Canto 23

While I was fixing my eyes upon the green leafage, just as he who wastes his life following the little bird is wont to do, my more than Father said to me, “Son, come on now, for the time that is assigned to us must be parcelled out more usefully.” I turned my face, and no less quickly my step after the Sages, who were speaking so that they made the going of no cost to me; and ho! a lament and song were heard, “Labia mea, Domine,”³⁴⁶ in such fashion that it gave birth to delight and pain. “O sweet Father, what is that which I hear?” I began, and he, “Shades which go, perhaps loosing the knot of their debt.”

I was staring at the green leaves, just as someone does who wastes his life chasing little birds. Then my guide, who was more than a father to me, said, “Son, come along now. We must make better use of the time allotted to us.” I turned my face and quickly followed the Sages. Their conversation made the journey effortless for me. Then we heard a song of lament, “Labia mea, Domine,”³⁴⁶ sung in a way that stirred both delight and pain. “Dear Father, what is that I hear?” I asked. He replied, “Shades who are walking along, perhaps freeing themselves from the knot of their debt.”

Even as do pilgrims rapt in thought, who, overtaking on the road unknown folk, turn themselves to them, and stay not; so behind us, moving more quickly, coming up and passing by, a crowd of souls, silent and devout, gazed at us. Each was dark and hollow in the eyes, pallid in the face, and so wasted that the skin took its shape from the bones. I do not think that Erisichthon³⁴⁷ was so dried up to utter rind by hunger, when he had most fear of it. I said to myself in thought, “Behold the people who lost Jerusalem, when Mary struck her beak into her son.”³⁴⁸ The sockets of their eyes seemed rings without gems. Whoso in the face of men reads OMO,³⁴⁹ would surely there have recognized the M. Who would believe that the scent of an apple, begetting longing, and that of a water, could have such mastery, if he knew not how?

Just as pilgrims lost in thought turn to look at strangers they overtake on the road, but do not stop, so a crowd of souls came up behind us. Moving faster than we were, they passed us, gazing at us in silence and devotion. Each had dark, sunken eyes and a pale face. They were so thin that their skin followed the shape of their bones. I do not think Erisichthon³⁴⁷ was reduced to mere skin by hunger, even when he feared it most. I thought to myself, “Look at the people who lost Jerusalem, when Mary sank her beak into her son.”³⁴⁸ Their eye sockets looked like rings without gems. Anyone who reads OMO³⁴⁹ in the human face would surely have recognized the M in theirs. Who would believe that the scent of an apple and the smell of water could have such power by stirring desire, if they did not know how?

I was now wondering what so famished them, the cause of their meagreness and of their wretched husk not yet being manifest, and lo! from the depths of its head, a shade turned his eyes on me, and looked fixedly, then cried out loudly, “What grace to me is this!” Never should I have recognized him by his face; but in his voice that was disclosed to me which his aspect in itself had suppressed.³⁵⁰ This spark rekindled in me all my knowledge of the altered visage, and I recognized the face of Forese.³⁵¹

I was wondering what had starved them so badly. The cause of their thinness and their wretched, wasted bodies was still unclear. Then a shade turned his deep-set eyes on me and stared. He cried out, “What grace is this for me!” I would never have recognized him by his face, but his voice revealed what his appearance had hidden.³⁵⁰ That spark brought back everything I knew about his changed face, and I recognized Forese.³⁵¹

“Ah, strive not³⁵² with the dry scab that discolors my skin,” he prayed, “nor with my lack of flesh, but tell me the truth about thyself; and who are these two souls, who yonder make an escort for thee: stay not thou from speaking to me.” “Thy face, which once I wept for dead, now gives me for weeping no less a grief,” replied I, “seeing it so disfigured; therefore, tell me, for God’s sake, what so despoils you; make me not speak while I am marvelling; for ill can he speak who is full of another wish.” And he to me, “From the eternal council falls a power into the water and into the plant, now left behind, whereby I become so thin. All this folk who sing weeping, because of following their appetite beyond measure, here in hunger and in thirst make themselves holy again. The odour which issues from the apple and from the spray that spreads over the verdure kindles in us desire to eat and drink. And not once only as we circle this floor is our pain renewed; I say pain, and ought to say solace, for that will leads us to the tree which led Christ gladly to say, ‘Eli,’³⁵³ when with his blood he delivered us.” And I to him, “Forese, from that day on which thou didst change world to a better life, up to this time five years have not rolled round. If the power of sinning further had ended in thee, ere the hour supervened of the good grief that to God reweds us, how hast thou come up hither?³⁵⁴ I thought to find thee still down there below, where time is made good by time.” And he to me, “My Nella with her bursting tears has brought me thus quickly to drink of the sweet wormwood of these torments. With her devout prayers and with sighs has she drawn me from the shore where one waits, and has delivered me from the other circles. So much the more dear and more beloved of God is my little widow, whom I loved so much, as she is the more solitary in good works; for the Barbagia³⁵⁵ of Sardinia is far more modest in its women than the Barbagia where I left her. O sweet brother, what wouldst thou that I say? A future time is already in my sight, to which this hour will not be very old, in which from the pulpit it shall be forbidden to the brazen-faced dames of Florence to go displaying the bosom with the paps. What Barbarian, what Saracen women were there ever who required either spiritual or other discipline to make them go covered? But if the shameless ones were aware of that which the swift heaven is preparing for them, already would they have their mouths open for howling. For if foresight here deceives me not, they will be sad ere he who is now consoled with the lullaby covers his cheeks with hair. Ak brother, now no longer conceal thyself from me; thou seest that not only I but all these people are gazing there where thou dost veil the sun.” Whereon I to him: “If thou bring back to mind what thou wast with me, and what I was with thee, the present remembrance will even now be grievous. From that life he who goes before me turned me the other day, when the sister of him yonder,” and I pointed to the sun, “showed herself round. Through the deep night, from the truly dead, he has led me, with this true flesh which follows him. Thence his counsels have drawn me up, ascending and circling the mountain that sets you straight whom the world made crooked. So long he says that he will bear me company till I shall be there where Beatrice will be; there it behoves that I remain without him. Virgil is he who says thus to me,” and I pointed to him, “and this other is that shade for whom just now your realm, which from itself releases him, shook every slope.”

“Ah, do not struggle³⁵² to look past the dry scabs that discolor my skin or my wasted flesh,” he pleaded. “Instead, tell me the truth about yourself. Who are these two souls escorting you there? Please do not hesitate to speak to me.” “Once I wept for your death,” I replied. “Now the sight of your disfigured face gives me no less cause to weep. So, for God’s sake, tell me what has ravaged you like this. Do not make me speak while I am wondering, for someone whose mind is on something else can hardly speak.” He said to me, “A power from the eternal council descends into the water and the tree we have just passed. It is this power that makes me so thin. All these people ate and drank too much, and now they sing as they weep. Here, hunger and thirst make them holy again. The scent of the apples and of the branches spreading over the greenery makes us long for food and drink. Our pain returns more than once as we circle this terrace. I call it pain, though I should call it comfort. For the same will that leads us to the tree led Christ to gladly cry, ‘Eli,’³⁵³ when he freed us with his blood.” I said to him, “Forese, not yet five years have passed since you left this world for a better life. Suppose you had died before you felt the holy sorrow that reunites us with God. How, then, have you come so far up here?³⁵⁴ I thought I would still find you down below, where time is made good by time.” He replied, “My Nella, with her overflowing tears, has brought me so quickly to drink the sweet wormwood of these torments. Her devout prayers and sighs have drawn me from the shore where souls wait and carried me past the other circles. My little widow, whom I loved so much, is all the dearer and more beloved by God because she is more alone in doing good. For the women of the Barbagia³⁵⁵ of Sardinia are far more modest than those of the Barbagia where I left her. “Oh, dear brother, what can I say? I can already see a time not far from now. Then, from the pulpit, the brazen women of Florence will be forbidden to go about with their breasts exposed. What Barbarian or Saracen women ever needed spiritual or other discipline to make them cover themselves? But if these shameless women knew what the swift heavens were preparing for them, they would already be opening their mouths to howl. For if what I foresee here does not deceive me, they will suffer before the child now soothed by a lullaby grows a beard. “Ah, brother, hide yourself from me no longer. You can see that not only I but all these people are staring at the place where you block the sun.” Then I said to him, “If you remember how you and I behaved together, the memory will grieve you even now. The other day, the one walking ahead of me turned me away from that life. It was when the sister of the sun over there,” and I pointed to the sun, “showed her full face. Through the deep night he has led me away from the truly dead, with this living body that follows him. From there, his guidance has brought me up the mountain, climbing and circling it. This mountain sets right those whom the world made crooked. He says he will stay with me until I reach the place where Beatrice will be. There I must remain without him. The one who tells me this is Virgil,” and I pointed to him. “And the other is the shade for whom your realm shook on every slope just now, as it released him.”