The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . hese sounds my lips 30 Gave utterance, wailing : Thy fair looks present, with deceitful pleasures, turnedMy steps aside. She answering spake: Hadst thouBeen silent, or denied what thou avowst,Thou hadst not hid thy sin the more ; such eyeObserves it. But wheneer the sinners cheekBreaks forth into the precious-streaming tearsOf self-accusing, in our court the wheel 230 THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xxxi Of justice doth run counter to the edge- Howeer, that thou mayst profit by thy shame For errors past, and that hen
The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . hese sounds my lips 30 Gave utterance, wailing : Thy fair looks present, with deceitful pleasures, turnedMy steps aside. She answering spake: Hadst thouBeen silent, or denied what thou avowst,Thou hadst not hid thy sin the more ; such eyeObserves it. But wheneer the sinners cheekBreaks forth into the precious-streaming tearsOf self-accusing, in our court the wheel 230 THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xxxi Of justice doth run counter to the edge- Howeer, that thou mayst profit by thy shame For errors past, and that henceforth more strength May arm thee, when thou hearsi; the Siren-voice; Lay thou aside the motive to this grief, And lend attentive ear, while I unfold How opposite a way my buried flesh Should have impelled thee. Never didst thou spy, In art or nature, aught so passing sweet, As were the limbs that in their beauteous frame Enclosed me, and are scattered now in dust. If sweetest thing thus failed thee with my death. What, afterward, of mortal, should thy wish 40. Have tempted ? When thou first hadst felt the dart Of perishable things, in my departing For better realms, thy wing thou shouldst have pruned To follow me ; and never stooped again. To bide a second blow, for a slight girl. Or other gaud as transient and as vain. The new and inexperienced bird awaits, Twice it may be, or thrice, the fowlers aim ; But in the sight of one whose plumes are full, 60 In vain the net is spread, the arrow winged. I stood, as children silent and ashamedStand, listening, with their eyes upon the earth,Acknowledging their fault, and she resumed : If, but to hear, thus pains thee ;Raise thou thy beard, and lo ! what sight shall do. With less reluctance yields a sturdy holm, Lines 39-101] PURGATORY 231 Rent from its fibres by a blast, that blows From off the pole, or from larbas land. Than I at her behest my visage raised: 70 And thus the face denoting by the beard, I marked the
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