the earth." And I to him, "Thy true speech brings good humility
to my heart, and thou allayest a great swelling in me; but who is
he of whom thou now wast speaking?" "He is," he answered,
"Provinzan Salvani;[8] and he is here, because he was
presumptuous in bringing all Siena to his hands. He has gone
thus--and he goes without repose--ever since he died: such money
doth he pay in satisfaction, who is on earth too daring." And I,
"If that spirit who awaits the verge of life ere he repents
abides there below, and unless good prayer further him ascends
not hither, ere as much time pass us he lived, how has this
coining been granted unto him?" "When he was living most
renowned," said he, "laying aside all shame, of his own accord he
planted himself in the Campo of Siena,[9] and there, to draw his
friend from the punishment he was enduring in the prison of
Charles, brought himself to tremble in every vein. More I will
not say, and I know that I speak darkly; but little time will
pass, before thy neighbors will so act that thou wilt he able to
gloss it.[10] This deed released him from those limits."[11]

[1] This stooping is the symbol of Dante's consciousness of pride
as his own besetting sin.

[2] Oderisi of Gubbio and Franco of Bologna were both eminent in
the art called miniare in Italian, enluminer in French.

[3] Ages in which no progress is made.

[4] The first Guido is doubtless Guido Guinicelli, whom Dante
calls (see Canto XXVI.) his master; the other probably Dante's
friend, Guido Cavalcanti.

[5] Dante's words are pappo and dindi, childish terms for "bread"
and "money."

[6] The mad Florentine people were utterly cast down in 1260, at
the battle of Montaperti.

[7] The sun.

[8] Provinzano Salvani was one of the chief supporters of the
Ghibelline cause in Tuscany. He was a man of great qualities and
capacity, but proud and presumptuous. Defeated and taken prisoner
at the battle of Colle, in 1269, he was beheaded.

[9] The Campo of Siena is her chief public square and
marketplace, set round with palaces. The friend of Provinzano is
said by the old commentators to have fought for Conradin against
Charles of Anjou, and, being taken captive, to have been
condemned to death. His ransom was fixed at ten thousand florins.
Provinzano, not being able to pay this sum from his own means,
took his seat in the Campo and humiliated himself to beg of the
passers-by.

[10] The meaning of the dark words seems to be: Exile and poverty
will compel thee to beg, and begging to tremble in every vein.

[11] This deed of humility and charity released him from the
necessity of tarrying outside the gate of Purgatory.



CANTO XII. First Ledge: the Proud.--Examples of the punishment of
Pride graven on the pavement.--Meeting with an Angel who removes
one of the P's.--Ascent to the Second Ledge.


Side by side, like oxen who go yoked, I went on with that
burdened spirit so long as the sweet Pedagogue allowed it; but
when he said, "Leave him, and come on, for here it is well that,
both with sail and oars, each as much as he can should urge his
bark," I straitened up my body again, as is required for walking,
although my thoughts remained both bowed down and abated.

I was moving on, and following willingly the steps of my Master,
and both now were showing how light we were, when he said to me,
"Turn thine eyes downward; it will be well for thee, in order to
solace the way, to look upon the bed of thy footprints." As above
the buried, so that there may be memory of them, their tombs in
earth bear inscribed that which they were before,--whence
oftentimes is weeping for them there, through the pricking of
remembrance, which only to the pious gives the spur,--so saw I
figured there, but of better semblance in respect of skill, all
that for pathway juts out from the mountain.

I saw him who was created more noble than any other creature,[1]
down from heaven with lightning flash descending, at one side.

[1] Lucifer.


I saw Briareus[1] transfixed by the celestial bolt, lying at the
other side, heavy upon the earth in mortal chill. I saw
Thymbraeus,[2] I saw Pallas and Mars, still armed, around their
father, gazing at the scattered limbs of the giants.

[1] Examples from classic and biblical mythology alternate.

[2] Apollo, so called from his temple at Thymbra, not far from
Troy, where Achilles is said to have slain Paris. Virgil
(Georgics, iv. 323) uses this epithet.


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