Already was the world in every part Pregnant with the true creed, disseminated By messengers of the eternal kingdom;
And thy assertion, spoken of above, With the new preachers was in unison;
Whence I to visit them the custom took.
Then they became so holy in my sight, That, when Domitian persecuted them, Not without tears of mine were their laments;
And all the while that I on earth remained, Them I befriended, and their upright customs Made me disparage all the other sects.
And ere I led the Greeks unto the rivers Of Thebes, in poetry, I was baptized, But out of fear was covertly a Christian, For a long time professing paganism;
And this lukewarmness caused me the fourth circle To circuit round more than four centuries.
Thou, therefore, who hast raised the covering That hid from me whatever good I speak of, While in ascending we have time to spare, Tell me, in what place is our friend Terentius, Caecilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou knowest;
Tell me if they are damned, and in what alley."
"These, Persius and myself, and others many,"
Replied my Leader, "with that Grecian are Whom more than all the rest the Muses suckled, In the first circle of the prison blind;
Ofttimes we of the mountain hold discourse Which has our nurses ever with itself.
Euripides is with us, Antiphon, Simonides, Agatho, and many other Greeks who of old their brows with laurel decked.
There some of thine own people may be seen, Antigone, Deiphile and Argia, And there Ismene mournful as of old.
There she is seen who pointed out Langia;
There is Tiresias' daughter, and there Thetis, And there Deidamia with her sisters."
Silent already were the poets both, Attent once more in looking round about, From the ascent and from the walls released;
And four handmaidens of the day already Were left behind, and at the pole the fifth Was pointing upward still its burning horn, What time my Guide: "I think that tow'rds the edge Our dexter shoulders it behoves us turn, Circling the mount as we are wont to do."
Thus in that region custom was our ensign;
And we resumed our way with less suspicion For the assenting of that worthy soul They in advance went on, and I alone Behind them, and I listened to their speech, Which gave me lessons in the art of song.
But soon their sweet discourses interrupted A tree which midway in the road we found, With apples sweet and grateful to the smell.
And even as a fir-tree tapers upward From bough to bough, so downwardly did that;
I think in order that no one might climb it.
On that side where our pathway was enclosed Fell from the lofty rock a limpid water, And spread itself abroad upon the leaves.
The Poets twain unto the tree drew near, And from among the foliage a voice Cried: "Of this food ye shall have scarcity."
Then said: "More thoughtful Mary was of making The marriage feast complete and honourable, Than of her mouth which now for you responds;
And for their drink the ancient Roman women With water were content; and Daniel Disparaged food, and understanding won.
The primal age was beautiful as gold;
Acorns it made with hunger savorous, And nectar every rivulet with thirst.
Honey and locusts were the aliments That fed the Baptist in the wilderness;
Whence he is glorious, and so magnified As by the Evangel is revealed to you."
