The Battle of Darkness and Light - Джон Мильтон

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he to answer her: "Now wait until

       I shall return." And she: "My Lord," like one

       In whom grief is impatient, "shouldst thou not

      Return?" And he: "Who shall be where I am

       Will give it thee." And she: "Good deed of others

       What boots it thee, if thou neglect thine own?"

      Whence he: "Now comfort thee, for it behoves me

       That I discharge my duty ere I move;

       Justice so wills, and pity doth retain me."

      He who on no new thing has ever looked

       Was the creator of this visible language,

       Novel to us, for here it is not found.

      While I delighted me in contemplating

       The images of such humility,

       And dear to look on for their Maker's sake,

      "Behold, upon this side, but rare they make

       Their steps," the Poet murmured, "many people;

       These will direct us to the lofty stairs."

      Mine eyes, that in beholding were intent

       To see new things, of which they curious are,

       In turning round towards him were not slow.

      But still I wish not, Reader, thou shouldst swerve

       From thy good purposes, because thou hearest

       How God ordaineth that the debt be paid;

      Attend not to the fashion of the torment,

       Think of what follows; think that at the worst

       It cannot reach beyond the mighty sentence.

      "Master," began I, "that which I behold

       Moving towards us seems to me not persons,

       And what I know not, so in sight I waver."

      And he to me: "The grievous quality

       Of this their torment bows them so to earth,

       That my own eyes at first contended with it;

      But look there fixedly, and disentangle

       By sight what cometh underneath those stones;

       Already canst thou see how each is stricken."

      O ye proud Christians! wretched, weary ones!

       Who, in the vision of the mind infirm

       Confidence have in your backsliding steps,

      Do ye not comprehend that we are worms,

       Born to bring forth the angelic butterfly

       That flieth unto judgment without screen?

      Why floats aloft your spirit high in air?

       Like are ye unto insects undeveloped,

       Even as the worm in whom formation fails!

      As to sustain a ceiling or a roof,

       In place of corbel, oftentimes a figure

       Is seen to join its knees unto its breast,

      Which makes of the unreal real anguish

       Arise in him who sees it, fashioned thus

       Beheld I those, when I had ta'en good heed.

      True is it, they were more or less bent down,

       According as they more or less were laden;

       And he who had most patience in his looks

      Weeping did seem to say, "I can no more!"

      XI. The Humble Prayer. Omberto di Santafiore. Oderisi d' Agobbio. Provenzan Salvani.

       Table of Contents

      "Our Father, thou who dwellest in the heavens,

       Not circumscribed, but from the greater love

       Thou bearest to the first effects on high,

      Praised be thy name and thine omnipotence

       By every creature, as befitting is

       To render thanks to thy sweet effluence.

      Come unto us the peace of thy dominion,

       For unto it we cannot of ourselves,

       If it come not, with all our intellect.

      Even as thine own Angels of their will

       Make sacrifice to thee, Hosanna singing,

       So may all men make sacrifice of theirs.

      Give unto us this day our daily manna,

       Withouten which in this rough wilderness

       Backward goes he who toils most to advance.

      And even as we the trespass we have suffered

       Pardon in one another, pardon thou

       Benignly, and regard not our desert.

      Our virtue, which is easily o'ercome,

       Put not to proof with the old Adversary,

       But thou from him who spurs it so, deliver.

      This last petition verily, dear Lord,

       Not for ourselves is made, who need it not,

       But for their sake who have remained behind us."

      Thus for themselves and us good furtherance

       Those shades imploring, went beneath a weight

       Like unto that of which we sometimes dream,

      Unequally in anguish round and round

       And weary all, upon that foremost cornice,

       Purging away the smoke-stains of the world.

      If there good words are always said for us,

       What may not here be said and done for them,

       By those who have a good root to their will?

      Well may we help them wash away the marks

       That hence they carried, so that clean and light

       They may ascend unto the starry wheels!

      "Ah! so may pity and justice you disburden

       Soon, that ye may have power to move the wing,

       That shall uplift you after your desire,

      Show us on which hand tow'rd the stairs the way

       Is shortest, and if more than one the passes,

       Point us out that which least abruptly falls;

      For he who cometh with me, through the burden

       Of Adam's flesh wherewith he is invested,

       Against his will is chary of his climbing."

      The words of theirs which they returned to those

       That he whom I was following had spoken,

       It was not manifest from whom they came,

      But it was said: "To the right hand come with us

       Along the bank, and ye shall find a pass

       Possible for living person to ascend.

      And were I not impeded by the stone,

       Which this proud neck of mine doth subjugate,

       Whence I am forced to hold my visage down,

      Him, who still lives and does not name himself,

       Would I regard, to see if I may

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