In the last months of 1586, at the royal monastery of the Escorial in Spain, Federico Zuccari patiently continued the illustration of Dante's journey into the more tenuous ambiance of Purgatory after his appalling experience in Hell.

In the Comedy’s topography, the mountain dedicated to the expiation of sins rises on an island in the centre of the southern hemisphere, entirely surrounded by water. Its sides slope down into seven concentric terraces, each of them aiming at the purification of one of the seven deadly sins. On the top is the Earthly Paradise immersed in an eternal spring.

If the darkness and dark flames of Hell had suggested to Zuccari the use of a two-colour graphic technique, (the red and black pencils perfectly render the dramatic light of the Inferno), Purgatory is instead the only one of the three Canticles that takes place on earth and is therefore illuminated by the light of the sun. Reflecting on the structure to give to this Canticle, Zuccari decided to set up a scene by using different light sources: the sun’s light, artificial light in all its many variations and finally supernatural light, emanating from God. In illustrating the Purgatory cantos, Zuccari therefore opted to use pen and brown ink, sometimes lightly watercolour.

The only significant variation is found in the illustrations of the Earthly Paradise, which, like those of the Elysian Fields within Limbo, were drawn by essentially the red pencil. The change was perhaps motivated by the intention of obtaining a more convincing translation of the unreal atmospheres of that primitive place of purity and candour. In the same sheets, there is also a significant change in the format, which no longer has the average size used so far (about 430 x 580 mm) yet rather a long horizontal sequence with the great Triumph of the Church that reaches really exceptional size (about 480 x 1490 mm).

As has already been observed, the greatest number of plates produced by Zuccari are dedicated to Purgatory. The reason for the predilection given to that Canticle seems to be twofold: on the one hand, at the end of the 16th century, the ethical-pedagogical interpretation of the Comedy was the most widespread, especially in Florence. Therefore, pride of place was not given to the Inferno as it occurred from Romanticism onwards, but rather to the second canticle, with its passage from vice to virtue. Secondly, the representations of the Purgatory quit with the previous simultaneous illustration of different actions, typical of the oldest manuscript tradition. The number of scenes depicted on each sheet tends to be reduced to the unity of place, time and action. The consequential reading of the drawings thus allows the painter to reduce to brief glosses the comments on the relevant passages from Dante.

Finally, the transcriptions of Dante's tercets increase in the plates, arranged according to an order that seems initially oriented to visualize the dialogues between the characters, and subsequently to organize the content of the illustrations through a dense dialogue between word and image.

Purgatorio, Canto I

GDSU inv. 3502 F

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.

Purgatorio, Canto II

GDSU inv. 3561 F

We still were on the border of the sea.
Like people who are thinking of their road,
Who go in heart, and with the body stay

[...]

He cried : " Make haste, make haste to bow the knee .
Behold the Angel of God ! fold thou thy hands !
Henceforward shalt thou see such officers !
See how he scorneth human arguments.
So that nor oar he wants, nor other sail
Than his own wings, between so distant shores.

[...]

Then as still nearer and more near us came
The Bird Divine, more radiant he appeared,
So that near by the eye could not endure him,
But down I cast it ; and he came to shore
With a small vessel, very swift and light.
So that the water swallowed naught thereof.
Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot;
Beatitude seemed written in his face,
And more than a hundred spirits sat within.
"In exitu Israel de Aigypto"
They chanted all together in one voice,
With whatso in that psalm is after written.
Then made he sign of holy rood upon them,
Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore, so
And he departed swiftly as he came.

Purgatorio, Canto II

GDSU inv. 3503 F

Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot;
Beatitude seemed written in his face,
And more than a hundred spirits sat within.

"In exitu Israel de Aegypto"
They chanted all together in one voice,
With whatso in that psalm is after written.

Then made he sign of holy rood upon them,
Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore,
And he departed swiftly as he came. 

Title block by Zuccari: 

He cried: "Make haste, make haste to bow the knee.
Behold the Angel of God! fold thou thy hands!
Henceforward shalt thou see such officers! [...]

Then as still nearer and more near us came
The Bird Divine, more radiant he appeared,
So that near by the eye could not endure him,

But down I cast it; and he came to shore
With a small vessel, very swift and light.
So that the water swallowed naught thereof. 

Purgatorio, Canto II

GDSU inv. 3504 F

"Love, that within my mind discourses with me"
Forthwith began he so melodiously.
The melody within me still is sounding.

My Master, and myself, and all that people 
Which with him were, appeared as satisfied
As if naught else might touch the mind of any.

The souls who had, from seeing me draw breath,
Become aware that I was still alive,
Pallid in their astonishment became;

And as to messenger who bears the olive
The people throng to listen to the news,
And no one shows himself afraid of crowding,

So at the sight of me stood motionless
Those fortunate spirits, all of them, as if
Oblivious to go and make them fair.

One from among them saw I coming forward,
As to embrace me, with such great affection,
That it incited me to do the like.

O empty shadows, save in aspect only!
Three times behind it did I clasp my hands,
As oft returned with them to my own breast!

I think with wonder I depicted me;
Whereat the shadow smiled and backward drew;
And I, pursuing it, pressed farther forward.

Purgatorio, Canto III

GDSU inv. 3505 F

"Why dost thou still mistrust?" my Comforter
Began to say to me turned wholly round;
"Dost thou not think me with thee, and that I guide thee ?

'Tis evening there already where is buried
The body within which I cast a shadow;
'Tis from Brundusium ta'en, and Naples has it.

Now if in front of me no shadow fall,
Marvel not at it more than at the heavens,
Because one ray impedeth not another

To suffer torments, both of cold and heat,
Bodies like this that Power provides, which wills
That how it works be not unveiled to us.

Insane is he who hopeth that our reason
Can traverse the illimitable way,
Which the one Substance in three Persons follows.

Mortals, remain contented at the Quia;
For if ye had been able to see all,
No need there were for Mary to give birth;

And ye have seen desiring without fruit,
Those whose desire would have been quieted,
Which evermore is given them for a grief.

I speak of Aristotle and of Plato,
And many others"; - and here bowed his head
And more he said not, and remained disturbed.

Purgatorio, Canto III

GDSU, inv. 3506 F

True is it, who in contumacy dies
Of Holy Church, though penitent at last,
Must wait upon the outside this bank

Thirty times told the time that he has been
In his presumption, unless such decree
Shorter by means of righteous prayers become. 

Tell us upon what side the mountain slopes.
So that the going up be possible,
For to lose time irks him most who most knows.

And hence, whenever aught is heard or seen
Which keeps the soul intently bent upon it,
Time passes on, and we perceive it not,

Purgatorio, Canto IV

GDSU inv. 3507 F

Spent with fatigue was I, when I began:
"O my sweet Father I turn thee and behold
How I remain alone, unless thou stay"

"O son," he said, "up yonder drag thyself,"
Pointing me to a terrace somewhat higher.
Which on that side encircles all the hill.

These words of his so spurred me on, that I
Strained every nerve, behind him scrambling up,
Until the circle was beneath my feet.

Whereon he said to me: "If Castor and Pollux
Were in the company of yonder mirror,
That up and down conducteth with its light,

Thou wouldst behold the zodiac's jagged wheel
Revolving still more near unto the Bears,
Unless it swerved aside from its old track. [...]

But, if it pleaseth thee, I fain would learn
How far we have to go; for the hill rises
Higher than eyes of mine have power to rise.

And he to me: "This mount is such, that ever
At the beginning down below 'tis tiresome.
And aye the more one climbs, the less it hurts.

Therefore, when it shall seem so pleasant to thee,
That going, up shall be to thee as easy
As going down the current in a boat.

Then at this pathway's ending thou wilt be;
There to repose thy panting breath expect;
No more I answer ; and this I know for true."

And as he finished uttering these words,
A voice close by us sounded: "Peradventure
Thou wilt have need of sitting down ere that."

At sound thereof each one of us turned round,
And saw upon the left hand a great rock.
Which neither I nor he before had noticed.

Thither we drew; and there were persons there
Who in the shadow stood behind the rock,
As one through indolence is wont to stand.

And one of them, who seemed to me fatigued,
Was sitting down, and both his knees embraced,
Holding his face low down between them bowed.

"O my sweet Lord," I said, "do turn thine eye
On him who shows himself more negligent
Then even Sloth herself his sister were."

Then he turned round to us, and he gave heed,
Just lifting up his eyes above his thigh,
And said: "Now go thou up, for thou art valiant."

Purgatorio, Canto V

GDSU inv. 3508 F

Long since we all were slain by violence,
And sinners even to the latest hour;
Then did a light from heaven admonish us.

So that, both penitent and pardoning, forth
From life we issued reconciled to God,
Who with desire to see Him stirs our hearts" 

"Ah, when thou hast returned unto the world,
And rested thee from thy long journeying" 
After the second followed the third spirit,
"Do thou remember me who am the Pia; 

Purgatorio, Canto VI

GDSU inv. 3509 F

As one who suddenly before him sees
Something whereat he marvels, who believes
And yet does not, saying, "It is! it is not!"

So he appeared; and then bowed down his brow,
And with humility returned towards him,
And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him.

Still near to it Virgilius drew, entreating
That it would point us out the best ascent;
And it replied not unto his demand.

But of our native land and of our life
It questioned us ; and the sweet Guide began:
"Mantua," — and the shade, all in itself recluse,

Rose tow'rds him from the place where first it was.
Saying: "O Mantuan, I am Sordello
Of thine own land!" and one embraced the other.

[Purg. VI, 13-24]

THERE WAS THE ARETINE, WHO FROM THE ARMS

UNTAMED OF GHIN DI TACCO HAD HIS

DEATH,

AND HE WHO FLEETING FROM

PURSUIT

WAS DROWNED.

THERE WAS IMPLORING WITH HIS HANDS OUTSTRECTHED

FREDERICK NOVELLO, AND THAT ONE OF PISA

WHO MADE THE GOOD MARZUCCO SEEM SO

STRONG.

I SAW COUNT ORSO; AND THE SOUL DIVIDED 

BY HATRED AND BY ENVY FROM ITS BODY,

AS IT DECLARED, AND NOT FOR CRIME COMMITTED,

PIERRE DE LA BROSSE I SAY; AND HERE

PROVIDE

WHILE STILL ON EARTH THE LADY

OF BRABANT,

SO THAT FOR THIS SHE BE OF NO WORSE

FLOCK

Purgatorio, Canto VII

GDSU, inv. 3510 F

He who sits highest, and the semblance bears
Of having what he should have done neglected,
And to the others' song moves not his lips,

Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power
To heal the wounds that Italy have slain,
So that through others slowly she revives. 

«The Negligent Princes occupied with earthly matters»

Purgatorio, Canto VIII

GDSU inv. 3511 F

Upon the side on which the little valley
No barrier hath, a serpent was; perchance
The same which gave to Eve the bitter food.

Purgatorio, Canto IX

GDSU inv. 3512 F

"Be not intimidated," said my Lord,
"Be reassured, for all is well with us;
Do not restrain, but put forth all thy strength.

Thou hast at length arrived at Purgatory;
See there the cliff that closes it around;
See there the entrance, where it seems disjoined.

Purgatorio, Canto IX

GDSU inv. 3513 F

She laid thee here; and first her beauteous eyes
That open entrance pointed out to me;
Then she and sleep together went away.

In guise of one whose doubts are reassured,
And who to confidence his fear doth change,
After the truth has been discovered to him,

«Seven P's upon my forehead he described with the sword's point, and, "Take heed that thou wash these wounds, when thou shalt be within," he said»

Purgatorio, Canto X

GDSU inv. 3514 F

We mounted upward through a rifted rock,
Which undulated to this side and that,
Even as a wave receding and advancing.

"Here it behoves us use a little art,"
Began my Leader, "to adapt ourselves
Now here, now there, to the receding side."

Purgatorio, Canto X

GDSU inv. 3515 F

Shouldst thou 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."

Purgatorio, Canto X

GDSU inv. 3516 F

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.
Bom 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! 

Purgatorio, Canto XI

GDSU inv. 3517 F   

O thou vain glory of the human powers.
How little green upon thy summit lingers,
If 't be not followed by an age of grossness! 

In painting Cimabue thought that he
Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry,
So that the other's fame is growing dim.

So has one Guido from the other taken
The glory of our tongue, and he perchance
Is bom, who from the nest shall chase them both.

Purgatorio, Canto XI

GDSU inv. 3518 F

"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."

Purgatorio, Canto XII

GDSU inv. 3519 F

As, that some memory may exist of them,
Above the buried dead their tombs in earth
Bear sculptured on them what they were before;

Whence often there we weep for them afresh,
From pricking of remembrance, which alone
To the compassionate doth set its spur;

So saw I there, but of a better semblance
In point of artifice, with figures covered
Whate'er as pathway from the mount projects. 

Purgatorio, Canto XII

GDSU inv. 3520 F

More of the mount by us was now encompassed,
And far more spent the circuit of the sun.
Than had the mind preoccupied imagined,

When he, who ever watchful in advance
Was going on, began: "Lift up thy head,
'Tis no more time to go thus meditating.

Lo there an Angel who is making haste
To come towards us; lo, returning is
From service of the day the sixth handmaiden. 

With reverence thine acts and looks adorn,
So that he may delight to speed us upward;
Think that this day will never dawn again."

Purgatorio, Canto XII

GDSU inv. 3521 F

As we were turning thitherward our persons,
"Beati pauperes spiritu" voices
Sang in such wise that speech could tell it not.

Ah me! how different are these entrances
From the Infernal! for with anthems here
One enters, and below with wild laments.

Purgatorio, Canto XIII

GDSU inv. 3522 F

And the good Master said: "This circle scourges
The sin of envy, and on that account
Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge.

The bridle of another sound shall be;
I think that thou wilt hear it, as I judge,
Before thou comest to the Pass of Pardon. 

Purgatorio, Canto XIII

GDSU inv. 3523 F

Covered with sackcloth vile they seemed to me,
And one sustained the other with his shoulder,
And all of them were by the bank sustained.

Thus do the blind, in want of livelihood.
Stand at the doors of churches asking alms,
And one upon another leans his head.

So that in others pity soon may rise,
Not only at the accent of their words,
But at their aspect, which no less implores. 

Purgatorio, Canto XIV

GDSU inv. 3524 F

When we became alone by going onward,
Thunder, when it doth cleave the air, appeared
A voice, that counter to us came, exclaiming:

"Shall slay me whosoever findeth me!"
And fled as the reverberation dies
If suddenly the cloud asunder bursts.

As soon as hearing had a truce from this,
Behold another, with so great a crash,
That it resembled thunderings following fast:

"I am Aglaurus, who became a stone!"
And then, to press myself close to the Poet,
I backward, and not forward, took a step. [...]

The heavens are calling you, and wheel around you,
Displaying to you their eternal beauties,
And still your eye is looking on the ground;

Whence He, who all discerns, chastises you."

Purgatorio, Canto XV

GDSU inv. 3525 F

"Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet
The family of heaven," he answered me;
"An angel 'tis, who comes to invite us upward.

Soon will it be, that to behold these things
Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee
As much as nature fashioned thee to feel."

Purgatorio, Canto XV

GDSU inv. 3526 F

Even as I wished to say, " Thou dost appease me,"
I saw that I had reached another circle,
So that my eager eyes made me keep silence.

There it appeared to me that in a vision
Ecstatic on a sudden I was rapt,
And in a temple many persons saw;

And at the door a woman, with the sweet
Behaviour of a mother, saying: "Son,
Why in this manner hast thou dealt with us?

Lo, sorrowing, thy father and myself
Were seeking for thee," — and as here she ceased,
That which appeared at first had disappeared.

Then I beheld another with those waters
Adown her cheeks which grief distils whenever
From great disdain of others it is born,

And saying: "If of that city thou art lord.
For whose name was such strife among the gods,
And whence doth every science scintillate,

Avenge thyself on those audacious arms
That clasped our daughter, O Pisistratus;"
And the lord seemed to me benign and mild

To answer her with aspect temperate:
"What shall we do to those who wish us ill,
If he who loves us be by us condemned?" 

Then saw I people hot in fire of wrath.
With stones a young man slaying, clamorously
Still crying to each other, "Kill him! kill him!"

And him I saw bow down, because of death
That weighed already on him, to the earth,
But of his eyes made ever gates to heaven,

Imploring the high Lord, in so great strife,
That he would pardon those his persecutors.
With such an aspect as unlocks compassion.

Purgatorio, Canto XV

GDSU inv. 3527 F

Darkness of hell, and of a night deprived
Of every planet under a poor sky,
As much as may be tenebrous with cloud,

Ne'er made unto my sight so thick a veil.
As did that smoke which there enveloped us,
Nor to the feeling of so rough a texture;

For not an eye it suffered to stay open;
Whereat mine escort, faithful and sagacious,
Drew near to me and offered me his shoulder.

E'en as a blind man goes behind his guide,
Lest he should wander, or should strike against
Aught that may harm or peradventure kill him,

So went I through the bitter and foul air.
Listening unto my Leader, who said only,
"Look that from me thou be not separated."

Voices I heard, and every one appeared 
To supplicate for peace and misericord
The Lamb of God who takes away our sins.

Still "Agnus Dei" their exordium was;
One word there was in all, and metre one,
So that all harmony appeared among them.

"Master," I said, "are spirits those I hear?
And he to me: "Thou apprehendest truly,
And they the knot of anger go unloosing."

Now who art thou, that cleavest through our smoke
And art discoursing of us even as though
Thou didst by calends still divide the time?

"After this manner by a voice was spoken;
Whereon my Master said: "Do thou reply,
And ask if on this side the way go upward."

And I: "O creature that dost cleanse thyself
To return beautiful to Him who made thee,
Thou shalt hear marvels if thou follow me." [...]

Thereon began I: "With that swathing band
Which death unwindeth am I going upward,
And hither came I through the infernal anguish.

And if God in his grace has me infolded,
So that he wills that I behold his court
By method wholly out of modern usage,

Conceal not from me who ere death thou wast.
But tell it me, and tell me if I go
Right for the pass, and be thy words our escort."

"Lombard was I, and I was Marco called:
The world I knew, and loved that excellence,
At which has each one now unbent his bow.

For mounting upward, thou art going right."
Thus he made answer, and subjoined: "I pray thee
To pray for me when thou shalt be above." 

Purgatorio, Canto XVII

GDSU inv. 3528 F

Thus, to the faithful footsteps of my Master
Mating mine own, I issued from that cloud
To rays already dead on the low shores.

O thou, Imagination, that dost steal us
So from without sometimes, that man perceives not,
Although around may sound a thousand trumpets,

Who moveth thee, if sense impel thee not?
Moves thee a light, which in the heaven takes form.
By self, or by a will that downward guides it.

Of her impiety, who changed her form
Into the bird that most delights in singing,
In my imagining appeared the trace;

And hereupon my mind was so withdrawn
Within itself that from without there came
Nothing that then might be received by it.

Then reigned within my lofty fantasy
One crucified, disdainful and ferocious
In countenance, and even thus was dying.

Around him were the great Ahasuerus,
Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai,
Who was in word and action so entire.

And even as this image burst asunder
Of its own self, in fashion of a bubble
In which the water it was made of fails,

There rose up in my vision a young maiden
Bitterly weeping, and she said: "O queen,
Why hast thou wished in anger to be naught?

Thou'st slain thyself, Lavinia not to lose;
Now hast thou lost me; I am she who mourns,
Mother, at thine ere at another's ruin." 

Purgatorio, Canto XVII

GDSU inv. 3529 F

As sleep is broken, when upon a sudden
New light strikes in upon the eyelids closed,
And broken quivers ere it dieth wholly,

So this imagining of mine fell down
As soon as the effulgence smote my face.
Greater by far than what is in our wont.

I turned me round to see where I might be,
When said a voice, "Here is the passage up;"
Which from all other purposes removed me.

And made my wish so full of eagerness
To look and see who was it that was speaking,
It never rests till meeting face to face;

But as before the sun, which quells the sight,
And in its own excess its figure veils.
Even so my power was insufficient here.

"This is a spirit divine, who in the way
Of going up directs us without asking,
And who with his own hght himself conceals.

He does with us as man doth with himself;
For he who sees the need, and waits the asking,
Malignly leans already tow'rds denial.

Accord we now our feet to such inviting,
Let us make haste to mount ere it grow dark;
For then we could not till the day return."

Thus my Conductor said; and I and he
Together turned our footsteps to a stairway;
And I, as soon as the first step I reached,

Near me perceived a motion as of wings,
And fanning in the face, and saying, "Beati
Pacifici" who are without ill anger."

Purgatorio, Canto XVIII

GDSU inv. 3530 F

"Say, my sweet Father, what delinquency
Is purged here in the circle where we are?
Although our feet may pause, pause not thy speech."

"And he to me: "The love of good, remiss
In what it should have done, is here restored;
Here plied again the ill-belated oar; 

Purgatorio, Canto XVIII

GDSU inv. 3531 F

So full of longing are we to move onward,
That stay we cannot; therefore pardon us,
If thou for churlishness our justice take.

I was San Zeno's Abbot at Verona,
Under the empire of good Barbarossa,
Of whom still sorrowing Milan holds discourse;

Purgatorio, Canto XIX

GDSU inv. 3532 F 

It was the hour when the diurnal heat
No more can warm the coldness of the moon,
Vanquished by earth, or peradventure Saturn,

When geomancers their Fortuna Major
See in the orient before the dawn
Rise by a path that long remains not dim,

There came to me in dreams a stammering woman,
Squint in her eyes, and in her feet distorted,
With hands dissevered, and of sallow hue.

Purgatorio, Canto XIX

GDSU inv. 3533 F

On the fifth circle when I had come forth,
People I saw upon it who were weeping,
Stretched prone upon the ground, all downward turned.

"Adhaesit pavimento anima mea,"
I heard them say with sighings so profound,
That hardly could the words be understood.

Purgatorio, Canto XIX

GDSU inv. 3534 F

Ill strives the will against a better will;
Therefore, to pleasure him, against my pleasure
I drew the sponge not saturate from the water.

Onward I moved, and onward moved my Leader,
Through vacant places, skirting still the rock,
As on a wall close to the battlements;

For they that through their eyes pour drop by drop
The malady which all the world pervades,
On the other side too near the verge approach.

Purgatorio, Canto XIX

GDSU inv. 3535 F

And lo! in the same manner as Luke writeth
That Christ appeared to two upon the way
From the sepulchral cave already risen,

A shade appeared to us, and came behind us,
Down gazing on the prostrate multitude,
Nor were we ware of it, until it spake,

Saying, "My brothers, may God give you peace!"
We turned us suddenly, and Virgilius rendered
To him the countersign thereto conforming.

Purgatorio, Canto XXII

GDSU inv. 3536 F

Already was the Angel left behind us,
The Angel who to the sixth round had turned us,
Having erased one mark from off my face;

And those who have in justice their desire
Had said to us, "Beati," in their voices,
With "sitio," and without more ended it.

Purgatorio, Canto XXII

GDSU inv. 3537 F

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.

Purgatorio, Canto XXIII

GDSU inv. 3538 F

In the same way that thoughtful pilgrims do.
Who, unknown people on the road o'ertaking,
Turn themselves round to them, and do not stop,

Even thus, behind us with a swifter motion
Coming and passing onward, gazed upon us
A crowd of spirits silent and devout.

Each in his eyes was dark and cavernous,
Pallid in face, and so emaciate
That from the bones the skin did shape itself. 

Purgatorio, Canto XXIV

GDSU inv. 3539 F

Now stay behind; because the time so precious
Is in this kingdom, that I lose too much
By coming onward thus abreast with thee."

As sometimes issues forth upon a gallop
A cavalier from out a troop that ride,
And seeks the honour of the first encounter,

So he with greater strides departed from us;
And on the road remained I with those two,
Who were such mighty marshals of the world.

And when before us he had gone so far
Mine eyes became to him such pursuivants
As was my understanding to his words,

Appeared to me with laden and living boughs
Another apple-tree, and not far distant,
From having but just then turned thitherward.

Purgatorio, Canto XXIV

GDSU inv. 3540 F

Then set at large upon the lonely road,
A thousand steps and more we onward went,
In contemplation, each without a word.

"What go ye thinking thus, ye three alone?"
Said suddenly a voice, whereat I started
As terrified and timid beasts are wont.

Purgatorio, Canto XXV

GDSU inv. 3541 F

And now unto the last of all the circles
Had we arrived, and to the right hand turned,
And were attentive to another care.

There the embankment shoots forth flames of fire,
And upward doth the cornice breathe a blast
That drives them back, and from itself sequesters.

Hence we must needs go on the open side,
And one by one; and I did fear the fire
On this side, and on that the falling down. 

Purgatorio, Canto XXVI

GDSU inv. 3542 F

For through the middle of the burning road
There came a people face to face with these,
Which held me in suspense with gazing at them.

There see I hastening upon either side
Each of the shades, and kissing one another
Without a pause, content with brief salute.

Thus in the middle of their brown battalions
Muzzle to muzzle one ant meets another
Perchance to spy their journey or their fortune. 

Purgatorio, Canto XXVII

GDSU inv. 3543 F

As when he vibrates forth his earliest rays,
In regions where his Maker shed his blood,
(The Ebro falling under lofty Libra,

And waters in the Ganges burnt with noon,)
So stood the Sun; hence was the day departing,
When the glad angel of God appeared to us.

Purgatorio, Canto XXVIII

GDSU inv. 3544 F

"That apple sweet, which through so many branches
The care of mortals goeth in pursuit of,
To-day shall put in peace thy hungerings."

Speaking to me, Virgilius of such words
As these made use; and never were there guerdons
That could in pleasantness compare with these.

Purgatorio, Canto XXIX

GDSU inv. 3545 F

A little farther on, seven trees of gold
In semblance the long space still intervening
Between ourselves and them did counterfeit;

But when I had approached so near to them
The common object, which the sense deceives,
Lost not by distance any of its marks.

The faculty that lends discourse to reason
Did apprehend that they were candlesticks,
And in the voices of the song "Hosanna!"

Above them flamed the harness beautiful,
Far brighter than the moon in the serene
Of midnight, at the middle of her month. 

Purgatorio, Canto XXIX

GDSU inv. 3546 F

When I upon my margin had such post
That nothing but the stream divided us,
Better to see I gave my steps repose;

And I beheld the flamelets onward go,
Leaving behind themselves the air depicted,
And they of trailing pennons had the semblance,

So that it overhead remained distinct
With sevenfold lists, all of them of the colours
Whence the sun's bow is made, and Delia's girdle. 

Purgatorio, Canto XXX

GDSU inv. 3547 F

I turned me round, with admiration filled,
To good Virgilius, and he answered me
With visage no less full of wonderment.

Then back I turned my face to those high things.
Which moved themselves towards us so sedately,
They had been distanced by new-wedded brides.

The lady chid me: "Why dost thou burn only
So with affection for the living lights,
And dost not look at what comes after them?" 

Purgatorio, Canto XXXI

GDSU inv. 3548 F

"O THOU who art beyond the sacred river,"
Turning to me the point of her discourse,
That edgewise even had seemed to me so keen,

She recommenced, continuing without pause,
"Say, say if this be true; to such a charge,
Thy own confession needs must be conjoined." 

Purgatorio, Canto XXXIII

GDSU inv. 3549 F

Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statius
Said, in her womanly manner, "Come with him."

If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
For writing it, I yet would sing in part
Of the sweet draught that ne'er would satiate me;

But inasmuch as full are all the leaves
Made ready for this second canticle,
The curb of art no farther lets me go.

From the most holy water I returned
Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
That are renewed with a new foliage.

Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.