ask if by this way one goeth up." And I, "O creature, that
cleansest thyself in order to return beautiful unto Him who made
thee, a marvel shalt thou hear if thou accompanyest me." "I will
follow thee, so far as is permitted me," it replied, "and if the
smoke allows not seeing, in its stead hearing shall keep us
joined." Then I began, "With that swathing band which death
unbinds I go upward, and I came hither through the infernal
anguish. And if God bath so enclosed me in His grace that He
wills that I should see His court by a mode wholly out of modern
usage, conceal not from me who thou wert before thy death, but
tell it to me, and tell me if I am going rightly to the pass; and
let thy words be our guides." "Lombard I was, and was called
Marco; the world I knew, and that worth I loved, toward which
every one hath now unbent his bow. For mounting thou art going
rightly." Thus he replied, and added, "I pray thee that thou pray
for me when thou shalt he above." And I to him, "I pledge my
faith to thee to do that which thou askest of me; but I am
bursting inwardly with a doubt, if I free not myself of it; at
first it was simple, and now it is made double by thy words which
make certain to me, here as elsewhere, that wherewith I couple
it.[3] The world is indeed as utterly deserted by every virtue as
thou declarest to me, and with iniquity is big and covered; but I
pray that thou point out to me the cause, so that I may see it,
and that I may show it to others; for one sets it in the heavens,
and one here below."

[1] "The Lamb of God."

[2] By those in the eternal world dine is not reckoned by earth
divisions.

[3] The doubt was occasioned by Guido del Duca's words (Canto
XV.), in regard to the prevalence of evil in Tuscany, arising
either from misfortune of the place, or through the bad habits of
men. The fact of the iniquity of men was now reaffirmed by Marco
Lombardo; Dante accepts the fact as certain, and his doubt is
coupled with it.


A deep sigh that grief wrung into "Ay me!" he first sent forth,
and then began, "Brother, the world is blind, and thou forsooth
comest from it. Ye who are living refer every cause upward to the
heavens only, as if they of necessity moved all things with
themselves. If this were so, free will would be destroyed in you,
and there would be no justice in having joy for good, and grief
for evil. The heavens initiate your movements: I do not say all
of them; but, supposing that I said it, light for good and for
evil is given to you; and free will, which, if it endure fatigue
in the first battles with the heavens, afterwards, if it be well
nurtured, conquers everything. To a greater force, and to a
better nature, ye, free, are subjected, and that creates the mind
in you, which the heavens have not in their charge.' Therefore if
the present world goes astray, in you is the cause, in you let it
be sought; and of this I will now be a true informant for thee.

[1] The soul of man is the direct creation of God, and is in
immediate subjection to His power; it is not in charge of the
Heavens, and its will is free to resist their mingled and
imperfect influences.


"Forth from the hand of Him who delights in it ere it exist, like
to a little maid who, weeping and smiling, wantons childishly,
issues the simple little soul, which knows nothing, save that,
proceeding from a glad Maker, it willingly turns to that which
allures it. Of trivial good at first it tastes the savor; by this
it is deceived and runs after it, if guide or bridle bend not its
love. Wherefore it was needful to impose law as a bridle; needful
to have a king who could discern at least the tower of the true
city. The laws exist, but who set hand to them? Not one: because
the shepherd who is in advance can ruminate, but has not his
hoofs divided?[1] Wherefore the people, who see their guide only
at that good[2] whereof they are greedy, feed upon that, and seek
no further. Well canst thou see that the evil leading is the
cause that has made the world guilty, and not nature which in you
may be corrupted. Rome, which made the world good, was wont to
have two Suns,[3] which made visible both one road and the other,
that of the world and that of God. One has extinguished the
other; and the sword is joined to the crozier; and the two
together must of necessity go ill, because, being joined, one
feareth not the other. If thou believest rue not, consider the
grain,[4] for every herb is known by its seed.

[1] The shepherd who precedes the flock, and should lead it
aright, is the Pope. A mystical interpretation of the injunction
upon the children of Israel (Leviticus, xi.) in regard to clean
and unclean beasts was familiar to the schoolmen. St. Augustine
expounds the cloven hoof as symbolic of right conduct, because it
does not easily slip, and the chewing of the cud as signifying
the meditation of wisdom. Dante seems here to mean that the Pope
has the true doctrine, but makes not the true use of it for his
own guidance and the government of the world.

[2] Material good.

[3] Pope and Emperor.

[4] The results that follow this forced union.




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