The Widows

But now we had come to the final circling
and, turning to the right,
we were attentive to another care.
There the bank discharges surging flames
and, where the terrace ends, a blast of wind shoots up
which makes the flames recoil and clear the edge,
so that we had to pass along the open side,
one by one, and here I feared the fire
but also was afraid I'd fall below.
My leader said: 'Along this path
a tight rein must be kept upon the eyes,
for here it would be easy to misstep.'
in the heart of that great burning,
which made me no less eager to turn back,
and I saw spirits walking in the flames,
so that I watched them and my footsteps,
dividing my attention, now there, now here.
After the hymn was sung through to its end
they cried aloud: 'Virum non cognosco,'
then, in softer tones, began the hymn again.
When it was finished, next they cried:
'Diana kept to the woods and drove Callisto out
for having felt the poisoned sting of Venus.'
Then they again began to sing,
calling on wives and husbands who were chaste,
even as virtue and matrimony urge.
And this way they go on, I think,
for as long as the fire burns them.
With such treatment and with just such diet
must the last of all the wounds be healed.


Purgatorio
Canto 25
Lines 109-139