PURGATORY

Dante's Divine Trilogy Part Two. Englished in Prosaic Verse by Alasdair Gray

Dante Alighieri, Alasdair Gray

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786894762
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Poesía italiana

In part two of La Divina Commedia, one of the masterpieces of world literature, Dante and his guide, the poet Virgil, must enter and traverse Purgatory and the seven deadly sins in their quest to reach Heaven. In this colloquial version of Dante's masterpiece, Alasdair Gray offers an original translation in his own unique idiom.Lyrical and modern, this remarkable edition yokes two great literary minds, seven hundred years apart, and brings the classic text alive for the twenty-first century.

1: Cato, Warden of the Shore

1 The little ship of my intelligence

furls sails, drops anchor, leaves the cruel sea.

I stand upon the second kingdom’s beach

4 and now can sing of where each sinful soul

is purified, made good by reaching up

to paradise. O teach me, poetry!

7 Be with me Calliope, holy muse

of epic song who treats voices that sing

of lesser things as if unpardonable

10 magpie chattering! In Heaven’s clear height

I saw sweet blueness deepening down to

the horizon where that lover’s planet

13 Venus gladdened my eyes, shining above

the constellation of the fishes, now

rising from the sea. To the right I saw

16 a galaxy unknown to living folk

except the first, before they came to sin –

four great stars, points of a brilliant cross.

19 Poor northern sky, to be without that sight!

Dropping my eyes I saw beside me one

lit by that starlight, bearded and white-haired,

his face so full of venerable might 22

I wanted to adore him as his son.

“What are you,” he demanded, “you that flee

eternal punishment? What guide, what lamp 25

lit your path out? Has Heaven changed its decree,

letting the damned souls free? Say by what right

you stand below my cliffs!” By word and hand 28

my guide made me bow knee and head then said,

“We have not come by our own will. Hear why.

When this man stood in peril of his soul 31

Heaven sent a lady, saying I should

lead him through Hell up to the highest good.

Now he has seen the deeps. May I show now 34

those sinners purified upon the steeps

where you preside? Be kind to him. He seeks

the liberty that you in Utica 37

perished to keep, shedding your coat of clay

to proudly wear it on the Judgement Day.

Our journey breaks no law. This man still lives. 40

Minos never judged him or me. I dwell

in the virtuous ring of Hell, close to

chaste Marcia, the wife who worships you. 43

For her sake let us climb the blessèd stairs

that lead to Heaven’s grace. When I return

to Limbo she will hear how kind you are.” 46

I saw this warden of the purging hill

was Cato, Caesar’s foe, who stabbed himself

49 rather than see the Roman Empire kill

the glorious Republic that he loved.

Shaking his head he said, “Aye, Marcia

52 deserves all kindness, but since she has gone

beyond death’s river, Acheron, and I

stay here, why mention her? Since you obey

55 Heaven’s commands you need not use her name

for I obey them too. Lead him you guide

down to this island’s shore. Above the beach

58 in soft mud grow the reeds that never die.

Pluck one of these and tie it round his waist.

Wash his face first. Angels hate the sight

61 of grime from Hell. After, don’t come back here.

The rising sun will show a better place

to start your climb. Goodbye.” He disappeared.

64 I stood up when my leader said, “Dear child,

this plain slopes seaward. Let’s do as he told.”

A morning breeze fleeing before the dawn

67 came from the distant glitter of the sea.

We crossed that lonely plain like wanderers

seeking a path who fear they seek in vain.

70 The low sun’s level rays began to warm

the turf we trod, when my guide paused beside

a boulder’s shadow on a patch of grass

73 still misted with pearls of dew. I halted,

knowing what he would do. He stooped, wet hands,

washed my face clean of crusts left by fearful,

pitiful tears, restoring how I looked 76

before invading Hell. We reached the shore

no living foot had ever touched before.

Here, as instructed, Virgil plucked a reed, 79

and as he bound it round my waist I saw

a miracle, for where that rush once stood

sprang up another, just as tall and good. 82

2: Newcomers

1 By now the sun had left the northern sky

where at high noon it lights Jerusalem,

leaving the Ganges in the deepest night.

4 Seen from our shore the sky above the sea

took on a rosy glow, into which slid

that golden sphere of light. We stood and gazed

7 like wanderers who tarry on a road

before their journey starts. Then I beheld

beneath the sun, across the ocean floor

10 a sight I hope to see again – brightness

speeding so swiftly to us that no flight

of bird could equal it. When I gazed back

13 from questioning my master with a look,

it had grown brighter. On each side I saw

a whiteness I could not make out,...