wish came to me to be above, that at every step thereafter I felt
the feathers growing for my flight.

[1] As they come nearer home.


When beneath us all the stairway had been run, and we were on the
topmost step, Virgil fixed his eyes on me, and said, "The
temporal fire and the eternal thou hast seen, son, and art come
to a place where of myself no further onward I discern. I have
brought thee here with understanding and with art; thine own
pleasure now take thou for guide: forth art thou from the steep
ways, forth art thou from the narrow. See there the sun, which on
thy front doth shine; see the young grass, the flowers, the
shrubs, which here the earth of itself alone produces. Until
rejoicing come the beautiful eyes which weeping made me come to
thee, thou canst sit down and thou canst go among them. Expect no
more or word or sign from me. Free, upright, and sane is thine
own free will, and it would be wrong not to act according to its
pleasure; wherefore thee over thyself I crown and mitre."



CANTO XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise.--The Forest.--A Lady
gathering flowers on the bank of a little stream.--Discourse with
her concerning the nature of the place.


Fain now to search within and round about the divine forest dense
and living, which tempered the new day to my eyes, without longer
waiting I left the bank, taking the level ground very slowly,
over the soil that everywhere breathes fragrance. A sweet breeze
that had no variation in itself struck me on the brow, not with
heavier blow than a soft wind; at which the branches, readily
trembling, all of them were bending to the quarter where the holy
mountain casts its first shadow; yet not so far parted from their
straightness, that the little birds among the tops would leave
the practice of their every art; but with full joy singing they
received the early breezes among the leaves, which kept a burden
to their rhymes, such as gathers from bough to bough through the
pine forest upon the shore of Chiassi, when Aeolus lets forth
Sirocco.[1]

[1] The south-east wind.


Now had my show steps carried me within the ancient wood so far
that I could not see back to where I had entered it: and lo, a
stream took from me further progress, which toward the left with
its little waves was bending the grass that sprang upon its bank.
All the waters, that are purest on the earth, would seem to have
some mixture in them, compared with that which hides nothing,
although it moves along dusky under the perpetual shadow, which
never lets the sun or moon shine there.

With feet I stayed, and with my eyes I passed to the other side
of the streamlet, to gaze at the great variety of the fresh may;
and there appeared to me, even as a thing appears suddenly which
turns aside through wonder every other thought, a solitary lady,
who was going along, singing, and culling flower from flower,
wherewith all her path was painted. "Ah, fair Lady,[1] who
warmest thyself in the rays of love, if I may trust to looks
which are wont to be witnesses of the heart, may the will come to
thee," said I to her, "to draw forward toward this stream, so far
that I can understand what thou art singing. Thou makest me
remember where and what was Proserpine, at the time when her
mother lost her, and she the spring."

[1] This lady is the type of the life of virtuous activity. Her
name, as appears later, is Matilda. Why this name was chosen for
her, and whether she stands for any earthly personage, has been
the subject of vast and still open debate.


As a lady who is dancing turns with feet close to the ground and
to each other, and hardly sets foot before foot, she turned
herself on the red and on the yellow flowerets toward me, not
otherwise than a virgin who lowers her modest eyes, and made my
prayers content, approaching so that the sweet sound came to me
with its meaning. Soon as she was there where the grasses are now
bathed by the waves of the fair stream, she bestowed on me the
gift of lifting her eyes. I do not believe that so great a light
shone beneath the lids of Venus, transfixed by her son, beyond
all his custom. She was smiling upon the opposite right bank,
gathering with her hands more colors which that high land brings
forth without seed. The stream made us three paces apart; but the
Hellespont where Xerxes passed it--a curb still on all human
pride--endured not more hatred from Leander for swelling between
Sestos and Abydos, than that from me because it opened not then.
"Ye are new come," she began, "and, perchance, why I smile mu
this place chosen for human nature as its nest, some doubt holds
you marvelling; but the psalm 'Delectasti'[1] affords light which
may uncloud your understanding.And thou who art in front, and
didst pray to me, say, if else thou wouldst hear, for I came
ready for every question of thine, so far as may suffice." "The
water," said I, "and the sound of the forest, impugn within me
recent faith in something that I heard contrary to this." Whereon
she, "I will tell, how from its own cause proceeds that which
makes thee wonder; and I will clear away the mist which strikes
thee.


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