Ed ecco un altro di quelli splendori

ver’ me si fece, e ’l suo voler piacermi

signficava nel chiarir di fori.

Li occhi di Beatrice, ch’eran fermi

sovra me, come pria, di caro assenso

al mio disio certficato fermi. 

“Deh, metti al mio voler tosto compenso,

beato spirto,” dissi, “e fammi prova

ch’i’ possa in te refletter quel ch’io penso!” 

Onde la luce che m’era ancor nova,

del suo profondo, ond’ella pria cantava,

seguette come a cui di ben far giova:  

“In quella parte de la terra prava

italica che siede tra Rialto

e le fontane di Brenta e di Piava

si leva un colle, e non surge molt’alto,

là onde scese già una facella

che fece a la contrada un grande assalto. 

D’una radice nacqui e io ed ella:

Cunizza fui chiamata, e qui refulgo

perché mi vinse il lume d’esta stella; 

ma lietamente a me medesma indulgo

la cagion di mia sorte, e non mi noia;

che parria forse forte al vostro vulgo. 

Di questa luculenta e cara gioia

del nostro cielo che più m’è propinqua,

grande fama rimase; e pria che moia, 

questo centesimo anno ancor s’incinqua:

vedi se far si dee l’omo eccellente,

sì ch’altra vita la prima relinqua. 

E ciò non pensa la turba presente

che Tagliamento e Adice richiude,

né per esser battuta ancor si pente; 

ma tosto fia che Padova al palude

cangerà l’acqua che Vincenza bagna,

per essere al dover le genti crude; 

e dove Sile e Cagnan s’accompagna,

tal signoreggia e va con la testa alta,

che già per lui carpir si fa la ragna. 

Piangerà Feltro ancora la difalta

de l’empio suo pastor, che sarà sconcia

sì, che per simil non s’entrò in Malta. 

Troppo sarebbe larga la bigoncia

che ricevesse il sangue ferrarese,

e stanco chi ’l pesasse a oncia a oncia, 

che donerà questo prete cortese

per mostrarsi di parte; e cotai doni

conformi fieno al viver del paese. 

Sù sono specchi, voi dicete Troni,

onde refulge a noi Dio giudicante;

sì che questi parlar ne paion buoni.” 

Qui si tacette; e fecemi sembiante

che fosse ad altro volta, per la rota

in che si mise com’era davante.

drew near to me; its eagerness to please

was shining through the splendor of its glow.

The eyes of Beatrice fixed on me

now gave me full assurance, as before,

that my desire met with her consent.

“O blessèd soul, I said, “grant me at once

fulfillment of my wish, and prove to me

that you can be a mirror for my thoughts.”

Whereat the light of that still unknown soul,

out of its depths from which it sang, now answered,

like one whose joy is giving joyously:

“There in that part of sinful Italy

which lies between Rialto’s shores and where 

the Piave and the Brenta rivers spring,

Rises a hill of no great height from which,

some years ago, there plunged a flaming torch,

who laid waste all the countryside around.

Both he and I were born from the same root:

Cunizza is my name, and I shine here

for I was overcome by this star’s light;

but gladly I myself forgive in me

what caused my fate, it grieves me not at all–

which might seem strange, indeed, to earthly minds.

This precious and resplendent jewel that shines

here, closest to me, in our heaven has left

behind great fame, fame that will live as long

as this centennial year shall be five-timed –

you see how man should strive for excellence

so that a second life survive the first!

And this means nothing to that crowd that lives

between the Tagliamento and the Adige,

nor does the scourge of war make them repent.

But it will come to pass that Paduan blood,

and soon, will stain the waters of Vicenza

because the people shunned their duty there;

And where Cagnano and the Sile join

a man lords over it with lofty head

for whom the nets already have been spread;

Feltre shall mourn her godless shepherd’s crime,

and no man yet was ever sent to Malta

for treachery as foul as this shall be. 

Immense, indeed, would have to be the vat

to hold Ferrara’s blood, and weary the man

who would weigh ounce by ounce that bloody flood,

blood that this generous priest will sacrifice,

to prove his party loyalty–but then,

such gifts become that country’s way of life!

Above us there are mirrors you call “Thrones”

through which God shines his judgements down on us–

This justifies the harshness of our words.”

Then she was silent, and it seemed her thoughts

were drawn to something else, for she had joined

The dancing wheel where she had been before. 

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