' Quickly we turned us and Virgil gave back to him the sign that is
fitting thereto. Then began, 'May the true court that binds me in eternal
exile, bring thee peace to the council of the blest.' 'How,' said he, and
meantime we met sturdily, 'If ye are shades that God deigns not above, who
hath escorted you so far by his stairs'? And my Teacher: 'If thou lookest
at the marks which this man bears and which the angel outlines clearly
wilt thou see 'tis meet he reign with the good.... Wherefore I was brought
from Hell's wide jaws to guide him and I will guide him onward, so far as
my school can lead him. But tell us, if thou knowest, why the mount gave
before such quakings and wherefore all seemed to shout with one voice down
to its soft base.'"
It was the very question Dante had been yearning to utter.
"Thus, by asking did he thread the very needle of my desire and with the
pope alone my thirst was made less fasting."
* * * * *
The spirit, Statius by name, who has just obtained his release from
Purgatorial confinement to ascend to Heaven, states that the earthquake
was not due to natural causes, such as strong dry vapors producing wind,
but was caused by spiritual elements operative upon a soul's completing
the penance and term assigned.
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