A lady called me
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Io era tra color che son sospesi, e donna mi chiamò beata e bella, tal che di comandare io la richiesi.
I was among those who are suspended, when a lady called me, so blessed and beautiful that I begged her to command me.
Virgil was among the suspended souls of Limbo when a lady, blessed and beautiful, called him — so lovely that he begged her to command him.
Virgil places himself exactly: <i>tra color che son sospesi</i>, among the suspended — the souls of Limbo, neither punished nor saved, held in longing without hope. Into that grey stillness comes Beatrice, <i>beata e bella</i>.
The blessing and the beauty are one thing here, and Virgil's response is instant reverence: he asks to be commanded. A soul that has no future of its own is quickened simply by being given something to do for love.
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Inferno 2.52 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/dante-inferno/2.52/