Purgatory: Canto XVIII. Fourth Ledge The Slothful
Fourth Ledge The Slothful.--Discourse of Virgil on
Love and Free Will.--Throng of Spirits running in haste to redeem
their Sin.--The Abbot of San Zone.--Dante falls asleep.
The lofty Teacher had put an end to his discourse, and looked
attentive on my face to see if I appeared content; and I, whom a
fresh thirst already was goading, was silent outwardly, and
within was saying, "Perhaps the too much questioning I make
annoys him." But that true Father, who perceived the timid wish
which did not disclose itself, by speaking gave me hardihood to
speak. Then I, "My sight is so vivified in thy light that I
discern clearly all that thy discourse may imply or declare:
therefore I pray thee, sweet Father dear, that thou demonstrate
to me the love to which thou referrest every good action and its
contrary." "Direct," he said, "toward me the keen eyes of the
understanding, and the error of the blind who make themselves
leaders will be manifest to thee. The mind, which is created apt
to love, is mobile unto everything that pleases, soon as by
pleasure it is roused to action. Your faculty of apprehension
draws an image from a real existence, and within you displays it,
so that it makes the mind turn to it; and if, thus turned, the
mind incline toward it, that inclination is love, that
inclination is nature which is bound anew in you by pleasure.[1]
Then, as the fire moveth upward by its own form,[2] which is born
to ascend thither where it lasts longest in its material, so the
captive mind enters into longing, which is a spiritual motion,
and never rests until the thing beloved makes it rejoice. Now it
may be apparent to thee, how far the truth is hidden from the
people who aver that every love is in itself a laudable thing;
because perchance its matter appears always to be good;[3] but
not every seal is good although the wax be good."
[1] In his discourse in the preceding canto, Virgil has declared
that neither the Creator nor his creatures are ever without love,
either native in the soul, or proceeding from the mind. Here he
explains how the mind is disposed to love by inclination to an
image within itself of some object which gives it pleasure. This
inclination is natural to it; or in his phrase, nature is bound
anew in man by the pleasure which arouses the love. All this is a
doctrine derived directly from St. Thomas Aquinas. "It is the
property of every nature to have some inclination, which is a
natural appetite, or love."--Summa Theol., 1, lxxvi. i.
[2] Form is here used in its scholastic meaning. " The active
power of anything depends on its form, which is the principle of
its action. Fur the form is either the nature itself of the
thing, as in those which are pure form; or it is a constituent of
the nature of the thing, as in those which are composed of matter
and form."--Summa Theol., 3, xiii. i. Fire by its form, or
nature, seeks the sphere of fire between the ether and the moon.
[3] The object may seem desirable to the mind, without being a
fit object of desire.
"Thy words, and my understanding which follows," replied I to
him, "have revealed love to me; but that has made me more full of
doubt. For if love is offered to us from without, and if with
other foot the soul go not, if strait or crooked she go is not
her own merit."[1] And he to me, "So much as reason seeth here
can I tell thee; beyond that await still for Beatrice; for it is
a work of faith. Every substantial form that is separate from
matter, and is united with it,[2] has a specific virtue residing
in itself which without action is not perceived, nor shows itself
save by its effect, as by green leaves the life in a plant. Yet,
whence the intelligence of the first cognitions comes man doth
not know, nor whence the affection for the first objects of
desire, which exist in you even as zeal in the bee for making
honey: and this first will admits not desert of praise or blame.
Now in order that to this every other may be gathered,[3] the
virtue that counsels [4] is innate in you, and ought to keep the
threshold of assent. This is the principle wherefrom is derived
the reason of desert in you, according as it gathers in and
winnows good and evil loves. Those who in reasoning went to the
foundation took note of this innate liberty, wherefore they
bequeathed morals[5] to the world. Assuming then that every love
which is kindled within you arises of necessity, the power exists
in you to restrain it. This noble virtue Beatrice calls the free
will, and therefore see that thou have it in mind, if she take to
speaking of it with thee."
[1] If love be aroused in the soul by an external object, and if
it be natural to the soul to love, how does she deserve praise or
blame for loving?
[2] The substantial form is the soul, which is separate from
matter but united with it.
[3] In order that every other will may conform with the first,
that is, with the affection natural to man for the primal objects
of desire.
[4] The faculty of reason, the virtue which counsels and on which
free will depends, is "the specific virtue" of the soul.
[5] The rules of that morality which would have no existence were
it not for freedom of the will.
The moon, belated[1] almost to midnight, shaped[2] like a bucket
that is all ablaze, was making the stars appear fewer to us, and
was running counter to the heavens[3] along those paths which the
sun inflames, when the man of Rome sees it between Sardinia and
Corsica at its setting;[4] and that gentle shade, for whom
Pietola[5] is more famed than the Mantuan city, had laid down the
burden of my loading:[6] wherefore I, who had harvested his open
and plain discourse upon my questions, was standing like a man
who, drowsy, rambles. But this drowsiness was taken from me
suddenly by folk, who, behind our backs, had now come round to
us. And such as was the rage and throng, which of old Ismenus and
Asopus saw at night along their banks, in case the Thebans were
in need of Bacchus, so, according to what I saw of them as they
came, those who by good will and right love are ridden curve
their steps along that circle. Soon they were upon us; because,
running, all that great crowd was moving on; and two in front,
weeping, were crying out, "Mary ran with haste unto the mountain
[7] and Caesar, to subdue Ilerda, thrust at Marseilles, and then
ran on to Spain."[8] "Swift, swift, that time be not lost by
little love," cried the others following, "for zeal in doing well
may refreshen grace." "O people, in whom keen fervor now perhaps
redeems your negligence and delay, through lukewarmness, in
well-doing, this one who is alive (and surely I lie not to you)
wishes to go up, soon as the sun may shine again for us;
therefore tell us where is the opening near." These words were of
my Guide; and one of those spirits said: "Come thou behind us,
and thou shalt find the gap. We are so filled with desire to move
on that we cannot stay; therefore pardon, if thou holdest our
obligation for churlishness. I was Abbot[9] of San Zeno at
Verona, under the empire of the good Barbarossa, of whom Milan,
still grieving, doth discourse. And he has one foot already in
the grave,[10] who soon will lament on account of that monastery,
and will be sorry for having had power there; because in place of
its true shepherd he has put his son, ill in his whole body and
worse in mind, and who was evil-born." I know not if more he
said, or if he were silent, so far beyond us he had already run
by; but this I heard, and to retain it pleased me.
[1] In its rising.
[2] Gibbous, like certain buckets still in use in Italy.
[3] "These words describe the daily backing of the moon through
the signs from west to east."--Moore.
[4] These islands are invisible from Rome, but the line that runs
from Rome between them is a little south of east.
[5] The modern name of Andes, the birthplace of Virgil, and
therefore more famous than Mautua itself.
[6] With which I had laden him.
[7] Luke, i. 36.
[8] Examples of zeal.
[9] Unknown, save for this mention of him.
[10] Alberto della Scala, lord of Verona; he died in 1301. He had
forced upon the monastery for its abbot his deformed and depraved
illegitimate son.
And he who was at every need my succor said: "Turn thee this way;
see two of them coming, giving a bite to sloth." In rear of all
they were saying: "The people for whom the sea was opened were
dead before their heirs beheld the Jordan;[1] and those who
endured not the toil even to the end with the son of Anchises,[2]
offered themselves to life without glory."
[1] Numbers, xiv. 28.
[2] But left him, to remain with Acestes in Sicily--Aeneid, v.
751.
Then when those shades were so far parted from us that they could
no more be seen, a new thought set itself within me, from which
many others and diverse were born; and I so strayed from one unto
another that, thus wandering, I closed my eyes, and transmuted my
meditation into dream.
Love and Free Will.--Throng of Spirits running in haste to redeem
their Sin.--The Abbot of San Zone.--Dante falls asleep.
The lofty Teacher had put an end to his discourse, and looked
attentive on my face to see if I appeared content; and I, whom a
fresh thirst already was goading, was silent outwardly, and
within was saying, "Perhaps the too much questioning I make
annoys him." But that true Father, who perceived the timid wish
which did not disclose itself, by speaking gave me hardihood to
speak. Then I, "My sight is so vivified in thy light that I
discern clearly all that thy discourse may imply or declare:
therefore I pray thee, sweet Father dear, that thou demonstrate
to me the love to which thou referrest every good action and its
contrary." "Direct," he said, "toward me the keen eyes of the
understanding, and the error of the blind who make themselves
leaders will be manifest to thee. The mind, which is created apt
to love, is mobile unto everything that pleases, soon as by
pleasure it is roused to action. Your faculty of apprehension
draws an image from a real existence, and within you displays it,
so that it makes the mind turn to it; and if, thus turned, the
mind incline toward it, that inclination is love, that
inclination is nature which is bound anew in you by pleasure.[1]
Then, as the fire moveth upward by its own form,[2] which is born
to ascend thither where it lasts longest in its material, so the
captive mind enters into longing, which is a spiritual motion,
and never rests until the thing beloved makes it rejoice. Now it
may be apparent to thee, how far the truth is hidden from the
people who aver that every love is in itself a laudable thing;
because perchance its matter appears always to be good;[3] but
not every seal is good although the wax be good."
[1] In his discourse in the preceding canto, Virgil has declared
that neither the Creator nor his creatures are ever without love,
either native in the soul, or proceeding from the mind. Here he
explains how the mind is disposed to love by inclination to an
image within itself of some object which gives it pleasure. This
inclination is natural to it; or in his phrase, nature is bound
anew in man by the pleasure which arouses the love. All this is a
doctrine derived directly from St. Thomas Aquinas. "It is the
property of every nature to have some inclination, which is a
natural appetite, or love."--Summa Theol., 1, lxxvi. i.
[2] Form is here used in its scholastic meaning. " The active
power of anything depends on its form, which is the principle of
its action. Fur the form is either the nature itself of the
thing, as in those which are pure form; or it is a constituent of
the nature of the thing, as in those which are composed of matter
and form."--Summa Theol., 3, xiii. i. Fire by its form, or
nature, seeks the sphere of fire between the ether and the moon.
[3] The object may seem desirable to the mind, without being a
fit object of desire.
"Thy words, and my understanding which follows," replied I to
him, "have revealed love to me; but that has made me more full of
doubt. For if love is offered to us from without, and if with
other foot the soul go not, if strait or crooked she go is not
her own merit."[1] And he to me, "So much as reason seeth here
can I tell thee; beyond that await still for Beatrice; for it is
a work of faith. Every substantial form that is separate from
matter, and is united with it,[2] has a specific virtue residing
in itself which without action is not perceived, nor shows itself
save by its effect, as by green leaves the life in a plant. Yet,
whence the intelligence of the first cognitions comes man doth
not know, nor whence the affection for the first objects of
desire, which exist in you even as zeal in the bee for making
honey: and this first will admits not desert of praise or blame.
Now in order that to this every other may be gathered,[3] the
virtue that counsels [4] is innate in you, and ought to keep the
threshold of assent. This is the principle wherefrom is derived
the reason of desert in you, according as it gathers in and
winnows good and evil loves. Those who in reasoning went to the
foundation took note of this innate liberty, wherefore they
bequeathed morals[5] to the world. Assuming then that every love
which is kindled within you arises of necessity, the power exists
in you to restrain it. This noble virtue Beatrice calls the free
will, and therefore see that thou have it in mind, if she take to
speaking of it with thee."
[1] If love be aroused in the soul by an external object, and if
it be natural to the soul to love, how does she deserve praise or
blame for loving?
[2] The substantial form is the soul, which is separate from
matter but united with it.
[3] In order that every other will may conform with the first,
that is, with the affection natural to man for the primal objects
of desire.
[4] The faculty of reason, the virtue which counsels and on which
free will depends, is "the specific virtue" of the soul.
[5] The rules of that morality which would have no existence were
it not for freedom of the will.
The moon, belated[1] almost to midnight, shaped[2] like a bucket
that is all ablaze, was making the stars appear fewer to us, and
was running counter to the heavens[3] along those paths which the
sun inflames, when the man of Rome sees it between Sardinia and
Corsica at its setting;[4] and that gentle shade, for whom
Pietola[5] is more famed than the Mantuan city, had laid down the
burden of my loading:[6] wherefore I, who had harvested his open
and plain discourse upon my questions, was standing like a man
who, drowsy, rambles. But this drowsiness was taken from me
suddenly by folk, who, behind our backs, had now come round to
us. And such as was the rage and throng, which of old Ismenus and
Asopus saw at night along their banks, in case the Thebans were
in need of Bacchus, so, according to what I saw of them as they
came, those who by good will and right love are ridden curve
their steps along that circle. Soon they were upon us; because,
running, all that great crowd was moving on; and two in front,
weeping, were crying out, "Mary ran with haste unto the mountain
[7] and Caesar, to subdue Ilerda, thrust at Marseilles, and then
ran on to Spain."[8] "Swift, swift, that time be not lost by
little love," cried the others following, "for zeal in doing well
may refreshen grace." "O people, in whom keen fervor now perhaps
redeems your negligence and delay, through lukewarmness, in
well-doing, this one who is alive (and surely I lie not to you)
wishes to go up, soon as the sun may shine again for us;
therefore tell us where is the opening near." These words were of
my Guide; and one of those spirits said: "Come thou behind us,
and thou shalt find the gap. We are so filled with desire to move
on that we cannot stay; therefore pardon, if thou holdest our
obligation for churlishness. I was Abbot[9] of San Zeno at
Verona, under the empire of the good Barbarossa, of whom Milan,
still grieving, doth discourse. And he has one foot already in
the grave,[10] who soon will lament on account of that monastery,
and will be sorry for having had power there; because in place of
its true shepherd he has put his son, ill in his whole body and
worse in mind, and who was evil-born." I know not if more he
said, or if he were silent, so far beyond us he had already run
by; but this I heard, and to retain it pleased me.
[1] In its rising.
[2] Gibbous, like certain buckets still in use in Italy.
[3] "These words describe the daily backing of the moon through
the signs from west to east."--Moore.
[4] These islands are invisible from Rome, but the line that runs
from Rome between them is a little south of east.
[5] The modern name of Andes, the birthplace of Virgil, and
therefore more famous than Mautua itself.
[6] With which I had laden him.
[7] Luke, i. 36.
[8] Examples of zeal.
[9] Unknown, save for this mention of him.
[10] Alberto della Scala, lord of Verona; he died in 1301. He had
forced upon the monastery for its abbot his deformed and depraved
illegitimate son.
And he who was at every need my succor said: "Turn thee this way;
see two of them coming, giving a bite to sloth." In rear of all
they were saying: "The people for whom the sea was opened were
dead before their heirs beheld the Jordan;[1] and those who
endured not the toil even to the end with the son of Anchises,[2]
offered themselves to life without glory."
[1] Numbers, xiv. 28.
[2] But left him, to remain with Acestes in Sicily--Aeneid, v.
751.
Then when those shades were so far parted from us that they could
no more be seen, a new thought set itself within me, from which
many others and diverse were born; and I so strayed from one unto
another that, thus wandering, I closed my eyes, and transmuted my
meditation into dream.
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