready lady appears beside Dante, calls Virgil fiercely, and fixes his eyes on her own honest presence. She seizes the Siren, tears open her garments, reveals her belly, and Dante wakes from the stench. Virgil has called him at least three times and urges him to find the opening for ascent. High day already fills the sacred mountain, and the new sun is behind the poets. Dante follows with his forehead bowed under thought until an angel gently calls them through the passage. With swan-like wings, the angel turns them upward through hard rock, fans them, and speaks the beatitude of those who mourn. Virgil asks why Dante still looks earthward. Dante says the new vision bends his thought toward itself. Virgil names the Siren as the ancient witch now lamented above them, tells Dante he has seen how a person is freed from her, and commands him to strike his heels on earth and look to the heavenly lure moved by the eternal King. Like a falcon drawn from its feet to the call and food, Dante rises through the cleft to the fifth ledge. There he sees souls lying face-down and weeping, sighing the psalm Adhaesit pavimento anima mea so deeply that the words are hardly clear. Virgil asks them to direct the poets toward the high ascents; one hidden face answers that, if they are free from lying down and want the quickest way, their right hands should stay outside. Dante marks the hidden speaker and receives Virgil's glad permission to approach. He asks the penitent who he was, why the souls' backs face upward, and whether help from the living can be obtained. The spirit says Dante will learn why heaven turns their backs to itself, but first declares in Latin that he was a successor of Peter. He identifies himself through the Lavagna river and the Fieschi title, remembers how one month and a little more taught him the weight of the papal mantle when kept from mire, and says all other burdens seemed feathers beside it. His conversion came late, but when he became Roman shepherd he discovered the lying life: the heart found no rest there and could not climb higher, so love of this purgatorial and heavenly life was kindled in him. Until then he had been wretched, parted from God, and wholly avaricious; now avarice is purged in the mountain's most bitter pain. Because their eyes were fixed on earthly things and would not rise, justice has sunk them to earth; because avarice quenched love for every good and so lost action, justice binds their hands and feet until the just Lord is pleased. Dante kneels in reverence, but Adrian hears it and corrects him: he too is a fellow servant under one power, and the Gospel's Neque nubent shows why earthly rank does not govern here. Adrian tells Dante to go because his staying hinders the weeping by which he matures what Dante named. He has only one good kinswoman remaining on earth, Alagia, unless the family makes her wicked by example.
Narrative arc
- The pre-dawn truth-dream transforms the defective woman into the sweet Siren who claims Ulysses and total satisfaction
- The holy lady calls Virgil, exposes the Siren's belly and stench, and Virgil wakes Dante for the ascent
- High day fills the mountain as the angel of the passage turns the poets upward and speaks the mourning beatitude
- Virgil explains the ancient witch, commands Dante to look to the heavenly lure, and Dante rises like a falcon
- On the fifth ledge the face-down avaricious sigh the psalm and give the quickest route while Dante seeks the hidden speaker
- Dante approaches the hidden penitent and asks his identity, the reason for the posture, and whether living prayer can help
- Adrian V identifies himself, remembers the papal mantle and his late conversion, and explains avarice's face-down purgation
- Dante kneels to Adrian, who corrects misplaced reverence, asks not to be delayed, and names Alagia as his remaining hope on earth
Central themes
- avarice
The pre-dawn truth-dream transforms the defective woman into the sweet Siren who claims Ulysses and total satisfaction XIX.1–24
1Ne l’ora che non può ’l calor dïurno
intepidar più ’l freddo de la luna,
vinto da terra, e talor da Saturno
—quando i geomanti lor Maggior Fortuna
5veggiono in orïente, innanzi a l’alba,
surger per via che poco le sta bruna—,
mi venne in sogno una femmina balba,
ne li occhi guercia, e sovra i piè distorta,
con le man monche, e di colore scialba.
10Io la mirava; e come ’l sol conforta
le fredde membra che la notte aggrava,
così lo sguardo mio le facea scorta
la lingua, e poscia tutta la drizzava
in poco d’ora, e lo smarrito volto,
15com’ amor vuol, così le colorava.
Poi ch’ell’ avea ’l parlar così disciolto,
cominciava a cantar sì, che con pena
da lei avrei mio intento rivolto.
«Io son», cantava, «io son dolce serena,
20che ’ marinari in mezzo mar dismago;
tanto son di piacere a sentir piena!
Io volsi Ulisse del suo cammin vago
al canto mio; e qual meco s’ausa,
rado sen parte; sì tutto l’appago!».
1At the hour when the diurnal heat
can no longer warm the cold of the moon,
conquered by earth, and sometimes by Saturn
when geomancers see their Greater Fortune
5rise in the east before the dawn,
by a path that stays dark for it only briefly,
there came to me in dream a stammering woman,
squint-eyed, and twisted above her feet,
with maimed hands, and pallid in color.
10I gazed at her; and as the sun comforts
the cold limbs that night makes heavy,
so my gaze gave help to her tongue
and afterward straightened her entirely
in little time, and her bewildered face,
15just as love wills, so it colored her.
After she had her speech thus unloosed,
she began to sing so that only with effort
could I have turned my intent from her.
'I am,' she sang, 'I am the sweet Siren,
20who bewilder sailors in the middle sea;
so full am I of pleasure to hear!
I turned Ulysses from his wandering way
to my song; and whoever grows used to me
rarely departs, so wholly I satisfy him!'
Commentary
The passage gives the pre-dawn truth-dream setting, the geomancers' Greater Fortune, and the Siren's progressive beautification under Dante's gaze. The translation keeps the false attraction tied to love, pleasure, Ulysses, song, and total satisfaction without treating the Siren's claim as objective authority.
XIX.1–3 The opening time signal continues Purgatorio's dawn cosmology and marks the truth-bearing dream hour. Saturn's cold influence is kept as medieval astrological texture, not modernized.
XIX.1–3 The opening time signal continues Purgatorio's dawn cosmology and marks the truth-bearing dream hour. Line 1: The opening time signal continues Purgatorio's dawn cosmology and marks the truth-bearing dream hour. Line 3: Saturn's cold influence is kept as medieval astrological texture, not modernized.
XIX.1 The opening time signal continues Purgatorio's dawn cosmology and marks the truth-bearing dream hour. The opening time signal continues Purgatorio's dawn cosmology and marks the truth-bearing dream hour.
XIX.3 Saturn's cold influence is kept as medieval astrological texture, not modernized. Saturn's cold influence is kept as medieval astrological texture, not modernized.
XIX.4–6 The geomancy reference is retained by name because the star-figure and divination context matter to the dream threshold. Path language is literal astronomy and still part of the canto's guided-ascent field.
XIX.4–6 The geomancy reference is retained by name because the star-figure and divination context matter to the dream threshold. Line 4: The geomancy reference is retained by name because the star-figure and divination context matter to the dream threshold. Line 6: Path language is literal astronomy and still part of the canto's guided-ascent field.
XIX.4 The geomancy reference is retained by name because the star-figure and divination context matter to the dream threshold. The geomancy reference is retained by name because the star-figure and divination context matter to the dream threshold.
XIX.6 Path language is literal astronomy and still part of the canto's guided-ascent field. Path language is literal astronomy and still part of the canto's guided-ascent field.
XIX.7–9 The woman is the dream Siren, initially defective before Dante's gaze falsely beautifies her.
XIX.7–9 The woman is the dream Siren, initially defective before Dante's gaze falsely beautifies her. Line 7: The woman is the dream Siren, initially defective before Dante's gaze falsely beautifies her.
XIX.7 The woman is the dream Siren, initially defective before Dante's gaze falsely beautifies her. The woman is the dream Siren, initially defective before Dante's gaze falsely beautifies her.
XIX.10–12 Scorta suggests assistance or escort; the translation keeps Dante's gaze as the active agent in the deception.
XIX.10–12 Scorta suggests assistance or escort; the translation keeps Dante's gaze as the active agent in the deception. Line 12: Scorta suggests assistance or escort; the translation keeps Dante's gaze as the active agent in the deception.
XIX.12 Scorta suggests assistance or escort; the translation keeps Dante's gaze as the active agent in the deception. Scorta suggests assistance or escort; the translation keeps Dante's gaze as the active agent in the deception.
XIX.13–15 The line keeps the dangerous language of love beautifying a false object after Virgil's love doctrine.
XIX.13–15 The line keeps the dangerous language of love beautifying a false object after Virgil's love doctrine. Line 15: The line keeps the dangerous language of love beautifying a false object after Virgil's love doctrine.
XIX.15 The line keeps the dangerous language of love beautifying a false object after Virgil's love doctrine. The line keeps the dangerous language of love beautifying a false object after Virgil's love doctrine.
XIX.16–18 Intento keeps attention, intention, and desire in the field opened by Purgatorio XVIII.
XIX.16–18 Intento keeps attention, intention, and desire in the field opened by Purgatorio XVIII. Line 18: Intento keeps attention, intention, and desire in the field opened by Purgatorio XVIII.
XIX.18 Intento keeps attention, intention, and desire in the field opened by Purgatorio XVIII. Intento keeps attention, intention, and desire in the field opened by Purgatorio XVIII.
XIX.22–24 The Siren's Ulysses claim is kept as seductive self-presentation rather than resolved historical fact. The promised satisfaction exposes the false totality of disordered appetite.
XIX.22–24 The Siren's Ulysses claim is kept as seductive self-presentation rather than resolved historical fact. Line 22: The Siren's Ulysses claim is kept as seductive self-presentation rather than resolved historical fact. Line 24: The promised satisfaction exposes the false totality of disordered appetite.
XIX.22 The Siren's Ulysses claim is kept as seductive self-presentation rather than resolved historical fact. The Siren's Ulysses claim is kept as seductive self-presentation rather than resolved historical fact.
XIX.24 The promised satisfaction exposes the false totality of disordered appetite. The promised satisfaction exposes the false totality of disordered appetite.
The holy lady calls Virgil, exposes the Siren's belly and stench, and Virgil wakes Dante for the ascent XIX.25–36
25Ancor non era sua bocca richiusa,
quand’ una donna apparve santa e presta
lunghesso me per far colei confusa.
«O Virgilio, Virgilio, chi è questa?»,
fieramente dicea; ed el venìa
30con li occhi fitti pur in quella onesta.
L’altra prendea, e dinanzi l’apria
fendendo i drappi, e mostravami ’l ventre;
quel mi svegliò col puzzo che n’uscia.
Io mossi li occhi, e ’l buon maestro: «Almen tre
35voci t’ho messe!», dicea, «Surgi e vieni;
troviam l’aperta per la qual tu entre».
25Her mouth was not yet closed again
when a lady appeared, holy and ready
beside me, to make that woman ashamed.
'O Virgil, Virgil, who is this?'
she said fiercely; and he was coming
30with eyes fixed only on that truthful one.
She seized the other, and opened her in front
by rending the garments, and showed me the belly;
that woke me with the stench that came from it.
I moved my eyes; and the good master said,
35'At least three times I have called you! Rise and come;
let us find the opening by which you may enter.'
Commentary
The holy lady exposes the Siren's hidden belly and stench while Virgil's repeated calls wake Dante. The translation identifies the holy figure only through the scene's action and avoids expanding the allegory in the line translation.
XIX.25–27 The holy lady functions as the counter-vision that exposes the Siren.
XIX.25–27 The holy lady functions as the counter-vision that exposes the Siren. Line 26: The holy lady functions as the counter-vision that exposes the Siren.
XIX.26 The holy lady functions as the counter-vision that exposes the Siren. The holy lady functions as the counter-vision that exposes the Siren.
XIX.28–30 Onesta points to the holy lady's modest truth, not to the Siren.
XIX.28–30 Onesta points to the holy lady's modest truth, not to the Siren. Line 30: Onesta points to the holy lady's modest truth, not to the Siren.
XIX.30 Onesta points to the holy lady's modest truth, not to the Siren. Onesta points to the holy lady's modest truth, not to the Siren.
XIX.31–33 The exposed belly and stench reverse the dream's false sweetness into bodily disgust.
XIX.31–33 The exposed belly and stench reverse the dream's false sweetness into bodily disgust. Line 33: The exposed belly and stench reverse the dream's false sweetness into bodily disgust.
XIX.33 The exposed belly and stench reverse the dream's false sweetness into bodily disgust. The exposed belly and stench reverse the dream's false sweetness into bodily disgust.
High day fills the mountain as the angel of the passage turns the poets upward and speaks the mourning beatitude XIX.37–51
37Sù mi levai, e tutti eran già pieni
de l’alto dì i giron del sacro monte,
e andavam col sol novo a le reni.
40Seguendo lui, portava la mia fronte
come colui che l’ha di pensier carca,
che fa di sé un mezzo arco di ponte;
quand’ io udi’ «Venite; qui si varca»
parlare in modo soave e benigno,
45qual non si sente in questa mortal marca.
Con l’ali aperte, che parean di cigno,
volseci in sù colui che sì parlonne
tra due pareti del duro macigno.
Mosse le penne poi e ventilonne,
50‘Qui lugent’ affermando esser beati,
ch’avran di consolar l’anime donne.
37Up I raised myself, and already all
the circles of the sacred mountain were full
of the high day, and we went with the new sun at our backs.
40Following him, I carried my forehead
like one who has it loaded with thought,
who makes of himself a half-arch of a bridge;
when I heard, 'Come; here one crosses,'
spoken in a manner gentle and benign
45such as is not heard in this mortal region.
With wings open, which seemed like a swan's,
the one who spoke so turned us upward
between two walls of hard rock.
Then he moved his feathers and fanned us,
50affirming 'Qui lugent' to be blessed,
for they will have consolation as mistress of their souls.
Commentary
The angelic beatitude marks the exit from sloth, and the promise of consolation has difficult donne syntax. The translation preserves the Latin incipit and renders consolation as mistress of the soul, with a note on the syntax.
XIX.40–42 Burden language shifts from Virgil's doctrinal load to Dante's inward pressure after the dream.
XIX.40–42 Burden language shifts from Virgil's doctrinal load to Dante's inward pressure after the dream. Line 41: Burden language shifts from Virgil's doctrinal load to Dante's inward pressure after the dream.
XIX.41 Burden language shifts from Virgil's doctrinal load to Dante's inward pressure after the dream. Burden language shifts from Virgil's doctrinal load to Dante's inward pressure after the dream.
XIX.49–51 The Latin beatitude is retained as the terrace-exit sound. The phrasing preserves Dante's compressed donne image while giving the beatitude's promise of comfort.
XIX.49–51 The Latin beatitude is retained as the terrace-exit sound. Line 50: The Latin beatitude is retained as the terrace-exit sound. Line 51: The phrasing preserves Dante's compressed donne image while giving the beatitude's promise of comfort.
XIX.50 The Latin beatitude is retained as the terrace-exit sound. The Latin beatitude is retained as the terrace-exit sound.
XIX.51 The phrasing preserves Dante's compressed donne image while giving the beatitude's promise of comfort. The phrasing preserves Dante's compressed donne image while giving the beatitude's promise of comfort.
Virgil explains the ancient witch, commands Dante to look to the heavenly lure, and Dante rises like a falcon XIX.52–69
52«Che hai che pur inver’ la terra guati?»,
la guida mia incominciò a dirmi,
poco amendue da l’angel sormontati.
55E io: «Con tanta sospeccion fa irmi
novella visïon ch’a sé mi piega,
sì ch’io non posso dal pensar partirmi».
«Vedesti», disse, «quell’antica strega
che sola sovr’ a noi omai si piagne;
60vedesti come l’uom da lei si slega.
Bastiti, e batti a terra le calcagne;
li occhi rivolgi al logoro che gira
lo rege etterno con le rote magne».
Quale ’l falcon, che prima a’ pié si mira,
65indi si volge al grido e si protende
per lo disio del pasto che là il tira,
tal mi fec’ io; e tal, quanto si fende
la roccia per dar via a chi va suso,
n’andai infin dove ’l cerchiar si prende.
52'What is it that you still peer toward the earth?'
my guide began to say to me,
when we had both climbed a little above the angel.
55And I: 'A new vision makes me go
with such misgiving, bending me to itself,
that I cannot depart from thinking of it.'
'You saw,' he said, 'that ancient witch
who now above us is alone lamented;
60you saw how man unbinds himself from her.
Let that suffice; and strike your heels on earth;
turn your eyes to the lure that the eternal King
whirls with the great wheels.'
As the falcon, which first looks at its feet,
65then turns to the cry and stretches forward
through desire for the food that draws it there,
so I made myself; and so, as far
as the rock is cleft to give way to one going up,
I went on until the circling begins.
Commentary
Virgil explains the ancient witch and the falcon-lure simile. The translation keeps the correction as a reorientation of gaze and desire: from earth and dream-image to the heavenly lure moved by the eternal King.
XIX.58–60 The Siren gathers the temptations purged on the upper terraces, especially the excessive loves beginning here.
XIX.58–60 The Siren gathers the temptations purged on the upper terraces, especially the excessive loves beginning here. Line 59: The Siren gathers the temptations purged on the upper terraces, especially the excessive loves beginning here.
XIX.59 The Siren gathers the temptations purged on the upper terraces, especially the excessive loves beginning here. The Siren gathers the temptations purged on the upper terraces, especially the excessive loves beginning here.
XIX.61–63 The falconer's lure turns desire upward toward the heavenly wheels.
XIX.61–63 The falconer's lure turns desire upward toward the heavenly wheels. Line 62: The falconer's lure turns desire upward toward the heavenly wheels.
XIX.62 The falconer's lure turns desire upward toward the heavenly wheels. The falconer's lure turns desire upward toward the heavenly wheels.
On the fifth ledge the face-down avaricious sigh the psalm and give the quickest route while Dante seeks the hidden speaker XIX.70–87
70Com’ io nel quinto giro fui dischiuso,
vidi gente per esso che piangea,
giacendo a terra tutta volta in giuso.
‘Adhaesit pavimento anima mea’
sentia dir lor con sì alti sospiri,
75che la parola a pena s’intendea.
«O eletti di Dio, li cui soffriri
e giustizia e speranza fa men duri,
drizzate noi verso li alti saliri».
«Se voi venite dal giacer sicuri,
80e volete trovar la via più tosto,
le vostre destre sien sempre di fori».
Così pregò ’l poeta, e sì risposto
poco dinanzi a noi ne fu; per ch’io
nel parlare avvisai l’altro nascosto,
85e volsi li occhi a li occhi al segnor mio:
ond’ elli m’assentì con lieto cenno
ciò che chiedea la vista del disio.
70When I had come out onto the fifth circle,
I saw people along it who were weeping,
lying on the ground all turned downward.
'Adhaesit pavimento anima mea'
I heard them say with such deep sighs
75that the words were hardly understood.
'O elect of God, whose sufferings
both justice and hope make less hard,
direct us toward the high ascents.'
'If you come secure from lying down
80and wish to find the quickest way,
let your right hands be always outside.'
So prayed the poet, and so an answer
a little before us was given; therefore I
in the speaking marked the hidden other,
85and turned my eyes to my lord's eyes;
then he assented with a glad sign
to what the look of my desire was asking.
Commentary
On the fifth ledge the avaricious lie face-down, sigh the psalm incipit, and give a practical right-hand routing instruction. The translation keeps the hidden speaker concealed until Dante receives Virgil's permission to approach.
XIX.73–75 The Latin psalm incipit is retained as the sound of the face-down avaricious.
XIX.73–75 The Latin psalm incipit is retained as the sound of the face-down avaricious. Line 73: The Latin psalm incipit is retained as the sound of the face-down avaricious.
XIX.73 The Latin psalm incipit is retained as the sound of the face-down avaricious. The Latin psalm incipit is retained as the sound of the face-down avaricious.
XIX.79–81 The routing instruction keeps the mountain-side orientation concrete.
XIX.79–81 The routing instruction keeps the mountain-side orientation concrete. Line 81: The routing instruction keeps the mountain-side orientation concrete.
XIX.81 The routing instruction keeps the mountain-side orientation concrete. The routing instruction keeps the mountain-side orientation concrete.
XIX.82–84 The speaker's face is hidden because the souls lie downward.
XIX.82–84 The speaker's face is hidden because the souls lie downward. Line 84: The speaker's face is hidden because the souls lie downward.
XIX.84 The speaker's face is hidden because the souls lie downward. The speaker's face is hidden because the souls lie downward.
XIX.85–87 Desire here is disciplined into permission to speak with the penitent soul.
XIX.85–87 Desire here is disciplined into permission to speak with the penitent soul. Line 87: Desire here is disciplined into permission to speak with the penitent soul.
XIX.87 Desire here is disciplined into permission to speak with the penitent soul. Desire here is disciplined into permission to speak with the penitent soul.
Dante approaches the hidden penitent and asks his identity, the reason for the posture, and whether living prayer can help XIX.88–96
88Poi ch’io potei di me fare a mio senno,
trassimi sovra quella creatura
90le cui parole pria notar mi fenno,
dicendo: «Spirto in cui pianger matura
quel sanza ’l quale a Dio tornar non pòssi,
sosta un poco per me tua maggior cura.
Chi fosti e perché vòlti avete i dossi
95al sù, mi dì, e se vuo’ ch’io t’impetri
cosa di là ond’ io vivendo mossi».
88After I could act with myself at my own counsel,
I drew myself above that creature
90whose words had first made me take note,
saying, 'Spirit in whom weeping matures
that without which one cannot return to God,
pause your greater care a little for me.
Tell me who you were and why you have your backs
95turned upward, and whether you want me to obtain
something there from where I moved alive.'
Commentary
This passage covers dante approaches the hidden penitent and asks his identity, the reason for the posture, and whether living prayer can help.
XIX.91–93 The line points to penitential conversion without over-expanding Dante's compression.
XIX.91–93 The line points to penitential conversion without over-expanding Dante's compression. Line 92: The line points to penitential conversion without over-expanding Dante's compression.
XIX.92 The line points to penitential conversion without over-expanding Dante's compression. The line points to penitential conversion without over-expanding Dante's compression.
Adrian V identifies himself, remembers the papal mantle and his late conversion, and explains avarice's face-down purgation XIX.97–126
97Ed elli a me: «Perché i nostri diretri
rivolga il cielo a sé, saprai; ma prima
scias quod ego fui successor Petri.
100Intra Sïestri e Chiaveri s’adima
una fiumana bella, e del suo nome
lo titol del mio sangue fa sua cima.
Un mese e poco più prova’ io come
pesa il gran manto a chi dal fango il guarda,
105che piuma sembran tutte l’altre some.
La mia conversïone, omè!, fu tarda;
ma, come fatto fui roman pastore,
così scopersi la vita bugiarda.
Vidi che lì non s’acquetava il core,
110né più salir potiesi in quella vita;
per che di questa in me s’accese amore.
Fino a quel punto misera e partita
da Dio anima fui, del tutto avara;
or, come vedi, qui ne son punita.
115Quel ch’avarizia fa, qui si dichiara
in purgazion de l’anime converse;
e nulla pena il monte ha più amara.
Sì come l’occhio nostro non s’aderse
in alto, fisso a le cose terrene,
120così giustizia qui a terra il merse.
Come avarizia spense a ciascun bene
lo nostro amore, onde operar perdési,
così giustizia qui stretti ne tene,
ne’ piedi e ne le man legati e presi;
125e quanto fia piacer del giusto Sire,
tanto staremo immobili e distesi».
97And he to me: 'Why our hind parts
heaven turns toward itself, you shall know; but first
scias quod ego fui successor Petri.
100Between Siestri and Chiaveri descends
a beautiful river, and from its name
the title of my blood makes its summit.
A month and little more I proved how
the great mantle weighs on one who keeps it from the mire,
105so that all other burdens seem feathers.
My conversion, alas, was late;
but, once I was made Roman shepherd,
then I discovered the lying life.
I saw that there the heart was not quieted,
110nor could one climb higher in that life;
therefore love of this was kindled in me.
Up to that point I was a wretched soul
and parted from God, wholly avaricious;
now, as you see, here I am punished for it.
115What avarice does is here declared
in purgation of converted souls;
and the mountain has no pain more bitter.
Just as our eye did not lift itself
on high, fixed on earthly things,
120so justice here has sunk it to earth.
As avarice quenched our love
for every good, from which work was lost,
so justice here holds us tight,
bound and captured in feet and hands;
125and for as long as it pleases the just Lord,
so long we shall stay motionless and stretched out.'
Commentary
This passage covers adrian V identifies himself, remembers the papal mantle and his late conversion, and explains avarice's face-down purgation.
XIX.97–99 The Latin is retained; the speaker identifies himself as a successor of Peter, Pope Adrian V.
XIX.97–99 The Latin is retained; the speaker identifies himself as a successor of Peter, Pope Adrian V. Line 99: The Latin is retained; the speaker identifies himself as a successor of Peter, Pope Adrian V.
XIX.99 The Latin is retained; the speaker identifies himself as a successor of Peter, Pope Adrian V. The Latin is retained; the speaker identifies himself as a successor of Peter, Pope Adrian V.
XIX.100–102 The Fieschi title of Lavagna is kept compressed, following Dante's family-identification syntax.
XIX.100–102 The Fieschi title of Lavagna is kept compressed, following Dante's family-identification syntax. Line 102: The Fieschi title of Lavagna is kept compressed, following Dante's family-identification syntax.
XIX.102 The Fieschi title of Lavagna is kept compressed, following Dante's family-identification syntax. The Fieschi title of Lavagna is kept compressed, following Dante's family-identification syntax.
XIX.103–105 The great mantle is the papal office, named as weight and burden.
XIX.103–105 The great mantle is the papal office, named as weight and burden. Line 104: The great mantle is the papal office, named as weight and burden.
XIX.104 The great mantle is the papal office, named as weight and burden. The great mantle is the papal office, named as weight and burden.
XIX.109–111 This points to the purgatorial and heavenly life newly loved after the false life is exposed.
XIX.109–111 This points to the purgatorial and heavenly life newly loved after the false life is exposed. Line 111: This points to the purgatorial and heavenly life newly loved after the false life is exposed.
XIX.111 This points to the purgatorial and heavenly life newly loved after the false life is exposed. This points to the purgatorial and heavenly life newly loved after the false life is exposed.
XIX.118–120 The contrapuntal posture makes misdirected sight bodily visible.
XIX.118–120 The contrapuntal posture makes misdirected sight bodily visible. Line 120: The contrapuntal posture makes misdirected sight bodily visible.
XIX.120 The contrapuntal posture makes misdirected sight bodily visible. The contrapuntal posture makes misdirected sight bodily visible.
XIX.121–123 The line connects avarice back to Virgil's doctrine: love of the good is necessary for action.
XIX.121–123 The line connects avarice back to Virgil's doctrine: love of the good is necessary for action. Line 122: The line connects avarice back to Virgil's doctrine: love of the good is necessary for action.
XIX.122 The line connects avarice back to Virgil's doctrine: love of the good is necessary for action. The line connects avarice back to Virgil's doctrine: love of the good is necessary for action.
Dante kneels to Adrian, who corrects misplaced reverence, asks not to be delayed, and names Alagia as his remaining hope on earth XIX.127–145
127Io m’era inginocchiato e volea dire;
ma com’ io cominciai ed el s’accorse,
solo ascoltando, del mio reverire,
130«Qual cagion», disse, «in giù così ti torse?».
E io a lui: «Per vostra dignitate
mia coscïenza dritto mi rimorse».
«Drizza le gambe, lèvati sù, frate!»,
rispuose; «non errar: conservo sono
135teco e con li altri ad una podestate.
Se mai quel santo evangelico suono
che dice ‘Neque nubent’ intendesti,
ben puoi veder perch’ io così ragiono.
Vattene omai: non vo’ che più t’arresti;
140ché la tua stanza mio pianger disagia,
col qual maturo ciò che tu dicesti.
Nepote ho io di là c’ha nome Alagia,
buona da sé, pur che la nostra casa
non faccia lei per essempro malvagia;
145e questa sola di là m’è rimasa».
127I had knelt down and wished to speak;
but as I began and he perceived,
only by listening, my reverence,
130'What cause,' he said, 'has twisted you downward so?'
And I to him: 'Because of your dignity
my conscience stung me for standing straight.'
'Straighten your legs; lift yourself up, brother!'
he answered; 'do not err: I am a fellow servant
135with you and with the others under one power.
If ever that holy evangelical sound
that says 'Neque nubent' you understood,
you can well see why I speak so.
Go now: I do not want you to delay longer;
140for your staying hinders my weeping,
with which I mature what you said.
I have a kinswoman back there named Alagia,
good in herself, if only our house
does not make her wicked by example;
145and she alone remains to me there.'
Commentary
Adrian rejects Dante's kneeling through shared service under one power and the Gospel phrase Neque nubent. The translation renders nepote as kinswoman for Alagia to preserve the relation without over-fixing it in the line.
XIX.130–132 Dritto is both bodily uprightness and moral rightness under correction.
XIX.130–132 Dritto is both bodily uprightness and moral rightness under correction. Line 132: Dritto is both bodily uprightness and moral rightness under correction.
XIX.132 Dritto is both bodily uprightness and moral rightness under correction. Dritto is both bodily uprightness and moral rightness under correction.
XIX.133–135 Adrian rejects misplaced reverence before spiritual equality under God.
XIX.133–135 Adrian rejects misplaced reverence before spiritual equality under God. Line 134: Adrian rejects misplaced reverence before spiritual equality under God.
XIX.134 Adrian rejects misplaced reverence before spiritual equality under God. Adrian rejects misplaced reverence before spiritual equality under God.
XIX.136–138 The Latin Gospel phrase is retained as Adrian's scriptural warrant against earthly rank distinctions.
XIX.136–138 The Latin Gospel phrase is retained as Adrian's scriptural warrant against earthly rank distinctions. Line 137: The Latin Gospel phrase is retained as Adrian's scriptural warrant against earthly rank distinctions.
XIX.137 The Latin Gospel phrase is retained as Adrian's scriptural warrant against earthly rank distinctions. The Latin Gospel phrase is retained as Adrian's scriptural warrant against earthly rank distinctions.
XIX.142–144 Nepote is rendered as kinswoman to avoid over-fixing the family relation in the translation.
XIX.142–144 Nepote is rendered as kinswoman to avoid over-fixing the family relation in the translation. Line 142: Nepote is rendered as kinswoman to avoid over-fixing the family relation in the translation.
XIX.142 Nepote is rendered as kinswoman to avoid over-fixing the family relation in the translation. Nepote is rendered as kinswoman to avoid over-fixing the family relation in the translation.