Dante Alighieri
translation: Rev. H. F. Cary

THE DIVINE COMEDY - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell
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CANTO IX

 Now the fair consort of Tithonus old,
 Arisen from her mate's beloved arms,
 Look'd palely o'er the eastern cliff: her brow,
 Lucent with jewels, glitter'd, set in sign
 Of that chill animal, who with his train
 Smites fearful nations: and where then we were,
 Two steps of her ascent the night had past,
 And now the third was closing up its wing,
 When I, who had so much of Adam with me,
 Sank down upon the grass, o'ercome with sleep,
 There where all five were seated.  In that hour,
 When near the dawn the swallow her sad lay,
 Rememb'ring haply ancient grief, renews,
 And with our minds more wand'rers from the flesh,
 And less by thought restrain'd are, as 't were, full
 Of holy divination in their dreams,
 Then in a vision did I seem to view
 A golden-feather'd eagle in the sky,
 With open wings, and hov'ring for descent,
 And I was in that place, methought, from whence
 Young Ganymede, from his associates 'reft,
 Was snatch'd aloft to the high consistory.
 "Perhaps," thought I within me, "here alone
 He strikes his quarry, and elsewhere disdains
 To pounce upon the prey."  Therewith, it seem'd,
 A little wheeling in his airy tour
 Terrible as the lightning rush'd he down,
 And snatch'd me upward even to the fire.
 
 

 

 
 There both, I thought, the eagle and myself
 Did burn; and so intense th' imagin'd flames,
 That needs my sleep was broken off.  As erst
 Achilles shook himself, and round him roll'd
 His waken'd eyeballs wond'ring where he was,
 Whenas his mother had from Chiron fled
 To Scyros, with him sleeping in her arms;
 E'en thus I shook me, soon as from my face
 The slumber parted, turning deadly pale,
 Like one ice-struck with dread.  Solo at my side
 My comfort stood: and the bright sun was now
 More than two hours aloft: and to the sea
 My looks were turn'd.  "Fear not," my master cried,
 "Assur'd we are at happy point.  Thy strength
 Shrink not, but rise dilated.  Thou art come
 To Purgatory now.  Lo! there the cliff
 That circling bounds it!  Lo! the entrance there,
 Where it doth seem disparted!  Ere the dawn
 Usher'd the daylight, when thy wearied soul
 Slept in thee, o'er the flowery vale beneath
 A lady came, and thus bespake me: I
 Am Lucia.  Suffer me to take this man,
 Who slumbers.  Easier so his way shall speed."
 Sordello and the other gentle shapes
 Tarrying, she bare thee up: and, as day shone,
 This summit reach'd: and I pursued her steps.
 Here did she place thee.  First her lovely eyes
 That open entrance show'd me; then at once
 She vanish'd with thy sleep."  Like one, whose doubts
 Are chas'd by certainty, and terror turn'd
 To comfort on discovery of the truth,
 Such was the change in me: and as my guide
 Beheld me fearless, up along the cliff
 He mov'd, and I behind him, towards the height.
      Reader! thou markest how my theme doth rise,
 Nor wonder therefore, if more artfully
 I prop the structure! (...)
(......)