Canto XVII of the purgatory
Beati pacifici, and go without anger against me!
You could not be mistaken if your love is instinctive.
Ricorditi, lettor, se mai ne l'alpe ti colse nebbia per la qual vedessi non altrimenti che per pelle talpe, come, quando i vapori umidi e spessi a diradar cominciansi, la spera del sol debilemente entra per essi; e fia la tua imagine leggera in giugnere a veder com'io rividi lo sole in pria, che già nel corcar era. Sì, pareggiando i miei co' passi fidi del mio maestro, usci' fuor di tal nube ai raggi morti già ne' bassi lidi.
RETURN TO THE PORTAL OF PURGATORY
I was like this woman who saw her husband raping her own sister and, to be avenged for this crime, gave to eat to the husband, the flesh of his own son, fruit of this union; and in my spirit, the impious woman changed under my eyes into a bird which does not have cease to sing. Then, in my oneiric imagination, went down a crucified woman, with a scorning and savage aspect, on whom I came to extend myself to die; around and under us were Jean, then Marie and also Madeleine whom I loved so much. And when this image broke itself, as a bubble to which suddenly lack the water from where it is formed, emerges in front of my eyes a lovely lady who cried with hot tears and who said: "Oh beautiful child, why, in your frivolity, did you wanted to quit life? You kill yourself not to lose Jeanne, but you lost me! I am your mother, whom who cries your death before that of the others." A light struck me in the face, much sharper than any known light, and which made disappear, the effects of my imagination. I turned myself to see where I was, when a voice says: "It is here that one goes up." I was diverted from any other thought so much her voice was melodious, and I had such a burning desire to see the one who spoke that way, that I would not have been calmed down before having seen her more closely. "It is a divine spirit which, without being requested, directs us towards the way of the rise and who hides herself in her own light. Let us reconcile our steps to her courteous invitation, and hasten ourselves to go up before the darkness, because afterwards, we could not, any more, until the return of the day." Thus spoke my guide; we directed our steps towards the staircase and as soon as I was on the first step, I felt close to myself, what looks like a beat of wings and then, a kiss heat up my face, then I heard saying: "Beati pacifici, and go without anger against me!" We were already at the top of the staircase and we remained there motionless like a ship failed on the beach; I waited a little time, seeking to hear something coming from this new cornice, then, I turned to my Master and said to him: "Teach me, oh my soft father, what offence do we expiate here in this circle where we are; if we stop ourselves, do not let your speech stop!" He answered to me: "Here repent themselves, those who refuse love because it requires too much effort. But so that you understand better, lend me your attention and you will benefit from our delay. No creature either than the Creator was never without love, was it, you know it well, an instinctive or free love. You could not be mistaken if your love is instinctive, unless it is durty or diverted by the free love. The free love on the contrary, can be mistaken in three manners: while going towards an unworthy object or while being too burning or too little; but love cannot be guilty if it moves towards God, or if it is directed towards the beautiful females that God created and that he profit from them, with moderation. Then, you can understand that love can be, at the same time, the seed of any virtue and of every sin. However, love which is diverted towards evil harms more the other than to oneself, and it must be defined in the three following ways: That one is jealous of the happiness of his neighbor, he wishes to love his wife only to see him falling from higher; that other one who is so afraid of losing his happiness, wishes to love the woman of whom who could be happier than him; that other one who has seen his neighbor loving his own wife, wishes to love the woman of his neighbor just to be avenged. You can see below us, those who cries of these three forms of love; and I want to speak to you now, about this other love, which goes with perversity towards the good. Each one has a confused idea of a love where his soul can rest, he wishes it; consequently, he endeavours to reach it. If you are too slow to know or to acquire this love, this cornice, after a right repentance, punishes you of it. There is another terrestrial good which does not make the man happy; it is not happiness neither the divine essence nor the fruit and the root of any good; and who gives himselv up to this love, cries in the three circles that are above us; but how it is distinguished in its three defects, I do not tell it to you, so that you discover it by yourself."
Marco Polo ou le voyage imaginaire (La tragédie humaine, janvier 2000) © 1999 Jean-Pierre Lapointe
Theme musical: le prince Igor, danses polovtsiennes d'Alexandre Borodin, emprunté aux Classical Midi Archives.
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