Purgatorio, Canto I
GDSU inv. 3502 F
English version is upcoming.
Sweet colour of the oriental sapphire.
That was upgathered in the cloudless aspect
Of the pure air, as far as the first circle,
Unto mine eyes did recommence delight
Soon as I issued forth from the dead air.
Which had with sadness filled mine eyes and breast.
Title block by Zuccari:
The Guide and I into that hidden road
Now entered, to return to the bright world;
And without care of having any rest
We mounted up, he first and I the second,
Till I beheld through a round aperture
Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear;
Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.
ii Title block:
"Who are you? ye who, counter the blind river,
Have fled away from the eternal prison?"
Moving those venerable plumes, he said :
"Who guided you? or who has been your lamp
In issuing forth out of the night profound.
That ever black makes the infernal valley?
The laws of the abyss, are they thus broken ?
Or is there changed in heaven some council new,
That being damned ye come unto my crags?"
Then did my Leader lay his grasp upon me.
And with his words, and with his hands and signs,
Reverent he made in me my knees and brow;
Then answered him : "I came not of myself;
A Lady from Heaven descended, at whose prayers
I aided this one with my company. [...]
I've shown him all the people of perdition,
And now those spirits I intend to show
Who purge themselves beneath thy guardianship. [...]
Go, then, and see thou gird this one about
With a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face,
So that thou cleanse away all stain therefrom".
iii Title block:
As soon as we were come to where the dew
Fights with the sun, and, being in a part
Where shadow falls, little evaporates,
Both of his hands upon the grass outspread
In gentle manner did my Master place;
Whence I, who of his action was aware,
Extended unto him my tearful cheeks;
There did he make in me uncovered wholly
That hue which Hell had covered up in me.
Then came we down upon the desert shore
Which never yet saw navigate its waters
Any that afterward had known return.
There he begirt me as the other pleased;
O marvellous ! for even as he culled
The humble plant, such it sprang up again
Suddenly there where he uprooted it.