The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri

CANTO XXIII. As the poeta advance ronnd the cornice, they are overtaken by a troop of Bjpirits utterly emaciated in appearance. Amongst them Dante recognises an old friend, Forese, by his voice. The spirit tells him that ms rapid advance through Purgatory is due to the prayers of his virtuous wife, and from her he takes occasion to inveigh against the general shamelessness of the women of Florence.

The whilst my eyes upon that verdant leaf I so had fixed, as they are wont to stare, Who watching little birds waste life so brief, My more than father said, " son forbear. Onwards henceforth, the time to us imposed, * Unto more useful purpose we must share."

Cahto xxm. PURGATORY. 219 I turned my f&ee, and with swift footstep closed On my wise comrades, on whose parlance hung My journey now no trace of toil imposed : When lo was heard a weeping and a song, ^* Labia mea Domine, so clear That from it both delight and sorrow sprung. " my sweet father, what is this I hear ?" Thus I began : and he, " The shades who go Haply the debt of duty paying here." ^^ In such a guise as thoughtfril pilgrims do, Meeting with unknown people on their route, Who turn towards them, nor their speed forego, So following on our backs with swifter foot Coming and passing by on us there gazed ^^ The crowd of spirits silent and devout. The eyes of each were hollowed deep and glazed, Pale in the face, and worn so utterly. That through the skin the bones were clearly traced. I do not think, to such extremity ^ Was withered and reduced Erisiton, Through hunger when it reached its agony. Thinking, I said in self-communion, " The people lo ! who lost Jerusalem When Mary with her beak preyed on her son." ^ Their eyes appeared like rings without the gem Who in the face of men reads O, M, O, Would very clearly there have seen the M. Who could believe an apple's scent could so Work upon spirits, and create desire, ** Or that of water, knowing not the how ? What thus could famish them, my thoughts inquire, The reason not yet manifest, which bred Their leanness and their rind than fish-scales drier : When lo from the deep cavern of his head *® A shadow turned his eyes on me to gaze, " What grace is given me ?" then he loudly said. Line 11. O Lord, open you my lips. Fs. li. 15. Line 26. Erisicthon, having cnt down an oak conaeorated to Geres, was doomed by the goddess to saffer an unappeasable hunger, which compelled him, after he had consumed all his substance, to eat his own frame and die. Ovid, 8 Metamorp. Kallimaohos. Hymn to Demeter. Line 30. Josephus relates the story of the woman who ate her own son, during Uie celebrated siege of Jerusalem by Titus. Line 32. The conceit is that Omo, a man, is written in his face ; the temples and the sides of the face, with the nose, making the M, the eyes being the O's. Owing to emaciation the letter M, formed by the bones of the nice, was clearly visible in these shadows.

280 PURGATORY. Cakto XXHI. I never should have known him by his face, But in his voice there was laid bare to me, Of what his aspect had lost every trace. That spark sufficed to kindle memory Of his changed countenance, within my mind, My friend Foresees face once more I see. " Ah, do not doubt you, for this withered rind. The skin thus all discoloured,'' did he pray, " Nor for the want of flesh which thoil do find. But of yourself speak truth ; and who are they The pair of spirits who your footsteps guide : Unless you speak to me, you must not stay." ** Your face, which at your death I wept beside. Now makes me weep again with no less grief. Seeing it so distorted," I replied. ** But say, for God's sake, what thus strips your leaf : Make me not speak, while rapt in wonder keen , For ill he speaks who on aught else is Uef." And he to me : " From the eternal reign Falls virtue on the water and the plant Behind us, through the which I grow so lean. And all this people, who with wailing chaunt, From being sunk in boundless gluttony, With thirst and himger here that wealmess daunt. To drink and eat inflames this yearning high. The odour of the apple and the spray. Which showers down upon the greenery. Nor even one revolution of this way Completing, grows our penalty less rude, I say our pain, solace I ought to say. The tree we seek with the same 'will embued, Which made Christ gladly upon Eli pray. What time He freed us wholly with His blood." And I to him : *' Forese, from the day In which you left'st the world for a better dower, Till now five years have not yet past away. If there was finished first in you the power To sin, ere Q-od's love to acquire again, Of happy grief there came to you the hour, How to this height did you so soon attain ? I thought I should have found you far below. Where for their time life lost the spirits remain." Line 48. Forese, apparently known only as the brother of Piccarda, introdnced in the opening sphere of Paradise, Canto III. Line 79. If thon badst lost the power of sinning further, before you embracedst repentance, how have you soon left the Ante-Purgatory ?