[Previous: lines 121-163]
The virtuous dead (who lived before Christ's coming, and so had previously been unable to reach heaven) are about to be rescued from their underworld.
Atque haec inter se laeti sermone serebant:------------
“En tandem volvenda dies, en imminet illa, [165]
cùm lucem liceat supera et convexa tueri.
Hanc claro Pater omnipotens manifestus Olympo
ostendit nobis divino numine plenis:
nos aliis subito mortalibus ore canentes
optandum votis venienti liquimus aevo. [170]
Iamiam aderit lux nostra, Dei indubitata propago:
ille erat, ille feri sub imagine saepe leonis
ostensus nobis oculos caligine pressis,
unus pro multis qui sese proderet ultro
morti, defensosque daret nos hoste subacto. [175]
Vicit io! tandem leo magni à sanguine Iudae
Davidae genus: ô passim gaudete beati
mortales, gaudete animae iam corpore functae,
Iam vos astra vocant: nunc, quae tot clauditur annos,
ianua siderei nobis aperitur Olympi. [180]
Iamque erit, ut, nostris promissum vocibus olim,
laetitia exiliant montes, collesque resultent
pampineis vincti formosa cacumina sertis;
quales creber agris aries, oviumque minores
subsiliunt fœtus, mollique in gramine ludunt, [185]
balatus matrum dum per juga longa sequuntur.
Ipsi iam fontes, ipsa et vaga flumina passim
melle fluant, niveo passim vaga flumina lacte,
lacte mero, et dulci distillent nectare rupes.”
Talia perstabant memorantes: cuncta fremebant [190]
intus laetitia ingenti, plausuque secundo.
Sicut ubi cives longa obsidione tenentur
urbem intra et vallum, portarumque obice tuti,
dum circum sonat, atque in muros arietat hostis;
tum si fortè acies procul auxiliaribus armis [195]
adventare vident socias è turribus altis,
consurgant, animosque alacres spe ad sidera tollant.
So they wove joyful talk amongst themselves:------------
“At last the day has circled round, and soon [165]
we’ll be permitted to see the light again.
The Great Father said so, as bright Olympus
shone for us with divine numinousness.
We prophesied to others about this day
giving them the dream of a coming time. [170]
Soon, soon our light arrives, God’s manifest son:
he it was, he who often came as a lion
before our darkness-oppressed eyes, he
who died, betrayed, for us all, of his free will,
to protect us and defeat our enemies. [175]
Victory, yes! the great lion of Judah
of David’s line prevails! Rejoice, you blessed
mortals, rejoice whose souls have left bodies—
the stars call you! After so many years locked
the door to starry Olympus opens wide. [180]
Now it will be as we promised long ago:
mountains shall leap for joy and the hills dance
shaking their lovely vine-garlanded peaks;
like rams leaping in the fields, or newborn lambs
jumping and sinking into the thick grass [185]
as they follow their bleating mothers along.
Soon enough the fountains and wandering rivers
will flow with honey and snow-white streams of milk—
purest milk and sweet nectar distilled by rocks!”
Such was their constant talk, and all around them [190]
their joy re-echoed to inward approval.
They were like citizens during a long siege
confined within the city rampart, safe behind gates
whilst the enemy could be heard moving outside
beating on the walls and trying to ram the gates;
then, they see allied troops approaching, aid [195]
spotted from one of the towers—soon to arrive,
they rise up and shout their relief to the stars.
Line 164, atque haec inter se laeti sermone serebant, is a version of a line of Vergil’s: multa inter sese vario sermone serebant [Aeneid 6:160], which means ‘one to the other, weaving-together varied talk.’ This is Aeneas and Achates leaving the Sybil’s cave after learning of their impending journey to the underworld. ‘Weaving’ words look a little fanciful, maybe, though sero does indeed mean ‘I weave or interlace’: Connington’s 1881 commentary on Vergil says: ‘ferebant was an old reading: but serebant is found in all the best MSS., and recognized by Serv. ‘Serere sermonem’ is as old as Plauus., and ‘serere colloquia’ occurs in Livy: it is doubtless to be explained by giving serere the sense of “connecting,” “setting in order”.’ So there you are. The lion mentioned in lines 176-77 derives from Revelation:
So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” [Revelation 5:4-5]The vision of heaven draws of course from the Promised Land of Jewish tradition, as described in Exodus 3:8: ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’
At the head of the post: Gustave Doré's engraving illustrating the Virtuous Pagans Dante encounters on his journey into Hell.
[Next: lines 198-220]
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