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 THE

DIVINE COMEDY
OF

DANTE ALIGHIERI.

TRANSLATED BY

HENRy WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

I follow here the footing of thy feete

That with thy tneaning so I may the rather meete.
Spenser.

BOSTON:
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.
New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street.
 \

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tlie District of Massachusetts.

 CONTENTS.

INFERNO.
CANTO I. P CANTO VIII. PAGE

„ „. "orest. — The Hill of Phlegyas. — Philippo Argenti. —

Difficulty. — The Panther, the The Gate of the City of Dis . 25
Lion, and the Wolf. — Virgil
CANTO IX.
CANTO II.
The Furies. — The Angel. — The
Dante's Protest and Virgil's Ap- City of Dis. — The Sixth Circle.
peal.— The Intercession of the — Heresiarchs .... 28
Three Ladies Benedight .
CANTO III. CANTO X.
The Gate of Hell.— The Inefficient Farinata and Cavalcante de' Ca-
or Indifferent. — Pope Celes- valcanti . . . . -31
tineV. — The Shores of Acheron.
— Charon. — The Earthquake CANTO XL
and the Swoon
Pope Anastasius. — General De-
CANTO IV. scription ofthe Inferno and its
Divisions ..... 34
The First Circle. — Limbo, or the
Border Land of the Unbaptized.
— The Four Poets, Homer, CANTO XIL
Horace, Ovid, and Liican. — The The Minotaur. --The Seventh Cir-
Noble Castle of Philosophy cle. — The Violent. — Phlege-
thon. — The Violent against their
CANTO V.
Neighbours. — The Centaurs. —
The Second Circle. — Minos. — The Tyrants . . . . -37
19
Wanton. — The Infernal Hurri-
cane.— Francesca da Rimini CANTO XIIL
i6
CANTO VI. The Wood of Thorns.— The Har-
The Third Circle. — Cerberus. — pies.— The Violent against them-
The Gluttonous. — The Eternal selves. — Suicides. — Pier della
Rain. — Ciacco .... Vigna. — Lano and Jacopo da
Sant' Andrea . . . -4°
CANTO VII.
The Fourth Circle. — Plutus. — The CANTO XIV.
Avaricious and the Prodigal. — The Sand Waste.— The Violent
Fortune and her Wheel. — The
against God.— Capaneus. — The
Fifth Circle.— Styx —The Iras- Statue of Time, and the Four
cible and the Sullen . Infernal Rivers • • • 43
 CONTENTS.

CANTO XV. PAGE CANTO XXV. PAGE

The Violent against Nature. — Agnello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli
Brunetto Latini ... 47 Abati, Puccio Sciancato, Cianfa
de' Donati, and Guercio Caval-
CANTO XVI. canti ..... 79
Guidoguerra, Aldobrandi, and CANTO XXVI.
Rusticucci. — Cataract of the
River of Blood ... 50 The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counsel-
lors.— Ulysses and Diomed . 82
CANTO XVII.
CANTO XXVII,
Geiyon. — The Violent against Art.
— Usurers. — Descent into the Guido da Montefeltro ... 85
Abyss of Malebolge . . . 53
CANTO XXVIII.
CANTO XVIII.
The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics.—
The Eighth Circle : Malebolge. — Mahomet and Ali. — Pier da
The Fraudulent. — The First Medicina, Curio, Mosca, and
Bolgia: Seducers and Panders. — Bertrand de Born ... 89
Venedico Caccianimico. — Jason.
— The Second Bolgia : Flatterers. CANTO XXIX.
— Allessio Interminelli. — Thais 56 The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists. —
CANTO XIX. Griffolino d' Arezzo and Capoc-
chio ..... 92
The Third Bolgia: the Simoniacs.
— Pope Nicholas III. . . 59 CANTO XXX.

CANTO XX. Other Falsifiers or Forgers. —

Gianni Schicchi, Myrrha, Adam
The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers. of Brescia, Potiphar's Wife, and
— Amphiaraus, Tiresias, A runs, Sinon of Troy .... 95
Manto, Eryphylus, Michael
Scott,GuidoBonatti,andAsdente 62 CANTO XXXI.
The Giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes,
CANTO XXI. and Antaeus .... 99
The Fifth Bolgia: Peculatoi-s. —
The Elder of Santa Zita. — CANTO XXXII.
Malebranche .... 65 The Ninth Circle : the Frozen
CANTO XXII. Lake of Cocytus. — First Divi-
sion, Ca'i'na: Traitors to their
Ciampolo, Friar Gomita, and Mi- Kindred. — Camicion de' Pazzi. '
chael Zanche .... 68 — Second Division, Antenora:
Traitors to their Country. —
CANTO XXIII Bocca degli Abati and Buoso da
Duera 102
The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites. —
Catalano and Loderingo. — Cai- CANTO XXXIII.
aphas 72
Count Ugolino and the Archbishop
CANTO XXIV. Ruggieri. — Third Division of the
Ninth Circle, Ptolomaea: Traitors
The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves. — to their Friends. — Friar Albe-
Vanni Fucci .... 75 rigo, Branco d' Oria . . loj
 205
CONTENTS.
207

209
CANTO XXXIV. PAGE 1 LLUSTRATIONS — (continued). PAGE
Fourth Division of the Nir th Portraits of Dante . . .
109 200
Circle, thejudecca: Traitors —to Boccaccio's Account of the Corn-
their Lords and Benefactors. media . . . . .
"3
Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, The Posthumous Dante . .
and Cassias ■ 234
The Scholastic Philosophy
Homer's Odyssey, Book XI. 210
24
NOTES .... • Virgil's yEneid, Book VI. 218 3
Cicero's Vision of Scipio . 228
Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven . 232
ILLUSTRATIONS: 199 244
The Vision of Fraie Alberico .
L'Ottinio Comento . 198 The Vision of Walkelin . . 236
198 From the Life of St. B randan .
Villani's Notice of Dante 240
Letter of Frate Ilario Icelandic Vision
Passage from the Convito 200
200 Anglo-Saxon
radise Description of Pa-
Dante's Letter to a Friend

PURGATORIO.
CANTO L CANTO VH.
268
The Shores of Purgatory. —Cato The Valley of the Princes
of Utica ..... 249
CANTO VIH.
CANTO II.
The Guardian Angels and the Ser-
The Celestial Pilot. — Casella . 252 pent.—Nino di Gallura. — Cur-
rado Malaspina . . . 271
CANTO III.
The Foot of the Mountain. — Those CANTO IX.
who have died in Contumacy of
Holy Church. — Manfredi . . 255 Dante's Dream of the Eagle.— The
Gate of Purgatory . . . 275
CANTO IV.
Farther Ascent of the Mountain. — CANTO X.
The Negligent, who postponed The First Circle. — The Proud. —
Repentance till the last Hour. — The Sculptures on lli£ Wall . 278
Belacqua ..... 258

CANTO V. CANTO XL

Those who died by Violence, but Ombertodi Santafiore. — Oderisi d'

repentant. ~ Buonconte di Mon- Agobbio. — Provenzan Salvani . 281
2
feltro. — La Pia , . . 262 65
CANTO XIL
CANTO VL
The Sculptures on the Pavement.
Soidello
— Ascent to the Second Circle . 284
 CONTENTS.

CANTO XIII. TAG 7. CANTO XXVI.

The Second Circle. — The Envious. Guido Guinicelli and Amaldo Da-
— Sapia of Siena , . . 288 niello . . .

CANTO XIV. CANTO XXVIL

fiuido del Duca and Renter da
Calboli ..... 295 Dante's Sleep upon the Stairway,
291 and his Dream of Leah. — Arrival
at the Terrestrial Paradise . 335
CANTO XV.
331
The Third Circle. — The Irascible. CANTO XXVIIL
CANTO XVI. The Terrestrial Paradise. — The
River Lethe. — Matilda
Marco Lombardo
298
CANTO XXIX.
CANTO XVII.
The Triumph of the Church
Dante's Dream of Anger. —The
Fourth Circle. —The Slothful . 301
CANTO XXX.
CANTO XVIII. Beatrice 345 338

Virgil's Discourse of Love. — The

Abbot of San Zeno . . . 305 CANTO XXXL
Reproaches of Beatrice and Con- 342
CANTO XIX.
fession of Dante. — The Passage
Dante's Dream of the Siren. — The of Lethe .....
Fifth Circle. — The Avaricious
and Prodigal. — Pope Adrian V. 308 CANTO XXXIL 349
CANTO XX. The Tree of Knowledge
Hugh Capet,— The Earthquake . 311 CANTO XXXIII.
CANTO XXI. The River Eunoe
The Poet Statius .... 315
CANTO xxn.
The Sixth Circle. — The Gluttonous NOTES 352
— The Mystic Tree . . .318 363
CANTO XXIII. ILLUSTRATIONS:
Forese 356
The Hero as Poet
CANTO XXIV. Dante
Dante and Milton . 464
Buonagiunta da Lucca. — Pope 469
Martin IV., and others 325321 475
The Italian Pilgrim's Progress
Dante and Tacitus
CANTO XXV.
Discourse of Statius on Generation. Dante's Landscapes . 458
—The Seventh Circle. - The Dante's Creed 483
Wanton .... The Divina Commedia
471

478
328
482
 cox TENTS.

PARADISO.

CANTO I. PAGE CANTO X. pa(;e

The Ascent to the First Heaven . 493 The Fourth Heaven, or that of the.
Sun, where are seen the Spirits
CANTO II. of Theologians and Fathers of the
Church. — St. Thomas Aquinas. 522
The First Heaven, or that of the
Moon, in which are seen the
CANTO XI.
Spirits of those who, having
taken Monastic Vows, were St. Thomas Aquinas recounts the
forced to violate them . . 496 Life of St. Francis . . . 526

CANTO III. CANTO XII.

Piccarda and Constance . . .
St. Buenaventura recounts the Life
of St. Dominic , . . 529
CANTO IV.
Questionings of the Soul and of CANTO XIII.
Broken Vows .... 503 500
Of the Wisdom of Solomon .
CANTO V.
CANTO XIV.
Compensations. Ascent to the
Second Heaven, or that of Mer- The Fifth Heaven, or that of Mars,
cury, where are seen the Spirits where are seen the Spirits of
of those who for the Love of Martyrs, and of Crusaders who
Fame achieved great Deeds died fighting for the true Faith.
— The Celestial Cross
532
CANTO VI.
-The Roman Eagle. - 506 CANTO XV.
Jiislinian.-
Romeo — Florence
509 the
Cacciag^iida.
Olden Time-
CANTO VII. 539
Beatrice's Discourse of the Incar- CANTO XVL
nation, the Immortality of the
Soul, and the Resurrection of Cacciaguida's Discourse
Great Florentines of the 536
the Body

CANTO VIII. CANTO XVII.

Ascent to the Third Heaven, or 512Cacciaguida's
that of Venus, where are seen Banishment Prophecy
.... of Dante's
the Spirits of levers. — Charles
Martel CANTO XVIII.
542
CANTO IX. The Sixth Heaven, or that of Ju-
piter, where are Seen the Spirits
Cunizza, Folco of Marseilles, and of Righteous Kings and Rulers.
Rahab 519 5»6 — The Celestial Eagle
549 546
 CONTENTS.

CANTO XIX. PAGE CANTO XXIX. PAGE

The Eagle discourses of Salvation Beatrice's Discourse of the Creation
by Faith 552 of the Angels, and of the Fall
of Lucifer. — Her Reproof of
CANTO XX. the Ignorance and Avarice of
Preachers, and the Sale of Indul-
The Eagle praises the Righteous gences 586
Kings of old . . . .
m CANTO XXX.
CANTO XXT.
The Tenth Heaven, or Empyrean.
The Seventh Heaven, or that of — The River of Light. — The
Saturn, where are seen the 556 Two Courts of Heaven. — The
Spirits of the Contemplative. — White Rose of Paradise . .589
The Celestial Stairway. — St.
Peter Damiano. - His Invectives
against the Luxury of the Prelates CANTO XXXT.
559
The Glory of Paradise. — St. Ber-
nard
CANTO XXII. 593
St. Benedict. — His Lamentation
over the Corruption CANTO XXXII.
of the
Monks. — The Eighth Heaven, St. Bernard points out the Saints
or that of the Fixed Stars in the White Rose . . . 596

CANTO XXIII. CANTO XXXIH.

The Triumph of Christ 562Prayer to the Virgin. — The Three-
fold Circle of the Trinity. —
CANTO XXIV. Mystery of the Divine and Hu-
man Nature . . . . 600
St. Peter examines Dante upon
Faith . . ... 569 566

CANTO XXV.
St. James examines Dante upon NOTES 607
Hope
573
ILLUSTRATIONS :
CANTO XXVL I-e Dante 716
St John examines Dante upon La Divine Comedie . . • 7^7
Charity
Notes sur le Dante . . . 720
CANTO XXVH. La Comedie Divine . .721
La Philosophie Italienne . . 727
St. Peter's reproof of bad Popes. — 576 La Divine Comedie . . . 729
The Ascent to the Ninth Heaven,
or the Primtim Mobile
Dante, Imitateur et Createur . 732
579
Cabala 738
CANTO XXVIII.
God and the Celestial Hierarchies . • . . 743
583 INDEX
INFERNO.
 I
Oft have I seen at some cathedral door
A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,
Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet
Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor
Kneel to repeat his paternoster o'er ;
Far off the noises of the world retreat ;
The loud vociferations of the street
Become an undistinguishable roar.
So, as I enter here from day to day.
And leave my burden at this minster gate,
Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray.
The tumult of the time disconsolate
To inarticulate murmurs dies away.
While the eternal ages watch and wait.

How strange the sculptures that adorn these towers !

This crowd of statues, in whose folded sleeves
Birds build their nests ; while canopied with leaves
Parvis and portal bloom like trellised bowers,
And the vast minster seems a cross of flowers !
But fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves
Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves,
And, underneath, the traitor Judas lowers !
Ah ! from what agonies of heart and brain.
What exultations trampling on despair,
What tenderness, what tears, what hate of wrong,
What passionate outcry of a soul in pain.
Uprose this poem of the earth and air,
This mediaeval miracle of song !
 INFERNO.
CANTO I.

Midway upon the journey of -our life

I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward- pathway had been lost
Ah me ! how hard a thing it is to say
What was this forest savage, rough, and stem,
Which in the very thought renews the fear.
So bitter is it, death is little more ;
But of the good to treat, which there I found,
Speak will I of the other things I saw there.
I cannot well repeat how there I entered,
So full was I of slumber at the moment
In which I had abandoned the true way.
But after I had reached a mountain's foot,
At that point where the valley terminated.
Which had with consternation pierced my heart,
Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders,
Vested already with that planet's rays
Which leadeth others right by every road-
Then was the fear a little quieted
That in my heart's lake had endured throughout
The night, which I had passed so piteously.
And even as he, who, with distressful breath,
Forth issued from the sea upon the shore,
Turns to the water perilous and gazes ;
So did my soul, that still was fleeing onward,
Turn itself back to re-behold the pass
Which never yet a living person left.
After my weary body I had rested,
The way resumed I on the desert slope,
So that the firm foot ever was the lower.
 THE DIVJNE COMEDY.

And lo \ almost where the ascent began,

A panther Hght and swift exceedingly,
Which with a spotted skin was covered o'er !
And never moved she from before my face,
Nay, rather did impede so much my way, js
That many times I to return had turned.
The time was the beginning of the morning,
And up the sun was mounting with those stars
That with him were, what time the Love Divine
At first in motion set those beauteous things ; 40
So were to me occasion of good hope,
Tl>e variegated skin of that wild beast.
The hour of time, and the deUcious season ;
But not so much, that did not give me fear
A Hon's aspect v.'hich appeared to me. 45
He seemed as if against me he were coming
With head upHfted, and with ravenous hunger,
So that it seemed the air was afraid of him ;
And a she-wolf, that with all hungerings
Seemed to be laden in her meagreness, 5°
And many folk has caused to live forlorn !
She brought upon me so much heaviness,
With the affright that from her aspect came,
That I the hope relinquished of the height.
And as he is who willingly acquires, ss
And the time comes that causes him to lose,
Who weeps in all his thoughts and is despondent,
E'en such made me that beast withouten peace,
Which, coming on against me by degrees
Thrust me back thither where the sun is silent. 60
While I was rushing downward to the lowland,
Before mine eyes did one present himself.
Who seemed from long-continued silence hoarse.
When I beheld him in the desert vast,
" Have pity on me," unto him I cried, «s
" Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man I "
He answered me : "Not man ; man once I was,
And both my parents were of Lombardy,
And Mantuans by country both of them.
Sub Julio was I born, though it was late, 70
And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,
During the time of false and lying gods.
A poet was I, and I sang that just
Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,
After that I lion the superb was burned. I'
 INFERNO, I. 5

But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance ?

Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable,
Which is the source and cause of every joy ?"
" Now, art thou that VirgiHus and that fountain
Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech ? " 80
I made response to him with bashful foreliead.
" O, of the other poets honour and hght.
Avail me the long study and great love
That have impelled me to explore thy volume J
Thou art my master, and my author thou, *
Thou art alone the one from whom I took
The beautiful style that has done honour to me.
liehold the beast, for which I have turned back ;
Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage,
For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble." 9c
" Thee it behoves to take another road,"
Responded he, when he beheld me weeping,
" If from this savage place thou wouldst escape;
Because this beast, at which thou criest out,
Suffers not any one to pass her way, 9s
But so doth harass him, that she destroys him ;
And has a nature so malign and ruthless.
That never doth she glut her greedy will.
And after food is hungrier than before.
Many the animals with whom she weds, 100
And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound
Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.
He shall not feed on either earth or pelf,
But upon wisdom, and on love and virtue ;
'Twixt Feltro and Feltro shall his nation be .; 10%
Of that low Italy shall he be the saviour,
On whose account the maid Camilla died,
Euryalus, Turnus, Nisus, of their wounds ;
Through every city shall he hunt her down,
Until he shall have driven her back to Hell, »»c
There from whence envy first did let her loose.
Therefore I think and judge k for thy best
Thou follow me, and I will be thy guide.
And lead thee hence through the eternal place,
Where thou shalt hear the desperate lamentations, «»
Shalt see the ancient spirits disconsolate,
Who cry out each one for the second death ;
And thou shalt see those who contented are
Within the fire, because they hope to come,
Whene'er it may be, to the blessed people ; »'•
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

To whom, then, if thou wishest to ascend,

A soul shall be for that than I more worthy ;
With her at my departure I will leave thee ;
Because that Emperor, who reigns above,
In that I was rebellious to his law,
Wills that through me none come into his city.
He governs everywhere, and there he reigns ;
There is his city and his lofty throne ;
O happy he whom thereto he elects !"
And I to him : " Poet, I thee entreat,
By that same God whom thou didst never know,
So that I -may escape this woe and worse,
Thou wouldst conduct me there where thou hast said.
That I may see the portal of Saint Peter,
And those thou makest so disconsolate."
Then Ke moved on, and I behind him followed.

CANTO II.

Day was departing, and the embrowned air

Released the animals that are on earth
From their fatigues ; and I the only one
Made myself ready to sustain the war.
Both of the way and likewise of the woe,
Which memory that errs not shall retrace.
O Muses, O high genius, now assist me !
O memory, that didst write down what I saw,
Here thy nobility shall be manifest !
And I began : " Poet, who guidest me,
Regard my manhood, if it be sufficient,
Ere to the arduous pass thou dost confide me.
Thou sayest, that of Silvius the parent,
While yet corruptible, unto the world
Immortal went, and was there bodily.
But if the adversary of all evil
Was courteous, thinking of the high effect
That issue would from him, and who, and what.
To men of intellect unmeet it seems not ;
For he was of great Rome, and of her empire
In the empyreal heaven as father chosen ;
The which and what, wishing to speak the truth,
W^ere stablished as the holy place, wherein
Sits the successor of the greatest Peter.
 JArFERNO, If.

Upon this journey, whence thou givest him vaunt, 25

Things did he hear, which the occasion were
Roth of his victory and the papal mantle.
Thither went afterwards the Chosen Vessel,
To bring back comfort thence unto that Faith,
Which of salvation's way is the beginning. 30
But I, why thither come, or who concedes it?
I not iEneas am, I am not Paul,
Nor I, nor others, think me worthy of it.
Therefore, if I resign myself to come,
I fear the coming may be ill-advised ; 35
Thou'rt wise, and knovvest better than I speak,"
And as he is, who unwills what he willed,
And by new thoughts doth his intention change,
So that from his design he quite withdraws.
Such I became, upon that dark hillside, 40
Because, in thinking, I consumed the emprise.
Which was so very prompt in the beginning,
" If I have well thy language understood,"
Replied that shade of the Magnanimous,
" Thy soul attainted is with cowardice, 4S
Which many times a man encumbers so,
It turns him back from honoured enterprise.
As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy.
That thou mayst free thee from this apprehension,
I'll tell thee why I came, and what I heard so
At the first moment when I grieved for thee.
Among those was I who are in suspense.
And a fair, saintly Lady called to me
In such wise, I besought her to command me.
Her eyes where shining brighter than the Star ; ss
And she began to say, gentle and low.
With voice angelical, in her own language :
' O spirit courteous of Mantua,
Of whom the fame still in the world endures.
And shall endure, long-lasting as the world ; fc
A friend of mine, and not the friend of fortune.
Upon the desert slope is so impeded
Upon his way, that he has turned through terror,
And may, I fear, alreaily be so lost,
That I too late have risen to his succour, 6s
From that v/hich I have heard of him in Heaven.
Bestir thee now, and with thy speech ornate,
And with what needful is for his release.
Assist him so, that I may be consoled.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Beatrice am I, who do bid thee go ; ?o

I come from there, where I would fain return ;
Love moved me, which compelleth me to speak.
When I shall be in presence of my Lord,
Full often will I praise thee unto him.'
Then paused she, and thereafter I began : ?:•
• O Lady of virtue, thou alone through whom
The human race exceedeth all contained
Within the heaven that has the lesser circles,
So grateful unto me is thy commandment,
To obey, if 'twere already done, were late ; so
No farther need'st thou ope to me thy wish.
But the cause tell me why thou dost not shun
The here descending down into this centre.
From the vast place thou burnest to return to.'
' Since thou wouldst fain so inwardly discern, 85
Briefly will I relate,' she answered me,
' Why I am not afraid to enter here.
Of those things only should one be afraid
Which have the power of doing others harm ;
Of the rest, no ; because they are not fearful. 90
God in his mercy such created me
That misery of yours attains me not,
Nor any flame assails me of this burning.
i\ gentle Lady is in Heaven, who grieves
At this impediment, to which I send thee, 9s
So that stern judgment there above is broken.
In her entreaty she besought Lucia,
And said, "Thy faithful one now stands in need
Of thee, and unto thee I recommend him."
Lucia, foe of all that cruel is, 100
Hastened away, and came unto the place
Where I was sitting with the ancient Rachel.
" Beatrice," said she, " the true praise of God,
Why succourest thou not him, who loved thee so,
For thee he issued from the vulgar herd ? »o5
Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint?
Dost thou not see the death that combats him
Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt ? "
Never were persons in the world so swift
To work their weal and to escape their woe, ««
As I, after such words as these were uttered,
Came hither downward from my blessed seat,
Confiding in thy dignified discourse.
Which honours thee, and those who've listened to it'
 INFERNO, III.

After she thus had spoken unto me,

Weeping, her shining eyes she turned away ;
Whereby she made me swifter in my coming ;
And unto thee I came, as she desired ;
I have dehvered thee from that wild beast,
Which barred the beautiful mountain's short ascent.
What is it, then ? Why, why dost thou delay ?
Why is such baseness bedded in thy heart ?
Daring and hardihood why hast thou not,
Seeing that three such Ladies benedight
Are caring for thee in the court of Heaven,
And so much good my speech doth promise thee ? "
Even as the flowerets, by nocturnal chill,
Bowed down and closed, when the sun whitens them,
Uplift themselves all open on their stems ;
Such I became with my exhausted strength,
And such good courage to my heart there coursed,
That I began, like an intrepid person :
" O she compassionate, who succoured me,
And courteous thou, who hast obeyed so soon
The words of truth which she addressed to thee !
Thou hast my heart so with desire disposed
To the adventure, with these words of thine.
That to my first intent I have returned.
Now go, for one sole will is in us both.
Thou Leader, and thou Lord, and Master thou."
Thus said I to him ; and when he had moved,
I entered on the deep and savage way.

CANTO in.

" Through me the way is to the city dolent ;

Through me the way is to eternal dole ;
Through me the way among the people lost
Justice incited my sublime Creator ;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
TheseAllwords
hope inabandon,
sombre ye who I enter
colour beheldin ! "
Written upon the summit of a gate ;
Whence I : *' Their sense is, Master, hard to me !
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And he to me, as one experienced :

" Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,
All cowardice must needs be here extinct.
We to the place have come, where I have told thee
Thou shalt behold the people dolorous
And Who havehadforegone
after he laid his the goodon ofmine
hand intellect."
With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,
He led me in among the secret things.
There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud
Resounded through the air without a star,
Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.
Languages diverse, horrible dialects.
Accents of anger, words of agony.
And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands.
Made up a tumult that goes whirling on
For ever in that air for ever black.
Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes.
And I, who had my head with horror bound.
Said : " Master, what is this which now T hear?
What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished ? "
And he to me : " This miserable mode
Maintain the melancholy souls of those
Who lived withouten infamy or praise.
Commingled are they with that caitiff choir
Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,
Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.
The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair ;
Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,
For glory none the damned would have from them."
And I : " O Master, what so grievous is
To these, that maketh them lament so sore ?"
He answered : " I will tell thee very briefly.
These have no longer any hope of death ;
And this blind life of theirs is so debased,
They envious are of every other fate.
No fame of them the world permits to be ;
Misericord and Justice both disdain them.
Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass."
And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,
Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,
That of all pause it seemed to me indignant ;
And after it there came so long a train
Of people, that I ne'er would have believed
That ever Death so many had undone.
 INFERNO, in.

When some among them I had recognised,

I looked, and I beheld the shade of him
Who made through cowardice the great refusal. 60
Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,
That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches
Hateful to God and to his enemies.
These miscreants, who never were alive,
Were naked, and were stung exceedingly 65
By gadflies and by hornets that were there.
These did their faces irrigate with blood.
Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet
By the disgusting worms was gathered up.
And when to gazing farther I betook me. 70
People I saw on a great river's oanK ;
Whence said I : " Master, now vouchsafe to me,
That I may know who these are, and what law
Makes them appear so ready to pass over,
As I discern athwart the dusky light." 7S
And he to me : " These things shall all be known
To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay
Upon the dismal shore of Acheron."
Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,
Fearing my words might irksome be to him, 80
From speech refrained I till we reached the river.
And lo ! towards us coming in a boat
An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,
Crying : " Woe unto you, ye souls depraved !
Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens ; 85
I come to lead you to the other shore,
To the eternal shades in heat and frost.
And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,
Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead 1"
But when he saw that I did not withdraw, 9°
He said : " By other ways, by other ports
Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage ;
A lighter vessel needs must carry thee."
And unto him the Guide : " Vex thee not, Charon ;
It is so willed there where is power to do 9S
That which is willed; and farther question not."
Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks
Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,
Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.
But all those souls who weary were and naked 'o"
Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together.
As soon as they had heard those cruel words.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

God they blasphemed and their progenitors,

The human race, the place, the time, the seed
Of their engendering and of their birth ! »<«
Thereafter all together they drew back.
Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,
Which waiteth every man who fears not God.
Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,
Beckoning to them, collects them all together, ""
Beats with his oar whoever lags behind.
As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off.
First one and then another, till the branch
Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils ;
In similar wise the evil seed of Adam "s
Throw themselves from that margin one by one,
At signals, as a bird unto its lure.
So they depart across the dusky wave,
And ere upon the other side they land.
Again on this side a new troop assembles. lao
" My son," the courteous Master said to me,
" All those who perish in the wrath of God
Here meet together out of every land ;
And ready are they to pass o'er the river.
Because celestial Justice spurs them on, 125
So that their fear is turned into desire.
This way there never passes a good soul ;
And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,
Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports."
This being finished, all the dusk champaign 130
Trembled so violently, that of that terror
The recollection bathes me still with sweat.
The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,
And fulminated* a vermilion light,
Which overmastered in me every sense, »35
And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell.

CANTO IV.
Broke the deep lethargy within my head
A heavy thunder, so that I upstarted,
Like to a person who by force is wakened ;
And round about I moved my rested eyes,
Uprisen erect, and steadfastly I gazed,
To recognise the place wherein I was.
 INFERNO, IV. 13

True is it, that upon the verge I found me

Of the abysmal valley dolorous,
That gathers thunder of infinite ululations.
Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, w>
So that by fixing on its depths my sight
Nothing whatever I discerned therein.
'* Let us descend now into the blind world,"
Began the Poet, pallid utterly ;
" I will be first, and thou shalt second be." 15
And I, who of his colour was aware,
Said : " How shall I come, if thou art afraid,
Who'rt wont to be a comfort to my fears ? "
And he to me : " The anguish of the people
Who are below here in my face depicts *o
That pity which for terror thou hast taken.
Let us go on, for the long way impels us."
Thus he went in, and thus he made me enter
The foremost circle that surrounds the abyss.
There, ?s it seemed to me from listenijig, «s
Were Uimentations none, but only sighs,
That tremble made the everlasting air.
And this arose from sorrow without torment,
Which the crowds had, that many were and great,
Of infants and of women and of men. 3c
To me the Master good : " Thou dost not ask
What spirits these, which thou b boldest, are?
Now will I have thee know, ere thou go farther,
That they sinned not ; and if they merit had,
'Tis not enough, because they had not baptism 35
Which is the portal of the Faith thou boldest ;
And if they were before Christianity,
In the right manner they adored not God ;
And among such as these am I myself.
For such defects, and not for other guilt, 40
Lost are we. and are only so far punished,
That without hope we live on in desire."
Great grief seized on my heart when this I heard,
Because some people of much worthiness
I knew, who in that Limbo were suspended. 45
" Tell me, my Master, tell me, thou my Lord,"
Began L with desire of being certain
Of that Faith which o'ercometh every error,
" Came any one by his own merit hence,
Or by another's, who was blessed thereafter? " s<»
And he, who understood ray covert speech,
14 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Replied : " I was a novice in this state,

When I saw hither come a Mighty One,
With sign of victory incoronate.
Hence he drew forth the shade of tlie First Parent, ss
And that of his son Abel, and of Noah,
Of Moses the lawgiver, and the obedient
Abraham, patriarch, and David, king,
Israel Avith his father and his children,
And Rachel, for whose sake he did so much, 60
And others many, and he miade them blessed ;
And thou must know, that earlier than these
Never were any human spirits saved."
We ceased not to advance because he spake.
But still were passing onward through the forest, «5
I'he forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.
Not very far as yet our way had gone
This side the summit, when I saw a fire
That overcame a hemisphere of darkness.
W^e were a little distant from it still, 70
But not so far that I in part discerned not ,
That honourable people held that place.
" O thou who honourest every art and science,
Who may these be, which such great honour have,
That from the fashion of the rest it parts them ? " 75
And he to me : " The honourable name,
That sounds of them above there in thy life,
Wins grace in Heaven, that .so advances them."
In the mean time a voice was heard by me :
" All honour be to the pre eminent Poet ; 80
His shade returns again, that was departed."
After the voice had ceased and quiet was,
Four mighty shades I saw approaching us ;
Semblance liad they nor sorrowful nor glad.
To say to me began my gracious Master : 85
" Him with that falchion in his hand behold,
Who comes before the three, even as their lord.
That one is Homer, Poet sovereign ;
He who comes next is Horace, the satirist ;
The third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan. 9^
Because to each of these with me applies
The name that solitary voice proclaimed.
Thus They do meassemble
I beheld honour, the
andfairin school
that do well."
Of that lord of the song pre-eminent,
Who o'er the others like an ea^le soars. **
 INFERNO, TV. 15

When they together had discoursed somewhat,

They turned to me with signs of salutation,
And on beholding this, my Master smiled ;
And more of honour still, much more, they did me, icc
In that they made me one of their own band ;
So that the sixth was I, 'mid so much wit.
Thus we went on as far as to the light.
Things saying 'tis becoming to keep silent.
As was the saying of them where I was. '05
We came unto a noble castle's foot.
Seven times encompassed with lofty walls,
Defended round by a fair rivulet ;
This we passed over even as firm ground ;
Through portals seven I entered with these Sages ; no
We came into a meadow of fresh verdure.
People were there with solemn eyes and slow,
Of great authority in their countenance ;
They spake but seldom, and with gentle voices. .
Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side ns
Into an opening luminous and lofty,
So that they all of them were visible.
There opposite, upon the green enamel.
Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits.
Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted. i»
I'saw Electra with companions many,
'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and ^neas,
Caesar in armour with gerfalcon eyes \
I saw Camilla and Penthesilea
On the other side, and saw the King Latinus, i?5
Who with Lavinia his daughter sat ;
I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,
Lucreda,
And Julia, Marcia,
saw alone, apart, theandSaladin.
Cornelia, ^'^^v.-^^
When I had lifted up my brows a little, »3»
The Master I beheld of those who know,
Sit with his philosophic family.
All gaze upon him, and all do him honour.
There 1 beheld both Socrates and Plato,
Who nearer him before the others stand ; 135
Democritus. who puts the world on chance,
Diogenes, .\naxagor3s, and Thales,
Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus ;
Of qualities I saw the good collector,
Hight Dioscorides ; and Orpheus saw 1, 140
Tully and Livy, and moral Seneca,
l6 7 HE DIVINE COMEDY.

Euclid, geometrician, and Ptolemy,

Galen, Hippocrates, and Avicenna,
Averroes, who the great Comment made,
I cannot all of them pourtray in full, i4S
Because so drives me onward the long theme,
That many times the word comes short of fact.
The sixfold company in two divides ;
Another way my sapient Guide conducts me
Forth from the quiet to the air that trembles ; ijo
And to a place I come where nothing shines.

CANTO V.
Thus I descended out of the first circle
Down to the second, that less space begirds.
And so much greater dole, that goads to wailing.
There standeth Minos horribly, and snarls ;
Examines the transgressions at the entrance ; 5
Judges, and sends according as he girds him,
I say, that when the spirit evil-born
Cometh before him, wholly it confesses ;
And this discriminator of transgressions
Seeth what place in Hell is meet for it ; m
Girds himself with his tail as many times
As grades he wishes it should be thrust down.
Always before him many of them stand ;
They go by turns each one unto the judgment ;
They speak, and hear, and then are downward hurled. 15
" O thou, that to this dolorous hostelry
Comest," said Minos to me, when he saw me,
Leaving the practice of so great an office,
" Look how thou enterest, and in whom thou trustest;
Let not the portal's amplitude deceive thee." 20
And unto him my Guide : " Why criest thou too ?
Do not impede his journey fate-ordained ;
It is so willed there where is power to 00
That which is willed ; and ask no further question,"
And now begin the dolesome notes to grow as
Audible unto me ; now am I come
There where much lamentation strikes upon me.
I came into a place mute of all light.
Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest,
If by opposing winds 't is combated. 30
 INFERNO, V. 17

The infernal hurricane that never rests

Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine ;
Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.
AVhen they arrive before the precipice,
There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments.
There they blaspheme the puissance divine.
I understood that unto such a torment
The carnal malefactors were condemned.
Who reason subjugate to appetite.
And as the wings of starlings bear them on
In the cold season in large band and full.
So doth that blast the spirits maledict ;
It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them ;
No hope doth comfort them for evermore,
Not of repose, but even of lesser pain.
And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays,
Making in air a long line of themselves,
So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,
Shadows borne onward by the aforesaid stress.
Whereupon said I : " Master, who are those
People, whom the black air so castigates ? "
" The first of those, of whom intelligence
Thou fain wouldst have," then said he unto me,
*• The empress was of many languages.
To sensual vices she was so abandoned.
That lustful she made licit in her law,
To remove the blame to which she had been led.
She is Semiramis, of whom we read
That she succeeded Ninus, and was his spouse ;
She held the land which now the Sultan rules.
The next is slie who killed herself for love, p \^.
And broke faith with the ashes of Sichaeus ; "^
Then Cleopatra the voluptuous."
Helen I saw, for whom so many ruthless
Seasons revolved ; and saw the great Achilles,
Who at the last hour combated with Love.
Paris I saw, Tristan ; and more than a thousand
Shades did he name and point out with his finger,
Whom Love had separated from our life.
After that I had listened to my Teacher,
Naming the dames of eld and cavaliers.
Pity prevailed, and I was nigh bewildered.
And I began : " O Poet, willingly
Speak would I to those two, who go together,
And seem upon the wind to be so light"
l8 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And he to me : " Thou'lt mark, when they shall be

Nearer to us ; and then do thou implore them
By love which leadeth them, and they will come."
Soon as the wind in our direction sways them,
My voice uplift I : " O ye weary. souls ! 8t
Come speak to us, if no one interdicts it."
As turtle-doves, called onward by desire,
With open and steady wings to the sweet nest
Fly through the air by their volition borne,
So came they from the bp.nd where Dido is, «5
Approaching us athwart the air malign,
So strong was the affectionate appeal.
" O living creature gracious and benignant,
Who visiting goest through the purple air
Us, who have stained the world incarnadine, a*
If were the King of the Universe our friend.
We would pray unto him to give thee peace,
Since thou hast pity on our woe perverse.
Of what it pleases thee to hear and speak,
That will we hear, ?.nd we will speak to you, 95.
While silent is the wind, as it is now.
Sitteth the city, wherein I was born.
Upon the sea-shore where the Po descends
To rest in peace with all his retinue.
Love, that on gentle heart doth swiftly seize, «*
Seized this man for the person beautiful
That was ta'en from me, and still the mode offends me.
Love, that exempts no one beloved from loving,
Seized me with pleasure of this man so strongly,
That, as thou seest, it doth not yet desert me ; 105
Love has conducted us unto one death ;
Caina waiteth him who quenched our life ! "
These words were borne along from them to us.
As soon as I had heard those souls tormented,
I bowed my face, and so long held it down no
Until the Poet said to me : " What thinkest ?."
When I made answer, I began : "Alas !
How many pleasant thoughts, how much desire,
Conducted these unto the dolorous pass ! "
Then unto them I turned me, and I spake, mi
And I began : " Thine agonies, Francesca,
Sad and compassionate to weeping make me.
But tell me, at the time of those sweet sighs,
By what and in what manner Love conceded,
That you should know your dubious desires ? " "•
 INFERNO, VI. 19

And she to me : " There is no greater sorrow

Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery, and that thy Teacher knows.
But, if CO recognise the earliest root
Of love in us thou hast so great desire, ms
I will do even as he who weeps and speaks.
One day we reading were for our delight
Of Launcelot, how Love did him enthral.
Alone we were and without any fear.
Full many a time our eyes together drew 130
That reading, and drove the colour from our faces ;
But one point only was it that o'ercame us.
When as we read of the much-longed-for smile
Being by such a noble lover kissed,
This one, who ne'er from me shall be divided, 13s
Kissed me upon the mouth all palpitating.
Galeotto was the book and he who wrote it.
That day no farther did we read therein."
And all the while one spirit uttered this,
The other one did weep so, that, for pity, X4»
I swooned away as if I had been dying,
And fell, even as a dead body falls.

CANTO VI.
At the return of consciousness, that closed
Before the pity of those two relations.
Which utterly with sadness had confused me,
New torments I behold, and new tormented
Around me, whichsoever way I move,
And whichsoever way I turn, and gaze.
In the third circle am I of the rain
Eternal, maledict, and cold, and heavy ;
Its law and quality are never new.
Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow,
Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain ;
Noisome the earth is, that receireth this.
Cerberus, monster cruel and uncouth,
With his three gullets like a dog is barking
Over the people that are there submerged.
Red eyes he has, and unctuous beard and black.
And belly large, and armed with claws his hands ; c 2
He rends the spirits, flays, and quarters them.
to THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Howl the rain maketh them Uke unto dogs ;

One side they make a shelter for the other ; ao
Oft turn themselves the wretched reprobates.
When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm !
His mouths he opened, and displayed his tusks ;
Not a limb had he that was motionless.
And my Conductor, with his spans extended, a*.
Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled.
He threw it into those rapacious gullets.
Such as that dog is, who by barking craves,
And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws.
For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, 30
The hke became those muzzles filth-begrimed
Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders
Over the souls that they would fain be deaf.
We passed across the shadows, which subdues
The heavy rain-storm, and we placed our feet 35
Upon their vanity that person seems.
They all were lying prone upon the earth.
Excepting one, who sat upright as soon
As he beheld us passing on before him.
" O thou that art conducted through this Hell," 40
He said to me, " recall me, if thou canst ;
Thyself wast made before I was unmade."
And I to him : " The anguish which thou hast
Perhaps doth draw thee out of my remembrance.
So that it seems not I have ever seen thee. 45
But tell me who thou art, that in so doleful
A place art put, and in such punishment.
If some are greater, none is so displeasing."
And he to me : " Thy city, which is full
Of envy so that now the sack runs over, 50
Held me within it in the life serene.
You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco ;
For the pernicious sin of gluttony
I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain.
And I, sad soul, am not the only one, S5
For all these suffer the like penalty
For the like sin ; " and word no more spake he.
I answered him : " Ciacco, thy wretchedness
Weighs on me so that it to weep invites me ;
But tell me, if thou knowest, to what shall come *•
The citizens of the divided city ;
If any there be just ; and the occasion
Tell me why so much discord has assailed it."
 INFERNO, VI.

And he to me : " They, after long contention,

Will come to bloodshed ; and the rustic party 6s
Will drive the other out with much offence.
Then afterwards behoves it this one fall
Within three suns, and rise again the other
By force of him who now is on the coast.
High will it hold its forehead a long while, v
Keeping the other under heavy burdens,
Howe'er it weeps thereat and is indignant.
The just are two, and are not understood there ;
Envy and Arrogance and Avarice
Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." n
Here ended he his tearful utterance ;
And I to him : " I wish thee still to teach me,
And make a gift to me of further speech.
Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy,
Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, 8c
And others who on good deeds set their thoughts,
Say where they are, and cause that I may know them ;
For great desire constraineth me to learn
If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom."
And he : " They are among the blacker souls ; t^
A different sin downweighs them to the bottom ;
If thou so far descendest, thou canst see them.
But when thou art again in the sweet world,
I pray thee to the mind of others bring me ;
No more I tell thee and no more I answer." <^
Then his straightforward eyes he turned askance,
Eyed me a little, and then bowed his head ;
He fell therewith prone like the other blind.
And the Guide said to me : " He wakes no more
This side the sound of the angelic trumpet ; 9S
When shall approach the hostile Potentate,
Each one shall find again his dismal tomb,
Shall reassume his flesh and his own figuie,
Shall hear what through eternity re-echoes."
So we passed onward o'er the filthy mixture loc
Of shadows and of rain with footsteps slow,
Touching a little on the future life.
Wherefore I said : " Master, these torments here,
Will they increase after the mighty sentence,
Or lesser be, or will they be as burning ? " 105
And he to me : " Return unto thy science,
Which wills, that as the thing more perfect is,
The more it feels of pleasure and of pain.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Albeit that this people maledict

To true perfection never can attain,
Hereafter more than now they look to be."
Round in a circle by that road we went,
Speaking much more, which I do not repeat ;
VVe came unto the point where the descent is ;
There we found Plutus the great enemy.

CANTO VII.

" Pape Satkn, Pape Satkn, Aleppe ! "

Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began ;
And that benignant Sage, who all things knew.
Said, to encourage me : " Let not thy fear
Harm thee ; for any power that he may have s
Shall not prevent thy going down this crag."
Then he turned round unto that bloated lip.
And said : " Be silent, thou accursed wolf;
Consume within thyself with thine own rage.
Not causeless is this journey to the abyss ; «o
Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought
Vengeance upon the proud adultery."
Even as the sails inflated by the wind
Involved together fall when snaps the mast,
So fell the cruel monster to the earth. »5
Thus we descended into the fourth chasm,
Gaining still farther on the dolesome shore
Which all the woe of the universe insacks.
Justice of God, ah ! who heaps up so many
New toils and sufferings as I beheld ? ao
And why doth our transgression waste us so ?
As doth the billow there upon Charybdis,
That breaks itself on that which it encounters,
So here the folk must dance their roundelay.
Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many, «i
On one side and the other, with great howls,
Rolling weights forward by main force of chest.
They clashed together, and then at that point
Each one turned backward, rolling retrograile.
Crying, " Why keepest ? " and, " Why squanderest thou ? " 30
Thus they returned along the lurid circle
On either hand unto the opposite point.
Shouting their shameful metre evermore.
 INFERNO, VIL 23

Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about

Through his half-circle to another joust ; 3S
And I, who had my heart pierced as it were,
Exclaimed : " My Master, now declare to me
What people these are, and if all were clerks,
These shaven crowns upon the left of us."
And he to me : " All of them were asquint ♦<:
In intellect in the first life, so much
That there with measure they no spending made.
Clearly enough their voices bark it forth,
Whene'er they reach the two points of the circle,
Where sunders them the opposite defect. 45
Clerks those were who no hairy covering
Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals,
In whom doth Avarice practise its excess."
And I : " My Master, among such as these
I ought forsooth to recognise some few, 90
Who were infected with these maladies."
And he to me : " Vain thought thou entertainest ;
The undiscerning life which made them sordid
Now makes them unto all discernment dim.
Forever shall they come to these two buttings ; 55
These from the sepulchre shall rise again
With the fist closed, and these with tresses shorn.
II giving and ill keeping the fair world
Have taen from them, and placed them in this scufllle ;
Whate'er it be, no words adorn I for it. 6c
Now canst thou. Son, behold the transient farce
Of goods that are committed unto Fortune,
For which the human race each other buffet ;
For all the gold that is beneath the moon,
Or ever has been, of these weary souls «s
Could never make a single one repose."
" Master," I said to him, " now tell me also
What is this Fortune which thou speakest of,
That has the world's goods so within its clutches?"
And he to me : " O creatures imbecile, 70
What ignorance is this which doth beset you ?
Now will I have thee learn my judgment of her.
He whose omniscience everything transcends
The heavens created, and gave who should guide them,
That every part to every part may shine.
Distributing the light in equal measure ; 75
He in like manner to the mundane splendours
Ordained a general ministress and guide,
24 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Tliat she might change at times the empty treasures

From race to race, from one blood to another, so
Beyond resistance of all human wisdom.
Therefore one people triumphs, and another
Languishes, in pursuance of her judgment,
Which hidden is, as in the grass a ser])ent.
Your knowledge has no counterstand against her ; ' sj
She makes provision, judges, and pursues
Her governance, as theirs the other gods.
Her permutations have not any truce ;
Necessity makes her precipitate,
So often Cometh who his turn obtains. go
And this is she who is so crucified
Even by those who ought to give her praise,
Giving her blame amiss, and ba<i repute.
But she is blissful, and she hears it not ;
Among the other primal creatures gladsome 95
She turns her sphere, and blissful she rejoices.
Let us descend now unto greater woe ;
Already sinks each star that was ascending
When I set out, and loitering is forbidden."
We crossed the circle to the other bank, 100
Near to a fount that boils, and pours itself
Along a gully that runs out of it.
The water was more sombre far than perse ;
And we, in company with the dusky waves,
Made entrance downward by a path uncouth. 105
A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx,
This tristful brooklet, when it has descended
Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.'
And I, who stood intent upon beholding.
Saw people mud-besprent in that lagoon, hc
All of them naked and with angry look.
They smote each other not alone with hands,
But with the head and with the breast and feet.
Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.
Said the good Master : " Son, thou now beholdest "s
The souls of those whom anger overcame ;
And likewise I would have thee know for certain
Beneath the water people are who sigh
And make this water bubble at the surface.
As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. "o
Fixed in the mire they say, ' We sullen were
In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened.
Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek ]
 INFERNO, VJIl. 25

Now we are sullen in this sable mire.'

This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,
For with unbroken words they cannot say it."
Thus we went circling round the filthy fen
A great arc 'twixt the dry bank and the swamp,
With eyes turned unto those who gorge the mire ;
Unto the foot of a tower we came at last.

CANTO VIII.
I SAY, continuing, that long before
We to the foot of that high tower had come,
Our eyes went upward to the summit of it.
By reason of two flamelets we saw placed there,
And from afar another answer them, s
So far, that hardly could the eye attain it.
And, to the sea of all discernment turned,
I said : " What sayeth this, and what respondeth
That other fire ? and who are they that made it ? "
And he to me : " Across the turbid waves 10
What is expected thou canst now discern.
If reek of the morass conceal it not."
Cord never shot an arrow from itself
That sped away athwart the air so swift.
As I beheld a very little boat «6
Come o'er the water tow'rds us at that moment.
Under the guidance of a single pilot,
Who shouted, " Now art thou arrived, fell soul ? "
" Phlegyas, Phlegyas, thou criest out in vain
For this once," said my Lord ; " thou shalt not have us 90
Longer than in the passing of the slough."
As he who listens to some great deceit
That has been done to him, and then resents it,
Such became Phleg)'as, in his gathered wrath.
My Guide descended down into the boat, «
And then he made me enter after him,
And only when I entered seemed it laden.
Soon as the Guide and I were in the boat, v^i^. A
The antique prow goes on its way, dividing \
More of the water than 'tis wont with others. 90
While we were running through the dead canal.
Uprose in front of me one full of mire,
And said, " Who 'rt thou that comest ere the hour ? "
26 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And I to him : " Although I come, I stay not ;

But who art thou that hast become so squahd ? "
" Thou seest that I am one who weeps," he answered.
And I to him : " With weeping and with waiHng,
Thou spirit maledict, do thou remain ;
For thee I know, though thou art all denied."
Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat ;
Whereat my wary Master thrust him back,
Saying, " Away there with the other dogs ! "
Tnereafter with his arms he clasped my neck ;
He kissed my face, and said : " Disdainful soul.
Blessed be she who bore thee in her bosom.
That was an arrogant person in the world ;
Goodness is none, that decks his memory;
So likewise here his shade is furious.
How many are esteemed great kings up there.
Who here shall be like unto swine in mire.
Leaving behind them horrible dispraises ! "
And I : " My Master, much should I be pleased,
If I could see him soused into this broth,
Before we issue forth out of the lake."
And he to me : " Ere unto thee the shore
Reveal itself, thou shalt be satisfied ;
Such a desire 'tis meet thou shouldst enjoy."
A little after that, I saw such havoc
Made of him by the people of the mire,
That still I praise and thank my God for it.
They all were shouting. " At Philippo Argenti ! "
And that exasperate spirit Florentine
Turned round upon himself with his own teeth.
We left him there, and more of him I tell not ;
But on mine ears there smote a lamentation.
Whence forward I intent unbar mine eyes.
And the good Master said : " Even now, my Son,
The city draweth near whose name is Dis,
With the grave citizens, with the great throng."
And I : " Its mosques already, Master, clearly
Within there in the valley I discern
Vermilion, as if issuing from the fire
They were." And he to me: "The fire eternal
That kindles them within makes them look rerl,
As thou beholdest in this nether Hell."
Then we arrived within the moats profound.
That circumvallate that disconsolate city ;
The walls appeared to me to be of iron.
 INFERNO, VIII. 27

Not without making first a circuit' wide,

We came unto a place where loud the pilot 80
Cried out to us, " Debark, here is the entrance."
More than a thousand at the gates I saw
Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily
Were saying, " Who is this that without death
Goes through the kingdom of the people dead ? " 8s
And my sagacious Master made a sign
Of wishing secretly to speak with them.
A little then they quelled their great disdain,
And said : " Come thou alone, and he begone
Who has so boldly entered these dominions, jk
Let him return alone by his mad road ;
Try, if he can ; for thou shalt here remain,
Who hast escorted him through such dark regions."
Think, Reader, if I was discomforted
At utterance of the accursed words ; 95
For never to return here I believed.
*' O my dear Guide, who more than seven times
Hast rendered me security, and drawn me
From imminent peril that before me stood,
Do not desert me," said I, " thus undone ; »»
And if the going farther be denied us.
Let us retrace our steps together swiftly."
And that Lord, who had led me thitherward.
Said unto me : " Fear not ; because our passage
None can take from us, it by Such is given. ws
But here await me, and thy weary spirit
Comfort and nourish with a better hope ;
For in this nether world I will not leave thee."
So onward goes and there abandons me
My Father
For No and sweet, and I my
Yes within remain
head incontend.
doubt, * mo
I could not hear what he proposed to them ;
But with them there he did not linger long,
Ere each within in rivalry ran back.
They closed the portals, those our adversaries, ns
On my Lord's breast, who had remained without
And turned to me with footsteps far between.
His eyes cast down, his forehead shorn had he
Of all its boldness, and he said, with sighs,
" Who has denied to me the dolesome houses ? " »o
And unto me : " Thou, because I am angry,
Fear not, for I will conquer in the trial.
Whatever for defence within be planned.
28 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

This arrogance of theirs is nothing new ;

For once they used it at less secret gate,
Which finds itself without a fastening still.
O'er it didst thou behold the dead inscription ;
And now this side of it descends the steep,
Passing across the circles without escort,
One by whose means the city shall be opened."

CANTO IX.
That hue which cowardice brought out on me,
Beholding my Conductor backward turn,
Sooner repressed within him his new colour.
He stopped attentive, like a man who listens,
Because the eye could not conduct him far
Through the black air, and through the heavy fog.
** Still it behoveth us to win the fight,"
Began he ; " Else . . . Such offered us herself . . .
O how I long that some one here arrive ! "
Well I perceived, as soon as the beginning
He covered up with what came afterward,
That they were words quite different from the first ;
But none the less his saying gave me fear.
Because I carried out the broken phrase.
Perhaps to a worse meaning than he had.
" Into this bottom of the doleful conch
Doth any e'er descend from the first grade.
This questionforput
Which its Ipain
; andhasheonly hope cut
answered me off"?"
:
" Seldom it comes to pass that one of us
Maketh the journey upon which I go.
True is it, once before I here below
Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,
Who summoned back the shades unto their bodies.
Naked of me short while the flesh had been,
Before within that wall she made me enter.
To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas ;
That is the lowest region and the darkest.
And farthest from the heaven which circles alL
Well know I the way ; therefore be reassured.
This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales,
Encompasses about the city dolent,
Where now we cannot enter without anger."
 TNFERNO, IX. 39

And more he said, but not in mind I have it ;

Because mine eye had altogether drawn me 35
Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit,
Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen
The three infernal Furies stained with blood,
Who had the limbs of women and their mien,
And with the greenest hydras were begirt ; 4«
Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, a>--.-\,c^ '-^
Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined.
And he who well the handmaids of the Queen
Of everlasting lamentation knew,
Said unto me : " Behold the fierce Erinnys. 45
This is Megaera, on the left-hand side ; . . -^.^^
She who is weeping on the right, Alecto ;
Tisiphone is between-; " and then was silent
Each one her breast was rending with her nails ;
They beat them with their palms, and cried so loud, so
That I for dread pressed close unto the Poet.
" Medusa come, so we to stone will change him ! "
All shouted looking down ; " in evil hour
Avenged we not on Theseus his assault ! "
" Turn thyself round, and keep thine eyes close shut, ss
For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it,
No more returning upward would there be."
Thus said the Master ; and he turned me round
Himself, and trusted not unto my hands
So far as not to blind me with his own, &>
O ye who have undistempered intellects.
Observe the doctrine that conceals itself
Beneath the veil of the mysterious verses !
And now there came across the turbid waves
The clangour of a sound with terror fraught, 6s
Because of which both of the margins trembled ;
Not otherwise it was than of a wind
Impetuous on account of adverse heats,
That smites the forest, and, without restraint.
The branches rends, beats down, and bears away ; 70
Right onward, laden with dust, it goes superb.
And puts to flight the wild beasts and the shepherds.
Mine eyes he loosed, and said : " Direct the nerve
Of vision now along that ancient foam,
'here yonder where that smoke is most intense." 71
Eve as the frogs before the hostile serpent
Across the water scatter all abroad.
Until each one is huddled in the earth.
30 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

More than a thousand ruined souls I saw,

Thus fleeing from before one who on foot 80
Was passing o'er the Styx with soles unwet.
From off his face he fanned that unctuous air,
Waving his left hand oft in front of him,
And only with that anguish seemed he weary.
Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, 85
And to the Master turned ; and he made sign
That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.
Ah ! how disdamful he appeared to me !
He reached the gate, and with a little rod
He opened it, for there was no resistance. 9°
"0 banished out of Heaven, people despised !"
Thus he began upon the horrid threshold ;
"Whence is this arrogance within you couche4?
Wherefore recalcitrate against that will, \^) ■\-^j^U(> .lt^j^^^sj^^
From which the end can never be cut off, /, g$
And which has many times increased your pain ?
What helpeth it to butt against the fates ?
Your Cerberus, if you remember well,
For that still bears his chin and gullet peeled."
Then he returned along the miry road, 100
And spake no word to us, but had the look
Of one whom other care constrains and goads
Than that of him vvho in his presence is ;
And we our feet directed towrds the city,
After those holy words all confident. 105
Within we entered without any contest ;
And I, who inclination had to see
What the condition such a fortress holds,
Soon as I was within, cast round mine eye,
And see on every hand an ample plain, wo
Full of distress and torment terrible.
Even as at Aries, where stagnant grows the Rhone,
Even as at Pola near to the Quarnaro,
That shuts in Italy and bathes its borders,
The sepulchres make all the place uneven ; "5
So likewise did they there on every side,
Saving that there the manner was more bitter ;
For flames between the sepulchres were scattered,
By which they so intensely heated were,
That iron more so asks not any art. m
All of their coverings uplifted were,
And from them issued forth such dire laments,
Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.
 INFERNO, X. 31

And I : " My Master, what are all those people

Who, having sepulture within those tombs, 135
Make themselves audible by doleful sighs ? " . 1 - ^
And he to me : " Here are the Heresiarchs, c^av^caa - iy^-^^r-^ v.^^xy\
With their disciples of all sects, and much
More than thou thinkest laden are the tombs.
Here like together with its Hke is buried ;
And more and less the monuments are heated."
And when he to the right had turned, we passed
Between the torments and high parapets.

CANTO X.
Now onward goes, along a narrow path
Between the torments and the city wall.
My Master, and I follow at his back.
" O power supreme, that through these impious circles
Turnest me," I began, " as pleases thee, 5
Speak to me, and my longings satisfy ;
The people who are lying in these tombs.
Might they be seen ? already are uplifted
The covers all, and no one keepeth guard."
And he to me : " They all will be closed up ^ h J^
When from Jehoshaphat they shall return ■- — ^.-^ ) '^^^
Here with the bodies they have left above.
Their cemetery have upon this side
With Epicurus all his followers,
Who with the body mortal make the soul ; >s
But in the question thou dost put to me.
Within here shalt thou soon be satisfied,
And likewise in the wish thou keepest silent."
And I : " Good Leader, I but keep concealed
From thee my heart, that I may speak the less, -^
Nor only now hast thou thereto disposed me."
" O Tuscan, thou who through the city of fire
Goest alive, thus speaking modestly,
Be pleased to stay thy footsteps in this place.
Thy mode of speaking makes thee manifest ^5
A native of that noble fatherland.
To which perhaps I too molestful was."
Upon a sudden issued forth this sound
From out one of the tombs ; wherefore I pressed,
Fearing, a little nearer to my Leader. *>
32 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And unto me he said : " Turn thee ; what dost thou ?

Behold there Farinata who has risen ;
From the waist upwards wholly shalt thou see him."
I had already fixed mine eyes on his,
And he uprose erect with breast and front 35
E'en as if Hell he had in great despite.
And with courageous hands and prompt my Leader
Thrust me between the sepulchres towards him,
Exclaiming, " Let thy words explicit be."
As soon as 1 was at the foot of his tomb, 4c
Somewhat he eyed me, and, as if disdainful,
Then asked of me, "Who were thine ancestors?"
I, who desirous of obeying was,
Concealed it not, but all revealed to him ;
Whereat he raised his brows a little upward. 4S
Then said he : " Fiercely adverse have they been
To me, and to my fathers, and my party ;
So that two several times I scattered them."
*' If they were banished, they returned on all sides,"
I answered him, " the first time and the second ; sc
But yours have not acquired that art aright."
Then there uprose upon the sight, uncovered
Down to the chin, a shadow at his side j
I think that he had risen on his knees.
Round me he gazed, as if solicitude 55
He had to see if some one else were with me ,
But after his suspicion was all spent,
Weeping, he said to me : " If through this blind
Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius,
Where is my son ? and why is he not with thee ? " 60
And I to him : " I come not of myself ;
He who is waiting yonder leads me here.
Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had."
His language and the mode of punishment
Already unto me had read his name j 65
On that account my answer was so full.
Up starting suddenly, he cried out : " How
Saidst thou, — he had ? Is he not still alive ?
Does not the sweet light strike upon his eyes?"
When he became aware of some delay, 70
Which I before my answer made, supine
He fell again, and forth appeared no more.
But the other, niagnanimous, at whose desire
I had remained, did not his aspect change,
Neither his neck he moved, nor bent his side. n
 INFERNO, X. 33

" And if," continuing his first discourse,

" They have that art," he said, " not learned aright,
That more tormenteth me, than doth this bed.
But fifty times shall not rekindled be
The countenance of the Lady who reigns here, Sc
Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art ;
And as thou wouldst to the sweet world return,
Say why that people is so pitiless
Against my race in each one of its laws?"
Whence I to him : " The slaughter and great carnage ss
Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause
Such orisons in our temple to be made."
After his head he with a sigh had shaken,
" There i was not alone," he said, " nor surely
Without a cause had with the others moved. 90
But there I was alone, where every one
Consented to the laying waste of Florence,
He who defended her with open face."
"Ah ! so hereafter may your seed repose,"
I him entreated, " solve for me that knot, 95
Which has entangled my conceptions here.
It seems that you can see, if I hear rightly.
Beforehand whatsoe'er time brings with it,
And in the present have another mode."
" We see, like those who have imperfect sight, »<»
The things," he said, " that distant are from us ;
So much still shines on us the Sovereign Ruler.
When they draw near, or are, is wholly vain
Our intellect, and if none brings it to us,
Not anything know we of your human state. '05
Hence thou canst understand, that wholly dead
Will be our knowledge from the moment when
The portal of the future shall be closed."
Then I, as if compunctious for my fault,
Said : " Now, then, you will tell that fallen one, "c
That still his son is with the living joined.
And if just now, in answering, I was dumb,
Tell him I did it because I was thinking
Already of the error you have solved me."
And now my Master was recalling me, "S
Wherefore more eagerly I prayed the spirit ,
That he would tell me who was with him there.
He said : " With more than a thousand here I lie ;
Within here is the second Frederick,
And the Cardinal, and of the rest I speak not." '«>
34 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thereon he hid himself ; and I towards

The ancient poet turned my steps, reflecting
Upon that saying, which seemed hostile to me.
He moved along ; and afterv^ard, thus going,
He said to me, " Why art thou so bewildered ? '
And I in his inquiry satisfied him.
" Let memory preserve what thou hast heard
Against thyself," that Sage commanded me,
"And now attend here ; " and he raised his finger.
" When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet
Of her whose beauteous eyes all things behold.
From her thou'lt know the journey of thy life."
Unto the left hand then he turned his feet ;
We left the wall, and went towards the middle,
Along a path that strikes into a valley,
Which even up there unpleasant made its stench.

CANTO XL

Upon the margin of a lofty bank

Which great rocks broken m a circle made,
We came upon a still more cruel throng ;
And there, by reason of the horrible
Excess of stench the deep abyss throws out,
We drew ourselves aside behind the cover
Of a great tomb, whereon I saw a writing.
Which said : " Pope Anastasius I hold,
Whom out of the right way Photinus drew."
" Slow it behoveth our descent to be.
So that the sense be first a little used
To th(j sad blast, and then we shall not heed it."
The Master thus ; and unto liim I said,
" Some compensation find, tha*: the time pass not
Idly ; " and he : " Thou seest I think of that.
My son, upon the inside of these rocks,"
Began he then to say, " are three small circles,
From grade to grade, like those which thou art leaving.
They all are full of spirits raaledict ;
But that hereafter sight alone suffice thee.
Hear how and wherefore they are in constraint
Of every malice that wins hate in Heaven,
Injury is the end ; and all such end
Either by force or fr ud aflSlicteth others.
 INFERNO, XL 35

But because fraud is man's peculiar vice, 25

More it displeases God ; and so stand lowest
The fraudulent, and greater dole assails them.
All the first circle of the Violent is ;
But since force may be used against three persons,
In three rounds 'tis divided and constructed. 30
To God, to ourselves, and to our neighbour can we
Use force ; I say on them and on their things,
As thou shalt hear with reason manifest
A death by violence, and painful wounds,
Are to our neighbour given ; and in his substance as
Ruin, and arson, and injurious levies ;
Whence homicides, and he who smites unjustly,
Marauders, and freebooters, the first round
Tormenteth all m companies diverse.
Man may lay violent hands upon himself 40
And his own goods ; and therefore in the second
Round must perforce without avail repent
Whoever of your world deprives himself.
Who games, and dissipates his property.
And weepeth there, where he should jocund be. 4S
Violence can be done the Deity,
In heart denying and blaspheming Him,
And by disdaining Nature and her bounty.
And for this reason doth the smallest round
Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, sc
And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart
Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung,
A man may practise upon him who trusts.
And him who doth no confidence imburse.
This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers s
Only the bond of love which Nature makes ;
Wherefore within the second circle nestle
Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic,
Falsification, theft, and simony.
Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. €0
By the other mode, forgotten is that love
Which Nature makes, and what is after added,
From which there is a special faith engendered.
Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is
Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, 65
Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed."
And I : " My Master, clear enough proceeds
Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes
This cavern and the people who possess it r 2
36 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, 70

Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat,
And who encounter with such bitter tongues,
Wherefore are they inside of the red city
Not punished, if God has them in his wrath,
And if he has not, wherefore in such fashion ? " 75
And unto me he said : " Why wanders so
Thine intellect from that which it is wont ?
Or, sooth, thy mind where is it elsewhere looking ?
Hast thou no recollection of those words
With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses 80
The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not, —
Incontinence, and Malice, and insane
Bestiality ? and how Incontinence
Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts ?
If thou regardest this conclusion M^ell, 85
And to thy mind recallest who they are
That up outside are undergoing penance,
Clearly wilt thou perceive why from these felons
They separated are, and why less wroth
Justice divine doth smite them with its hammer." 90
" O Sun, that healest all distempered vision,
Thou dost content me so, when thou resolvest,
That doubting pleases me no less than knowing !
Once more a little backward turn thee," said I,
" There where thou sayest that usury offends 95
Goodness divine, and disengage the knot."
" Philosophy," he said, " to him who heeds it,
Noteth, not only in one place alone.
After what manner Nature takes her course
From Intellect Divine, and from its art ; 100
And if thy Physics carefully thou notest,
After not many pages shalt thou find,
That this your art as far as possible
Follows, as the disciple doth the master;
So that your art is, as it were, God's grandchild. los
From these two, if thou bringest to thy mind
Genesis at the beginning, it behoves
Mankind to gain their life and to advance ;
And since the usurer takes another way.
Nature herself and in her follower wo
Disdains he. for elsewhere he puts his hope.
But follow, now, as I would fain go on.
For quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,
And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies,
And far beyond there we descend the crag:." nj
 INFERNO, XII. ■ 37

CANTO XII.
The place where to descend the bank we came
Was alpine, and from what was there, moreover,
Of such a kind that every eye would shun it
Such as that ruin is which in the flank
Smote, on this side of Trent, the Adige,
Either by earthquake or by failing stay,
For from the mountain's top, from which it moved,
Unto the plain the cliff is shattered so,
Some path 'twould give to him who was above ;
Even such was the descent of that ravine,
And on the border of the broken chasm
The infamy of Crete was stretched along,
Who was conceived in the fictitious cow ;
And when he us beheld, he bit himself.
Even as one whom anger racks within.
My Sage towards him shouted : " Peradventure
Thou think'st that here may be the Duke of Athens,
Who in the world above brought death to thee ?
Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not
Instructed by thy sister, but he comes
As isInthatorder
bull towho
behold
breaksyourloose
punishments."
at the moment
In which he has received the mortal blow,
Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,
The Minotaur beheld I do the like ;
And he, the wary, cried : " Run to the passage ;
While he is wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend."
Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge
Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves
Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.
Thoughtful I went ; and he said : " Thou art thinking
Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded
By that brute anger which just now I quenched,
Now will I have thee know, the other time
I here descended to the nether Hell,
This precipice had not yet fallen down-
But truly, if I well discern, a little
Before His coming who the mighty spoil
Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley 40

Trembled so, that I thought the Universe
Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think
The world ofttimes converted into chaos ;
And at that moment this primeval crag
Both here and elsewhere made such overthrow. ^5
But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near
The river of blood, within which boiling is
Whoe'er by violence doth injure others."
0 blind cupidity, O wrath insane,
That spurs us onward so in our short life, 5°
And in the eternal then so badly steeps us !
1 saw an ample moat bent like a bow,
As one which all the plain encompasses.
Conformable to what my Guide had said.
And between this and the embankment's foot ss
Centaurs in file were running, armed with arrows,
As in the world they used the chase to follow.
Beholding us descend, each one stood still,
And from the squadron three detached themselves,
With bows and arrows in advance selected ; 60
And from afar one cried : " Unto what torment
Come ye, who down the hillside are descending ?
Tell us from there ; if not, I draw the bow."
My Master said : " Our answer will we make
To Chiron, near you there ; in evil hour, 65
That will of thine was evermore so hasty."
Then touched he me, and said : " This one is Nessus,
Who perished for the lovely Dejanira,
And for himself, himself did vengeance take.
And he in the midst, who at his breast is gazing, 7°
Is the great Chiron, who brought up Achilles ;
That other Pholus is, who was so wrathful.
Thousands and thousands go about the moat
Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges
Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." 7s
Near we approached unto those monsters fleet ;
Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch
Backward upon his jaws he put his beard.
After he had uncovered his great mouth,
He said to his companions : " Are you ware 80
That he behind moveth whate'er he touches?
Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men."
And my good (}uide, who now was at his breast,
Where the two natures are together joined,
 INFERNO, XII. 39

Replied : " Indeed he lives, and thus alone 85

Me it behoves to show him the dark valley ;
Necessity, and not delight, impels us.
Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja,
Who unto me committed this new office ;
No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. 90
But by that virtue through which I am moving
My steps along this savage thoroughfare,
Give us some one of thine, to be with us.
And who may show us where to pass the ford.
And who may carry this one on his back ; 95
For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air."
Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about.
And said to Nessus : " Turn and do thou guide them,
And warn aside, if other band may meet you."
We with our faithful escort onward moved, too
Along the brink of the vermilion boiling,
Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments.
People I saw within up to the eyebrows.
And the great Centaur said : " Tyrants are these,
Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. ««
Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs ; here
Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius
Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years.
That forehead there which has the hair so black
Is Azzolin ; and the other who is blond, "o
Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth,
Up in the world was by his stepson slain."
Then turned I to the Poet ; and he said,
" Now he be first to thee, and second I."
A little farther on the Centaur stopped "S
Above a folk, who far down as the throat
Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth.
A shade he showed us on one side alone.
Saying : " He cleft asunder in God's bosom
The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured." »«>
Then people saw I, who from out the river
Lifted their heads and also all the chest ;
And many among these I recognised.
Thus ever more and more grew shallower
That blood, so that the feet alone it covered ; 125
And there across the moat our passage was.
" Even as thou here upon this side beholdest
The boiling stream, that aye diminishes,"
The .Centaur said, " I wish thee to believe
40 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

That on this other more and more decHnes

Its bed, until it reunites itself
Where it behoveth tyranny to groan.
Justice divine, upon this side, is goading
That Attila, who was a scourge on earth,
And Pyrrhus, and Sextus ; and for ever milks
The tears which with the boiling it unseals
In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,
Who made upon the highways so much war."
Then back he turned, and passed again the ford.

CANTO XIII.

Not yet had Nessus reached the other side,

When we had put ourselves within a wood,
That was not marked by any path whatever.
Not foliage green, but of a dusky colour.
Not branches smooth, but gnarled and intertangled,
Not apple-trees were there, but thorns with poison.
Such tangled thickets have" not, nor so dense,
Those savage wild beasts, that in hatred hold
'Twixt Cecina and Corneto the tilled places.
There do the hideous Harpies make their nests,
Who chased the Trojans from the Strophades,
With sad announcement of impending doom ;
Broad wings have they, and necks and faces human,
And feet with claws, and their great bellies fledged ;
They make laments upon the wond'ous trees.
And the good Master : " Ere thou enter farther.
Know that thou art within the second round,"
Thus he began to say, " and shalt be, till
Thou comest out upon the horrible sand ;
Therefore look well around, and thou shalt see
Things that will credence give unto my speech."
I heard on all sides lamentations uttered,
And person none beheld I who might make them,
Whence, utterly bewildered, I stood still.
I think he thought that I perhaps might think
So many voices issued through those trunks
From people who concealed themselves from us ;
Therefore the Master said : " If thou break ofif
Some little spray from any of these trees.
The thoughts thou hast will wholly be made vain."
 INFERNO, XIII. 4»

Then stretched I forth my hand a little forward,

And plucked a branchlet off from a great thorn ;
And the tmnk cried, " Why dost thou mangle me ? "
After it had become embrowned with blood.
It recommenced its cry : " Why dost thou rend me ? 35
Hast thou no spirit of pity whatsoever ?
Men once we were, and now are changed to trees ;
Indeed, thy hand should be more pitiful,
Even if the souls of serpents we had been."
As out of a green brand, that is on fire 40
At one of the ends, and from the other drips
And hisses with the wind that is escaping ;
So from that splinter issued forth together
Both words and blood ; whereat I let the tip
Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. ■♦s
*• Had he been able sooner to believe,"
My Sage made answer, " O thou wounded soul,
What only in my verses he has seen,
Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand ;
Whereas the thing incredible has caused me so
To put him to an act which grieveth me.
But tell him who thou wast, so that by way
Of some amends thy fame he may refresh
Up in the world, to which he can return."
And the trunk said : " So thy sweet words allure me, ss
I cannot silent be ; and you be vexed not,
That I a little to discourse am tempted.
I am the one who both keys had in keeping
Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro
So softly in unlocking and in locking, 60
That from his secrets most men I withheld ;
Fidelity I bore the glorious office
So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses.
The courtesan who never from the dwelling
Of Cassar turned aside her strumpet eyes, 65
Death universal and the vice of courts.
Inflamed against me all the other minds,
And they, inflamed, did so inflame Augustus,
That my glad honours turned to dismal mournings.
My spirit, in disdainful exultation, 70
Thinking by dying to escape disdain.
Made me unjust against myself, the just
I, by the roots unwonted of this wood.
Do swear to you that never broke I faith
Unto my lord, who was so worthy of honour ; n
42 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And to the world if one of you return,

Let him my memory comfort, which is lying
Still prostrate from the blow that envy dealt it."
Waited awhile, and then : " Since he is silent,"
The Poet said to me, " lose not the time, so
But speak, and question him, if more may please thee."
Whence I to him : " Do thou again inquire
Concerning what thou thinks't will satisfy me ;
For I cannot, such pity is in my heart"
Therefore he recommenced : "So may the man 8s
Do for thee freely what thy speech implores,
Spirit incarcerate, again be pleased
To tell us in what way the soul is bound
* Within these knots ; and tell us, if thou canst,
If any from such members e'er is freed." 90
Then blew the trunk amain, and afterward
The wind was into such a voice converted :
" With brevity shall be replied to you.
When the exasperated soul abandons
The body whence it rent itself away, 9S
Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss.
It falls into the forest, and no part
Is chosen for it ; but where Fortune hurls it,
There like a grain of spelt it germinates.
It springs a sapling, and a forest tree ; joo
The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves,
Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.
Like others for our spoils shall we return ;
But not that any one may them revest,
For 'tis not just to have what one casts off. jos
Here we shall drag them, and along the dismal
Forest our bodies shall suspended be,
Each to the thorn of his molested shade."
We were attentive still unto the trunk,
Thinking that more it yet might wish to tell us, no
When by a tumult we were overtaken,
In the same way as he is who perceives .
The boar and chase approaching to his stand.
Who hears the crashing of the beasts and branches ;
And two behold ! upon our left-hand side, us
Naked and scratched, fleeing so furiously,
That of the forest every fan they broke.
He who was in advance : " Now help. Death, help ! "
And the other one, who seemed to lag too much.
Was shouting : " Lano, were not so alert »•
 INFERNO, XIV. 43

Those legs of thine at joustings of the Toppo !"

And then, perchance because his breath was faihng,
He grouped himself together with a bush.
Behind them was the forest full of black
She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot us
As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain.
On him who had crouched down they set their teeth,
And him they lacerated piece by piece,
Thereafter bore away those aching members.
Thereat my Escort took me by the hand, 130
And led me to the bush, that all in vain
Was weeping from its bloody lacerations.
" O Jacopo," it said, " of Sant' Andrea,
What helped it thee of me to make a screen ?
What blame have I in thy nefarious life ? " 13s
When near him had the Master stayed his steps.
He said : " Who wast thou, that through wounds so many
Art blowing out with blood thy dolorous speech ?"
And he to us : " O souls, that hither come
To look upon the shameful massacre i4<»
That has so rent away from me my leaves,
Gather them up beneath the dismal bush ;
I of that city was which to the Baptist
Changed its first patron, wherefore he for this
Forever with his art will make it sad. 145
And were it not that on the pass of Amo
Some glimpses of him are remaining still,
Those citizens, who afterwards rebuilt it
Upon the ashes left by Attila,
In vain had caused their labour to be done. »s«
Of my own house I made myself a gibbet."

CANTO XIV.

Because the charity of my native place

Constrained me, gathered I the scattered leaves,
And gave them back to him, who now was hoarse.
Then came we to the confine, where disparted
The second round is from the third, and where
A horrible form of Justice is beheld.
Clearly to manifest these novel things,
I say that we arrived upon a plain,
Which from its bed rejecteth every plant ;
u THE DTVTNE COMEDY.

The dolorous forest is a garland to it

All round about, as the sad moat to that ;
There close upon the edge we stayed our feet
The soil was of an arid and thick sand,
Not of another fashion made than that
Which by the feet of Cato once was pressed.
Vengeance of God, O how much oughtest thou
By each one to be dreaded, who doth read
That which was manifest unto mine eyes !
Of naked souls beheld I many herds,
Who all were weeping very miserably,
And over them seemed set a law diverse.
Supine upon the ground some folk were lying ;
And some were sitting all drawn up together,
And others went about continually.
Those who were going round were far the more.
And those were less who lay down to their torment,
But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation.
O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall.
Were raining down dilated flakes of fire,
As of the snow on Alp without a wind.
As Alexander, in those torrid parts
Of India, beheld upon his host
Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground,
Whence he provided with his phalanxes
To trample down the soil, because the vapour
Better extinguished was while it was single ;
Thus was- descending the eternal heat.
Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder
Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole.
Without repose forever was the dance
Of miserable hands, now there, now here,
Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds.
" Master," began I, " thou who overcomest
All things except the demons dire, that issued
Against us at the entrance of the gate,
Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not
The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful,
So that the rain seems not to ripen Inm ?"
And he himself, who had become aware
That I was questioning my Guide about him,
Cried : " Such as I was living, am I, dead
If Jove should weary out his smith, from whom
» He seized in anger the sharp thunderbolt.
Wherewith upon the last day I was smitten,
 INFERNO, XIV. 45

And if he wearied out by turns the others ss

In Mongibello at the swarthy forge,
Vociferating, ' Help, good Vulcan, help ! '
Even as he did there at the fight of Phlegra,
And shot his bolts at me with all his might,
He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance." 6«
Then did my Leader speak with such great force,
That I had never heard him speak so loud :
" O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished
Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more ;
Not any torment, saving thine own rage, 6s
Would be unto thy fury pain complete."
Then he turned round to me with better lip,
Saying : " One of the Seven Kings was he
Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold
God in disdain, and little seems to prize him ; 70
But, as I said to him, his own despites
Are for his breast the fittest ornaments.
Now follow me, and mind thou do not place
As yet thy feet upon the burning sand.
But always keep them close unto the wood." n
Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes
Forth from the wood a little rivulet,
Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end.
As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet.
The sinful women later share among them, 8e
So downward through the sand it went its way.
The bottom of it, and both sloping banks,
Were made of stone, and the margins at the side ;
Whence I perceived that there the passage was.
" In all the rest which I have shown to thee 85
Since we have entered in within the gate
Whose threshold unto no one is denied,
Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes
So notable as is the present river.
Which all the little flames above it quenches." 9«
These words were of my Leader ; whence I prayed him
That he would give me largess of the food,
For which he had given me largess of desire.
" In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land,"
Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, Ml
Under whose king the world of old was chaste.
There is a mountain there, that once was glad
With waters and with leaves, which was called Ida ;
Now 'tis deserted, as a thing worn out.
46 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Rhea once chose it for the faithful cradle loo

Of her own son ; and to conceal him better,
Whene'er he cried, she there had clamours made.
A grand old man stands in the mount erect.
Who holds his shoulders turned tovv'rds Damietta,
And looks at Rome as if it were his mirror. «o5
His head is fashioned of refined gold,
And of pure silver are the arms and breast ;
Then he is brass as far down as the fork.
From that point downward all is chosen iron,
Save that the right foot is of kiln -baked clay, nc
And more he stands on that than on the other.
Each part, except the gold, is by a fissure
Asunder cleft, that dripping is with tears,
Which gathered together perforate that cavern.
From rock to rock they fall into this valley ; ««5
Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon they form ; ^^r^sfj^v J J^/^M
Then downward go along this narrow sluice \ \
Unto that point where is no more descending.
They form Cocytus ; what that pool may be
Thou shalt behold, so here 'tis not narrated." oo
And I to him : " If so the present runnel
Doth take its rise in this way from our world,
Why only on this verge appears it to us ? "
And he to me : " Thou knowest the place is round,
And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, las
Still to the left descending to the bottom,
Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned.
Therefore if something new appear to us,
It should not bring amazement to thy face."
And I again : " Master, where shall be found 130
Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent,
And sayest the other of this rain is made ? "
" In all thy questions truly thou dost please me,"
Replied he ; " but the boiling of the red
Water might well solve one of them thou makest. J35
Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat.
There where the souls repair to lave themselves.
When sin repented of has been removed."
Then said he : " It is time now to abandon
The wood ; take heed that thou come after me ; mo
A way the margins make that are not burning,
And over them all vapours are extinguished."
 INFERNO, XV. 47

CANTO XV.

0^^
Now bears us onward one of the hard margins,
And
From sofire
theitbrooklet's mist o'ershadows
saves the water it,
and the dikes.
Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges,
Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself.
Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight ;
And as the Paduans along the Brenta,
To guard their villas and their villages,
Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat ;
In such similitude had those been made,
Albeit not so lofty nor so thick,
Whoever he might be, the master made them.
Now were we from the forest so remote,
I could not have discovered where it was.
Even if backward I had turned myself.
When we a company of souls encountered.
Who came beside the dike, and every one
Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont
To eye each other under a new moon.
And so towards us sharpened they their brows
As an old tailor at the needle's eye.
Thus scrutinised by such a family.
By some one I was recognised, who seized
My garment's hem, and cried out, '' What a marvel ' "
And I, when he stretched forth his arm-to me.
On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes,
That the scorched countenance prevented not
His recognition by my intellect ;
And bowing down my face unto his own,
I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?"
And he : " May't not displease thee, O my son.
If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini
Backward return and let the trail go on."
I said to him : " With all my power I ask it ;
And if you wish me to sit down with you,
I will, if he please, for I go with him."
" O son," he said, " whoever of this herd
A moment stops, lies then a hundred years,
Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Therefore go on ; I at thy skirts will come,

And afterward will I rejoin my band,
Which goes lamenting its eternal doom."
I did not dare to go down from the road
Level to walk with him ; but my head bowed
I held as one who goeth reverently.
And he began : " What fortune or what fate
Before the last day leadeth thee down here ?
And who is this that showeth thee the way ? "
" Up there above us in the life serene,"
I answered him, " I lost me in a valley.
Or ever yet my age had been completed.
But yestermom I turned my back upon it ;
This one appeared to me, returning thither,
And homeward leadeth me along this road."
And he to me : " If thou thy star do follow.
Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port,
If well I judged in the life beautiful.
And if I had not died so prematurely.
Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee,
I would have given thee comfort in the work.
But that ungrateful and malignant people,
• Which of old time from Fesole descended,
And smacks still of the mountain and the granite,
Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe ;
And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs
It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit.
Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind ;
A people avaricious, envious, proud ;
Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee.
Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee,
One party and the other shall be hungry
For thee ; but far from goat shall be the grass.
Their litter let the beasts of Fesole
Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,
If any still upon their dunghill rise.
In which may yet revive the consecrated
Seed of those Romans, who remained there when
The nest of such great malice it became."
" If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,"
Replied I to him, " not yet would you be
In banishment from human nature placed ;
For in my mind is fixed, and touches now
My heart the dear and good paternal image
Of you, when in the world from hour to hour
 INFERNO, XV. ^

You taught me how a man becomes eternal ; 85

And how much I am grateful, while I live
Behoves that in my language be discerned.
What you narrate of my career I write,
And keep it to be glossed with other text
By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. 9*
This <nuch will I have manifest to you ;
Provided that my conscience do not chide me,
For whatsoever Fortune I am ready.
Such handsel is not new unto mine ears ;
Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around 95
As it may please her, and the churl his mattock."
My Master thereupon on his right cheek
Did backward turn himself, and looked at me ;
Then said : -" He listeneth well who noteth it."
Nor speaking less on that account, I go »<»
With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are
His most known and most eminent companions.
And he to me : " To know of some is well ;
Of others it were laudable to be silent,
For short would be the time for so much speech. 105
Know then, in sum, that all of them were clerks,
And men of letters great and of great fame,
In the world tainted with the selfsame sin.
Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd,
And Francis of Accorso ; and thou hadst seen there, no
If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf.
That one, who by the Servant of the Servants
From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione,
Where he has left his sin-excited nerves.
More would I say, but coming and discoursing ns
Can be no longer ; for that I behold
New smoke uprising yonder from the sand.
A people comes with whom I may not be ;
Commended unto thee be my Tesoro,
In which I still live, and no more I ask." t»
Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those
Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle
Across the plain ; and seemed to be among them
The one who wins, and not the one who loses.
50 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

\ CANTO XVI.
Now was I where was heard the reverberation
Of water falling into the next round,
Like to that humming which the beehives make.
When shadows three together started forth,
Running, from out a company that passed
Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom.
Towards us came they, and each one cried out :
" Stop, thou ; for by thy garb to us thou seem6st
To be some one of our depraved city."
Ah me ! what wounds I saw upon their limbs,
Recent and ancient by the flames burnt in !
It pains me still but to remember it.
Unto their cries my Teacher paused attentive ;
He turned his face towards me, and " Now wait,"
He said ; " to these we should be courteous.
And if it were not for the fire that darts
The nature of this region, I should say
That haste were more becoming thee than them."
As soon as we stood still, they recommenced
The old refrain, and when they overtook us,
Formed of themselves a wheel, all three of them.
As champions stripped and oiled are wont to do,
Watching for their advantage and their hold,
Before they come to blows and thrusts between them,
Thus, wheeling round, did every one his visage
Direct to me, so that in opposite wise
His neck and feet continual journey made.
And, " If the misery of this soft place
Bring in disdain ourselves and our entreaties,"
Began one, "and our aspect black and blistered,
Let the renown of us thy mind incline
To tell us who thou art, who thus securely
Thy living feet dost move along through Hell.
He in whose footprints thou dost see me treading,
Naked and skinless though he now may go,
Was of a greater rank than thou dost think ;
He was the grandson of the good Gualdrada ;
His name was Guidoguerra, and in life
Much did he with his wisdom and his sword.
 INFERNO, XVI. 51

The other, who close by me treads the sand, 40

Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame
Above there in the world should welcome be.
And I, who with them on the cross am placed,
Jacopo Rusticucci was ; and truly
My savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me." 4S
Could I have been protected from the fire,
Below I should have thrown myself among them,
And think the Teacher would have suffered it ;
But as I should have burned and baked myself,
My terror overmastered my good will, 5°
Which made me greedy of embracing them.
Then I began : " Sorrow and not disdain
Did your condition fix within me so.
That tardily it wholly is stripped off.
As soon as this my Lord said unto me S3
Words, on account of which I thought within me
That people such as you are were approaching.
I of your city am ; and evermore
Your labours and your honourable names
I with affection have retraced and heard. 60
I leave the gall, and go for the sweet fruits
Promised to me by the veracious Leader;
But to the centre first I needs must plunge."
" So may the soul for a long while conduct
Those limbs of thine," did he make answer then, 65
" And so may thy renown shine after thee,
Valour and courtesy, say if they dwell
Within our city, as they used to do.
Or if they wtloUy have gone out of it ;
For Guglielmo Borsier, who is in torment 70
With us of late, and goes there with his comrades,
Doth greatly mortify us with his words."
'' The new inhabitants and the sudden gains.
Pride and extravagance have in thee engendered,
Florence, so that thou weep'st thereat already !" n
In this wise I exclaimed with face uplifted ;
And the three, takmg that for my reply.
Looked at each other, as one looks at truth.
*' If other times so little it doth cost thee,"
Replied they all, " to satisfy another, 80
Happy art thou, thus speaking at thy will !
Therefore, if thou escape from these dark places.
And come to rebehold the beauteous stars.
E 2
When it shall pleasure thee to say, * I was,'
52 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

See that thou speak of us unto the people." 85

Then they broke up the wheel, and in their flight
It seemed as if their agile legs were wings.
Not an Amen could possibly be said
So rapidly as they had disappeared ;
Wherefore the Master deemed best to depart 9°
I followed him, and little had we gone,
Before the sound of water was so near us,
That speaking we should hardly have been heard.
Even as that stream which holdeth its own course
The first from Monte Veso tow'rds the East, 9s
Upon the left-hand slope of Apennine,
Which is above called Acquacheta, ere
It down descendeth into its low bed,
And at Forli is vacant of that name.
Reverberates there above San Benedetto 100
From Alps, by falling at a single leap,
Where for a thousand there were room enough ;
Thus downward from a bank precipitate,
We found resounding that dark-tinted water.
So that it soon the ear would have offended. lo^
I had a cord around about me girt.
And therewithal I whilom had designed
To take the panther with the painted skin.
After I this had all from me unloosed.
As my Conductor had commanded me, "o
I reached it to him, gathered up and coiled,
Whereat he turned himself to the right side,
And at a little distance from the verge.
He cast it down into that deep abyss.
" It must needs be some novelty respond," "S
I said within myself, " to the new signal
The Master with his eye is following so."
Ah me ! how very cautious men should be
With those who not alone behold the act,
But with their wisdom look into the thoughts ! iw
He said to me : " Soon there will upward come
What I await ; and what thy thought is dreaming
Must soon reveal itself unto thy sight."
Aye to that truth which has the face of falsehood,
A man should close his lips as far as may be, »2S
Because without his fault it causes shame ;
But here I cannot ; and, Reader, by the notes ^
Of this my Comedy to thee I swear,
So may they not be void of lasting favour,
 INFERNO, XVIT. 53

Athwart that dense and darksome atmosphere »3<»

I saw a figure swimming upward come.
Marvellous unto every steadfast heart,
Even as he returns who goeth down
Sometimes to clear an anchor, which has grappled
Reef, or aught else that in the sea is hidden, 135
Who upward stretches, and draws in his feet.

CANTO XVII.

" Behold the monster with the pointed tail,

Who cleaves the hills, and breaketh walls and weapons,
Behold him who infecteth all the world."
Thus unto me my" Guide began to say,
And beckoned him that he should come to shore,
Near to the confine of the trodden marble ;
And that uncleanly image of deceit
Came up and thrust ashore its head and bust,
But on the border did not drag its tail.
The face was as the face of a just man,
Its semblance outwardly was so benign.
And of a serpent all the trunk beside.
Two paws it had, hairy unto the armpits ;
The back, and breast, and both the sides it had
Depicted o'er with nooses and with shields.
With colours more, groundwork or broidery
Never in cloth did Tartars make nor Turks,
Nor were such tissues by Arachne laid.
As sometimes wherries lie upon the shore,
That part are in the water, part on land ;
And as among the guzzling Germans there,
The beaver plants himself to wage his war ;
So that vile monster lay upon the border.
Which is of stone, and shutteth in the sand.
His tail was wholly quivering in the void.
Contorting upwards the envenomed fork,
That in the guise of scorpion armed its point.
The Guide said : " Now perforce must turn aside
Our way a little, even to that beast
Malevolent, that yonder coucheth him."
We therefore on the right side descended.
And made ten
Completely s'teps upon
to avoid the and
the sand outerflame
verge.;
54 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And after we are come to him, I see

A little farther off upon the sand 35
A people sitting near the hollow place.
Then said to me the Master : " So that full
Experience of this round thou bear away,
Now go and see what their condition is.
There let thy conversation be concise ; 40
Till thou returnest I will speak with him,
That he concede to us his stalwart shoulders."
Thus farther still upon the outermost
Head of that seventh circle all alone
I went, where sat the melancholy folk. 4S
Out of their eyes was gushing forth their woe ;
This way, that way, they helped them with their hands
Now from the flames and now from the hot soil.
Not otherwise in summer do the dogs,
Now with the foot, now with the muzzle, when 5°
By fleas, or flies, or gadflies, they are bitten.
When I had turned mine eyes upon the faces
Of some, on whom the dolorous fire is falling,
Not one of them I knew ; but I perceived
That from the neck of each there hung a pouch, ss
Which certain colour had, and certain blazon ;
And thereupon it seems their eyes are feeding.
And as I gazing round me come among them,
Upon a yellow pouch I azure saw
That had the face and posture of a lion. 60
Proceeding then the current of my sight.
Another of them saw I, red as blood.
Display a goose more white than butter is.
And one, who with an azure sow and gravid
Emblazoned had his litde pouch of white, 65
Said unto me : " What dost thou in this moat ?
Now get thee gone ; and since thou'rt still alive.
Know that a neighbour of mine, Vitaliano,
Will have his seat here on my left-hand side.
A Paduan am I with these Florentines ; 7°
Full many a time they thunder in mine ears,
Exclaiming, ' Come the sovereign cavalier,
He who shall bring the satchel with three goats ;' "
Then twisted he his mouth, and forth he thrust
His tongue, like to an ox that licks its nose. 75
And fearing lest my longer stay might vex
Him who had warned me not to tarry long.
Backward I turned me from those weary souls,
 INFERNO. XVII. 55

I found my Guide, who had already mounted

Upon the back of that wild animal, 80
And said to me : " Now be both strong and bold.
Now we descend by stairways such as these ;
Mount thou in front, for I will be midway,
So that the tail may have no power to harm thee."
Such as he is who has so near the ague 8s
Of quartan that his nails are blue already,
And trembles all, but looking at the shade ;
Even such became I at those proffered words ;
But shame in me his menaces produced.
Which maketh servant strong before good master. 9«
I seated me upon those monstrous shoulders ;
I wished to say, and yet the voice came not
As I believed, " Take heed that thou embrace me."
But he, who other times had rescued me
In other peril, soon as I had mounted, 95
Within his arms encircled and sustained me,
And said : '' Now, Geryon, bestir thyself;
The circles large, and the descent be little ;
Think of the novel burden which thou hast."
Even as the little vessel shoves from shore, 100
Backward, still backward, so he thence withdrew;
And when he wholly felt himself afloat,
There where his breast had been he turned his tail.
And that extended like an eel he moved.
And with his paws drew to himself the air. 105
A greater fear I do not think there was
What time abandoned Phaeton the reins,
Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched \
Nor when the wretched Icarus his flanks
Felt stripped of feathers by the melting wax, no
His father crying, "An ill way thou takest ! "
Than was my own, when I perceived myself
On all sides in the air, and saw extinguished
The sight of everything but of the monster.
Onward he goeth, swimming slowly, slowly ; ns
Wheels and descends, but I perceive it only
By wind upon my face and from below.
I heard already on the right the whirlpool
Making a horrible crashing under us ;
Whence I thrust out my head with eyes cast downward. 120
Then was I still more fearful of the abyss ;
Because I fires beheld, and heard laments.
Whereat I, trembling, all the closer cling.
$ft THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I saw then, for before I had not seen it,

The turning and descending, by great liorrors 125
That were approaching upon divers sides.
As falcon who has long been on the wing.
Who, without seeing either lure or bird,
Maketh the falconer say, " Ah me, thou stoopest,"
Descendeth weary, whence he started swiftly, 13c
Thorough a hundred circles, and alights
Far from his master, sullen and disdainful ;
Even thus did Geryon place us on the bottom,
Close to the bases of the rough-hewn rock,
And being disencumbered of our persons, 135
He sped away as arrow from the string.

CANTO XVIII.

There is a place in Hell called Malebolge,

Wholly of stone and of an iron colour,
As is the circle that around it turns.
Right in the middle of the field malign
There yawns a well exceeding wide and deep,
Of which its place the structure will recount.
Round, then, is that enclosuie which remains
Between the well and foot of the high, hard bank,
And has distinct in valleys ten its bottom.
As where for the protection of the walls
Many and many moats surround the castles,
The part in which they are a figure forms.
Just such an image those presented there ;
And as about such strongholds from their gates
Unto the outer bank are little bridges.
So from the precipice's base did crags
Project, which intersected dikes and moats,
Unto the well that truncates and collects them.
Within this place, down shaken from the back
Of Geryon, we found us; and the Poet
Held to the left, and I moved on behind.
Upon my right hand I beheld new anguish.
New torments, and new wielders of the lash.
Wherewith the foremost Bolgia was replete.
Down at the bottom were the sinners naked ;
This side the middle came they facing us.
Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps ;
 INFERNO. XVriL 57

Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,

The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge,
Have chosen a mode to pass the people over ; 30
For all upon one side towards the Castle . a
Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's ; ^"\ j^
This On that,side
sidetheandother along stonethe Mountain.
towards
theythego livid '^\J'^^^^^
Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, 3.'
Who cruelly were beating them behind.
Ah me ! how they did make them lift their legs
At the first blows ! and sooth not any one
The second waited for, nor for the third.
While I was going on, mine eyes by one 4°
Encountered were ; and straight I said : " Already
With sight of this one I am not unfed."
Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out,
And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand.
And to my going somewhat back assented ; 4S
And he, the scourged one. thought to hide himself,
Lowering his face, but litde it availed him ;
For said I : "Thou that castest down thine eyes,
If false are not the features which thou bearest.
Thou art Venedico Caccianimico ; so
But what doth bring thee to such pungent sauces ? "
And he to me : " Unwillingly I tell it ;
But forces me thine utterance distinct.
Which makes me recollect the ancient world.
I was the one who the fair Ghisola ' «:5
Induced to grant the wishes of the Marquis,
Howe'er the shameless story may be told.
Not the sole Bolognese am I who weeps here ;
Nay, rather is this place so full of them.
That not so many tongues to-day are taught 60
'Twixt Reno and Savena to say sipa ;
And if thereof thou wish est pledge or proof,
Bring to thy mind our avaricious heart."
While speaking in this manner, with his scourge
A demon smote him, and said : " Get thee gone, *>i
Pander, there are no women here for coin."
I joined myself again unto mine Escort ;
Thereafterward with footsteps few we came
To where a crag projected from the bank.
This very easily did we ascend, 70
And turning to the right along its ridge.
From those eternal circles we departed.
S8 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

When we were there, where it is hollowed out

Beneath, to give a passage to the scourged.
The Guide said : " Wait, and see that on thee strike 75
The vision of those others evil-born,
Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the faces,
Because together with us they have gone."
From the old bridge we looked upon the train
Which tow'rds us came upon the other border, 80
And which the scourges in like manner smite.
And the good Master, without my inquiring,
Said to me : " See that tall one who is coming,
And for his pain seems not to shed a tear ;
Still what a royal aspect he retains ! 8s
That Jason is, who by his heart and cunning
The Colchians of the Ram made destitute.
He by the isle of Lemnos passed along
After the daring women pitiless
Had unto death devoted all their males. 90
There with his tokens and with ornate words
Did he deceive Hypsipyle, the maiden
Who first, herself, had all the rest deceived.
There did he leave her pregnant and forlorn ;
Such sin unto such punishment condemns him, 95
And also for Medea is vengeance done.
With him go those who in such wise deceive ;
And this sufficient be of the first valley
To know, and those that in its jaws it holds."
We were already where the narrow path 100
Crosses athwart the second dike, and forms
Of that a buttress for another arch.
Thence we heard people, who are making moan
In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles,
And with their palms beating upon themselves 105
The margins were incrusted with a mould
By exhalation from below, that sticks there,
And with the eyes and nostrils wages war.
The bottom is so deep, no place suffices
To give us sight of it, without ascending "o
The arch's back, where most the crag impends.
Thither we came, and thence down in the moat
I saw a people smothered in a filth
That out of human privies seemed to flow ;
And whilst below there with mine eye I search, "s
I saw one with his head so foul with ordure.
It was not clear if he were clerk or laymaru
 INFERNO, XIX. 59

He screamed to me : *' Wherefore art thou so eager

To look at me more than the other foul ones ?"
And I to him : " Because, if I remember, lao
I have already seen thee with dry hair,
And thou'rt Alessio Interminei of Lucca ;
Therefore I eye thee more than all the others."
And he thereon, belabouring his pumpkin :
" The flatteries have submerged me here below, tas
Wherewith my tongue was never surfeited."
Then said to me the Guide : "See that thou thrust
Thy visage somewhat farther in advance,
That with thine eyes thou well the face attain
Of that uncleanly and dishevelled drab, i3«»
Who there doth scratch herself with filthy nails.
And crouches now, and now on foot is standing.
Thais the harlot is it, who replied
Unto her paramour, when he said, * Have I
Great gratitude from thee ?' — ' Nay, marvellous ;' 13s
And herewith let our sight be satisfied."

CANTO XIX.
0 Simon Magus, O forlorn disciples,
Ye who the things of God, which ought to be
The brides of holiness, rapaciously
For silver and for gold do prostitute,
Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound,
Because in this third Bolgia ye abide.
We had already on the following tomb
Ascended to that portion of the crag
Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb.
Wisdom supreme, O how great art thou showest
In heaven, in earth, and in the evil world,
And with what justice doth thy power distribute !
1 saw upon the sides and on the bottom
The livid stone with perforations filled.
All of one size, and every one was round.
To me less ample seemed they not, nor greater
Than those that in my beautiful Saint John
Are fashioned for the place of the baptisers,
And one of which, not many years ago,
I broke for some one, who was drowning in it ;
Be this a seal all men to undeceive.
6o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Out of the mouth of each one there protruded

The feet of a transgressor, and the legs
Up to the calf, the rest within remained.
In all of them the soles were both on fire ; 95
Wherefore the joints so violently quivered,
They would have snapped asunder withes and bands.
Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont
To move upon the outer surface only,
So likewise was it there from heel to point. 30
" Master, who is that one who writhes himself.
More than his other comrades quivering,"
I said, " and whom a redder flame is sucking ?"
And he to me : " If thou wilt have me bear thee
Down there along that bank which lowest lies, ss
From him thou'It know his errors and himself"
And I : " What pleases thee, to me is pleasing ;
Thou art my Lord, and knowest that I depart not
From thy desire, and knowest what is not spoken."
Straightway upon the fourth dike we arrived ; 40
We turned, and on the left-hand side descended
Down to the bottom full of holes and narrow.
And the good Master yet from off his haunch
Deposed me not, till to the hole he brought me
Of him who so lamented with his shanks. 4S
*' Whoe'er thou art, that standest upside down,
O doleful soul, implanted like a stake,"
To say began I, " if thou canst, speak out."
1 stood even as the friar who is confessing
The false assassin, who, when he is fixed, 50
Recalls him, so that death may be delayed.
And he cried out : " Dost thou stand there already,
Dost thou stand there already, Boniface ?
By many years the record lied to me.
Art thou so early satiate with that wealth, ss
For which thou didst not fear to take by fraud
The beautiful Lady, and then work her woe ?"
Such I became, as people are who stand.
Not comprehending what is answered them,
As if bemocked, and know not how to answer. 6»
Then said Virgilius : " Say to him straightway,
' I am not he, I am not he thou thinkest.' "
And I replied as was imposed on me.
Whereat the spirit writhed with both his feet, v
Then, sighing, with a voice of lamentation 4
Said to me : " Then what wantest thou of me ?
 INFERNO, XIX. 61

If who I am thou carest so much to know,

That thou on that account hast crossed the bank,
Know that I vested was with the great mantle ;
And truly was I son of the She-bear, 7»
So eager to advance the cubs, that wealth
Above, and here myself, I pocketed.
Beneath my head the others are dragged down
Who have preceded me in simony,
Flattened along the fissure of the rock. •»
Below there I shall likewise fall, whenever
That one shall come who I believed thou wast.
What time the sudden question J proposed.
But longer I my feet already toast,
And here have been in this way upside down, fc
Than he will planted stay with reddened feet ;
For after him shall come of fouler deed
From astow'rds
Such befits the west ahimPastor
to cover and without
me. law.
New Jason will he be, of whom we read s^
In Maccabees ; and as his king was pliant.
So he who governs France shall be to this one."
I do not know if I were here too bold,
That him I answered only in this metre :
" I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure «9«
Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first,
Before he put the keys into his keeping ?
Nor Truly he nothing
Peter nor the rest asked
asked but ' Follow me.'
of Matthias
Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen «5
Unto the place the guilty soul had lost.
Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,
And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money,
Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles.
And were it not that still forbids it me a«»
The reverence for the keys superlative
Thou hadst in keeping in the gladsome life,
I would make use of words more grievous still ;
Because your avarice afflicts the world,
Trampling the good and lifting the depraved. «<«
The Evangelist you Pastors had in mind,
When she who sitteth upon many waters
To fornicate with kings by him was seen ;
The same who with the seven heads was bom,
And power and strength from the ten horns received, ««
So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing.
62 THE DIVINE COMED Y.

Ye have made yourselves a god of gold and silver ;

And from the idolater how differ ye,
Save that he one, and ye a hundred worship?
Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill was mother, 115
Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower
Which the first wealthy Father took from thee ! "
And while I sang to him such notes as these.
Either that anger or that conscience stung him,
He struggled violently with both his feet. xao
I think in sooth that it my Leader pleased,
With such contented hp he Hstened ever
* Unto the sound of the true words expressed.
Therefore with both his arms he took me up.
And when he had me all upon his breast, ««
Remounted by the way where he descended.
Nor did he tire to have me clasped to him ;
But bore me to the summit of the arch
Which from the fourth dike to the fifth is passage.
There tenderly he laid his burden down, 130
Tenderly on the crag uneven and steep.
That would have been hard passage for the goats :
Thence was unveiled to me another valley.

CANTO XX.
Of a new pain behoves me to make verses
And give material to the twentieth canto
Of the first song, which is of the submerged.
I was already thoroughly disposed
To peer down into the uncovered depth.
Which bathed itself with tears of agony ;
And people saw I through the circular valley,
Silent and weeping, coming at the pace
Which in this world the Litanies assume.
As lower down my sight descended on them,
Wondrously each one seemed to be distorted
From chin to the beginning of the chest ;
For tow rds the reins the countenance was turned,
And backward it behoved them to advance,
As to look forward had been taken from them.
Perchance indeed by violence of palsy
Some one has been thus wholly turned awry ;
But I ne'er saw it, nor believe it can be.
 INFERNO, XX. 63

As God may let thee, Reader, gather fruit

From this thy reading, think now for thyself 20
How I could ever keep my face unmoistened,
When our own image near me I beheld
Distorted so, the weeping of the eyes
Along the fissure bathed the hinder parts.
Truly I wept, leaning upon a peak 25
Of the hard crag, so that my Escort said
To me : " Art thou, too, of the other fools ?
Here pity lives when it is wholly dead ;
Who is a greater reprobate than he
Who feels compassion at the doom divine ? 33
Lift up, lift up thy head, and see for whom
Opened the earth before the Thebans' eyes ;
Wherefore they all cried : ' Whither rushest thou,
Amphiaraus ? Why ceased
And downward dost leave the towarfall? 'amain
he not 3s
As far as Minos, who lays hold on all.
See, he has made a bosom of his shoulders !
Because he wished to see too far before him
Behind he looks, and backward goes his way :
Behold Tiresias, who his semblance changed, 40
When from a male a female he became,
His members being all of them transformed ;
And afterwards was forced to strike once more
The two entangled serpents with his rod.
Ere he could have again his manly plumes. 45
That Aruns is, who backs the other's belly.
Who in the hills of Luni, there where grubs
The Carrarese who houses underneath,
Among the marbles white a cavern had
For his abode ; whence to behold the stars 50
And sea, the view was not cut off from him.
And she there, who is covering up her breasts,
Which thou beholdest not, with loosened tresses,
And on that side has all the hairy skin.
Was Manto, who made quest through many lands, 55
Afterwards tarried there where I was born ;
Whereof I would thou list to me a little.
After her father had from life departed.
And the city of Bacchus had become enslaved.
She a long season wandered through the world. «<»
Above in beauteous Italy lies a lake
At the Alp's foot that shuts in Germany
Over Tyrol, and has the name Benaco.
64 'J'JiE DIVINE COMEDY.

By a thousand springs, I think, and more, is bathed,

'Twixt Garda and Val Camonica, Pennino, 6s
With water that grows stagnant in that lake.
Midway a place is where the Trentine Pastor,
And he of Brescia, and the Veronese
Might give his blessing, if he passed that way.
Sitteth Peschiera, fortress fair and strong, 79
To front the Brescians and the Bergamasks,
Where round about the bank descendeth lowest.
There of necessity must fall whatever
In bosom of Benaco cannot stay,
And grows a river down through verdant pastures. 75
Soon as the water doth begin to run,
No more Benaco is it called, but Mincio,
Far as Governo, where it falls in Po.
Not far it runs before it finds a plain
In which it spreads itself, and makes it marshy, *>
And oft 'tis wont in summer to be sickly.
Passing that way the virgin pitiless
Land in the middle of the fen descried,
Untilled and naked of inhabitants ;
There to escape all human intercourse, »5
She with her servants stayed, her arts to practise
And lived, and left her empty body there.
The men, thereafter, who were scattered round,
Collected in that place, which was made strong
By the lagoon it had on every side ; 90
They built their city over those dead bones.
And, after her who first the place selected,
Mantua named it, without other omen.
Its people once within more crowded were,
Ere the stupidity of Casalodi 95
From Pinamonte had received deceit.
Therefore I caution thee, if e'er thou hearest
Originate my city otherwise.
No falsehood may the verity defraud."
And I : " My Master, thy discourses are «»
To me so certain, and so take m^ faith.
That unto me the rest would be spent coals.
But tell me of the people who are passing.
If any one note-worthy thou beholdest,
For only unto that my mind reverts." loj
Then said he to me : " He who from the cheek
Thrusts out his beard upon his swarthy shoulders
Was, at the time when Greece was void of males,
 INFERNO, XXI. 6s

So that there scarce remained one in the cradle,

An augur, and with Calchas gave the moment,
In Aulis, when to sever the first cable.
Eryphylus his name was, and so sings
My lofty Tragedy in some part or other ;
That knowest thou well, who knowest the whole of it.
The next, who is so slender in the flanks,
Was Michael Scott, who of a verity
Of magical illusions knew the game.
Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente,
Who now unto his leather and his thread
Would fain have stuck, but he too late repents.
Behold the wretched ones, who left the needle.
The spool and rock, and made them fortune-tellers ;
They wrought their magic spells with herb and image.
But come now, for already holds the confines
Of both the hemispheres, and under Seville
Touches the ocean-wave, Cain and the thorns,
And yesternight the moon was round already ;
Thou shouldst remember well it d'd not harm thee
From time to time within the fore it deep."
Thus spake he to me, and we walked the while.

CANTO XXI.
From bridge to bridge thus, speaking other things
Of which my Comedy cares not to sing.
We came along, and held the summit, when
We halted to behold another fissure
Of Malebolge and other vain laments ;
And I beheld it marvelloi'sly dark.
As in the Arsenal of the Venetians
Boils in the winter the tenacious pitch
To smear their unsound vessels o'er again,
P'or sail they cannot ; and instead thereof
One makes his vessel new, and one recaulks
The ribs of that which many a voyage has made ;
One hammers at the prow, one at the stem.
This one makes oars, and that one cordage twists,
Another mends the mainsail and the mizzen ;
Thus, not by fire, but by the art divine.
Was boiling down below there a dense pitch
Which upon ever)' side the bank belimed.
66 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I saw it, but I did not see within it

Aught but the bubbles that the boiling raised, ■«>
And all swell up and resubside compressed.
The while below there fixedly I gazed,
My
DrewLeader,
me untocrying out from
himself : " Beware,
where beware
I stood. : "
Then I turned round, as one who is impatient n
To see what it behoves him to escape.
And whom a sudden terror doth unman,
Who, while he looks, delays not his departure ;
And I beheld behind us a black devil.
Running along upon the crag, approach. 30
Ah, how ferocious was he in his aspect !
And how he seemed to me in action ruthless.
With open wings and light upon his feet !
His shoulders, which sharp-pointed were and higli,
A sinner did encumber with both haunches, 35
And he held clutched the sinews of the feet.
From off our bridge, he said : " O Malebranche,
Behold one of the elders of Saint Zita ;
Plunge him beneath, for I return for others
Unto that town, which is well furnished with them, 40
All there are barrators, except Bonturo ;
No into Yes for money there is changed."
He hurled him down, and over the hard crag
Turned round, and never was a mastiff loosened
In so much hurry to pursue a thief 45
The other sank, and rose again face downward ;
But the demons, under cover of the bridge,
Cried : " Here the Santo Volto has no place !
Here swims one otherwise than in the Serchio \
Therefore, if for our gaffs thou wishest not, 50
Do not uplift thyself above the pitch."
They seized him then with more than a hundred rakes ;
They said : " It here behoves thee to dance covered,
That, if thou
Not otherwise the canst,
cooks thou
their secretly
scullions mayest
make pilfer." 55
Immerse into the middle of the caldron
The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.
Said the good Master to me : " That it be not
Apparent thou art here, crouch thyself down
Behind a jag, that thou mayest have some screen ; 6«
And for no outrage that is done to me
Be thou afraid, because these things I know,
For once before was I in such a scuffle."
 INFERNO, XXI. 67

Then he passed on beyond the bridge's head,

And as upon the sixth bank he arrived, 65
Need was for him to have a steadfast front.
With the same fury, and the same uproar.
As dogs leap out upon a mendicant,
Who on a sudden begs, where'er he stops.
They issued from beneath the httle bridge, 7*
And turned against him all their grappling-irons ;
But he cried out : " Be none of you malignant !
Before those hooks of yours lay hold of me,
Let one of you step forward, who may hear me,
And then take counsel as to grappling me." n
They all cried out : " Let Malacoda go ;"
Whereat one started, and the rest stood still.
And he came to him, saying : " What avails it ?"
" Thinkest thou, Malacoda, to behold me
Advanced into this place," my Master said, 80
" Safe hitherto from all your skill of fence,
Without the will divine, and fate auspicious ?
Let me go on, for it in Heaven is willed
That I another show this savage road."
Then was his arrogance so humbled in him, 8s
That he let fall his grapnel at his feet,
And to the others said : " Now strike him not."
And unto me my Guide : " O thou, who sittest
Among the splinters of the bridge crouched down>
Securely now return to me again." ' 90
Wherefore I started and came swiftly to him ;
And all the devils forward thrust themselves,
So that I feared they would not keep their compact.
And thus beheld I once afraid the soldiers
Who issued under safeguard from Caprona, 95
Seeing themselves among so many foes.
Close did I press myself with all my person
Beside my Leader, and turned not mine eyes
From off their countenance, which was not good.
They lowered their rakes, and " Wilt thou have me hit him," 100
They said to one another, " on the rump ?"
And answered: '* Yes; see that thou nick him with it."
But the same demon who was holding parley
With my Conductor turned him very quickly,
And said : " Be quiet, be quiet, Scarmiglione ;" 10$
Then said to us : " You can no farther go
Forward upon this crag, because is lying
All shattered, at the bottom, the sixth arch. r a
68 : HE DIVINE COMEDY.

And if it still doth please you to go onward,

Pursue your way along upon this rock ;
Near is another crag that yields a path.
Yesterday, five hours later than this hour,
One thousand and two hundred sixty-six
Years were complete, that here the way was broken.
I send in that direction some of mine
To see if any one doth air himself ;
Go ye with them ; for they will not be vicious.
Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina,"
Began he to cry out, " and thou, Cagnazzo ;
And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten.
Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo,
And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane,
And Farfarello and mad Rubicante ;
Search ye all round about the boiling pitch;
Let these be safe as far as the next crag.
That all unbroken passes o'er the dens."
*' O me ! what is it, Master, that I see ?
Pray let us go," I said, " without an escort,
If thou knowest how, since for myself I ask none.
If thou art as observant as thy wont is,
Dost thou not see that they do gnash their teeth,
And with their brows are threatening woe to us?"
And he to me : "I will not have thee fear ;
Let them gnash on, according to their fancy,
' Because they do it for those boiling wretches."
Along the left-hand dike they wheeled about ;
But first had each one thrust his tongue between
His teeth towards their leader for a signal ;
And he had made a trumpet of his rump.

CANTO xxn.

1 HAVE erewhile seen horsemen moving camp,

Begin the storming, and their muster make,
And sometimes starting off for their escape \
Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land,
O Aretines, and foragers go forth,
Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run.
Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells.
With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles,
And with our own, and with outlandish things,
 INFERNO, XXIT. 69

But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth

Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry,
Nor ship by any sign of land or star.
We went upon our way with the ten demons :
Ah, savage company ! but in the church
With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons!
Ever upon the pitch was my intent.
To see the whole condition of that Bolgia,
And of the people who therein were burned-
Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign
To mariners by arching of the back,
That they should counsel take to save their vessel.
Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain.
One of the sinners would display his back.
And in less time conceal it than it lightens.
As on the brink of water in a ditch
The frogs stand only with their muzzles out.
So that they hide their feet and other bulk.
So upon every side the sinners stood ;
But ever as Barbariccia near them came,
Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew-
I saw, and still my heart doth shudder at it.
One waiting thus, even as it comes to pass
One frog remains, and down another dives;
And Graffiacan. who most confronted him.
Grappled him by his tresses smeared with pitch.
And drew him up, so that he seemed an otter.
I knew, before, the names of all of them,
So had I noted them when they were chosen.
And when they called each other, listened how.
*' O Rubicante, see that thou do lay
Thy claws upon him, so that thou mayst flay him,"
Cried all together the accursed ones.
And I : " My Master, see to it, if thou canst.
That thou mayst know who is the luckless wight,
Thus come into his adversaries' liands."
Near to the side of him my Leader drew.
Asked of him whence he was ; and he repEed :
" I in the kingdom of Navarre was bom ;
My mother placed me servant to a lord.
For she had borne me to a ribald knave.
Destroyer of himself and of his things.
Then I domestic was of good King Thibault ;
I set me there to practise barratry,
For which I pay the reckoning in this heat."
70 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, ss

On either side, a tusk, as in a boar,
Caused him to feel how one of them could rip.
Among maHcious cats the mouse had come ;
But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms,
And said : " Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." 6<j
And to my Master he turned round his head;
" Ask him again," he said, " if more thou wish
To know from him, before some one destroy him."
The Guide : " Now tell then of the other culprits ;
Knowest thou any one who is a Latian, 65
Under the pitch ?" And he : "I separated
Lately from one who was a neighbour to it ;
Would that I still were covered up with him,
For I should fear not either claw nor hook ! "
And Libicocco : " We have borne too much ; " 70
And with his grapnel seized him by the arm,
So that, by rending, he tore off a tendon.
Eke Draghignazzo wished to pounce upon him
Down at the legs ; whence their Decurion
Turned round and round about with evil look. 7s
When they again somewhat were pacified.
Of him, who still was looking at his wound,
Demanded my Conductor without stay :
*' Who was that one, from whom a luckless parting
Thou sayest thou hast made, to come ashore ? " 80
And he replied : " It was the Friar Gomita,
He of Gallura, vessel of all fraud,
Who had the enemies of his Lord in hand,
And dealt so with them each exults thereat ;
Money he took, and let them smoothly off, 8s
As he says ; and in other offices
A barrator was he, not mean but sovereign.
Foregathers with him one Don Michael Zanche
Of Logodoro ; and of Sardinia
To gossip never do their tongues feel tired. 90
O me ! see that one, how he grinds his teeth ;
Still farther would I speak, but am afraid
Lest he to scratch my itch be making ready."
And the grand Provost, turned to Farfarello,
Who rolled his eyes about as if to strike, 95
Said : " Stand aside there, thou malicious birtl."
** If you desire either to see or hear,"
The terror-stricken recommenced thereon,
" Tuscans or Lombards, I will make thera come.
 IMFERNO, XXII. 71

But let the Malebranche cease a little, 100

So that these may not their revenges fear,
And I, down sitting in this very place,
For one that I am will make seven come,
When I shall whistle, as our custom is
To do whenever one of us comes out." 105
Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle Hfted,
Shaking his head, and said : " Just hear the trick
Which he has thought of, down to throw himself I
Whence he, who snares in great abundance had,
Responded : " I by far too cunning am, "»
When I procure for mine a greater sadness."
Alichin held not in, but running counter
Unto the rest, said to him : " If thou dive,
I will not follow thee upon the gallop.
But I will beat my wings above the pitch ; 115
The height be left, and be the bank a shield
To see if thou alone dost countervail us."
O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport !
Each to the other side his eyes averted ;
He first, who most reluctant was to do it. no
The Navarrese selected well his time ;
Planted his feet on land, and in a moment
Leaped, and released himself from their design.
Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame,
But he most who was cause of the defeat ; us
Therefore he moved, and cried : " Thou art o'ertaken."
But little it availed, for wings could not
Outstrip the fear ; the other one went under.
And, flying, upward he his breast directed.
Not otherwise the duck upon a sudden 190
Dives under, when the falcon is approaching,
And upward he retumeth cross and weary.
Infuriate at the mockery, Calcabrina
Flying behind him followed close, desirous
The other should escape, to have a quarrel. . 13s
And when the barrator had disappeared.
He turned his talons upon his companion.
And grappled with him right above the moat.
But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk
To clapperclaw him well ; and both of them 14*
Fell in the middle of the boiling pond.
A sudden intercessor was the heat ;
But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught,
To such degree they had their wings belimed.
72 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia ms

Made four of them fly to the other side
With all their gaffs, and very speedily
This side and that they to their posts descended ;
They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared,
Who were already baked within the crust, >5»
And in this manner busied did we leave them.

CANTO XXIII.

Silent, alone, and without company

We went, the one in front, the other after.
As go the Minor Friars along their way.
Upon the fable of ^sop was directed
My thought, by reason of the present quarrel.
Where he has spoken of the frog and mouse ;
For mo and issa are not more alike
Than this one is to that, if well we couple
End and beginning with a steadfast mind.
And even as one thought from another springs.
So afterward from that was born another,
Which the first fear within me double made.
Thus did I ponder : " These on our account
Are laughed to scorn, with injury and scoff
So great, that much I think it must annoy them.
If anger be engrafted on ill-will,
They will come after us more merciless
Than dog upon the leveret which he seizes/'
I felt my hair stand all on end already
With terror, and stood backwardly intent.
When said I : " Master, if thou hidest not
Thyself and me forthwith, of Malebranche
I am in dread ; we have them now behind us ;
I so imagine them, I already feel them."
And he : " If I were made of leaded glass
Thine outward image I should not attract
Sooner to me than I imprint the inner.
J ust now thy thoughts came in among my own.
With similar attitude and similar face.
So that of both one counsel sole I made.
If peradventure the right bank so slope
That we to the next Bolgia can descend,
We shall escape from the imagined chase."
 INFERA'O, XXIII 73

Not yet he finished rendering such opinion,

When I beheld them come with outstretched wings, as
Not far remote, with will to seize upon us.
My Leader on a sudden seized me up.
Even as a mother who by noise is wakened,
And close beside her sees the enkindled flames,
Who takes her son, and flies, and does not stop, 40
Having more care of him than of herself,
So that she clothes her only with a shift ;
And downward from the top of the hard bank
Supine he gave him to the pendent rock,
That one side of the other Bolgia walls. 45
Ne'er ran so swiftly water through a sluice
To turn the wheel of any land-built mill,
When nearest to the paddles it approaches,
As did my Master down along that border,
Bearing me with him on his breast away, 5«
As his own son, and not as a companion.
Hardly the bed of the ravine below
His feet had reached, ere they had reached the hill
Right over us ; but he was not afraid ;
For the high Providence, which had ordained it
To place them ministers of the fifth moat.
The power of thence departing took from all.
A painted people there below we found.
Who went about with footsteps very slow.
Weeping and in their semblance tired and vanquished. «o
They had on mantles with the hoods low down
Before their eyes, and fashioned of the cut
That in Cologne they for the monks are made.
Without, they gilded are so t lat it dazzles ;
But inwardly
That Frederickall used
leadento and so*lieavy
put them on of straw. «s
O everlastingly fatiguing mantle !
Again we turned us, still to the left hand
Along with them, intent on their sad plaint;
But owing to the wei.crht, that weary folk jo
Came on so tardily, that we were new
In company at each motion of the haunch.
Whence I unto my Leader : " See thou find
Some one who may by deed or name be known.
And thus in going move thine eye about." 75
And one, who understood the Tuscan speech,
Cried to us fron? behind : '' Stay ye your feet,
Ye, who so run athwart the dusky air !
74 THE DIVINE COMED Y

Perhaps thou'lt have from me what thou demandest."

Whereat the Leader turned him, and said : " Wait, •<>
And then according to his pace proceed."
I stopped, and two beheld I show great haste
Of spirit, in their faces, to be with me ;
But the burden and the narrow way delayed them.
When they came up, long with an eye askance S'
They scanned me without uttering a word.
Then to each other turned, and said together :
" He by the action of his throat seems living ;
And if they dead are, by what privilege
Go they uncovered by the heavy stole ? " 90
Then said to me : " Tuscan, who to the college
Of miserable hypocrites art come.
Do not disdain to tell us who thou art."
And I to them : *' Born was I, and grew up
In the great town on the fair river of Amo, 9S
And with the body am I've always had.
But who are ye, in whom there trickles down
Along your cheeks such grief as I behold ?
And what pain is upon you, that so sparkles? "
And one replied to me : " These orange cloaks «»
Are made of lead so heavy, that the weights
Cause in this way their balances to creak.
Frati Gaudenti were we, and Bolognese ;
I Catalano, and he Loderingo
Named, and together taken by thy city, los
As the wont is to take one man alone,
For maintenance of its peace ; and we were such
That still it is apparent round Gardingo."
" O Friars," began I, " your iniquitous . . ."
But said no more ; for to mine eyes there rushed xio
One crucified with three stakes on the ground.
When me he saw, he writhed himself all over,
Blowing into his beard with suspirations ;
And the Friar Catalan, who noticed this.
Said to me : " This transfixed one, whom thou seest, ti-
Counselled the Pharisees that it was meet
To put one man to torture for the people.
Crosswise and naked is he on the path,
As thou perceivest ; and he needs must feel,
Whoever passes, first how much he weighs ; xm
And in like mode his father-in-law is punished
Within this moat, and the others of the council,
Which for the Jews was a malignant seed."
 INFERNO, XXIV. 7!?

And thereupon I saw Virgilius marvel

O'er him who was extended on the cross ws
So vilely in eternal banishment.
Then he directed to the Friar this voice :
" Be not displeased, if granted thee, to tell us
If to the right hand any pass slope down
By which we two may issue forth from here, «3b
Without constraining some of the black angels
To come and extricate us from this deep."
Then he made answer . " Nearer than thou hopest
There is a rock, that forth from the great circle
Proceeds, and crosses all the cruel valleys, 13s
Save that at this 'tis broken, and does not bridge it ;
You will be able to mount up the ruin,
That sidelong slopes and at the bottom rises."
The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down ;
Then said : *' The business badly he recounted mo
Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder."
And the Friar : *' Many of the Devil's vices
Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,
That he's a liar and the father of lies."
Thereat my Leader with great strides went on, 145
Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks j
Whence from the heavy-laden I departed
After the prints of his beloved feet.

CANTO XXIV.
In that part of the youthful year wherein
The Sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,
And now the nights draw near to half the day,
What time the hoar-frost copies on the ground
The outward semblance of her sister white.
But little lasts the temper of her pen.
The husbandman, whose forage faileth him,
Rises, and looks, and seeth the champaign
All gleaming white, whereat he beats his flank.
Returns in doors, and up and down laments.
Like a poor wretch, who knows not what to do ;
Then he returns, and hope revives again,
Seeing the world has changed its countenance
In little time, and takes his shepherd's crook,
And forth the little lambs to pasture drives.
76 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thus did the Master fill me with alarm,

When I beheld his forehead so disturbed,
And to the ailment came as soon the plaster.
For as we came unto the ruined bridge,
The Leader turned to me with that sweet look «»
Which at the mountain's foot I first beheld.
His arms he opened, after some advisement
Within himself elected, looking first
Well at the ruin, and laid hold of me.
And even as he who acts and meditates, 35
For aye it seems that he provides beforehand,
So upward lifting me towards the summit
Of a huge rock, he scanned another crag,
Saying : " To that one grapple afterwards.
But try first if 'tis such that it will hold thee." ' 30
This was no way for one clothed with a cloak ;
For hardly we, he light, and I pushed upward,
Were able to ascend from jag to jag.
And had it not been, that upon that precinct
Shorter was the ascent than on the other, 3S
He I know not, but I had been dead beat.
But because Malebolge tow'rds the mouth
Of the profoundest well is all inclining,
The structure of each valley doth import
That one bank rises and the other sinks. -4«
Still we arrived at length upon the point
Wherefrom the last stone breaks itself asunder.
The breath was from my lungs so milked away,
When I was up, that I could go no farther,
Nay, I sat down upon my first arrival. 4S
" Now it behoves thee thus to put off sloth,"
My Master said ; " for sitting upon down.
Or under quilt, one cometh not to fame,
Withouten which whoso his life consumes
Such vestige leaveth of himself on earth. 5c
As smoke in air or in the water foam.
And therefore raise thee up, o'ercome the anguish
With spirit that o'ercometh every battle,
If with its heavy body it sink not.
A longer stairway it behoves thee mount ; ss
'Tis not enough from these to have departed ;
Let it avail thee, if thou understand me."
Then I uprose, showing myself provided
Better with breath than I did feel myself,
And said : " Go on, for I am stiong and bold." «>
 INFERNO, XXIV. 77

Upward we took our way along the crag,

Which jagged was, and narrow, and difficult,
And more precipitous far than that before.
Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted ;
Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, t%
Not well adapted to articulate words.
I know not what it said, though o'er the back
I now was of the arch that passes there ;
But he seemed moved to anger who was speaking.
I was bent downward, but my living eyes 7«
Could not attain the bottom, for the dark ;
Wherefore I : " Master, see that thou arrive
At the next round, and let us descend the wall;
For as from hence I hear and understand not.
So I look down and nothing I distinguish." 73
" Other response," he said, " I make thee not.
Except the doing ; for the modest asking
Ought to be followed by the deed in silence."
We from the bridge descended at its head.
Where it connects itself with the eighth bank, to
And then was manifest to me the Bolgia ;
And I beheld therein a terrible throng
Of serpents, and of such a monstrous kind,
That the remembrance still congeals my blood
Let Libya boast no longer with her sand ; Ss
For if Chelydri, Jaculi, and Phareae
She breeds, with Cenchri and with Amphisbaena,
Neither so many plagues nor so malignant
E er showed she with all Ethiopia,
Nor with whatever on the Red Sea is ! 9c
Among this cruel and most dismal throng
People were running naked and affrighted.
Without the hope of hole or heliotrope.
They had their hands with serpents bound behind them ;
These riveted upon their reins the tail 9S
And head, and were in front of them entwined.
And lo ! at one who was upon our side
There darted forth a serpent, which transfixed him
There where the neck is knotted to the shoulders.
Nor O so quickly e'er, nor / was written, m«
As he took fire, and burned ; and ashes wholly
Behoved it that in falling he became.
And when he on the ground was thus destroyed.
The ashes drew together, and of themselves
Into himself tViey instantly returned. «••
7S THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Even thus by the great sages 'tis confessed

The phcenix dies, and then is born again,
When it approaches its five-hundredth year ;
On herb or grain it feeds not in its hfe,
But only on tears of incense and amomum, no
And nard and myrrh are its last winding-sheet.
And as he is who falls, and knows not how,
By force of demons who to earth down drag him,
Or other oppilation that binds man,
When he arises and around him looks, m5
Wholly bewildered by the mighty anguish
Which he has suffered, and in looking sighs ;
Such was that sinner after he had risen.
Justice ot God ! O how severe it is,
That blows like these in vengeance poureth down ! i»o
The Guide thereafter asked him who he was ;
Whence he replied : " I rained from Tuscany
A short time since into this cruel gorge.
A bestial life, and not a human, pleased me.
Even as the mule I was ; I'm Vanni Fucci, las
Beast, and Pistoia was my worthy den."
And I unto the Guide : " Tell him to stir not,
And ask what crime has thrust him here below.
For once a man of blood and wrath I saw him."
And the sinner, who had heard, dissembled not, 130
But unto me directed mind and face.
And with a melancholy shame was painted.
Then said : " It pains me more that thou hast caught me
Amid this misery where thou seest me,
Than when I from the other life was taken. 135
What thou demandest I cannot deny ;
So low am I put down because I robbed
The sacristy of the fair ornaments.
And falsely once 'twas laid upon another ;
But that thou mayst not such a sight enjoy, mo
If thou shalt e'er be out of the dark places,
Thine ears to my announcement ope and hear :
Pistoia first of Neri groweth meagre ;
Then Florence doth renew her men and manners ;
Mars draws a vapour up from Val di Magra, ms
Which is with turbid clouds enveloped round,
And with impetuous and bitter tempest
Over Campo Picen shall be the battle ;
When it shall suddenly rend the mist asunder.
So that each Bianco shall thereby be smitten. «s«
And this I've said that it may give thee pain."
 INFERNO, XXV, 79

CANTO XXV.

At the conclusion of his words, the thief

Lifted his hands aloft with both the figs,
Crying : " Take that, God, for at thee I aim them."
From that time forth the serpents were my friends ;
For one entwined itself about his neck
As if it said : " I will not thou speak more ; "
And round his arms another, and rebound him.
Clinching itself together so in front.
That with them he could not a motion make.
Pistoia, ah, Pistoia ! why resolve not
To burn thyself to ashes and so perish.
Since in ill-doing thou thy seed excellest ?
Through all the sombre circles of this Hell,
Spirit I saw not against God so proud.
Not he who fell at Thebes down from the walls !
He fled away, and spake no further word ;
And I beheld a Centaur full of rage
Come crying out : " Where is, where is the scoffer ? "
I do not think Maremma has so many
Serpents as he had all along his back,
As far as where our countenance begins.
Upon the shoulders, just behind the nape.
With wings wide open was a dragon lying,
And he sets fire to all that he encounters.
My Master said : " That one is Cacus, who
Beneath the rock upon Mount Aventine
Created oftentimes a lake of blood.
He goes not on the same road with his brothers,
By reason of the fraudulent theft he made
Of the great herd, which he had near to him ;
Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath
The mace of Hercules, who peradventure
Gave him a hundred, and he felt not ten."
While he was speaking thus, he had passed by.
And spirits three had underneath us come,
Of which nor I aware was, nor my Leader,
Until what time they shouted : " Who are you ? "
On which account our story made a halt,
And then we were intent on them alone.
8o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I did not know them ; but it came to pass, 40

As it is wont to happen by some chance,
That one to name the other was compelled,
Mxclaiming : " Where can Cianfa have remained ? "
Whence I, so that the Leader might attend,
Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. 45
If thou art, Reader, slow now to believe
What I shall say, it will no marvel be,
For I who saw it hardly can admit it.
As I was holding raised on them my brows,
Behold ! a serpent with six feet darts forth 5*
In front of one, and fastens wholly on him.
With middle feet it bound him round the paunch,
And with the forward ones his arms it seized ;
Then thrust its teeth through one cheek and the other ;
The hindermost it stretched upon his thighs, ss
And put its tail through in between the two,
And up behind along the reins outspread it.
Ivy was never fastened by its barbs
Unto a tree so, as this horrible reptile
Upon the other's limbs entwined its own. ^
Then they stuck close, as if of heated wax
They had been made, and intermixed their colour ;
Nor one nor other seemed now what he was ;
E'en as proceedeth on before the flame
Upward along the paper a brown colour, 6s
Which is not black as yet, and the white dies.
The other two looked on, and each of them
Cried out : " O me, Agnello, how thou changest !
Behold, thou now art neither two nor one."
Already the two heads had one become, 70
When there appeared to us two figures mingled
Into one face, wherein the two were lost
Of the four lists were fashioned the two arms,
The thighs and legs, the belly and the chest
Members became that never yet were seen. 75
Every original aspect there was cancelled ;
Two and yet none did the perverted image
Appear, and such departed with slow pace.
Even as a lizard, under the great scourge
Of days canicular, exchanging hedge, 80
Lightning appeareth if the road it cross ;
Thus did appear, coming towards the bellies
Of the two others, a small fiery serpent,
Livid and black as is a peppercorn.
 INFERNO, XXV. 81

And in that part whereat is first received 85

Our aliment, it one of them transfixed ;
Then downward fell in front of him extended.
The one transfixed looked at it, but said naught ;
Nay, rather with feet motionless he yawned,
Just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. 90
He ^t the serpent gazed, and it at him ;
One through the wound, the other through the mouth
Smoked violently, and the smoke commingled.
Henceforth be silent Lucan, where he mentions
Wretched Sabellus and Nassidius, 95
And wait to hear what now shall be shot forth.
Be silent Ovid, of Cadmus and Arethusa ;
For if him to a snake, her to a fountain.
Converts he fabling, that I grudge him not ;
Because two natures never front to front 100
Has he transmuted, so that both the forms
To interchange their matter ready were.
Together they responded in such wise,
That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail.
And eke the wounded drew his feet together. »s
The legs together with the thighs themselves
Adhered so, that in little time the juncture
No sign whatever made that was apparent
He with the cloven tail assumed the figure
The other one was losing, and his skin ik
Became elastic, and the other's hard.
I saw the arms draw inward at the armpits,
And both feet of the reptile, that were short,
Lengthen as much as those contracted were.
Thereafter the hind feet, together twisted, -«.
Became the member that a man conceals.
And of his own the wretch had two created.
While both of them the exhalation veils
With a new colour, and engenders hair
On one of them and depilates the other, no
The one uprose and down the other fell.
Though turning not away their impious lamps,
• Underneath which each one his muzzle changed.
He who was standing drew it tow'rds the temples,
And from excess of matter, which came thither, ws
Issued the ears from out the hollow cheeks ;
What did not backward run and was retained
Of that excess made to the face a nose.
And the lips thickened far as was befitting.
o
82 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

He who lay prostrate thrusts his muzzle forward, 130

And backward draws the ears into his head,
In the same manner as the snail its horns ;
And so the tongue, which was entire and apt
For speech before, is cleft, and the bi-forked
In the other closes up, and the smoke cease.?, 13s
The soul, which to a reptile had been changed, *
Along the valley hissing takes to flight.
And after him the other speaking sputters.
Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders.
And said to the other : " I'll have Buoso run, uo
Crawling as I have done, along this road."
In this way I beheld the seventh ballast
Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse
The novelty, if aught my pen transgress.
And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be ^45
Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed.
They could not flee away so secretly
But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato ;
And he it was who sole of three companions.
Which came in the beginning, was not changed ; is*
The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.

CANTO XXVI.
Rejoice, O Florence, since thou art so great.
That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings.
And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad !
Among the thieves five citizens of tiiine
Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me,
And thou thereby to no great honour risest.
But if when morn is near our dreams are true.
Feel shalt thou in a little time from now
What Prato, if none other, craves for thee.
And if it now were, it were not too soon ;
Would that it were, seeing it needs must be.
For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age.
We went our way, and up along the stairs
The bourns had made us to descend before,
Remounted my Conductor and drew me.
And following the solitary path
Among the rocks and ridges of the crag.
The foot without the hand sped not at all.
 INFERNO, XXVI.

Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again,

When I direct my mind to what I saw, ac
And more my genius curb than I am wont.
That it may run not unless virtue guide it ;
So that if some good star, or better thing,
Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it.
As many as the hind (who on the hill »s
Rests at the time when he who lights the world
His countenance keeps least concealed from us,
While as the fly gives place unto the gnat)
Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley.
Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage ;
With flames as manifold resplendent all 3>
Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware
As soon as- 1 was where the depth appeared.
And such as he who with the bears avenged him
Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, 3S
What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose,
For with his eye he could not follow it
So as to see aught else than flame alone,
Even as a little cloud ascending upward.
Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment 4«
Was moving ; for not one reveals the theft,
And every flame a sinner steals away.
I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see.
So that, if I had seized not on a rock,
Down had I fallen without being pushed. 45
And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,
Exclaimed : " Within the fires the spirits are ;
Each swathes himself with that wherewith he bums."
' My Master," I replied, " by hearing thee
I am more sure ; but I surmised already 50
It might be so, and already wished to ask thee
Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft
At top, it seems uprising from the pyre
Where was Eteocles with his brother placed."
He answered me : " Within there are tormented 55
Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together
They unto vengeance run as unto wrath.
And there within their flame do they lament
The ambush of the horse, which made the door
Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed ; &>
Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead
Deidamia still deplores Achilles,
And pain for the Palladium there is borne."
84 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

*' If they within those sparks possess the power

To speak," I said, " thee, Master, much I pray, 6s
And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand.
That thou make no denial of awaiting
Until the horned flame shall hither come ;
Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." ,
And he to me : " Worthy is thy entreaty 70
Of much applause, and therefore I accept it ;
But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself
Leave me to speak, because I have conceived
That which thou wishest ; for they might disdain
Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine." n
When now the flame had come unto that point,
Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,
After this fashion did I hear him speak :
" O ye, who are twofold within one fire,
If I deserved of you, while I was living, 80
If I deserved of you or much or little
When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,
Do not move on, but one of you declare
Whither, being lost, he went away to die."
Then of the antique flame the greater horn, 8s
Murmuring, began to wave itself about
Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues.
Thereaftervvard, the summit to and fro
Moving as if it were the tongue that spake.
It uttered forth a voice, and said : " When I 90
From Circe had departed, who concealed me
More than a year there near unto Gaeta,
Or ever yet ^neas named it so.
Nor fondness for my son, nor reverence
For my old father, nor the due affection 9S
Which joyous should have made Penelope,
Could overcome within me the desire
I had to be experienced of the world.
And of the vice and virtue of mankind ;
But I put forth on the high open sea ««>
With one sole ship, and that small company
By which I never had deserted been.
Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain,
Far as Morocco, and the isle of Sardes,
And the others which that sea bathes round about loj
I and my company were old and slow
When at that narrow passage we arrived
Where Hercules his landmarks set as signals,
 INFERNO, XXVII. 85
That man no farther onward should adventure.
On the right hand behind me left I Seville, »»«
And on the other already had left Ceuta.
* O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand
Perils,' I said, ' have come unto the West,
To this so inconsiderable vigil
Which is remaining of your senses still "j
Be ye unwilling to deny the knowledge,
Following the sun, of the unpeopled world.
Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang ;
Ye were not made to live like unto brutes.
But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' "•
So eager did I render my companions,
With this brief exhortation, for the voyage.
That then I hardly could have held them back.
And having turned our stern unto the morning,
We of the oars made wings for our mad flight, «a
Evermore gaining on the larboard side.
Already all the stars of the other pole
The night beheld, and ours so very low
It did not rise above the ocean floor.
Five times rekindled and as many quenched 133
Had been the splendour underneath the moon,
Since we had entered into the deep pass,
When there appeared to us a mountain, dim
From distance, and it seemed to me so high
As I had never any one beheld. «M
Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping ;
For out of the new land a whirlwind rose.
And smote upon the fore part of the ship.
Three times it made her whirl with all the waters.
At the fourth time it made the stern uplift, «4o
And the prow downward go, as pleased Another,
Until the sea above us closed again."

CANTO xxvn.
Already was the flame erect and quiet,
To speak no more, and now departed from us
With the permission of the gentle Poet ;
When yet another, which behind it came.
Caused us to turn our eyes upon its top
By a confused sound that issued from it.
^6 THE DIVINE COMED^Y.

As the Sicilian bull (that bellowed first

With the lament of him, and that was right,
Who with his file had modulated it)
Bellowed so with the voice of the afflicted,
That, notwithstanding it was made of brass,
Still it appeared with agony transfixed ;
Thus, by not having any way or issue
At first from out the fire, to its own language
Converted were the melancholy words.
But afterwards, when they had gathered way
Up through the point, giving it that vibration
The tongue had given them in their passage out,
We heard it said : " O thou, at whom I aim
My voice, and who but now wast speaking Lombard,
Saying, ' Now go thy way, no more I urge thee,'
Because I come perchance a little late.
To stay and speak with me let it not irk thee ;
Thou seest it irks not me, and I am burning.
If thou but lately into this blind world
Hast fallen down from that sweet Latian land,
Wherefrom I bring the whole of my transgression,
Say, if the Romagnuols have peace or war,
For I was from the mountains there between
Urbino and the yoke whence Tiber bursts."
I still was downward bent and listening.
When my Conductor touched me on the side,
Saying : " Speak thou : this one a Latian is."
And I, who had beforehand my reply
In readiness, forthwith began to speak :
" O soul, that down below there art concealed,
Romagna thine is not and never has been
Without war in the bosom of its tyrants ,
But open war I none have left there now.
Ravenna stands as it long years has stood ;
The Eagle of Polenta there is brooding.
So that she covers Cervia with her vans.
The city which once made the long resistance.
And of the French a sanguinary heap,
Beneath the Green Paws finds itself again ;
Verrucchio's ancient Mastiff and the new,
Who made such bad disposal of Montagna,
Where they are wont make wimbles of their teeth.
The cities of Lamone and Santemo
Governs the Lioncel of the white lair,
Who changes sides 'twixt summer-time and winter;
 INFERNO, XXVII. 8;

And that of which the Savio bathes the flank,

Even as it lies between the plain and mountain,
Lives between tyranny and a free state.
Now I entreat thee tell us who thou art ; 55
Be not more stubborn than the rest have been,

After Sothemay
fire thy namemore
a little holdhad
front there in the world."
roared
In its own fashion, the sharp point it moved
This way and that, and then gave forth such breath : 60
" If I believed that my reply were made
To one who to the world would e'er return,
This flame without more flickering would stand still ;
But inasmuch as never from this depth
Did any one return, if I hear true, 65
Without the. fear of infamy I answer,
I was a man of arms, then Cordelier,
Believing thus begirt to make amends ;
And truly my belief had been fulfilled
But for the High Priest, whom may ill betide, v>
Who put me back into my former sins ;
And how and wherefore I will have thee hear.
While I was still the form of bone and pulp
My mother gave to me, the deeds I did
Were not those of a lion, but a fox. 75
The machinations and the covert ways
I knew them all, and practised so their craft.
That to the ends of earth the sound went forth.
When now imto that portion of mine age
I saw myself arrived, when each one ought 80
To lower the sails, and coil away the ropes.
That which before had pleased me then displeased me ;
And penitent and confessing I surrendered.
Ah woe is me ! and it would have bestead me ;
The Leader of the modern Pharisees 85
Having a war near unto Lateran,
And not with Saracens nor with the Jews,
For each one of his enemies was Christian,
And none of them had been to conquer Acre,
Nor merchandising in the Sultan's land, 90
Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders.
In him regarded, nor in me that cord
Which used to make those girt with it more meagre ;
But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester
To cure his leprosy, within Soracte, 9S
So this one sought me out as an adept
88 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

To cure him of the fever of his pride.

Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,
Because his words appeared inebriate.
And then he said : ' Be not thy heart afraid : "oo
Henceforth I thee absolve ; and thou instruct me
How to raze Palestrina to the ground.
Heaven have I power to lock and to imlock,
As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,
The which my predecessor held not dear.' los
Then urged me on his weighty arguments
There, where my silence was the worst advice ;
And said I : ' Father, since thou washest me
Of that sin into which I now must fall,
The promise long with the fulfilment short "•
Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'
Francis came afterward, when I was dead,
For me ; but one of the black Cherubim
Said to him : ' Take him not ; do me no wrong ;
He must come down among my servitors, "S
Because he gave the fraudulent advice
From which time forth I have been at his hair ;
For who repents not cannot be absolved.
Nor can one both repent and will at once,
Because of the contradiction which consents not. no
O miserable me ! how I did shudder
When he seized on me, saying : ' Peradventure
Thou didst not think that I was a logician ! '
He bore me unto Minos, who entwined
Eight times his tail about his stubborn back, ^s
And after he had bitten it in great rage,
Said : ' Of the thievish fire a culprit this ;'
Wherefore, here where thou seest, am I lost,
And vested thus in going I bemoan me."
When it had thus completed its recital, 130
The flame departed uttering lamentations.
Writhing and flapping its sharp-pointed horn.
Onward we passed, both I and my Conductor,
Up o'er the crag above another arch.
Which the moat covers, where is paid the fee 135
By those who, sowing discord, win their burden.
 INFERNO, XXVIII. 89

CANTO XXVIII.

Who Tell
ever ofcould, e'en with
the blood untrammelled
and of the wounds words,
in full
Which now I saw, by many times narrating?
Each tongue would for a certainty fall short
By reason of our speech and memory, s
That have small room to comprehend so much.
If were again assembled all the people
Which formerly upon the fateful land
Of Puglia were lamenting for their blood
Shed by the Romans and the lingering war w
That of the rings made such illustrious spoils,
As Livy has recorded, who errs not,
With those who felt the agony of blows
By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,
And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still . «5
At Ceperano, where a renegade
Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo,
Where without arms the old Alardo conquered,
And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off.
Should show, it would be nothing to compare 20
With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia.
A cask by losing centre-piece or cant
Was never shattered so, as I saw one
Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind.
Between his legs were hanging down his entrails ; »s
His heart was visible, and the dismal sack
That maketh excrement of what is eaten.
While I was all absorbed in seeing him.
He looked at me, and opened with his hands
His bosom, saying : " See now how I rend me ; 30
How mutilated, see, is Mahomet ;
In front of me doth Ali weeping go,
Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin ;
And all the others whom thou here beholdest,
Disseminators of scandal and of schism 3S
While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.
A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us
Thus cruelly, unto the falchion's edge
Putting again each one of all this ream,
'9<> THE DIVINE COMEDY.
When we have gone around the doleful road ; 40
By reason that our wounds are closed again
Ere any one in front of him repass.
But who art thou, that musest on the crag,
Perchance to postpone going to the pain
That is adjudged upon thine accusations?" 45
" Nor death hath reached him yet, nor guilt doth bring him,"
My Master made reply, " to be tormented ;
But to procure him full experience,
Me, who am dead, behoves it to conduct him
Down here through Hell, from circle unto circle ; 50
And this is true as that I speak to thee."
More than a hundred were there when they heard him,
Who in the moat stood still to look at me,
Through wonderment obHvious of their torture.
" Now say to Fra Dolcino, then, to arm him, ss
Thou, wbo perhaps wilt shortly see the sun,
If soon he wish not here to follow me,
So with provisions, that no stress of snow
May give the victory to the Novarese,
Which otherwise to gain would not be easy." 60
After one foot to go away he lifted,
This word did Mahomet say unto me.
Then to depart upon the ground he stretched it.
Another one, who had his throat pierced through,
And nose cut off close underneath the brows, 6s
And had no longer but a single ear.
Staying to look in wonder with the others,
Before the others did his gullet open.
Which outwardly was red in every part,
And said : " O thou, whom guilt doth not condemn, 7°
And whom I once saw up in Latian land.
Unless too great similitude deceive me.
Call to remembrance Pier da Medicina,
If e'er thou see again the lovely plain
That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo, 75
And make it known to the best two of Fano,
To Messer Guido and Angiolello likewise,
That if foreseeing here be not in vain.
Cast over from their vessel shall they be.
And drowned near unto the Cattolica, 80
By the betrayal of a tyrant fell.
Between the isles of Cyprus and Majorca
Neptune ne'er yet beheld so great a crime
Neither of pirates nor Argolic people.
 INFERNO, XX VIII. 9'

That traitor, who sees only with one eye, 8s

And holds the land, which some one here with me
Would fain be fasting from the vision of,
Will make them come unto a parley with him ;
Then will do so, that to Focara's wind
They will not stand in need of vow or prayer." 90
And I to him : " Show to me and declare,
If thou wouldst have me bear up news of thee,
Who is this person of the bitter vision."
Then did he lay his hand upon the jaw
Of one of his companions, and his mouth 95
Oped, crying : " This is he, and he speaks not.
This one, being banished, every doubt submerged
In Caesar by affirming the forearmed
Always with detriment allowed delay."
0 how bewildered unto me appeared, 100
With tongue asunder in his windpipe slit.
Curio, who in speaking was so bold !
And one, who both his hands dissevered had,
The stumps uplifting through the murky air,
So that the blood made horrible his face, 105
Cried out: "Thou shalt remember Mosca also,
Who said, alas ! ' A thing done has an end ! '
Which was an ill seed for the Tuscan people • "
" And death unto thy race," thereto I added ;
Whence he, accumulating woe on woe, nc
Departed, like a person sad and crazed.
But I remained to look upon the crowd ;
And saw a thing which I should be afraid,
Without some further proof, even to recount,
If it were not that conscience reassures me, »»s
That good companion which emboldens man
Beneath the hauberk of its feeling pure.
1 truly saw, and still I seem to see it,
A trunk without a head walk in like manner
As walked the others of the mournful herd. "o
And by the hair it held the head dissevered.
Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern.
And that upon us gazed and said : " O me ! "
It of itself made to itself a lamp,
And they were two in one, and one in two ; ns
How that can be, He knows who so ordains it.
When it was come close to the bridge's foot.
It lifted high its arm with all the head,
To bring more closely unto us its words,
92 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Which were : " Behold now the sore penalty,

Thou, who dost breathing go the dead beholding ;
Behold if any be as great as this.
And so that thou may carry news of me,
Know that Bertram de Born am I, the same
Who gave to the Young King the evil comfort.
I made the father and the son rebellious ;
Achitophel not more with Absalom
And David did with his accursed goadings.
Because I parted persons so united,
Parted do I now bear my brain, alas !
From its beginning, which is in this trunk.
Thus is observed in me the counterpoise."

CANTO XXIX.
The many people and the divers wounds
These eyes of mine had so inebriated,
That they were wishful to stand still and weep ;
But said Virgilius : " What dost thou still gaze at ?
Why is thy sight still riveted down there
Among the mournful, mutilated shades ?
Thou hast not done so at the other Bolge ;
Consider, if to count them thou believest,
That two-and-twenty miles the valley winds,
And now the moon is underneath our feet ;
Henceforth the time allotted us is brief,
And more is to be seen than what thou seest."
" If thou hadst," I made answer thereupon,
" Attended to the cause for which I looked,
Perhaps a longer stay thou wouldst have pardoned."
Meanwhile my (iuide departed, and behind him
I went, already making my reply,
And superadding : " In that cavern where
I held mine eyes with such attention fixed,
I think a spirit of my blood laments
The sin which down below there costs so much."
Then said the Master : " Be no longer broken
Thy thought from this time forward upon him ;
Attend elsewhere, and there let him remain ;
For him I saw below the little bridge.
Pointing at thee, and threatening with his finger
Fiercely, and heard him called Geri del Bello.
 INFERNO, XXIX. 93

So wholly at that time wast thou impeded

By him who formerly held Altaforte,
Thou didst not look that way; so he departed." 30
*' O my Conductor, his own violent death,
Which is not yet avenged for him," I said,
" By any who is sharer in the shame,
Made him disdainful ; whence he went away,
As I imagine, without speaking to me, 3S
And thereby made me pity him the more."
Thus did we speak as far as the first place
Upon the crag, which the next valley shows
Down to the bottom, if there were more light.
When we were now right over the last cloister 40
Of Malebolge, so that its lay-brothers
Could manifest themselves unto our sight,
Divers lamentings pierced me through and through.
Which with compassion had their arrows barbed,
Whereat mine ears I covered with my hands. 45
What pain would be, if from the hospitals
Of
AndValdichiana,
of Maremma'twixt
and July and September,
Sardinia
All the diseases in one moat were gathered,
Such was it here, and such a stench came fi"om it 50
As from putrescent limbs is wont to issue.
We had descended on the furthest bank
From the long crag, upon the left hand still,
And then more vivid was my power of sight
Down tow'rds the bottom, where the ministress 55
Of the high Lord, Justice infallible,
Punishes forgers, which she here records.
I do not think a sadder sight to see
Was in ^Egina the whole people sick,
(When was the air so full of pestilence, *»
The animals, down to the little worm,
All fell, and afterwards the ancient people.
According as the poets have affirmed,
W^ere from the seed of ants restored again,)
Than was it to behold through that dark valley cs
The spirits languishing in divers heaps.
This on the belly, that upon the back
One of the other lay, and others crawling
Shifted themselves along the dismal road.
We step by step went onward without speech, 70
Gazing upon and listening to the sick
Who had not strength enough to lift their bodies.
94 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I saw two sitting leaned against each other,

As leans in heating platter against platter,
From head to foot bespotted o'er with scabs ; n
And never saw T plied a currycomb
By stable-boy for whom his master waits,
Or him who keeps awake unwillingly,
As every one was plying fast the bite
Of nails upon himself, for the great rage 80
Of itching which no other succour had.
And the nails downward with them dragged the scab,
In fashion as a knife the scales of bream,
Or any other fish that has them largest.
" O thou, that with thy fingers dost dismail thee," 8s
Began my Leader unto one of them,
" And makest of them pincers now and then,
Tell me if any Latian is with those
Who are herein ; so may thy nails suffice thee
To all eternity unto this work." 90
" Latians are we, whom thou so wasted seest.
Both of us here," one weeping made reply ;
" But who art thou, that questionest abouc us? "
And said the Guide : " One am I who descends
Down with this living man from cliff to cliff, «
And I intend to show Hell unto him."
Then broken was their mutual support.
And trembling each one turned himself to me,
With others who had heard him by rebound.
Wholly to me did the good Master gather, too
Saying : " Say unto them whate'er thou wishest."
And I began, since he would have it so :
" So may your memory not steal away
In the first world from out the minds of men,
But so may it survive 'neath many suns, iflS
Say to me who ye are, and of what people ;
Let not your foul and loathsome punishment
Make you afraid to show yourselves to me."
** I of Arezzo was," one made reply,
" And Albert of Siena had me burned ; «»
But what I died for does not bring me here.
'Tis true I said to him, speaking in jest,
That I could rise by flight into the air.
And he who had conceit, but little wit,
Would have me show to him the art ; and only m
Because no Daedalus I made him, made me
Be burned by one who held him as his son.
 INFERN-O, XXX. 95

But unto the last Bolgia of the ten,

For alchemy, which in the world I practised,
Minos, who cannot err, has me condemned."
And to the Poet said I : " Now was ever
So vain a people as the Sienese ?
Not for a certainty the French by far."
Whereat the other leper, who had heard me,
Replied unto my speech : " Taking out Stricca,
Who knew the art of moderate expenses,
And Niccolo, who the luxurious use
Of cloves discovered earliest of all
Within that garden where such seed takes root ;
And taking out the band, among whom squandered
Caccia d'Ascian his vineyards and vast woods.
And where his wit the Abbagliato proffered !
But, that thou know who thus doth second thee
Against the Sienese, make sharp thine eye
Tow'rds me, so that my face well answer thee,
And thou shalt see I am Capocchio's shade,
Who metals falsified by alchemy ;
Thou must remember, if I well descry thee,
How I a skilful ape of nature was."

CANTO XXX.

'TwAS at the time when Juno was enraged.

For Semele, against the Theban blood,
As she already more than once had. shown,
So reft of reason Athamas became.
That, seeing his own wife with children twain
Walking encumbered upon either hand,
He cried : " Spread out the nets, that I may take
The lioness and her whelps upon the passage ; "
And then extended his unpitying claws,
Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus,
And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock ;
And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself; —
And at the time when fortune downward hurled
The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared,
So that the king was with his kingdom crushed,
Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive.
When lifeless she beheld Polyxena,
And of her Polydorus on the shore
96 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Of ocean was the dolorous one aware,

Out of her senses Hke a dog she barked, jo
So'much the anguish had her mind distorted ;
But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan
Were ever seen in any one so cruel
In goading beasts, and much more human members,
As I beheld two shadows pale and naked, =5
Who, biting, in the manner ran along
That a boar does, when from the sty turned loose. ■''
One to Capocchio came, and by the nape
Seized with its teeth his neck, so that in dragging
It made his belly grate the solid bottom. 30
And the Aretine, who trembling had remained.
Said to me : " That mad sprite is Gianni Schicchi,
And raving goes thus harrying other people."
" O," said I to him, " so may not the other
Set teeth on thee, let it not weary thee 35
To tell us who it is, ere it dart hence."
And he to me : " That is the ancient ghost
Of the nefarious Myrrha, who became
Beyond all rightful love her father's lover.
She came to sin with him after this manner, 40
By counterfeiting of another's form ;
As he who goeth yonder undertook,
That he might gain the lady of the herd,
To counterfeit in himself Buoso Donati,
Making a will and giving it due form." 4S
And after the two maniacs had passed
On whom I held mine eye, I turned it back
To look upon the other evil-born.
I saw one made in fashion of a lute.
If he had only had the groin cut off s"
Just at the point at wl.ich a man is forked.
The heavy dropsy, that so dispioportions
The limbs with humours, which it ill concocts,
That the face corresponds not to the belly,
Compelled him so to hold his lips apart ss
As does the hectic, who because of thirst
One tow'rds the chin, the other upward turns.
" O ye, who without any torment are,
And why I know not, in the world of woe,"
He said to us, " behold, and be attentive «o
Unto the misery of Master Adam ;
I had while living much of what I wished,
And now, alas ! a drop of water crave.
 JNFERNO, XXX. 97

The rivulets, that from the verdant hills

Of Cassentin descend down into Arno, 65
Making their channels to be cold and moist,
Ever before me stand, and not in vain ;
For far more doth their image dry me up
Than the disease which strips my face of flesh.
The rigid justice that chastises me ^
Draweth occasion from the place in which
I sinned, to put the more my sighs in flight.
There is Romena, where I counterfeited
The currency imprinted with the Baptist,
For which I left my body burned above. 75
But if I here could see the tristful soul
Of Guido, or Alessandro, or their brother,
For Branda's fount I would not give the sight.
One is within already, if the raving
Shades that are going round about speak truth ; 80
But what avails it me, whose limbs are tied ?
If I were only still so light, that in
A hundred years I could advance one inch,
I had already started on the way,
Seeking him out among this squahd folk, 85
Although the circuit be eleven miles, .
And be not less than half a mile across.
For them am I in such a family ;
They did induce me into coining florins.
Which had three carats of impurity." 90
And I to him : " Who are the two poor wretches
That smoke like unto a wet hand in winter,
Lying there close upon thy right hand confines ? "
" I found them here," replied he, " when I rained
Into this chasm, and since they have not turned, 95
Nor do I think they will for evermore.
One the false woman is who accused Joseph,
The other the false Sinon, Greek of Troy ;
From acute fever they send forth such reek."
And one of them, who felt himself annoyed 100
At being, peradventure, named so darkly.
Smote with the fist upon his hardened pauncli.
It gave a sound, as if it were a drum ;
And Master Adam smote him in the face.
With arm that did not seem to be less hard, 1=5
Saying to him : "Although be taken from me
All motion, for my limbs that heavy are,
I have an arm unfettered for such need."
98 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Whereat he answer made : " Whea thou didst go

Unto the fire, thou hadst it not so ready : "o
But hadst it so and more when thou wast coinmg."
The dropsical : " Thou sayest true in that ;
But thou wast not so true a witness there,
Where thou wast questioned of the truth at Troy."
" If I spake false, thou falsifiedst the coin," «5
Said Sinon ; " and for one fault I am here,
And thou for more than any other demon."
" Remember, perjurer, about the horse,"
He made reply who had the swollen belly,
" And rueful be it thee the whole world knows it." i-'o
" Rueful to thee the thirst be wherewith cracks
Thy tongue," the Greek said, " and the putrid water
That hedges so thy paunch before thine eyes."
Then the false-coiner : " So is gaping wide
Thy mouth for speaking evil, as 'tis wont ; "s
Because if I have thirst, and humour stuff me
Thou hast the burning and the head that aches,
And to lick up the mirror of Narcissus
Thou wouldst not want words many to invite thee."
In listening to them was I wholly fixed, ijf
When said the Master to me : " Now just look,
For little wants it that J quarrel with thee."
When him I heard in anger speak to me,
I turned me round towards him with such shame
That still it eddies through my memory. 135
And as he is who dreams of his own harm,
Who dreaming wishes it mny be a dream.
So that he craves what is, as if it were not ;
."Such I became, not having power to speak,
For to excuse myself I wished, and still 14c
Excused myself, and did not think I did it.
■" Less shame doth wash away a greater fault,"
The Master said, " than this of thine has been ;
Therefore thyself disburden of all sadness.
And make account that I am aye beside thee, 145
If e'er it come to pass that fortune bring thee
Where there are people in a like dispute ;
For a base wish it is to wish to hear it"
 INFERNO, XXXI. 99

CANTO XXXI.
One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me,
So that it tinged the one cheek and the other,
And then held out to me the medicine ;
Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear,
His and his father's, used to be the cause
First of a sad and then a gracious boon.
We turned our backs upon the wretched valley,
Upon the bank that girds it round about,
Going across'it without any speech.
There it was less than night, and less than day,
So that my sight went little in advance ;
But I could hear the blare of a loud horn.
So loud it would have made each thunder faint,
Which, counter to it following its way.
Mine eyes directed wholly to one place.
After the dolorous discomfiture
When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost,
So terribly Orlando sounded not.
Short while my head turned thitherward I held
When many lofty towers I seemed to see.
Whereat I : " Master, say, what town is this ?
And he to me : " Because thou peerest forth
Athwart the darkness at too great a distance,
It happens that thou errest in thy fancy.
Well shalt thou see, if thou arrivest there,
How much the sense deceives itself by distance ;
Therefore a little faster spur tinee on."
Then tenderly he took me by the hand,
And said : " Before we farther have advanced.
That the reality may seem to thee
Less strange, know that these are not towers, but giants.
And they are in the well, around the bank,
From navel downward, one and all of them. "
As, when the fog is vanishing away,
Little by little doth the sight refigure
Whate'er the misV that crowds the air conceals.
So, piercing through the dense and darksome air.
More and more near approaching tow'rd the verge,
My error fled, and fear came over me ;
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Because as on its circular parapets 4*

Montereggione crowns itself with towers,
E'en thus the margin which surrounds the well
With one half of their bodies turreted
The horrible giants, whom Jove menaces
E'en now from out the heavens when he thunders. «s
And I of one already saw the face.
Shoulders, and breast, and great part of the belly.
And down along his sides both of the arms.
Certainly Nature, when she left the making
Of animals like these, did well indeed, S"
By taking such executors from Mars ;
And if of elephants and whales she doth not
Repent her, whosoever looketh subtly
More just and more discreet will hold her for it ;
For where the argument of intellect ss
Is added unto evil will and power.
No rampart can the people make against it.
H^is face appeared to me as long and large
As is at Rome the pine-cone of Saint Peter's,
And in proportion were the other bones ; 60
$0, that the margin, which an apron was
Down from the middle, showed so much of him
Above it, that to reach up to his hair
Three Frieslanders in vain had vaunted them ;
For I beheld thirty great palms of him 65
Down from the place where man his mantle buckles.
" Raphael mai amech izabi almi,"
Began to clamour the ferocious mouth.
To which were not befitting sweeter psalms.
And unto him my Guide : " Soul idiotic, 70
Keep to thy horn, and vent thyself with that,
When wrath or other passion touches thee. *
Search round thy neck, and thou wilt find the belt
Which keeps it fastened, O bewildered soul,
And see it, where it bars thy mighty breast." i%
Then said to me : " He doth himself accuse ; -
This one is Nimrod, by whose evil thought
One language in the world is not still used.
Here let us leave him and not speak in vain ;
For even such to him is every language 8«
As his to others, which to none is known."
Therefore a longer journey did we make,
Turned to the left, and a crossbow-shot oft
We found another far more fierce and large.
 INFERNO, XXXI.

In binding him, who might the master be ss

I cannot say ; but he had pinioned close
Behind the right arm, and in front the other,
With chains, that held him so begirt about
From the neck down, that on the part uncovered
It wound itself as far as the fifth gyre. 90
" This proud one wished to make experiment
Of his own power against the Supreme Jove,"
My Leader said, " whence he has such a guerdon.
Ephialtes is his name ; he showed great prowess.
What time the giants terrified the gods ; 95
The arras he wielded never more he moves."
And I to him : " If possible, I should wish
That of the measureless Briareus
These eyes of mine might have experience."
Whence he replied : " Thou shalt behold Antaeus ia>
Close by here, who can speak and is unbound.
Who at the bottom of all crime shall place us.
Much farther yon is he whom thou wouldst see.
And he is bound, and fashioned like to this one,
Save that he seems in aspect more ferocious." 105
There never was an earthquake of such might
That it could shake a tower so violently.
As Ephialtes suddenly shook himself.
Then was I more afraid of death than ever.
For nothing more was needful than the fear, ««
If I had not beheld the manacles.
Then we proceeded farther in advance,
And to Antaeus came, who, full five ells
Without the head, forth issued from the cavern.
" O thou, who in the valley fortunate, m5
Which Scipio the heir of glory made.
When Hannibal turned back with all his hosts.
Once brought'st a thousand lions for thy prey.
And who, jiadst thou been at the mighty war
Among thy brothers, some it seems still think »o
The sons of Earth the victory would have gained :
Place us below, nor be disdainful of it.
There where the cold doth lock Cocytus up.
Make us not go to Tityus nor Typhoeus ;
This one can give of that which here is longed for ; iq
Therefore stoop down, and do not curl thy lip.
Still in the world can he restore thy fame.;
Because he lives, and still expects long life,
If to itself Grace call him not untimely."
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

So said the Master ; and in haste the other

His hands extended and took up my Guide, —
Hands whose great pressure Hercules once felt.
Virgilius, when he felt himself embraced,
Said unto
Then me : "and
of himself Drawme nigh, that I may
one bundle made.take thee ; "
As seems the Carisenda, to behold
Beneath the leaning side, when goes a cloud
Above it so that opposite it hangs ;
Such did Antaeus seem to me, who stood
Watching to see him stoop, and then it was
I could have wished to go some other way.
But lightly in the abyss, which swallows up
Judas with Lucifer, he put us down ;
Nor thus bowed downward made he there delay,
But, as a mast does in a ship, uprose.

CANTO XXXII.

If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous.

As were appropriate to the dismal hole
Down upon which thrust all the other rocks,
I would press out the juice of my conception
More fully ; but because I have them not,
Not without fear I bring myself to speak ;
For 'tis no enterprise to take in jest,
To sketch the bottom of all the universe,
Nor for a ton-ue that cries Mamma and Babbo.
But may those Ladies help this verse of mine.
Who helped Amphion in enclosing Thebes,
That from the fact the word be not diverse.
O rabble ill-begotten above all,
Who're in the place to speak of which is hard,
'Twere better ye hud here been sheep (5r goats I
When we were down within the darksome well,
Beneath the giant's fee , but lower far.
And I was scanning still the lofty wall,
i. heard it said to me : " Look hovv thou steppest i
Take heed thou do not trample with thy feet
The heads of the tired, miserable brothers ! "
Whereat I turned me round, and saw before me
And underfoot a lake, that from the frost
The semblance had of glass, and not of water.
 INFERNO, XXXir.

So thick a veil ne'er made upon its current

In winter-time Danube in Austria,
Nor there beneath the frigid sky the Don,
As there was here ; so that if Tambemich I
Had fallen upon it, or Pietrapana,
E'en at the edge 'twould not have given a creak. 3«
And as to croak the frog doth place himself
With muzzle out of water, — when is dreaming
Of gleaning oftentimes the peasant-girl, —
Livid, as far down as where shame appears,
Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, 35
Setting their teeth unto the note of storks.
Each one his countenance held downward bent ;
From mouth the cold, from eyes the doleful heart
Among them .witness of itself procures.
When round about me somewhat I had looked, 40
I downward turned me, and saw two so close.
The hair upon their heads together mingled.
" Ye who so strain your breasts together, tell me,"
I said, "who are you;" and they bent their necks.
And when to me their faces they had lifted, 45
Their eyes, which first were only moist within.
Gushed o'er the eyelids, and the frost congealed
The tears between, and locked them up again.
Clamp never bound together wood with wood
So strongly ; whereat they, like two he-goats, 50
Butted together, so much wrath o'ercame then^
And one, who had by reason of the cold
Lost both his ears, still with his visage downward,
Said : " Why dost thou so mirror thyself in us ?
If thou desire to know who these two are, ss
The valley whence Bisenzio descends
Belonged to them and to their father Albert
They from one body came, and all Caina
Thou shalt search through, and shalt not find a shade
More worthy to be fixed in gelatine ; 6c
Not he in whom were broken breast and shadow
At one and the same blow by Arthur's hand ;
Focaccia not ; not he who me encumbers
So with his head I see no farther fonvard,
And bore the name of Sassol Mascheroni ; fij
Well knowest thou who he was, if thou art Tuscan.
And that thou put me not to further speech.
Know that I Camicion de' Pazzi was.
And wait Carlino to exonerate me."
I04 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Then I beheld a thousand faces, made 79

Purple with cold ; whence o'er me comes a shudder,
And evermore will come, at frozen ponds.
And while we were advancing tow'rds the middle.
Where everything of weight unites together,
And I was shivering in the eternal shade, 7S
Whether 'twere will, or destiny, or chance,
I know not; but in walking 'mong the heads
I struck my foot hard in the face of one.
Weeping he growled : " Why dost thou trample me ?
Unless thou comest to increase the vengeance
Of Montaperti, why dost thou molest me ? "
And I : " My Master, now wait here for me,
That I through him may issue from a doubt ;
Then thou mayst hurry me, as thou shalt wish."
The Leader stopped ; and to that one I said Ss
Who was blaspheming vehemently still:
" Who art thou, that thus reprehendest others ? "
" Now who art thou, that goest through Antenora
Smiting," replied he, " other people's cheeks,
So that, if thou wert living, 'twere too much ? " g«
" Living I am, and dear to thee it may be,"
Was my response, " if thou demandest fame.
That 'mid the other notes thy name I place."
And he to me : " For the reverse I long ;
Take thyself hence, and give me no more trouble ; 9s
For ill thou knowest to flatter in this hollow."
Then by the scalp behind I seized upon him.
And said : " It must needs be thou name thyself,
Or not a hair remain upon thee here."
Whence he to me : " Though thou strip off my hair, 100
I will not tell thee who I am, nor show thee.
If on my head a thousand times thou fall."
I had his hair in hand already twisted.
And more than one shock of it had pulled out,
He barking, with his eyes held firmly down, 105
When cried another : " What doth ail thee, Bocca ?
Is't not enough to clatter with thy jaws,
But thou must bark ? what devil touches thee ? "
" Now," said I, " I care not to have thee speak.
Accursed traitor ; for unto thy shame vt
I will report of thee veracious news."
'^' Begone," replied he, " and tell what thou wilt,
But be not silent, if thou issue hence,
Of him who had just now his tongue so prompt ;
 INFERNO, XXXIH. 105

He weepeth here the silver of the French ;

' I saw,' thus canst thou phrase it, ' him of l^uera
There where the sinners stand out in the cold.'
If thou shouldst questioned be who else was there,
Thou hast beside thee him of Beccaria,
Of whom the gorget Florence slit asunder ;
Gianni del Soldanier, I think, may be
Yonder with Ganellon, and Tiibaldello
Who oped Faenza when the people slep
Already we had gone away from him,
When I beheld two frozen in one hole.
So that one head a hood was to the other ;
And even as bread through hunger is devoured.
The uppermost on the other set his teeth.
There where .the brain is to the nape united.
Not in another fashion Tydeus gnawed
The temples of Menalippus in disdain,
Than that one did the skull and the other things.
" O thou, who showest by such bestial sign
Thy hatred against him whom thou art eating,
Tell me the wherefore," said I, " with this compact,
That if thou rightfully of him complain,
In knowing who ye are, and his transgression,
I in the world above repay thee for it.
If that wherewith I speak be not dried up."

CANTO XXXIII.

His mouth uplifted from his grim repast,

That sinner, wiping it upon the hair
Of the same head that he behind had wasted.
Then he began : " Thou wilt that I renew
The desperate grief, which wrings my heart already
To think of only, ere I speak of it ;
But if my words be seed that may bear fruit
Of infamy to the traitor whom I gnaw.
Speaking and weeping shalt thou see together.
I know not who thou art, nor by what mode
Thou hast come down here ; but a Florentine
Thou seemest to me truly, when I hear thee.
Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolino,
And this one was Ruggieri the Archbishop ;
Now I will tell thee why I am such a neighbour.
io6 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

That, by effect of his maUcious thoughts.

Trusting in him I was made prisoner,
And after put to death, I need not say ;
But ne'ertheless what thou canst not have heard,
That is to say, how cruel was my death, «>
Hear shalt thou, and shalt know if he has wronged me.
A narrow perforation in the mew,
Which bears because of me the title of P'amine,
And in which others still must be locked up,
Had shown me through its opening many moons ss
Already, when I dreamed the evil dream
Which of the future rent for me the veil.
This one appeared to me as lord and master,
Hunting the wolf and whelps upon the mountain
For which the Pisans cannot Lucca see. 30
With sleuth-hounds gaunt, and eager, and well trained,
Gualandi with Sismondi and Lanfranchi
He had sent out before him to the front.
After brief course seemed unto me forespent
The father and the sons, and with sharp tushes 35
It seemed to me I saw their flanks ripped open.
When I before the morrow was awake.
Moaning amid their sleep I heard my sons
Who with me were, and asking after bread.
Cruel indeed art thou, if yet thou grieve not, 40
Thinking of what my heart foreboded me,
And weep'st thou not, what art thou wont to weep at ?
They were awake now, and the hour drew nigh
At which our food used to be brought to us,
And through his dream was each one apprehensive ; 4S
And I heard locking up the under door
Of the horrible tower ; whereat without a word
I gazed into the faces of my sons.
I wept not, I within so turned to stone ;
They wept ; and darling little Anselm mine so
Said : ' Thou dost gaze so, father, what doth ail thee ? '
Still not a tear I shed, nor answer made
All of that day, nor yet the night thereafter,
Until another sun rose on the world.
As now a little glimmer made its way 55
Into the dolorous prison, and I saw
Upon four faces my own very aspect,
Both of my hands in agony I bit ;
And, thinking that I did it from desire
Of eating, on a sudden they uprose, «>o
 INFERNO, XXXIII. 107

And said they : ' Father, much less pain 'twill give us
If thou do eat of us ; thyself didst clothe us
With me
I calmed thisthen,
poor not
flesh,
to and
make dothem
thou more
strip sad.
it oft'.'
That day we all were silent, and the next. 65
Ah ! obdurate earth, wherefore didst thou not open ?
When we had come unto the fourth day, Gaddo
Threw himself down outstretched before my feet.
Saying, ' My father, why dost thou not help me ? '
And there he died ; and, as thou seest me, , t
I saw the three fall, one by one, between
The fifth day and the sixth ; whence I betook me,
Already blind, to groping over each,
And three days called them after they were dead ;
Then hunger, did what sorrow could not do." 75
When he had said this, with his eyes distorted.
The wretched skull resumed he with his teeth,
Which, as a dog's, upon the bone were strong.
Ah ! Pisa, thou opprobrium of the people
Of the fair land there where the S% doth sound, 80
Since slow to punish thee thy neighbours are,
Let the Capraia and Gorgona move.
And make a hedge across the mouth of Arno
That every person in thee it may drown !
For if Count Ugolino had the fame «5
Of having in thy castles thee betrayed.
Thou shouldst not on such cross have put his sons.
Guiltless of any crime, thou modern Thebes !
Their youth made Uguccione and Brigata,
And the other two my song doth name above ! 90
We passed still farther onward, where the ice
Another people ruggedly enswathes.
Not downward turned, but all of them reversed.
Weeping itself there does not let them weep,
And grief that finds a barrier in the eyes 95
Turns itself inward to increase the anguish ;
Because the earliest tears a cluster form.
And, in the manner of a crystal visor,
Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full.
And notwithstanding that, as in a callus, 100
Because of cold all sensibility
Its station had abandoned in my face,
Still it appeared to me I felt some wind ;
Whence I : " My Master, who sets this in motion ?
Is not below here every vapour quenched ? " 105
i^'i THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Whence he to me : " Full soon shalt thou be where

Thine eye shall answer make to thee of this,
And Seeing
one of the
the cause whichof raineth
wretches downcrust
the frozen the blast."

Cried out to us : " O souls so merciless " ' no

That the last post is given unto you,
Lift from mine eyes the rigid veils, that I
May vent the sorrow which impregns my heart
A little, e'er the weeping recongeal."
Whence I to him : " If thou wouldst have me help thee ni
Say who thou wast ; and if I free thee not,
May I go to the bottom of the ice."
Then he replied : " I am Friar Alberigo :
He am I of the fruit of the bad garden.
Who here a date am getting for my fig." mo
" O," said I to him, "now art thou, too, dead ?"
And he to me : " How may my body fare
Up in the world, no knowledge I possess.
Such an advantage has this Ptolomgea,
That oftentimes the soul descendeth here ■s X X "*
Sooner than Atropos in motion sets it. K-j n'^ ■''^'-'-
And, that thou mayest more willingly remove ';
From off my countenance these glassy tears,
Know that as soon as any soul betrays
As T have done, his body by a demon 130
Is taken from him, who thereafter rules it,
Until his time has wholly been revolved.
Itself down rushes into such a cistern ;
And still perchance above appears the body
Of yonder shade, that winters here behind me. 13s
This thou shouldst know, if thou hast just come down :
It is Ser Branca d' Oria, and many years
Have passed away since he was thus locked up."
" I think," said I to him, " thou dost deceive me ;
For Branca d' Oria is not dead as yet, ho
And eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and puts on clothes."
" In moat above," said he, " of Malebranche,
There where is boiling the tenacious pitch,
As yet had Michel Zanche not arrived,
When this one left a devil in liis stead 145
In his own body and one near of kin,
Who made together with him the betrayal.
But hitherward stretch out thy hand forthwith.
Open mine eyes :" — and open them I did not,
And to be rude to him was courtesy. 150
 INFERNO, XXXIV. 109

Ah, Genoese ! ye men at variance

With every virtue, full of every vice
Wherefore are ye not scattered from the world ?
For with the vilest spirit of Romagna
I found of you one such, who for his deeds 159
In soul already in Cocytus bathes,
And still above in body seems alive !

CANTO XXXIV.

^^Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni -A^j^'^ v> -y ^^ V -» ^^-^ -^

Towards us ; therefore look in front of thee," •
My Master said, "if thou discernest him."
As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when
Our hemisphere is darkening into night, S
Appears far off a mill the wind is turning,
Methought that such a building then I saw ;
And, for the wind, I drew myself behind
My Guide, because there was no other shelter.
Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, i«
There where the shades were wholly covered up.
And glimmered through like unto straws in glass.
Some prone are lying, others stand erect,
This with the head, and that one with the soles ;
Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. >5
When in advance so far we had proceeded,
That it my Master pleased to show to me
The creature who once had the beauteous semblance.
He from before me moved and made me stop.
Saying : " Behold Dis, and behold the place 2«
Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself."
How frozen I became and powerless then,
Ask it not. Reader, for I write it not,
Because all language would be insufficient.
I did not die, and I aHve remained not ; ay
Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit,
What I became, being of both deprived.
The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous
From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice j
And better with a giant I compare 3«
Than do the giants with those arms of his ;
Consider now how great must be that whole,
Which unto such a part conforms itself.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Were he as fair once, as he now is foul,

And lifted up his brow against his Maker, 33
Well may proceed from him all tribulation.
O, what a marvel it appeared to me,
When I beheld three faces on his head !
The one in front, and that vermilion was ;
Two were the others, that were joined with this 40
Above the middle part of either shoulder.
And they were joined together at the crest ;
And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yellow ;
The left was such to look upon as those
Who come from where the Nile falls valley-ward. 45
Underneath each came forth two mighty wings,
Such as befitting were so great a bird ;
Sails of the sea I never saw so large.
No feathers had they, but as of a bat
Their fashion was ; and he was waving them, so
So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom.
Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed.
With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins
Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody diivel.
At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching 55
A sinner, in the manner of a brake,
So that he three of them tormented thus.
To him in front the biting was as naught
Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine
Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. 60
" That soul up there which has the greatest pain,"
The Master said, " is Judas Iscariot ;
With head inside, he plies his legs without.
Of the two others, who head downward are.
The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus ; 6s
See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word.
And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius.
But night is reascending, and 'tis time
That we depart, for we have seen the whole."
As seemed him good, I clasped him round the neck, 70
And he the vantage seized of time and place,
And when the wings were opened wide apart,
He laid fast hold upon the shaggy sides ;
From fell to fell descended downward then
Between the thick hair and the frozen crust 75
When we were come to where the thigh revolves
Exactly on the thickness of the haunch,
The Guide, with labour and with hard-drawn breath,
 INFERNO, XXXIV.

Turned round his head where he had had his legs,

And grappled to the hair, as one who mounts, so
So that to Hell I thought we were returning.
" Keep fast thy hold, for by such stairs as these,"
The Master said, panting as one fatigued,
" Must we perforce depart from so much evil."
Then through the opening of a rock he issued, 85
And down upon the margin seated me ;
Then tow'rds me he outstretched his Avary step.
I lifted up mine eyes and thought to see
Lucifer in the same way I had left him ;
And I beheld him upward hold his legs. 90
And if I then became disquieted,
Let stolid people think who do not see
What the point is beyond which I had passed.
" Rise up," the Master said, " upon thy feet ;
The way is long, and difficult the road, 9S
And now the sun to middle-tierce returns."
It was not any palace corridor
There where we were, but dungeon natural,
With floor uneven and unease of light.
" Ere from the abyss I tear myself away, '«
My Master," said I when I had arisen,
" To draw me from an error speak a little ;
Where is the ice ? " and how is this one fixed
Thus upside down ? and how in such short time
From eve to mom has the sun made his transit ? ' '05
And he to me : " Thou still imaginest
Thou art beyond the centre, where I grasped
The hair of the fell worm, who mines the world.
That side thou wast, so long as I descended ;
When round I turned me, thou didst pass the point "c
To which things heavy draw from every side.
And now beneath the hemisphere art come
Opposite that which overhangs the vast
Dry-land, and 'neath whose cope was put to death
The Man who without sin was bom and lived. "s
Thou hast thy feet upon the little sphere
Which makes the other face of the Judecca.
Here it is morn when it is evening there ;
And he who with his hair a stairway made us
Still fixed remaineth as he was before. '»
Upon this side he fell down out of heaven ;
And all the land, that whilom here emerged,
For fear of him made of the sea a veil,
112 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And came to our hemisphere ; and peradventure

To flee from him, what on this side appears 125
Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled."
A place there is below, from Beelzebub
As far receding as the tomb extends,
Which not by sight is known, but by the sound
Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth 130
Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed
With course that winds about and slightly falls.
The Guide and I into that hidden road
Now entered, to return to the bright world ;
And without care of having any rest 135
We mounted up, he first and I the second,
Till I beheld through a round aperture
Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear j
Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.
NOTES TO INFERNO.
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

The Divine Comedy. — The Vita parts, and each part again subdivided
Nuova of Dante closes with these words : in its structure into three. The whole
" After this sonnet there appeared to me number of cantos is one hundred, the
a wonderful vision, in which I beheld perfect number ten multiplied into itself;
things that made me propose to say no but if we count the first canto of the In-
more of this blessed one, until I shall be ferno as a Prelude, which it really is,
able to treat of her mora worthily. And each part will consist of thirty-three
to attain thereunto, truly I strive with all cantos, making ninety-nine in all ; and so
my power, as she knowcth. So that if the favourite mystic numbers rea]>pcar.
it shall be the pleasure of Him, through The three divisions of the Inferno are
whom all things live, that my life con- minutely described and explamed by
tinue somewhat longei", I hope to say Dante in Canto XI. .They are sepa-
of her what never yet was said of any rated from each other by great spaces in
woman. And then may it please Him, the infernal abyss. The sins punished
who is the Sire of courtesy, that my soul in them are, — I. Incontinence. II.
may depart to look upon the glory of Malice. III. Bestiality.
its Lady, that is to say, of the Blessed I. Incontinence: r. The Wanton.
Beatrice, who in glory gazes into the face 2. The Gluttonous. 3. The Avaricious
of Him, giii est per omnia scecula bene- and Prodigal. 4. The Irascible and the
Sullen.
dict us. "
In these lines we have the earliest II. Malice: i. The Violent against
glimpse of the Divine Comedy, as it their neighbour, in person or property.
rose in the author's mind. 2. The Violent against themselves, in
Whoever has read the Vita N'uova will person or property. 3. The Violent
remember the stress which Dante lays against God, or against Nature, the
upon the mystic numbers Nine and daughter of God, or against Art, the
Three ; his first meeting with Beatrice daughter of Nature.
at the beginning of her ninth year, and • HI. Bestiality: first subdivision :
the end of his ; his nine days' illness, I. Seducej-s. 2. Flatterers. 3. Simoni-
and the thought of her death which came acs. 4. Soothsayers. 5. Barrators. 6.
to him on the ninth day ; her death on Hypocrites. 7. Thieves. 8. Evil coun-
the ninth day of the ninth month, " com- sellors. 9.Schismatics. 10. Falsifiers.
Second subdivision : I. Traitors to
puting by the Syrian method," and in their kindred. 2. Traitors to their
that year of our lx)rd " when the jjerfect
numl)er ten was nine times completed in country. 3. Traitors to their friends.
that century" which was the thirteenth. 4. Traitors to their lords and benefac-
Moreover, he says the number nine was tors.
friendly to her, because the nine heavens The Divine Comedy is not strictly an
were in conjunction at her birth ; and allegorical poem in the sense in wliich
that she was herself the number nine, the Faerie Queene is ; and yet it is fidl
" that is, a miracle whose root is the of allegorical symbols and figurative
wonderful Trinity." meanings. In a letter to Can Grande
Following out this idea, we find the della Scala, Dante writes : " It is to be
Divine Comedy written in tema 7-ima, remarked, that the sense of tthis 2 work
or threefold rhyme, divided into three is not simple, but on the contrary one
Ii6 NOTES TO INFERNO.

may say manifold. For one sense is any man shall add unto these things,
that which is derived from the letter, God shall add unto him the plagues that
and another is that which is derived are written in this book ; and if any man
from the things signified by the letter. shall take away from these things, God
The first is called literal, the second shall take away his part from the good
allegorical or moral The subject,
then, of the whole work, taken literally, things
It iswritten in this book."
not impossible that Dante may
is the condition of souls after death, have taken a few hints also from the Teso-
simply considered. For on this and retto of his teacher, Ser Brunetto Latini.
around this the whole action of the work See Canto XV. Note 30.
turns. But if the work be taken alle- See upon this subject, Cancellieri,
gorically, the subject is man, how by Osservazioni SopraV Originalitd di Dante;
actions of merit or demerit, through free- —Essay
Wright,
dom of the will, he justly deserves reward on theSt. Patrick''
Legends of sPurgatory,
Purgatory,Hell,
an
ami Paradise, current during the Middle
or punishment."
It may not be amiss here to refer to Ages ; — Ozanam, Dante et la Philosophie
what are sometimes called the sources of Catholique aic Treizihne Siecle ; — Labitte,
the Divine Comedy. Foremost among La Divine Comedie avant Dante, pub-
them must be placed the Eleventh Book lished as an Introduction to the transla-
of the Odyssey, and the Sixth of the tion of Brizeux ; - and Delepierre, Le
^neid ; and to the latter Dante seems Livre des Visions, ou V Enfer et le del
to point significantly in choosing Virgil decri/s far ceux qui les ont vus. See also
for his Guide, his Master, his Author, the Illustrations at the end of this volume.
from whom he took "the beautiful style
that did him honour." CANTO I.
Next to these may be mentioned
1. The action of the poem begins on
Cicero's Vision of Scipio, of which
Chaucer says :— Good Friday of the year 1300, at which
time Dante, who was bom in 1265, had
" Chapiters seven it had, of Heaven, and Hell, reached the middle of the Scriptural
And Earthe, and soules that therein do dwell."
threescore years and ten. It ends on the
Then follow the popular legends which first Sunday after Easter, making in all
ten days.
were current in Dante's age ; an age
when the end of all things was thought 2. The dark forest of human life,
to be near at hand, and the wonders of with its passions, vices, and perplexities
the invisible world had laid fast hold on of all kinds ; politically the state of
the imaginations of men. Prominent Florence with its factions Guelph and
among these is the " Vision of Frate Al- Ghibelline. Dante, Convito, IV. 25,
berico," who calls himself "the humblest says :— " Thus the adolescent, who enters
servant into the erroneous forest of this life,
and who of the servants of the Lord ; '' would not know how to keep the right
" Saw in dreame at point-devyse
Heaven, Earthe, Hell, and Paradyse."
way if he were not guided by his elders."
Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, IT. 75 :—
This vision was written in Latin in tlie " Pensando a capo chino
latter half of the twelfth century, and Perdei il gran cammino,
E tenni alia traversa
contains a description of Hell, Purga-
tory, and Paradise, with its Seven D' una selva diversa."
Heavens. It is for the most part a Spenser, Faerie Queene, IV. ii. 45 :—
tedious tale, and bears evident marks of
having been written by a friar of some " Seeking adventures in the salvage wood."
monastery, when the aftemoon sun was
13. Bimyan, in his Pilgrim's Pro-
shining into his sleepy eyes. He seems, gress, which is a kind of Divine Comedy
however, to have looked upon his own in prose, says : "I beheld then that they
work with a not unfavourable opinion ; all went on till they came to the foot
for he concludes the Epistle Introduc- of the hill Difficulty But the
tory with the words of St. John : " If narrow way lay right up the hill, and the
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

name of the going up the side of the hill sophers and fathers think the world was
is called Difficulty They went created in Spring.
then till they came to the Delectable 45. Ambition ; and politically the
Mountains, which mountains belong to royal house of France.
the Lord of that hill of which we have 48. Some editions read temesse, others
tremesse.
spoken before."
14. Bunyan, Pilgrivi's Progress: — 49. Avarice ; and politically the
" But now in this valley of Humiliation Court of Rome, or temporal power ot
poor Christian was hard put to it ; for he the Popes.
had gone but a little way before he spied 60. Dante as a Ghibelline and Im-
a foul fiend coming over the field to meet perialist isin opposition to the Guelphs,
him ; his name is Apollyon. Then did Pope Boniface VIII., and the King of
Christian begin to be afraid, and to cast France, Philip the Fair, and is banished
in his mind whether to go back or stand from Florence, out of the sunshine, and
his ground. . . . Now at the end of this into "the dry wind that blows from
valley was another, called the valley of dolorous poverty."
the Shadow of Death ; and Christian
Cato speaks of the "silent moon" in
must needs go through it, because the De Ke Kustica, XXIX., Evehito lima
way to the Celestial City lay through the siletiti; and XL., V ites insa't luiia
midst of it." silenli. Also Pliny, XVI. 39, has Silens
17. The sun, with all its symbolical luna ; and Milton, in Samson Agonistes,
meanings. This is the morning of Good " Silent as the moon."
Friday. 63. The long neglect of classic studies
In the -Ptolemaic system the sun was in 70.
Italy Bom
beforeunder Dante's time.
one of the planets. Julius Caesar, but too
20. The deep mountain tarn of his late to grow up to manhood during his
heart, dark with its own depth, and the Imperial reign. He flourished later under
shadows hanging over it. Augustus.
27. Jeremiah ii. 6: "That led us 79. In this passage Dante but ex-
through the wilderness, through a land presses the universal veneration felt for
of deserts and of pits, through a land of Virgil during the Middle Ages, and
drought, and of the shadow of death, especially in Ittdy. Petrarch's copy of
through a land that no man passed Virgil is still preserved in the Ambrosian
Library at Milan ; and at the beginning
through, and where no man dwelt." of it he has recorded in a Latin note the^
In his note upon this passage Mr.
time of his first meeting with Laura, and
Wright quotes Spenser's lines, Faerie the date of her death, which, he says,
Queene, I. v. 31, —
" I write in this book, rather than else-
" there creature never passed
That back returned without heavenly grace."
where, because i^ comes often under my

30. Climbing the hillside slowly, so In the popular imagination Virgil be-
that he rests longest on the foot that is came a mythical personage and a mighty
lowest. magician. See the story of Virgilius in
31. Jeremiah v. 6: "Wherefore a Thom's Early Prose Romances, li. Dante
lion out of the forest shall slay them, a selectseye."him for his guide, as symbolizing
wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a human science or Philosophy. "I say
leopard shall watch over their cities : and affirm," he remarks, Cotwito, V. 16,
every one that goeth out thence shall be "that the lady with whom I became
torn in pieces." enamoured after my first love was the
32. Worldly Pleasure ; and politi- most beautiful and modest daughter of
cally Florence, with its factions of the Em; eror of the Universe, to whom
Bianchi and Neri.
Pythagoras gave the name of Philo-
36. Piit, volte volto. Dante delights
in a play upon words as much as Shake- 87. Dante seems to have been al-
speare. sophy."ready conscious of the fame which his
38. The stars of Aries. Some philo- Vita Nuova and Catizoni had given him.
II« NOTES TO INFERNO.

loi. The greyhound is Can Grande colour he means ; because no clear stream
della Scala, Lord of Verona, Imperial or lake on the Continent ever looks
Vicar, Ghibelline, and friend of Dante. brown, but blue or green ; and Dante,
Verona is between Feltro in the Marca by merely taking away the pleasant colour,
Trivigiana, and Montefellro in Romagna. would get at once to this idea of grave
Boccaccio, Decameron, I. 7, spealcs of clear gray. So, when he was talking of
him as "one of the most notable and twilight, his eye for colour was far too
magnificent lords that had been known good to let him call it brawn in our sense.
in Italy, since the Emperor Frederick the Twilight is not brown, but purple,
Second." To him Dante dedicated the golden, or dark gray; and this last was
Paradiso. Some commentators think what Dante meant. Farther, I find that
the Veltro is not Can Grande, but Ug- this negation of colour is always the means
guccione della Faggiola. See Troya, by which Dante subdues his tones. Thus
Del Veltro Allegorico di Dante. the fatal inscription on the Hades gate
106. The plains of Italy, in contra- is written in 'obscure colour,' and the air
distinction tothe mountains; the hiani- which torments the passionate spirits is
lemque Ilaliam of Virgil, yEneid III. 'aer nero,' black air (Inf. v. 51), called
522: "And now the stars being chased presently afterwards (line 81) malignant
away, blushing Aurora appeared, when air, just as th? gray cliffs are called ma-
far off we espy the hills obscure, and
13. .^neas,
lignant cliffs." founder of the Roman
lowly Italy."
116. I give preference to the read- Empire. Virgil, Aineid, B. VI.
ing, Vedrai gli antichi spiriti dolenti. 24. "That is," says Boccaccio, Co-
122. Beatrice. mento, "St. Peter the Apostle, called
the greater on account of his papal dig-
CANTO II. nity, and to distinguish him from many
other holy men of the same name."
I. The evening of Good Friday. 28. St. Paul. Acts, ix. 15: " He is
Dante, Conrito, III. 2, says : "Man is a chosen vessel unto me." Also 2 Co-
called by philosopher the divine ani- rinthians, xii. 3, 4: " And I knew such
mal." Chancer' s Assemble of Foitles: — a man, whether in the body, or out of
' 'That
The daie
the body, I cannot tell ; God knoweth ;
revethganbestes
fallen,from
a'nd hir
thebusinesse
darke night
how that he was caught up into Para-
Berafte me my boke for lacke of light." dise, and heard unspeakable words,
Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. which it is not lawful for a man to
240, speaking of Dante's use of the word
42. Shakespeare, Macbeth, IV. i :
^^ brtino,'' says: — '■
" In describing a simple twilight — not " The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,
utter."
a Hades twilight, but an ordinarily fair Unless the deed go with it."
evening — (Inf. ii. i), he says, the 'brown' 52. Suspended in Limbo ; neither in
air took the animals away from their pain nor in glory.
fatigues ; — the waves under Charon's 55. Brighter than tli« star ; than "that
boat are 'brown' (Inf iii. 117); and star which is brightest," comments Boc-
Lethe, which is perfectly clear and yet caccio. Others say the Sun, and refer
dark, as with oblivion, is ' bruna-bnma,' to Dante's Canzone, beginning:
' brown, exceeding brown. ' Now, clearly
in all these cases no warmth is meant to " The star of beauty which doth measi;re time.
The lady seems, who has enamoured me,
be mingled in the colour. Dante had Placed in the heaven of Love."
never seen one of our bog-streams, with 56. Shakespeare, King Lear, V , 3: —
its porter-coloured foam ; and there can " Her voice was ever soft.
be no doubt that, in calling Lethe brown,
Gentle, and low ; an excellent thing in woman."
he means that it was dark slate-gray, in-
clining toi)!ack ; as, for instance, our clear 67. This passage will recall Minerva
Cumberland lakes, which, looked straight transmitting the message of Juno to
down upon where they are deep, seem Achilles, Iliad, II. : " Go thou forthwith
to be lakes of ink. I am sure this is the to the army of the Achaeans, and hesi-
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

late not ; but restrain each man with thy that there is joy within, and that the
persuasive words, nor suffer them to drag great mother of creatures will open the
to the sea their double-oared ships. " stock of her new refreshment, become
70. Beatrice Portinari, Dante's first useful to mankind, and sing praises to
love, the inspiration of his song, and in her Redeemer."
his mind the symbol of the Divine. He Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale del Secolo
says of her in the Vita Nuova: — " This di Dante, translated by Miss Ward, IL
most gentle lady, of whom there has 216, makes this political application of
been discourse in what precedes, reached the lines : " The Florentines, called Sons
such favour among the people, that when of Flora, are compared \.o flowers ; and
she passed along the way jiersons ran to Dante calls the two parties who divided
see her, which gave me wonderful de- the city white and black flffivas, and him-
light. And when she was near any one, self white-flower, — the name by which
such modesty took possession of his he was called by many. Now he makes
heart, that he did not dare to raise his use of a very abstruse comparison, to
eyes or to return her salutation ; and to express how he became, from a Guelph
this, should any one doubt it, many, as or Black, a Ghibelline or White. He
having experienced it, could, bear witness describes himself as ^flmver, first bent
for me. She, crowned and clothed with and closed by the night frosts, and then
humility, took her way, displaying no blanched or whitened by the sun (the
pride in that which she saw and heard. symbol of reason), which opens its leaves;
Many, when she had passed, said, 'This and what produces the effect of the sun
is not a woman, rather is she one of the
on him is a speech of Virgil's, persuad-
most beautiful angels of heaven.' Others ing him to follow his guidance."
said, ' She is a miracle. Blessed be the
Lord who can perform such a marvel. ' CANTO III.
I say, that she showed herself so gentle
and so full of all beauties, that those who I. This canto begins with a repeti-
looked on her felt within themselves a tion of sounds like the tolling of a funeral
pure and sweet delight, such as they bell : dolente . . . dolore !
could not tell in words." — C. E. Norton, Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 215,
The New Life, 51, 52. speaking of the Inferno, says : —
78. The heaven of the moon, which " Milton's effort, in all that he tells
contains or encircles the earth. us of his Inferno, is to make it indefi-
84. The ampler circles of P&radise. nite; Dante's, to make it a'^w/Vi?. Both,
94. Divine Mercy. indeed, describe it as entered through
97. St. Lucia, emblem of enlighten- gates; but, within the gate, all is wild
ing Grace. and fenceless with Milton, having indeed
102. Rachel, emblem of Divine Con- its four rivers, — the last vestige of the
templation. See Par. XXXIL 9. mediaeval tradition, — but rivers which
108. Beside (hat flood, where ocean has flow through a waste of mountain and
no vaunt; "That is," says Boccaccio, moorland, and by ' many a frozen, many
Comento, " the sea cannot boast of being a fiery Alp.' But Dante's Inferno is
more impetuous or more dangerous than accurately separated into circles drawn
that." with well-pointed compasses ; mapped
127. This simile has been imitated and properly surveyed in every direc-
by Chaucer, Spenser, and many more. tion, trenched in a thoroughly good
Jeremy Taylor says: — style of engineering from depth to depth,
" So have I seen the sun kiss the and divided, in the ' accurate middle '
frozen earth, which was bound up with (dritto mezzo) of its deepest abyss, into a
the images of death, and the colder breath concentric series of ten moats and em-
of the north ; and then the waters break bankments, like those about a castle,
from their enclosures, and melt with joy with bridges from each embankment
and run in useful channels ; and the flies to the next ; precisely in the manner
do rise again from their little graves in of those bridges over Hiddekel and
walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell Eu])hrates, which Mr. Macaulay thinks
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

so innocently designed, apparently not words, the knowledge of God is intel-

aware that he is also laughing at Dante. lectual good.
These larger fosses are of rock, and the "It is a most just punishment," says
bridges also ; but as he goes further into St. Aug[ustine, "that man should lose
detail, Dante tells us of various minor that freedom which man could not use,
fosses and embankments, in which he yet had power to keep if he would,
anxiously points out to us not only the and that he who had knowledge to do
formality, but the neatness and perfect- what was right, and did not do it,
ness, of the stonework. For instance, should be deprived of the knowledge
in describing the river Phlegethon, he of what was right ; and that he who
tells us that it was ' paved with stone at would not do righteously, when he had
the bottom, and at the sides, and over the the power, should lose the power to do
edges of theofsides,'' just as; and
the water it when he had the will. "
the baths Bulicame for fearis we
at 22. The description given of the
should think this embankment at all Mouth of Hell by Frate Alberico, I i-
larger than it really was, Dante adds, sio, 9, is in the grotesque spirit of the
carefully, that it was made just like the Mediaeval Mysteries.
embankments of Ghent or Bruges against " After all these things, I was led to
the sea, or those in Lombardy which the Tartarean Regions, and to the mouth
bank the Brenta, only ' not so high, nor of the Infernal Pit, which seemed like
so wide,' as any of these. And besides unto a well ; regions full of horrid
the trenches, we have two well-built darkness, of fetid exhalations, of shrieks
castles ; one like Ecbatana, with seven and loud bowlings. Near this Hell
circuits of wall (and surrounded by a there was a Worm of immeasurable
fair stream), wherein the great poets and size, bound with a huge chain, one end
sages of antiquity live ; and another, a of which seemed to be fastened in Hell.
great fortified city with walls of iron, Before the mouth of this Hell there
red-hot, and a deep fosse round it, and stood a gri 2C multitude of souls, which
he absorbed at once, as if they were
full
Dis. of 'grave citizens,' — the city of flies ; so that, drawing in his breath,
"Now, whether this be in what we he swallowed them all together; then,
modems call 'good taste,' or not, I do breathing, exhaled them all on fire, like
not mean just now to inquire, — Dante
having nothing to do with taste, but 36. The reader will here be re-
with the facts of what he had seen ;
minded* of Bunyan's town of Fair-
only, so far as the imaginative faculty of sparks."
the two poets is concerned, note that speech.
" Christian. Pray who are your kin-
Milton's vagueness is not the sign of dred there, if a man may be so bold ?
imagination, but of its absence, so far as ''^By-ends. Almost the whole town;
it is significative in the matter. For it and in particular my Lord Turnabout,
does not follow, because Milton did not my Lord Timeserver, my Lord Fair-
map out his Inferno as Dante did, that speech, from whose ancestors that town
he could not have done so if he had first took its name ; also Mr. Smooth-
chosen; only it was the easier and less man, Mr. Facing-both-ways, Mr. Any-
imaginative process to leave it vague than thing,— and the parson of our parish,
to define it. Imagination is always the
Mr. Two-tongues, was my mother's own
seeing and asserting faculty ; that which brother by father's side
obscures or conceals may be judgment, "There Christian stepped a little
or feeling, but not invention. The in- aside to his fellow Hopeful, saying,
vention, whether good or bad, is in the * It runs in my mind that this is one
accurate engineering, not in the fog and By-ends of Fair-speech ; and if it be
uncertainty. he, we have as very a knave in our
i8. Aristotle says: "The good of company as dwelleth in all these
the intellect is the highest beatitude ; "
and Dante in the Conviio : "The True 42. Many commentators and trans-
is the good of the intellect. " In other lators interpret alcuna in its usual signifi-

parts.'"
 NOTES TO INFERNO. I2t

cation of some: " For some glory the an idiotic man, he took counsel with
damned would have from them." This Messer Benedetto aforesaid, as to the
would be a reason why these pusillani- best method of resigning. "
mous ghosts should not be sent into the Celestine having relinquished the
profounder abyss, but no reason why papal office, this " Messer Benedetto
they should not be received there. This aforesaid " was elected Pope, under the
is strengthened by what comes after- title of Boniface VHI. His greatest
wards, 1.63. These souls were " hate- misfortune was that he had Dante for an
adversary.
ful to God, and to his enemies." They
were not good enough for Heaven, nor Gower gives this legend of Pojie Ce-
bad enough for Hell. *' So then, be- lestine inhis Confessio A mantis. Book H.,
cause thou art lukewarm, and neither as an example of " the vice of supplanta-
cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my cion." He says :—
mouth." Ra>elation iii. 16.
Macchiavelli represents this scorn of "This clerk, when he hath herd the form.
How he the pope shuld enform,
inefficient mediocrity in an epigram on Toke of the cardinal his leve
I'eter Soderini :— And goth him home, till it was eve.
And prively the trompe he hadde
" TTie night that Peter Soderini "died Til that the pope was abedde.
He at the mouth of Hell himself presented. And at midnight when, he knewe
' What, you come into Hell ? poor ghost de-
mented, The pope slepte, than he blewe
Within his trompe through the w.ill
Go to the babies' Limbo ! ' Pluto cried." And tolde in what maner he shall
His papacie leve, and take
The same idea is intensified in the old
His first estate."
ballad of Carle of Kelly-Burn Brees,
Cromek, p. 37 :— Milman, Hist, Latin Christianity, VI.
" She's nae fit for heaven, an' she'll ruin a* 194, speaks thus upon the subject : —
" The abdication of Celestine V. was
hell." an event unprecedented in the annals of
52. This restless flag is an emblem the Church, and jarred harshly against
of the shifting and unstable minds of its some of the first principles of the Papal
followers. authority. It was a confession of com-
59. Generally supposed to be Pope mon luumanity, of weakness below the
Celestine V. whose great refusal, or ab- ordinary standard of men in him whom
dication, ofthe papal office is thus de- the Conclave, with more than usual cer-
scribed byBoccaccio in his Comento : — titude, as guided by the special inter-
'• Being a simple man and of a holy position of the Holy Ghost, had raised
life, living as a hermit in the moun- to the spiritual throne of the world.
tains of Morrone in Abruzzo, above Sel- The Conclave had been, as it seemed,
mona. he was elected Poi>e in Perugia either under an illusion as to this de-
after ihe death of Pope Nicola d'As- clared manifestation of the Holy Spirit,
coli ; and his name being Peter, he was or had been permitted to deceive itself.
called Celestine. Considering liis sim- Nor was there less incongruity in a
plicity, Cardinal Messer Benedetto Ga- Pope, whose office invested him in
tano, a very cunning man, of great something at least approaching to in-
courage and desirous of being Pope, fallibility, acknowledging before the
managing astutely, began to show him world his utter incapacity, his undeni-
that he held this high office much to able fallibility. That idea, fomied out
the prejudice of his own soul, inasmuch of many conflicting conceptions, yet
as he did not feel himself competent forcibly harmonized by long tradi-
for it ;— others pretend that he con- tionary reverence, of unerring wisdom,
trived with some private servants of oracular tnith, authority which it was
his to have voices heard in the chamlier sinful to question or limit, was strangely
of the aforesaid Pope, which, as if they disturbed and confused, not as before by
were voices of angels sent from heaven, too overweening ambition, or even awful
said, ' Resign, Celestine ! Resign, Ce- yet still unacknowledged crime, but by
lestine'—
! moved by which, and being avowed weakness, bordering on imbeci-
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

lity. His profound piety hardly recon- old age. Hither the whole tribe in
ciled the confusion. A saint after all swarms come pouring to the banks,
made but a bad Pope. matrons and men, the souls of magnani-
" It was viewed, in his own time, in a mous heroes who had gone through life,
different light by different minds. The boys and unmarried maids, and young
monkish writers held it up as the most men who had been stretched on the fune-
noble example of monastic, of Christian ral pile before the eyes of their parents ;
perfection. Admirable as was his elec- as numerous as withered leaves fall in the
tion, his abdication was even more to woods with the first cold of autumn, or
be admired. It was an example of as numerous as birds flock to the land
humility stupendous to all, imitable by from deep ocean, when the chillinfr year
few. The divine approval was said to drives them beyond sea, and sends them
be shown by a miracle which followed to sunny climes. They stood praying to
directly on his resignation ; but the cross the flood the first, and were stretch-
sconi of man has been expressed by ing forth their hands with fond uesire to
the undying verse of Dante, who con- gain the further bank : but the sullen
demned him who who was guilty of the boatman admits sometimes these, some-
baseness of the 'great times those ; while others to a great
circle of hell where are refusal' to that
those disdained distance removed, he debars from the
alike by mercy and j; slice, on whom
the poet will not condescend to look. And Shakespeare. Richard III., I.
This sentence, sf) accordant with the
banks. "
stirring and passionate soul of the great " I passed, methought, the melancholy flood
Florentine, has been feebly counter- With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
acted, ifcounteracted, by the praise of Unto the kingdom of perpetual night."
Petrarch in his declamation on the
beauty of a solitary life, for which the 87. Shakespeare, Measure for Mea-
siij-e,4:-
III., I : —
lyrist professed a somewhat hollow " This sensible warm motion to become
and poetic admiration. Assuredly there A kneaded clod ; and the delighted spirit
was no magnanimity contemptuous of To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
the Papal greatness in the abdication In thtilling regions of thick-ribbed ice ;
To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
of Celestine ; it was the weariness, the And blown with restless violence round about
conscious inefficiency, the regret of a The pendent world ; or to be worse than worst
man suddenly wrenched away from all Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts
his habits, pursuits, and avocations, and Im.igine howling."
unnaturally compelled or tempted to
89. Virgil, ^ueid, VI. : " This is
assume an uncongenial dignity. It was the region of Ghosts, of Sleep and
the cry of passionate feebleness to be drowsy Night ; to waft over the bodies
released from an insupportable burden. of the living in my Stygian boat is not
Compassion is the highest emotion of
sympathy which it would have desired or 93. The souls that were to be saved
could deserve." assembled
permitted." at the mouth of the Tiber,
75. .Spenser's " misty dampe of mis- where they were received by the celestial
conceyving night." pilot, or ferryman, who transported them
82. Virgil, .Eneid, VI., Davidson's to the shores of Purgatory, as described
translation : — in Purg. II.
" A grim ferryman guards these floods 94. Many critics, and foremost among
and rivers, Charon, of frightful sloven- them Padre Pompeo Venturi, blame
liness ;on whose chin a load of gray
Dante for mingling together things Pa-
hair neglected lies ; his eyes are flame : gan and Christian. But they should
his vestments hang from his shoulders remember how through all the Middle
by a knot, with filth overgrown. Him- Ages human thought was wrestling with
the old traditions ; how many Pagan
self thrusts on the barge with a pole,
and tends the sails, and wafts over the observances passed into Christianity \x
")odies in his iron-coloured boat, now in those early days ; what reverence Dante
jars : but the god is of fresh and green had foi Virgil and the classics ; and how
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

manj Christian nations still preserve inverts this image, and compares the
some traces of Paganism in the names of dead leaves to ghosts : —
the stars, the months, and the days. being!
" O wild West Wind ! thou breath of Autumn's
Padre Pompeo should not have forgotten
that he, though a Christian, bore a Pagan Thou fleeing,
from whose presence the leaves dead
Are driven like ghosts, from an enchanter
name, which perhaps is as evident a /t;///^
miscuglio in a learned Jesuit, as any which Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red.
he has pointed out in Dante. Pestilence-stricken multitudes."
Upon him and other commentators of
the Divine Poem, a very amusing chap- CANTO IV.
ter might be written. While the great
Comedy is going on upon the scene I. Dante is borne across the river
above, with all its pomp and music, these Acheron in his sleep, he does not tell
critics in the pit keep up such a per- us how, and awakes on the brink of
petual wrangling among themselves, as
seriously to disturb the performance. "thenowdolorous
He valley
enters the Firstof Circle
the abyss.
of the"
Biagioli is the most violent of all, parti- Inferno ; the Liml)o of the Unbaptized,
cularly against Venturi, whom he calls the border land, as the name denotes.
an " infamous dirty dog," sozzo canvihi- Frate Alberico in § 2 of his Vision
perato, an epithet hardly permissible in says, that the divine punishments are
the most heated literary controversy. tempered to extreme youth and old
Whereupon in return Zani de' Ferranti age.
calls Biagioli "an inurbane grammarian," " Man is first a little child, then grows
and a "most ungrateful ingrate," — guel and reaches adolescence, and attains to
grammatico inurbano . . . ingrato in- youthful vigour ; and, little by little
gratissimo. growing weaker, declines into old age ;
Any one who is desirous of tracing and at every step of life the sum of his
out the presence of Paganism in Chris- sins increases. So likewise the little
tianity will find the subject amply dis- children are punished least, and more
cussed byMiddleton in his Letter from and more the adolescents and the youths;
Home. until, their sins decreasing with the long-
109. Dryden's Aeneis, B. VI. :— continued torments, punishment also be-
gins to decrease, as if by a kind of old
" His eyes like hollow furnaces on fire."
age (I'eluti qjiadam senecttite)."
112. Homer, Iliad, VI. : " As is the 10. Frate Alberico, in § 9: ''The
race of leaves, such is that of men ; darkness was so dense and impenetrable
some leaves the wind scatters upon the that it was impossible to see anything
ground, and others the budding wood
produces, for they come again in the 28. Mental, not physical pain ; what
season of Spring. So is the race of the French
there. " theologians call la peine du
men, one springs up and the other dam, the privation of the sight of God.
dies,"
See also Note 82 of this canto. 30. withVirgil,
are heardyEtteid,
voices, VI.
loud: wailings,
"Forth-
Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. and weeping ghosts of infants, in the first
160, says :— opening of the gate ; whom, bereave<l
" When Dante describes the spirits of sweet life out of the course of nature,
falling from the bank of Acheron 'as and snatched from the breast, a black
dead leaves flutter from a bough,' he day cut off, and buried in an untimely
gives the most perfect image possible
of their utter lightness, feebleness, pas- 53. The descent of Christ into
siveness, and scattering agony of despair, Limbo. Neither here nor elsewhere
without, however, for an instant losing in the Inferno does Dante mention the
his own clear perception that these are name grave."
of Christ.
souls, and those are leaves : he makes no
72. The reader will not fail to ob-
confusion of one with the other." serve how Dante makes the word honour,
Shelley in his Ode to the West Wind in it« various form.>, ring and reverberate
124
NOTES TO INFERNO.

through these \xne.%,—orrevol, onori, or- of Dante, and not being able to get at
ranza, onrata, onorata! him, shriek wildly for the Gorgon to
86. Dante puts the sword into the come up, too, that they may turn him
hand of Homer as a symbol of his war- into stone, the word stone is not hard
like epic, which is a Song of the Sword. enough for them. Stone might cmmble
93. Upon this line Boccaccio, Co- away after it was made, or something
mento, says : "A proper thing it is to with life might grow upon it ; no, it
honour every man, but especially those shall not be stone ; they will make enamel
who are of one and the same profession, of him ; nothing can grow out of that ;
as these were with Virgil." it is dead for ever. "
100. Another assertion of Dante's And yet just before, line iii, Dante
consciousness of his own power as a poet. speaks of this meadow as a " meadow
106. This is the Noble Castle of
of fresh verdure."
human wit and learning, encircled with Compare Brunetto's Tesoretto, XIII.
its seven scholastic walls, the Trivium,
Logic, Grammar, Rhetoric, and the " Or va mastro Brunetto
Per lo cammino stretto,
Quadrivium, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Cercando di vedere,
Geometry, Music. E toccare, e sapere
The fair rivulet is Eloquence, which Ci6, che gli fe destinato.
E non fui giian andato,
Dante does not seem to consider a very Ch' i' fui nella diserta,
profound matter, as he and Virgil pass Dov' i' non trovai certa
over it as if it were dry ground. Nfe strada, nfe sentiero.
118. Of this word "enamel" Mr. Deh che paese fero
Trovai in quelle parti !
Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 227, re-
mark—
s: Che mi
Quivi s' iobi?sapessi
)gnava,d' arti
"The first instance I know of its Chfe quan..o pitl mirava,
Pili mi parea selvaggio.
right use, though very probably it had Quivi non ha viaggio,
been so employed before, is in Dante. Quivi non ha persone,
The righteous spirits of the pre-Chris- Quivi non ha magione,
Non bestia, non uccello,
tian ages are seen by him, though in Non fiume, non ruscello,
the Inferno, yet in a place open, lumi- Non formica, nfe mosca,
nous and high, walking upon the ' green Nfe cosa, ch' i' conosca.
E io pensando forte,
enamel. ' Dottai ben della morte.
" I am very sure that Dante did not E non fe maraviglia ;
use this phrase as we use it. He knew Chfe ben trecento miglia
well what enamel was ; and his readers, Girava d' ogni lato
in order to understand him thoroughly, Quel paese sna^iato.
Ma si m' assicurai
must remember what it is, —a vitreous
paste, dissolved in water, mi.xed with DelQuando
sicuro mi ricordai
segnale,
Che contra tutto male
metallic oxides, to give it the opacity Mi dU securamento :
and the colour required, spread in a moist E io presi ardimento,
state on metal, and afterwards hard- Quasi per avventura
ened by fire, so as never to change. And Per una valle scura,
Dante means, in using this metaphor of Tanto, ch' al terzo giorno
the grass of the Inferno, to mark that it r mi trovai d' intomo
Un grande pian giocondo,
is laid as a tempering and cooling sub- Lo piti gaio del mondo,
stance over the dark, metallic, gloomy E lo pitl dilettoso.
Ma ricontar non oso
ground ; but yet so hardened by the fire, Ci6, ch' io trovai, e vidi,
that it is not any more fresh or living Se Dio mi guardi, e guidL
grass, but a smooth, silent, lifeless bed Io non sarei crediito
of eternal green. And we know how Ch' i'ci6,
Di vidi ch' i' ho veduto ;
Imperadori,
hard Dante's idea of it was ; because E Re, e gran signori,
afterwards, in what is perhaps the most E mastri di scienze,
Che dittavan sentenze ;
awful passage of the whole Inferno, E vidi tante cose,
when the three furies rise at the top of Che gi& 'n rime, nfe 'd prOM
the burning tower, and, catching sight Non le poria ritrar*.
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

128. In the Convito, IV. 28, Dante ground, he blamed the want of grati-
makes Marcia, Cato's wife, a symbol of tude which permitted so many faithful
followers of their chief to fare so much
the noble soul : "/Vr la ijuale Alarzia
j' intende la nobile atiima." worse than the rest of their Christian
129. The Saladin of the Crusades.
See Gibbon, Chap. LIX. Dante also " Afterwards, several of the Chris
brethren".
makes mention of him, as worthy of tian leadei^s returned with the Sultan to
affectionate remembrance, in the Con- observe the manners of the Saracens.
vito, IV. 2. Mr. Cary quotes the fol- They appeared much shocked on see-
ing all ranks of people take their meals
lowing passage from Knolles's History
of the Turks, page 57 :— sitting upon the ground. The Sultan
"About this time (1193) died the led them into a grand pavilion where
great Sultan Saladin, the greatest terror he feasted his court, surrounded with
of the Christians, who, mindful of man's the most beautiful tapestries, and rich
fragility and the vanity of worldly foot-cloths, on which were wrought
honours, commanded at tKe time of his large embroidered figures of the cross.
death no solemnity to be used at his The Christian chiefs trampled them
burial, but only his shirt, in manner of under their feet with the utmost indif-
an ensign, made fast unto the point of ference, and even rubbed their boots,
a lance, to be carried before his dead and spat upon them.
body as an ensign, a plain priest going "On perceiving this, the Sultan
before, and crying aloud unto the peo- turned towards them in the greatest
ple in this sort, ' Saladin, Conqueror anger, exclaiming: 'And do you who
of the East, of all the greatness and pretend to preach the cross treat it
riches he had in his life, carrieth not thus ignominiously ? Gentlemen, I am
with him anything more than his shirt.' shocked at your conduct. Am I to
A sight worthy so great a king, as suppose from this that the worship of
wanted nothing to his eternal commen- your Deity consists only in words, not
dation more than the true knowledge in actions ? Neither your manners nor
of his salvation in Christ Jesus. He your conduct please me.' And on this
reigned about sixteen years with great he dismissed them, breaking off the
truce and commencing hostilities more
honour. "
The following story of Saladin is
from the Cento Ncrvelle Antiche. Ros- warmly than before."
143. Avicenna, an Arabian physi-
coe's Italiau Novelists, I. 18 :— cian of Ispahan in the eleventh century.
"On another occasion the great .Sa- Born 980, died 1036.
kdin, in the career of victory, pro- 144. Averrhoes, an Arabian scholar
claimed a trace between the Christian of the twelfth century, who translated
armies and his own. During this in- the works of Aristotle, and wrote a
terval he visited the camp and the cities commentary upon them. He was bom
belonging to his enemies, with the de- in Cordova in 1149, and died in Mo-
sign, should he ajiprove of the customs rocco, about 1200. He was the head
and manners of the p)eople, of embra- of the Western School of philojsophy,
cing the Christian faith. He observed as Avicenna was of the Eastern.
their tables spread with the finest da-
mask coverings ready prepared for the CANTO V.
feast, and he praised their magnificence.
In the Second Circle are fbtmd the
On entering the tents of the king of
France during a festival, he was much souls of carnal sinners, whose punish-
ment is
pleased with the order and ceremony
with which everything was conducted, " To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
and the courteous manner in which he And blown with restless violence round about

feasted his nobles ; but when he ap- The pendent world."

proached the residence of the poorer 2. The circles grow smaller and
class, and perceived them devouring smaller as they descend.
their miserable pittance upon the 4, Minos, the king of Crete, so liP
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

nowned
'
liB for justice as to be called the " When in the chronicle of wasted time
Favourite of the Gods, and after death I see descriptions of the fairest wights
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme
made Supreme Judge in the Infernal In praise of 'adies dead and lovely knights."
Regions. Dante furnishes him with a
tail, thus converting him, after the See also the " wives and daughters of
mediaeval fashion, into a Christian de- chieftains " that appear to Ulysses, in
mon. the Odyssey, Book XI.
21. Thou, too, as well as Charon, to Also Milton, Paradise Regained, IL
whom Virgil has already made the same
reply. Canto VI. 22. "And ladies of the H';spf;rides, that seemed
28. In Canto I. 60, the sun is silent; Fairer then feigned of old, or fabled since
Of fairy damsels met in forest wide
here the light is dumb. By knights of Lngres, or of I.yones,
51. Govver, Confessio Amantis,'S\\\., 357:— or Palleas, or Pellenore."
Lancelot,
g;ives a similar list " of gentil folke that 89. In the original raer pcrso, the
whilom were lovers," seen by him as
he lay in a swound and listened to the perse air. Dante, Convito, IV. 20, de-
music fines perse as " a colour mixed of purple
and black, but the black jjredominates."
" Of bombarde and of clarionne Chaucer's " Doctour of Pliisike" in the
With cornerause and shalmele." Canterbury Tales, Prologue 441, wore
61. Queen Dido. this colour :—
65. Achilles, being in love with " In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle,
Polyxena, a daughter of Priam, went Lined with taffata and with sendalle."
unarmed to the temple of Apollo, where
he was put to death by Paris. The Glossary defines it, "skie-coloured,
Cower, Confessio Atnantis, IV., of a bluish gray." The word is again
used, VII. 103, and Purg. IX. 97.
says : — 97. The city of Ravenna. " One
" For I have herde tell also reaches Ravenna," says Ampere, Voyage
Achilles left his armes so,
Both of himself and of his men. Dantesque, Y>- 31 1, " by journeying along
At Troie for Polixenen the borders of a pine forest, which is
Upon her love when he felle, seven leagues in leneth, and which
That for no chaunce that befelle seemed to me an immense funereal wood,
Among the Grekes or up or down serving as an avenue to the common
He wolde nought ayen the town
Ben armed for the love of her."
tomb of those two great powers, Dante
and the Roman Empire in the West.
" I know not how," says Bacon in his There is hardly room for any other
Essay on Love, "but martial men are memories than theirs. But other poetic
given to love ; I think it is but as they names are attached to the Pine Woods
are given to wine ; for perils commonly of Ravenna. Not long ago Lord Byron
evoked there the fantastic tales borrowed
ask to be paid in pleasure."
67. Piiris of Troy, of whom Spenser by Dryden from Boccaccio, and now he
says, Fa-crie Queene, III. ix. 34 ; — is himself a figure of the past, wandering
in this melancholy place. I thought, in
" Most famous Worthy of the world, by whome traversing it, that the singer of despair
That warre was kindled which did Troy in-
flame had ridden along this melancholy shore,
And stately towres of Ilion whilome trodden before him by the graver and
Brought imto balefuU ruine, was by name slower footstep of the poet of the
Sir Paris, far renown 'd through noble fame."
Tristan is the Sir Tristram of the
99. Quoting
Inferno. " this line, Amj)ere re-
Romances of Chivalry. See his adven- marks, Voyage Dantesqne, p. 312 : "Wt
tures in the Mart d^Arthure. Also have only to cast our eyes upon the map
Thomas of Ercildoune's Sir Tristram, a to recognize the topographical exactitude
Metrical Romance. His amours with of this last expression. In fact, in all the
Yseult or Ysonde bring him to this upper part of its course, the Po receives
circle of the Inferno. a multitude of affluents, which converge
71. Shakespeare, Sonnet CVI. ;— towards its bed. They are the Tessinci
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

the Adda, the Olio, the Mincio, the Boccaccio's account, translated from his
Trebbia, the Bormida, the Taro ;— Commentary by Leigh Hunt, Stories
names which recur so often in the history from the Italian Poets, Appendix II., is
of the wars of the fifteenth and sixteenth as follows: —
centuries. " " You must know that this lady, Ma-
103. Here the word love is repeated, donna Francesca, was daughter of Messer
as the word honour was in Canto IV. 72. Guido the Eider, lord of Ravenna and
The verse murmurs with it, hke the of Cervia, and that a long and grievous
" moan of doves in immemorial elms." war having been waged between him
St. Augustine says in his Confessions, and the lords Malatesta of Rimini, a
III. I : I loved not yet, yet I loved to treaty of peace by certain mediators was
love. ... I sought what I might love, at length concluded between them ; the
in love witii loving." which, to the end that it might be the
104. I think it is Coleridge who more firmly established, it pleased both
says : " The desire of man is for the parties to desire to fortify by relation-
woman, but the desire of woman is for ship ;and the matter of this relationship
the desire of man." was so discoursed, that the said Messer
107. Ca'ina is in the lowest circle Guido agreed to give his young and fair
of the Inferno, where fratricides are daughter in marriage to Gianciotto, the
punished. son of Messer Malatesta. Now, this
116. Francesca, daughter of Guido being made known to certain of the
da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, and wife friends of Messer Guido, one of them
of Gianciotto Malaiesta, son of the Lord said to him : ' Take care what you do ;
of Rimini. The lover, Paul Malatesta, for if you contrive not matters discreetly,
was the brother of the husband, who, such relationship will beget scandal.
discovering their amour, put them both You know what manner of pei^on you.
to death with his own hand. daughter is, and of how lofty a spirit ;
Carlyle, Heroes and Hero Worship, and if she see Gianciotto before the bond
Lect. III., says :— is tied, neither you nor any one else will
*' Dante's paintmg is not graphic only, have power to persuade her to marry
brief, true, and of a vividness as of fire him ; therefore, if it so please you, it
in dark night ; taken on the wider scale, seems to me that it would be good tn
it is every way noble, and the outcome conduct the matter thus: namely, that
of a great soul. Francesca and her Gianciotto should not come hither him-
Lover, what qualities in that! A thing self to marry her, but that a brother of
woven as out of minbows, on a ground his should come and espouse her in his
of eternal black. A small flute- voice of
infinite wail speaks there, into our very " Gianciotto was a man of great spirit,
heart of hearts. A touch of woman-
name.'
hood in it too : della bella persona, che and hoped, after his father's death, to
become lord of Rimini ; in the contem-
mi fu toita; and how, even in the Pit of plation of which event, albeit he was
woe, it is a solace that he will never part rude in appcaiance and a cripple, Messer
from her ! Saddest tragedy in these alli Guido desirod him for a son-in-law above
guai. And the racking winds, in that any one of his brothers. Discerning,
aer bruno, whirl them away again, to therefore, the reasonableness of what liis
wail for ever !— Strange to think ; Dante friend counselled, he secretly disposed
was the friend of this poor Y rancesca's matters according to his device; and a
father; Francesca herself may have sat day being appointed, Polo, a brother of
upon the Poet's knee, as a bright, inno- Gianciotto, came to Ravenna with full
cent little child. Infinite pity, yet also authority to espouse Madonna Francesca.
infinite rigour of law : it is so Nature is Polo was a handsome man, very plea-
made; it is so Dante discerned that she sant, and of a courteous breeding ; and
was made." passing with other gentlemen over the
Later commentators assert that Dante's court-yard of the palace of Messer Guido,
friend Guido was not the father of Fran- a damsel who knew him pointed him out
cesca, but her nephew. to Madonna Francesca through an open-
C2S NOTES TO INFERNO.

ing in the caoemeiit, saying, ' That is he what he had not desired, — namely, that
that is to be your husband;' and so he struck the dagger into the bosom ol
indeed the poor lady believed, and incon- the lady before it could reach Polo ; bj
tinently placed in him her whole affec- which accident, being as one who had
tion ;and the ceremony of the marriage loved the lady better than himself, he
having been thus brought about, and the withdrew the dagger and again struck at
lady conveyed to Rimini, she became Polo, and slew him ; and so leaving
not aware of the deceit till the morning them both dead, he hastily went his way
ensuing the marriage, when she beheld and betook him to his wonted affairs ;
Gianciotto rise from her side ; the which and the next morning the two lovers,
discovery moved her to such disdain, with many tears, were buried together in
that she became not a whit the less
rooted in her love for Polo. Neverthe- the121. same This grave.thought
" is from Boethius,
less, that it grew to be unlawful I never De Consolat. Philos., Lib. II. Prosa 4:
heard, except in what is written by this "/« omni adversitate forluna, mfelicis-
author (Dante), and possibly it might so simum genus est infortunii ftiisse felkem
have become ; albeit I take what he says
to have been an invention framed on the et non In the esse." CoHvito, II. 16, Dante speaks
possil)ility, rather than anything which of Boethius and Tully as having directed
he knew of his own knowledge. Be him "to the love, that is to the study,
this as it may. Polo and Madonna Fran-
cesca living in the same house, and of Fromthis this mostVenturi
gentle and
lady Biagioli
Philosophy."'
infer
Gianciotto being gone into a certain that, by the Teacher, Boethius is meant,
neighbouring district as governor, thev not Virgil.
fell into great companionship with one This mterpretation, however, can
another, suspecting nothing ; but a ser- hardly be accepted, as not in one place
vant of Gianciotto's, only, but throughout the Inferno and
his master and told noting it, went
him how mattersto the Purgatorio, Dante proclaims Virgil
looked ; with the which Gianciotto being as his Teacher, il mio Doltore. Lombardi
fiercely moved, secretly returned to thinks tliat Virgil had experience of this
Rimini ; and seeing Polo enter the room "greatest sorrow," finding himself also
of Madonna Francesca the while he him- in " the infernal prison ;" and that it is
self was arriving, went straight to the to this, in contrast with liis happy life on
door, and finding it locked inside, called earth, that Francesca alludes, and not to
to his lady to come out ; for, Madonna anything in his writings.
Francesca and Polo having descried him, 128. The Ro-nance of Launcelot of
Polo thought to escape suddenly through the Lake. See Delvan, Biblioteque
an opening in the wall, by means of
which there was a descent into another Bleiie :—
"Chap. 39. Comment Launcelot et la
room ; and therefore, thinking to conceaJ Reine Genievre deviserent de choses et
his fault either wholly or in part, he d'autres, et surtout de choses amou-
reuses
threw himself into the opening, telling
the lady to go and open the door. But " La Reine, voyant qu'il n'osait plus
his hope did not turn out as he expected ; rien faire ni dire, le prit par le menton
lor the hem of a mantle which he had on et le baisa assez longuement en pre-
caught upon a nail, and the lady open-
ing tiie door meantime, in the belief that The senceRomance
de Gallehault."
was to these two lovers
all would be well by reason of Polo's what Galleotto (Galleliault or Sir Gala-
not being there, Gianciotto caught sight had) had been to Launcelot and Queen
of Polo as he was detained by the hem Guenever.
of the mantle, and straightway ran with Leigh Hunt speaks of the episode of
his dagger in his hand to kill him ; where- Francesca as standing in the Infemc
upon the lady, to prevent it, ran between "like a lily in the mouth of Tartams. "
them ; but Gianciotto having lifted the 142. Chaucer, Knightes Tale: —
dagger, and put the whole force of his " The colde death, with mouth
luin into the blow, there came to pass
gaping upright."
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

went ; and likewise when he was not

CANTO VI.
invited by them, he invited himself ;
2. The sufferings of these two, and and for this vice he was well known to
the pity it excited in him. As in Sliake- all Florentines ; though apart from this
speare, Othello, IV. i : "But yet the he was a well-bred man according to his
fiity of it, lago !— O lago, the pity of it, condition, eloquent, affable, and of good
feeling; on account of which he was
7. In this third circle are punished
ago!"
the Gluttons. Instead of the feasts of welcomed by every gentleman."
The following story from the Decame-
former days, the light, the warmth, the rone, Gior. IX., Nov. viii., translation
comfort, the luxury, and " the frolic of 1684, presents a livs'y picture of
wine " of dinner tables, they have the social life in Florence in Dante's time,
murk and the mire, and the "rain eter- and is interesting for the glimpse it gives,
nal, maledict, and cold, and heavy " ; not only of Ciacco, but of Philippe Ar-
and are l)arked at and bitten by the dog genti, who is spoken of hereafter, Canto
in the yard. VIII. 61. The Corso Donati here men-
Of Gluttony, Chaucer says in The tioned is the Leader of the Neri. His
Persones Tale, p. 239 : — violent death is predicted, Piirg. XXIV.
" He that is usant to this sinne of
glotonie, he ne may no sinne withstond, "There dwelt somtime in Florence
he must be in servage of all vices, for it 82:—
one that was generally called by the
is the devils horde, ther he hideth him name of Ciacco, a man being the greatest
and resteth. This sinne hath many Gourmand and grossest Feeder as ever
spices. The first is dronkennesse, that was seen in any Countrey, all his means
is the horrible sepulture of mannes and procurements meerly unable to main-
reson : and therefore whan a man is tain expences for filling his belly. But
dronke, he hath lost his reson : and this otherwise he was of sufficient and com-
is dedly sinne. But sothly, whan that a mendable carriage, fairly demeaned, and
man is not wont to strong drinkes, and well discoursing on any Argument: yet
peraventure ne knoweth not the strength not as a curious and spruce Courtier, but
of the drinke, or hath feblenesse in his rather a frequenter of rich mens Tables,
hed, or hath travailled, thurgh which he where choice of good chear is seldom
drinketh the more, al be he sodenly wanting, and such should have his Com-
caught with drinke, it is no dedly sinne, pany, albeit not invited, he had the
but venial. The second spice of glo- Courage to bid himself welcome.
tonie is,that the spirit of a man wexeth " At the same time, and in our City
all trouble for dronkennesse, and be- of Florence also, there was another man
reveth a man the discretion of his wit. named Biondello, very low of stature,
The thridde spice of glotonie is, whan a yet comely formed, quick witted, more
man devoureth his mete, and hath not neat and brisk than a Butterflie, always
rightful maner of eting. The fourthe is, wearing a wrought silk Cap on his head,
whan thurgh the gret abundance of his and not a hair standing out of order, but
mete, the humours in his body ben dis- the tuft flourishing above the forehead,
tempered. The fifthe is, foryetfulnesse and he such another trencher file for ihe
by to moche drinking, for which some- Table, as our forenamed Ciacco was.
time a man forgeteth by the r.iorwe, It so fell out on a morning in the Lent
what he did over eve." time, that he went into the Fish-market,
52. It is a question whether Ciacco, where he bought two goodly Lampreys
Hog, is the real name of this person, or for Messer Viero de Cerchi, and was
a nickname. Boccaccio gives him no espyed by Ciacco, who, coming to Bion-
other. He speaks of him, Comento,V\., dello, said, ' What is the meaning of
as a noted diner-out in Florence, " who this cost, and for whom is it?' Whereto
frequented the gentry and the rich, and Biondello thus answered, ' Yesternight
particularly those who ate and drank three other Lampreys, far fairer than
sumptuously and delicately ; and when these, and a whole Sturgeon, were sent
he was invited by them to dine, he unto Messer Corso Donati, and being
I30 NOTES TO INFERNO.

not sufficient to feed divers Gentlemen, and sooner moved to Anger than any
whom he hath invited this day to dine other man. ' To him thou must go
with him, he caused me to buy these two with this Bottle in thy hand, and say
beside : Dost not thou intend to make thus to him. Sir, Biondello sent me to
one of them?' ' Yes, I warrant thee,' you, and courteously entreateth you,
replyed Ciacco, * thou knowest I can that you would erubinate this glass
invite my self thither, without any other Bottle with your best Claret Wine;
because he would make merry with a
bidding. ' few friends of his. But beware he lay
time"SoCiacco
parting,
wentabout
to thethehouse
hour ofof Messer
dinner
no hand on thee, because he may be
Corso, whom he found sitting and talking easily induced to misuse thee, and so
with certain of his Neighbours, but din- my business be disappointed.' ' Well,
ner was not as yet ready, neither were
Sir,' said the Porter, ' shall I say any
they come thither to dinner. Messer
Corso demanded of Ciacco, what news thing else unto him ?' ' No,' quoth
Ciacco, * only go and deliver this mes-
with him, and whether he went ? ' Why, sage, and when thou art returned, I'll
Sir,' said Ciacco, ' I come to dine with pay thee for thy pains.' The Porter
you, and your good Company.' Whereto being gone to the house, delivered his
Messer Corso answered. That he was message to the Knight, who, being a
welcome : and his other friends being man of no great civil breeding, but very
gone, dinner was served in, none else furious, presently conceived that Bion-
thereat present but Messer Corso and dello, whom he knew well enough, sent
Ciacco : all the diet being a poor dish this message in mere mockage of him,
of Pease, a little piece of Tunny, and a and, starting up with fierce looks, said,
few small fishes fryed, without any other ' What erubination of Claret should T
dishes to follow after. Ciacco seeing no send him ? and what have 1 to do with
better fare, but being disappointed of him or his drunken friends ? Let him
his expectation, as longing to feed on
and thee go hang your selves together.'
the Lampreys and Sturgeon, and so to So he stept to catch hold on the Porter,
have made a full dinner indeed, was of but he being nimble and escaping from
a quick apprehension, and apparently him, returned to Ciacco and told him
perceived that Biondello had meerly the answer of Philippo. Ciacco, not a
gull'd him in a knavery, which did not little contented, payed the Porter, and
a little vex him, and made him vow to tarried in no place till he met Biondello,
be revenged on Biondello, as he could to whom he said, ' When wast thou at
compass occasion afterward. the Hall of Cavicciuli ?' 'Not a long
" Before many days were past, it was while,' answered Biondello; 'but why
his fortune to meet with Biondello, who
dost thou demand such a question?'
having told his jest to divers of his ' Because,' quoth Ciacco, ' Signior Phi-
friends, and much good merryment lippo hath sought about for thee, yet
made thereat : he saluted Ciacco in a know not I what he would have with
kind manner, saying, ' How didst thou thee.' ' Is it so,' replied Biondello,
like the fat Lampreys and Sturgeon ' then I will walk thither presently, to
which thou fed'st on at the house of understand his pleasure.'
Messer Corso ? ' 'Well, Sir,' answered " When Biondello was thus parted
Ciacco, ' perhaps before Eight days from him, Ciacco followed not far off
pass over my head, thou shalt meet with behind him, to behold the issue of this
as pleasing a dinner as I did.' So, part- angry business ; and Signior Philippo,
ing away from Biondello, he met with a because he could not catch the Porter,
Porter, such as are usually sent on continued much distempered, fretting
Errands ; and hyring him to do a mes- and fuming, because he could not com-
sage for him, gave him a glass Bottle,
prehend the meaning of the Porter's
and bringing him near to the Hall-house message, but only surmised that Bion-
of Cavicciuli, shewed him there a dello, bythe procurement of some body
Knight, called Signior Philippo Argenti, else, had done this in sconi of hinrv
a man of huge stature, very cholerick, While he remained thus deeply discoiv
 »3«
NOTES TO INFERNO.

tented, he espyed Biondello coming perceived to his cost tliat he had met
towards him, and meeting liim by the with the worser bargain, and Ciacco got
way, he slept close to him and gave him cheer without any blows ; and therefore
a cruel blow on the Face, causing his desired a peacefull attonement, each of
Nose to fall out a bleeding. 'Alas, Sir,' them always after abstaining from flout-
said Biondello, ' wherefore do you strike
ing one another.
Ginguene, "
hist. Lit. de VHalie, II.
me?' Signior Philippo, catching him
by the hair of the head, trampled his 53, takes Dante severely to task for
Night Cap in the dirt, and his Cloak wasting his pity upon poor Ciacco, but
also, when, laying many violent blows probably the poet had pleasant memo-
Dn him, he said, ' Villanous Traitor as ries of him at Florentine banquets in
the olden time. Nor is it remarkable
, thou art, I'll teach thee what it is to
erubinate with Claret, either thy self or that he should be mentioned only by his
any of thy cupping Companions. Am I nickname. Mr. Forsyth calls Italy
a Child to be jested withal ?' " the land of nicknames." He says in
" Nor was he more ffirious in words continuation, Jtaly, p. 145 :—
than in stroaks also, beating him about " Italians have suppressed the sur-
the Face, hardly leaving any hair on his names of their principal artists under
head, and dragging him along in the various designations. Many are known
mire, spoiling all his Garments, and he only by the names of their birthplace, as
not able, from the first blow given, to Correggio, Bassano, etc. Some by
f speak a word in defence of himself. In those of their masters, as II Salviati,
the end Signior Philippo having ex- Sansovino, etc. Some by their father's
treamly beaten him, and many people trade, as Andrea del Sarto, Tintoretto,
gathering about them, to succour a man etc. Some by their bodily defects, as
so much misused, the matter was at Guercino, Cagnacci, etc. Some by the
large related, and manner of the message subjects in which they excelled, as M.-
sending. For which they all did greatly Angelo delle battaglie, Agostino delle
reprehend Biondello, considering he perspettive. A few (I can recollect only
knew what kind of man Philippo was, four) are known, each as the prince of
not any way to be jested withal. Bion- his respective school, by their Christian
dello in tears maintained that he never names alone : Michael Angelo, Raphael,
sent any such message for Wine, or in-
tended it in the least degree ; so, when Guido,
65. The Titian."
Bianchi are called the Parte
the tempest was more mildly calmed, selvaggia, because its leaders, the Cerchi,
and Biondello, thus cruelly beaten and came from the forest lands of Val di
durtied, had gotten home to his own Sieve. The other party, the Neri, were
house, he could then remember that led by the Donati.
(questionless) this was occasioned by The following account of these fac-
Ciacco. tions is from Giovanni Fiorentino, a
"After some few days were passed writer of the fourteenth century ; // Pe-
over, and the hurts in his face indiffer- corone,
ently cured, Biondello beginning to walk Italian Gior. XIII.I. Nov.
Novelists, 327. i., in Roscoe's
abroad again, chanced to meet with "In the city of Pistoia, at the time of
Ciacco, who, laughing heartily at him, its greatest splendour, there flourished
said, ' Tell me, Biondello, how dost a noble family, called the Cancellieri,
thou like the erubinating Claret of derived from Messer Cancelliere, who
Signior Philippo?' 'As well,' quoth had enriched himself with his commer-
cial transactions. He had numerous
Biondello, ' as thou didst the Sturgeon
and Lampreys at Messer Corso Dona- sons by two wives, and they were all
ties.' ' Why then,' said Ciacco, ' let entitled by their wealth to assume the
these tokens continue familiar between title of Cavalieri, valiant and worthy
thee and me, when thou wouldest be- men, and in all their actions magnani-
stow such another dinner on me, then mous and courteous. And so fast did
will I erubinate thy Nose with a Bottle the various branches of this family
of the same Claret.' But Biondello spread, that in a short time K 2 they num-
132 NOTES TO INFERNO.

bered a hundred men at arms, and being it happened that the Neri sought refuge
superior to every other, both in wealth in the house of the Frescobaldi, and the
and power, would have still increased, Bianchi in that of the Cerchi nel Garbo,
but that a cruel division arose between owing to the relationship which existed
them, from some rivalship in the affec- between them. The seeds of the same
tions of a lovely and enchanting girl, dissension being thus sown in Florence,
and from angry words they proceeded to the whole city became divided, the Cerchi
more angry blows. Separating into two espousing the interests of the Bianchi,
parties, those descended from the first and the Donati those of the Neri.
wife took the title of Cancellieri Bianchi, "So rapidly did this pestiferous spirit
and the others, who were the offspring gain ground in Florence, as frequently to
of the second marriage, were called Can- excite the greatest tumult ; and from a
cellieri Neri. peaceable and flourishing state, it speedily
" Having at last come to action, the became a scene of rapine and devastation.
Neri were defeated, and wishing to In this stage Pope Boniface VIII. was
adjust the affair as well as they yet could, made acquainted with the state of this
they sent their relation, who had offended ravaged and unhappy city, and sent the
the opposite party, to entreat forgiveness Cardinal Acqua Sparta on a mission to
on the part of the Neri, expecting that reform and pacify the enraged parties.
such submissive conduct would meet But with his utmost efforts he was unable
with the compassion it deserved. On to make any impression, and accord-
arriving in the presence of the Bianchi, ingly, after declaring the place excommu-
who conceived themselves the offended nicated, departed. Florence being thus
party, the young man, on bended knees, exposed to the greatest perils, and in a
appealed to their feelings for forgiveness, continued state of insurrection, Messer
observing, that he had placed himself in Corso Donati, with the Spini, the Pazzi,
their power, that so they might inflict the Tosinghi, the Cavicciuli, and the
what punishment they judged proper : populace attached to the Neri faction,
when several of the younger members applied, with the consent of their lead-
of the offended party, seizing on him, ers, to Pope Boniface. They entreated
dragged him into an adjoining stable, tiiat he would employ his interest with
and ordered that his right hand should the court of France to send a force to
be severed from his body. In the ut- allay these feuds, and to quell the party
most terror the youth, with tears in his of the Bianchi. As soon as this was
eyes, besought them to have mercy, and reported in the city, Messer Donati was
to take a gjreater and nol)ler revenge, by banished, and his property forfeited, and
pardoning one whom they had it in their the other heads of the sect were pro-
power thus deeply to injure. But heed- portionally fined and sent into exile.
less of his prayers, they bound his hand Messer Donati, arriving at Rome, so far
by force upon the manger, and struck it prevailed with his Holiness, that he sent
off; a deed which excited the utmost an embassy to Charles de Valois, bro-
tumult throughout Pistoia, and such ther to the king of France, declaring his
indignation and reproaches from the wish that he should be made Emperor,
injured party of the Neri, as to impli- and King of the Romans ; under which
cate the whole city in a division of
interests between them and the Bian- persuasion instating Charles passed into Italy, re-
Messer Donati and the Neri
chi, which led to many desperate en- in the city of Florence. From this there
counters.
only resulted worse evils, inasmuch as all
"The citizens, fearful lest the faction the Bianchi, being the least powerful,
might cause insurrections throughout were universally oppressed and robbed,
the whole territory, in conjunction with and Charles, becoming the enemy of
the Guelfs, applied to the Florentines Pope Boniface, conspired his death, be-
in order to reconcile them ; on which cause the Pope had not fulfilled his pro-
the Florentines took possession of the mise of presenting him with an imj)erial
place, and sent the partisans on both crown. From which events it may b<;
sides to the confines of Florence, whence seen that this vile faction was the causfl
 >33

NOTES TO INFERNO.

of discord in the cities of Florence and " Of deepe ymaginations

And straunge interpretations,
Pistoia, and of the other states of Tus- Problemes and demaundes eke
cany ; and no less to the same source His wisedom was to finde and sekc,
was to be attributed the death of Pope Whereof he woldc in sondry wise
Opposen hem, that weren wise ;
Boniface VIII." But none of hem it mighte bere
69. Charles de Valois, called Senza-
terra, or Lackland, brother of Philip the Upon his word to give answcre.'
Fair, king of France.
73. The names of these two remain But nearly all agree, I believe, in con-
unknown. Probably one of them was struing the strange words into a cry of
Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti. alann or warning to Lucifer, that his
80. Of this Arrigo nothing whatever realm is invaded by some unusual appa-
seems to be known, hardly even his rition.
name ; for some commentators call him Of all the interpretations given, the
Arrigo dei Fisanti, and others Arrigo dei most amusing is that of Ben venuto Cellini,
Fifanti. Of these other men of mark in his description of the Court of Justice
•'who set their hearts on doing good," in Paris, Roscoe's Memoirs of Benvenuto
Farinata is among the Heretics, Canto Cellini, Chap. xxii. : —
■ X. ; Tegghiaio and Rusticucci among ' ' I stooped down several times to ob-
the Sodomites, Canto XVI. ; and Mosca serve what passed : the words which I
among the Schismatics, Canto XXVIII. heard the judge utter, upon seeing two
106. The philosophy of Aristotle. The gentlemen who wanted to hear the trial,
same doctrine is taught by St. Augus- and whom the porter was endeavouring
tine : ' ' Cum fiet resiirredio carnis, et to keep out, were these : ' Be quiet, be
bonorum gaudia et tornienta malorum quiet, Satan, get hence, and leave off
majora erunl." disturbing us.' The terms were, Paix,
115, Plutus, the God of Riches, of paix, Satan, allez, paix. As I had by
which Lord Bacon says in his Essays :— this time thoroughly learnt the French
" I cannot call riches better than the language, upon hearing these words, I
baggage of virtue ; the Roman word is recollected what Dante said, when he
better, 'impedimenta'; for as the bag- with his master, Virgil, entered the gates
gage is to an army, so is riches to virtue ; of hell ; for Dante and Giotto the painter
it cannot be spared nor left behind, but
it hindereth the march ; yea, and the were together in F" ranee, and visited Paris
with particular attention, where the court
care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth of justice may be considered as hell.
the victory; of great riches there is no Hence it is that Dante, who was like-
real use, except it be in the distribution ; wise perfect master of the French, made
the rest is but conceit The per- use of that expression ; and I have often
sonal fruition in any man cannot reach been surprised, that it was never under-
to feel great riches : there is a custody of stood in that sense ; so that I cannot
them ; or a power of dole and donative help thinking, that the commentators on
of them ; or a fame of them ; but no solid this author have often made him say
use to the owner." things which he never so much as dreamed

Dante himself hardly seems to have

CANTO VII. understood the meaning of the words,
though he suggests that Virgil did.
I. In this Canto is described the pun- II. The overthrow of the Reljel Angels.
ishment of the Avaricious and the Pro-
St. Augustine says, ^^Idolatria et qiuelibet
digal, with Plutus as their jailer. His noxia sttperstitio fornicntio est^
outcry of alarm is differently interpreted 24. Must dance the RiJda, a round
by different commentators, and by none dance of the olden time. It was a Roun-
very satisfactorily. The curious student, delay, or singing and dancing together.
groping among them for a meaning, is Boccaccio's Monna Belcolore " knew
like Gowcr's young king, of whom he better than any one how to play the
says, in his Confasio Amantis :— tambourine and lead the Ridda. '
 «34 NOTES TO INFERNO.

27. As the word honour resounds in Crist shal yeve at the day of dome to hem
Canto IV.,and the word /(W^ in Canto V.,
that68.shul
Thebe Wheel
dampned. "
of Fortune was one of
so here the words rolling and turning are
the burden of the song, as if to suggest the favourite subjects of art and song in
the motion of Fortune's wheel, so beau- the Middle Ages. On a large square of
tifully described a little later. white marble set in the pavement of the
39. Clerks, clerics, or clergy. Boc- nave of the Cathedral at Siena, is the
caccio, Comento, remarks upon this pas- representation of a revolving wheel.
sage : "Some maintain, that the clergy Three boys are climbing and clinging at
wear the tonsure in remembrance and the sides and below; above is a dignified
reverence of St. Peter, on whom, they figure with a stern countenance, holding
say, it was made by certain evil-minded the sceptre and ball. At the four comers
men as a mark of madness ; because not are inscriptions from Seneca, Euripides,
comprehending and not wishing to com- Aristotle, and Epictetus. The same
prehend his holy doctrine, and seeing symbol may be seen also in the wheel-of-
him fervently preaching before princes fortune windows of many churches ; as,
and people, who held that doctrine in for example, that of San Zeno at Verona.
detestation, they thought he acted as one .See Knight, Ecclesiaslical Architecture,
out of his senses. Others maintain that II. plates v., vi.
the tonsure is worn as a mark of dignity, In the following poem Guido Caval-
as a sign that those who wear it are more canti treats this subject in very much the
worthy than those who do not ; and they same way that Dante does ; and it is
call it corona, because, all the rest of the curious to observe how at particular
head being shaven, a single circle of hair times certain ideas seem to float in the
should be left, which in form of a crown air, and to become the property of every
surrounds the whole head." one who chooies to make use of them.
58. In like manner Chaucer, Persones From the similarity between this poem
Tale, pp. 227, 337, reproves ill-keeping and the lines of Dante, one might infer
and ill-giving. that the two friends had discussed the
matter in conversation, and afterwards
"Avarice, after the description of Seint that each had written out their common
Augustine, is a likerousnesse in herte to
have erthly thinges. Som other folk sayn, thought.
that avarice is for to purchase many erthly Cavalcanti's Song of Fortune, as trans-
thinges, and nothing to yeve to hem that lated by Rossetti, Early Italian Poets,
ban nede. And understond wel, that
p. 366, runs as follows :—
avarice standeth not only in land ne
catel, but som time in science and in " Lo ! I am she who makes the wheel to turn ;
Lo ! I am she who gives and takes away ;
glorie, and in every maner outrageous Blamed idly, day by day,
thing is avarice In all mine acts by you, ye humankind.
" Ikit for as moche as som folk ben For whoso smites his visage and doth mourn,
umnesurable, men oughten for to avoid What time he renders b..ck my gifts to me,
Learns then that I decree
an;i osclnie fool- largesse, the whiche men mind.which mine own arrows may not find.
No state
clepen waste. Certes, he that is fool- Who clomb must fall :— this bear ye well in
large, lie yeveth not his catel, but he
Nor say, because he fell, I did him wrong.
le.s-"tii his catel. Sothly, what thing that Yet mine is a vain song :
he yeveth
an,! lo folkfor that vaine-glory,
here hisasrenome
to minstr'-.ls,
ir the
For truly ye may find out wisdom when
King Arthur's resting-place is found of men.
world, iie hath do sinne thereof, and non
" Ye make great marvel and astonishment
almesse : certes, he leseth foule his good, What time ye see the sluggard lifted up
th:.t ne seketh with the yefte <>f his good And the just man to drop,
And ye complain on God and on my sway.
nothing but sinne. He is like to an hoi's live.
O humankmd, ye sin in your complaint :
that seketh rather to drink drovy or For He, that Lord who made the world U
troubled water, than for to drink water
of the clere well. And for as moche as Lets me not take or give
By mine own act, but .i-^ he wills I may.
they yevcn ther as tiiey shuld nat yeven, Vet IS the mind of man so castaway.
to hem aope: teineth thilke malison, that That it discerns not t)ij supreme behest
 135

ArOTKS TO IMFERNO.

Alas ! ye wretchedest, 74. This old Rabbinical tradition of

And chide ye at God also Shall not He
Judge between good and evil righteously ? the " Regents of the Planets" has been
painted by Raphael, in the Capella Chi-
' Ah ! had ye knowledge how God evennore, giana of the Church of Santa Maria del
With agonies of soul and grievous heats,
As on an anvil beats Popolo in Rome. See Mrs. Jameson,
On them that in thio earth hold high estate, — Sacred and J^egendary Art, I. 45. She
Ye would choose little rather than much store.
And solitude than spacious palaces ; says: " As a perfect example of grand
Such is the sore disease and poetical feeling I may cite the angels
( >f anguish that on all their days doth wait.
Behold if they be not unfortunate. as ' Regents of the Planets ' in the
When oft the father dares not trust the son ! Capella Chigiana. The Cupola repre-
0 wealth, with thee is won sents in a circle the creation of the solar
A worm to gnaw forever on his soul system, according to the theological (or
Whose abject life is laid in thy control ! rather astrological) notions which then
' If also ye take note what piteous death prevailed, — a hundred years before 'the
They fold.
ofttimes make, whose hoards were mani-
stariy Galileo and his woes.' In the
Who cities had and gold centre is the Creator ; around, in eight
And multitudes of men beneath their hand ; compartments, we have, first, the angel
Then he among you that most angereth of the celestial sphere, who seems to be
Shall Ibless
That was me
not saying,
as he " Lo ! I worship thee
listening to the divine mandate, ' Let
Whose death is thus accurst throughout the there be lights in the firmament of

But land.'
now your living souls are held in band
heaven ' ; then follow, in their order, the
Of avarice, shutting you from the true light
Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars,
Which shows how sad and sliffht Jupiter, and Saturn. The name of each
Are this world's treasured ricnes and array planet is expressed by its mythological
lliat still change hands a hundred times a representative ; the Sun by Apollo, the
day.
Moon by Diana ; and over each presides
' For me,— could envy enter in my sphere. a grand, colossal winged spirit, seated or
Which of all human taint is clean and quit, —
1 well might harbour it reclining on a portion of the zodiac as on
When I behold the peasant at his toil.
Guiding his team, untroubled, free from fear, The old tradition may be found in
a throne."
He leaves his perfect furrow as he goes.
And gives his field repose Stehelin, Rabbinical Literature, I. 157.
From thorns and tares and weeds that vex the See Purgatorio, XVI. 69.
soil :
98. Past midnight.
Thereto he labours, and without turmoil
Entrusts his work to God, content if so 103. Perse, purple-black. See Canto
Such guerdon from it grow
v., Note 89.
That in that year his family shall live :
Nor care nor thought to other things will 115. " Is not this a cursed vice ?" says
Chaucer in The Fersones Tale, p. 202,
give. ,
■ But
speaking of wrath.
it benimmeth " Yes,
fro man his certes.
witte andAlas!
hii
For now ye mayoffice
this mine no craves
more have speechuseof :me,
continual
Ye therefore deeply muse reson, and all his debonaire lif spirituel,
Upon those things which ye have heard the that shulde keepe his soule. Certes it
while :
Yea, and even yet remember heedfully
benimmeth also Goddes due lordsliip (and
How this my wheel a motion hath so fleet, that is mannes soide) and the love of his
That in an eyelid's neighbours ; it reveth him the quiet of
Him whom it raised beat
it maketh low and vile.
None was, nor is, nor shall be of such guile. his herte, and subverteth liis soule."
Who could, or can, or shall, I say, at length And farther on he continues : " After
Prevail against my strength. the sinne of wrath, now wolle I speke
But still those men that are my questioners of the sinne of accidie, or slouth ; for
In bitter torment own their hearts perverse. envie blindeth the herte of a man, and
' Song, that wast made to carry high intent ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh
Dissembled in the garb of humbleness, —
With fair and open face him hevy, thoughtful, and wrawe. Envie
To Master Thomas let thy course be bent. and ire maken bittemesse in herte,
Say that a great thine scarcely may be pent which bittemesse is mother of accidie,
In little room : yet always pray that he and benimmeth him the love of alle
Commend us, thee and me, *
To them that are more apt in lofty speech : goodnesse ; than is accidie the anguish
For truly one must learn ero he can teach." of a trouble herte. "
i36 NOTES TO INFERNO.

And Burton, Auatoviy of I\lelaucholy, " How many great ones may remembered be,
Who in their days most famously did flourish.
I. 3. i. 3, speaking of that kind of melan- Of whom no word we have, nor sign now see,
choly which proceeds from " humors But as things wiped out with a sponge do
adust," says: "For example, if it pro-
seeds from flegm (which is seldom, and
mot so frequent as the rest) it stirs up 51. Chaucer's "sclandre of his dif-
dull symptomes, and a kind of stupidity,
perish."
or impassionate hurt ; they are sleepy, 61. Of PhilippoArgenti little isknown,
saith Savanarola, dull, slow, cold, block- and
fame.nothing
" to his credit. Dante seems
ish, ass -like, asininam melancholiam to have an especial personal hatred of
Melancthon calls it, they are much given him, as if in memory of some disagree-
to weeping, and delight in waters, ponds, able passage between them in the streets
pools, rivers, fishing, fowling, &c. They of Florence. Boccaccio says of him in
are pale of colour, slothful, apt to sleep, his Comento : "This Philippo Argenti,
heavy, much troubled with the head- as Coppo was di Borghese Domenichi de'
ache, continual meditation and muttering Cavicciuli wont to say, was a very
to themselves, they dream of waters, that rich gentleman, so rich that he had the
they are in danger of drowning, and fear horse he used to ride shod with silver,
and from this he had his surname ; he
such things." was in person large, swarthy, muscular,
See also Ptirg. XVII. 85.
of marvellous strength, and at the slightest
provocation the most irascible of men ;
CANTO VIII. nor are any more known of his qualities
than these two, each in itself very blame-
I. Boccaccio and some other com- worthy." He was of the Adimari family,
mentators think the words "I say, con- and of the Neri faction ; while Dante was
tinuing," are seven
that the first a confirmation
cantos ofofthe theory of the Bianchi party, and in banishment.
the Inferno
Perhaps this fact may explain the bitter-
ness of his invective.
were written before Dante's banishment
from Florence. Others maintain that the This is the same Philippo Argenti who
words suggest only the continuation of figures in Boccaccio's tale. See/;//! VI.,
the subject of the last canto in this. note 52. The Ottivto Comento says of
4. These two signal fires announce the him: "He was a man of great pomp,
arrival of two persons to be ferried over and great ostentation, and much expen-
the wash, and the other in the distance is diture, and little virtue and worth; and
on the watch-tower of the City of Dis, therefore the author says, ' Goodness is
answering these. none
19. Phlegyas was the father of Ixion Andthatthis decks is all his that
memory.' "
is known of the
and Coronis. He was king of the La- ^'- Fiorentino spirito bizzaro," forgotten
pithae, and burned the temple of Apollo by history, and immortalized in sor.g.
at Delphi to avenge the wrong done by "What a barbarous strength and con-
the god to Coronis. His punishment in fusion of ideas," exclaims Leigh Hunt,
the infernal regions was to stand beneath Italian Poets, p. 60, " is there in this
a huge impending rock, always about to whole passage about him ! Arrogance
fall upon him. Virgil, A^lncid, VI., says punished i)y arrogance, a Christian
of him : " Phlegyas, most wretched, is mother blessed for the unchristian dis-
a monitor to all, and with loud voice dainfulness ofher son, revenge boasted
proclaims through the shades, ' Being of and enjoyed, passion arguing in a
warned, learn righteousness, and not to
cc-ntemn the gods.'" 70. The word "mosques" paints at
27. Virgil, Aineid, VI, : "The boat circle." once
belief. to the imagination the City of Un-
of sewn hide groaned under the weight,
and, being leaky, took in much water 78. Virgil, yEneid, VI., Davidson's
from the lake." Translation : —
49. Mr. Wright here quotes Spenser, '^ y^neas on a sudden looks back, and
jRuins of Time :— under a rock on the left sees vast pris'
 NOTES TO INFERNO. m
ons inclosed with a triple wall, which magne and their ten thousand men at
Tartarean Phlegethon's rapid flood en- arms. Archbishop Turpin, in his fa-
virons with torrents of flame, and whirls mous History of Charles the Great,
loaring rocks along. Fronting is a huge XXX., Rodd's Translation, I. 52,
gate, with columns of solid adamant,
that no strength of men, nor the gods says" :After
— this the King and his army
themselves, can with steel demolish. An proceeded by the way of Gascony and
iron tower rises aloft ; and there wakeful Thoulouse, and came to Aries, where
Tisiphone, with her bloody robe tucked we found the army of Burgundy, whicli
up around her, sits to watch the vestible had left us in the hostile valley, bring-
both night and day." ing their dead by the way of Morbihan
124. Tliis arrogance of theirs; tra- and Thoulouse, to bury them in the
cotanza, oltracotanza ; Brant ome's oittre- plain of Aries. Here we performed the
rites of Estolfo, Count of Champagne ;
cuidance; and Spenser's surqitedrie. of Solomon; Sampson, Duke of Burgundy;
i?.5. The gate of the Inferno.
130. The coming of the Angel, Arnold of Berlanda; Albericof Burgundy ;
whose approach is described in the next Gumard, Esturinite, Hato, Juonius, Ber-
canto, beginning at line 64. ard, Berengaire, and Naaman, Duke of
Bourbon, and of ten thousand of their
CANTO IX.
Boccaccio
soldiers. " comments upon these tombs
I. The flush of anger passes from as follows: —
Virgil's cheek on seeing the pallor of " At Aries, somewhat out of the city,
Dante's, and he tries to encourage him are many tombs of stone, made of old
with assurances of success; but betrays for sepulchres, and some are large, and
his own apprehensions in the broken some are small, and some are better
phrase, with
" If words
not,'' which sculptured, and some not so well, perad-
covers of cheer.he immediately venture according to the means of those
8. Such, or so great a one, is Bea- who had them mr.de ; and upon some of
trice, the "fair and saintly Lady" of them appear inscriptions after the ancient
Canto II. 53. custom, I suppose in indication of those
9. The Angel who will open the who are buried within. The inhabitants
gates of the City of Dis. of the country repeat a tradition of them,
16. Dante seems to think that he has affirming that in that place there was
already reached the bottom of the in- once a great battle between William of
fernal conch, with its many convolu- Orange, or some other Christian prince,
tions. with his forces on one side, and infidel
52. Gower, Confessio Amantts, I. :— barbarians from Africa [on the other] ;
and that many Christians were slain in
" Cast not ihin eye upon Meduse it ; and that on the following night, by
That thou be turned into stone."
divine miracle, those tombs were brought
Hawthorne has beautifully told thestory there for the burial of the Christians, and
of " Tiie Gorgon's Head," as well as so on the following morning all the dead
many more of the classic fables, in his Christians were buried in them."
IVi'iitfer-Boo/:.
113. Pola is a city in Istria. "Near
54. The attempt which Theseus and Pola," says Benvenuto da Imola, "are
Pirlthous made to rescue Proserpine from seen many tombs, about seven hundred,
the infeiTial regions.
62. The hidden doctrine seems to and of various forms."
Quamaro is a gulf of the northern
be, that Negation or Unbelief is the extremity of the Adriatic.
Gorgon's head which changes the heart
to stone; after which there is " no more CANTO X.
returning upward." The Furies display I In this Canto is described the
it from the walls of the City of Heretics.
112. At Aries lie buried, according punishment of Heretics.
to old tradition, the Peers of Charle- Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, XIII.:-
«38 NOTES TO INFERNO.

" Or va mastro Bninetto not become a Ghibelline till after his

Per lo caminino stretto." banishment. Boccaccio in his Life of
14. Sir Thomas Browne, ^Vw^wrMi/, Dante makes the following remarks upon
Chap. IV.,andsaysnoblest
: " Theyseats
may ofsitheaven
in the his party spirit. I take the passage as
orchestra
given
227. in Mrs. Bunbury's translation of
who have held up shaking hands in the Balbo's Life and Tunes of Dante, II.
fire, and himianly contended for glory.
Meanwhile Epicurus lies deep in Dante's " He was," says Boccaccio, "a most
hell, wherein we meet with tombs en- excellent man, and most resolute in ad-
closing souls, which denied their im- versity. It was only on one subject
mortalities. But whether the virtuous that he showed himself, I do not know
heathen, who lived better than he spake, whether I ought to call it impatient, or
or, ening in the principles of himself, spirited. — it was regarding anything re-
yet lived above philosophers of more lating to Party ; since in his exile he was
specious maxims, lie so deep as he is more violent in this respect than suited
placed, at least so low as not to rise his circumstances, and more than he was
against Christians, who, believing or willing that others should believe. And
knowing that truth, have lastingly de- in order that it may be seen for what
nied it in their practice and conversa- party he was thus violent and pertina-
tion,— were a query too sad to insist on." cious, itappears to me I must go further
Also Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, back in my story. I believe that it was
Part II. Sec. 2, Mem. 6. Subs, i, thus the just anger of God that permitted, it
vindicates the memory of Epicurus: " A is a long time ago, almost all Tuscany
quiet mind is that volnptas, or summtim and Lombardy to be divided into two
bonum of Epicums ; 7ion dolere, curis parties; I do not know how they
vacareanimo tranqiiillo esse, not to grieve, acquired those names, but one party
but to want cares, and have a quiet soul, was called Guelf and the other part;
is tlie only pleasure of the world, as Ghibelline. And these two names were
Seneca truly recites his opinion, not so revered, and had such an effect on tlie
that of eating and drinking, which in- folly of many minds, that, for the sake
jurious Aristotle maliciously puts upon of defending the side any one had chosen
him, and from which he is still mistaken, for his own against the opposite party,
mala audit et vapulat, slandered without it was not considered hard to lose pro-
a cause, and lashed by all posterity." perty, and even life, if it were necessary.
32. Farinata degli Uberti was the And under these names the Italian citie?
most valiant and renowned leader of the many times suffered serious grievances
Ghibellines in Florence. Boccaccio, and changes; and among the rest our
Comento, says: " He was of the opinion city, which was sometimes at the head
of Epicurus, that the soul dies with the of one party, and sometimes of the other,
body, and consequently maintained that according to the citizens in power; so
human happiness consisted in temporal much so that Dante's ancestors, being
pleasures ; but he did not follow these in Guelfs, were twice expelled by the
the way that Epicurus did, that is by Ghibellines from their home, and he
making long fasts to have afterwards likewise under the title of Guelf held the
pleasure in eating dry bread : but was reins of the Florentine Republic, from
fond of good and delicate viands, and which he was expelled, as we have shown,
ate them without waiting to be hungry ; not by the Ghibellines, but by the Guelfs;
and for this sin he is damned as a Heretic and seeing that he could not return, he
so much altered his mind that there
in Farinata
this place."
led the Ghibellines at the never was a fiercer Ghibelline, or a
famous battle of Monte Aperto in 1260, bitterer enemy to the Guelfs, than he
where the Guelfs were routed, and was. And that which I feel mosf
driven out of Florence. He died in ashamed at for the sake of his memory
1264, is, that it was a well-known thing in
46. The ancestors of Dante, and Romagna, that if any boy or girl, talk-
Dante himself, were Guelfs. He did ing to him on party matters, condemned
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

the Gliibelline side, he would become Guelfs, the Emperor having already em-
filaiuic, so that if they did not be silent braced that of the Ghibellines. It is
he would have been induced to throw thus that the apostolic see became con-
stones at them; and with this violence nected with the former, and the empire
of party feeling he lived until his death. with the latter faction ; and it was thus n^^
I am certainly ashamed to tarnish with that a vile hound became the origin of a
any fault the fame of such a man ; but deadly hatred between the two noble
the order of my subject in some degree families. Now it happened that in the
demands it, because if I were silent in year of our dear Lord and Redeemer
those things in which he was to blame, 1215, the same pestiferous spirit spread
I should not be believed in those things itself into parts of Italy, in the following
I have already related in his praise. manner. Messer Guido Orlando being
Therefore I excuse myself to himself, at that time chief magistrate of Florence,
who perhaps looks dowp from heaven there likewise resided in that city a noble
with a disdainful eye on me writing." and valiant cavalier of the family oJ
51. The following account of the Buondelmonti, one of the most distin-
Guelfs and Ghibellines is from the guished houses in the state. Our young
Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino, a Buondelmonte having already plighted
writer of the fourteenth century. It his troth to a lady of the Amidei family,
forms the first Novella of the Eighth the lovers were considered as betrothed,
Day, and will be found in Roscoe's with all the solemnity usually observed
Ilalian Novelists, I. 322. on such occasions. But this unfortu-
" There formerly resided in Germany nate young man, chancing one day to
two wealthy and well-bom individuals, pass by the house of the Donati, was
whose names were Guelfo and Ghibel- stopped and accosted by a lady of the
lino, very near neighbours, and greatly name of Lapaccia, who moved to him
attached to each other. But returning from her door as he went along, say-
together one day from the chase, there ing : ' I am surprised that a gentleman
unfortunately arose some difference of of your appearance, Signor, should think
opinion as to the merits of one of their of taking for his wife a woman scarcely
hounds, which was maintained on both worthy of handing him his boots. There
sides so very warmly, that, from being is a child of my own, whom, to speak
almost inseparable friends and com- sincerely, I have long intended for you,
panions, they became each other's dead- and whom I wish you would iust venture
liest enemies. This unlucky division to see.' And on this she called out for
between them still increasing, they on her daughter, whose name was Ciulla,
either side collected parties of their one of the prettiest and most enchanting
followers, in order more effectually to girls in all Florence. Introducing her to
annoy each other. Soon extending its Messer Buondelmonte, she whis])ered,
malignant influence among the neigh- ' This is she whom I have reserved for
bouring lords and barons of Germany, you'; and the young Florentine, sud-
who divided, according to their motives, denly becoming enamoured of her. thus
either with the Guelf or the Ghibelline, replied to her mother, 'I am quite
it not only produced many serious affrays,
ready. Madonna, to meet your wishes' ;
but several persons fell victims to its rage. and before stirring from the spot he
Ghibellino, finding himself hard pressed placed a ring upon her finger, and,
by his enemy, and unable longer to keep wife,
wedding her, received her there as his
the field against him, resolved to apply
for assistance to Frederick the First, " The Amidei, hearing that young
the reigning Emperor. Upon this, Buondelmonte had thus espoused an-
Guelfo, perceiving that his adversary other, immediately met together, and
sought the alliance of this monarch, took counsel with other friends and re-
applied on his side to Pope Honorius lations, how they might best avenge
II., who being at variance with the themselves for such an insult offered to
former, and hearing how the affair stood, their house. There were present amo ng
immediately joined the cause of the the rest Larabertuccio Amidei, Schiaita
I40 NOTES TO IN.ERNO.

Ruberti, and Mosca Lamberti, one of 60. This question recalls the scene
whom proposed to give him a box on in the Odyssey, where the shade of
the ear, another to strike him in th Agamemnon appears to Ulysses and
face; yet they were none of them able to asks for Orestes. Book XI. in Chap-
agree about it among themselves. On man's translation, line 603: —
observing this, Mosca hastily rose, in a " Doth my son yet survive
In Orchomen or Pylos? Or doth live
great passion, saying, * Cosa fatta capo In Sparta with his uncle? Yet I see
ha,' wishing it to be understood that a Divine Orestes is not here with me."
dead man will never strike again. It
was therefore decided that he should be
63. Guido Cavalcanti, whom Ben-
put to death, a sentence which they pro- venuto da Imola calls "the other eye
ceeded to execute in the following manner.
of Florence," — alter ociilus Florentiie
" M. Buondelmonte returning one tempore Dantis. It is to this Guido
Easter morning from a visit to the Casa that Dante addresses the sonnet, which
Bardi, beyond the Arno, mounted upon is like the breath of Spring, begin-
a snow-white steed, and dressed in a
mantle of the same colour, had just ning :— I wish that Lapo, thou, and I
reached the foot of the Ponte Vecchio, " Guido, Could be by spells conveyed, as it were now,
or old bridge, where formerly stood a Upon a barque, w»th all the winds that blow.
statue of Mars, whom the Florentines Across all seas at our good will to hie."
in their Pagan state were accustomed He was a poet of decided mark, as
to worship, when the whole party issued
out upon him, and, dragging him in the may be seen by his " Song of Fortune,"
quoted in Note 68, Canto VII., and the
scuffle from his horse, in spite of the
gallant resistance he made, despatchetl Sonnet to Dante, Note 136, Pin-gatorio,
XXX. But he seems not to have
him with a thousand wounds. The
tidings of this affair seemed to throw all and shared Dante's admiration for Virgil,
to have been more given to the study
Florence into confusion; the chief per- of philosophy than of poetry. Like
sonages and noblest families in the place
everywhere meeting, and dividing them- he Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew"
is
selves into parties in consequence ; the
one party embracing the cause of the " So devote to Aristotle's ethics
Buondelmonti, who placed themselves at As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured."
the head of the Guelfs; and the other Boccaccio, Decameron, VI. 9, praises
taking part with the Amidei, who sup- him for his learning and other good
ported the Ghibellines. qualities; "for over and beside his
" In the same fatal manner, nearly being one of the best Logitians, as those
all the seigniories and cities of Italy
times not yielded a better," so runs the
were involved in the original quarrel old translation, "he was also a most
between these two German families : absolute Natural Philosopher, a very
the Guelfs still supporting the interest friendly Gentleman, singularly well
of the Holy Church, and the Ghibel- spoken, and whatsoever else was com-
lines those of the Emperor. And thus mendalile in any man was no way want-
I have made you ac<iuainted with the ing in him." In the same Novella he
origin of the Germanic faction, between tells this anecdote of him :—
two noble houses, for the sake of a vile "It chanced uj^on a day that Signior
cur, and have shown how it afterwards Guido, departing from the Church of
disturbed the peace of Italy for the sake Saint Michael d' Horta, and passing
of a beautiful woman." along by the Adamari, so far as to Saint
For an- account of the Bianchi and John's Church, which evermore was his
Neri factions see Canto XXIV. note 143. customary walk: many goodly Marble
Tombs were then about the said Church,
53. Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, father
of Dante's friend, Guido Cavalcanti. as now adays are at Saint Reparata, and
He was of the Guelf party; so that here divers more beside. He entring among
are Guelf and GhiWline buried in the the Columns of Porphiry, and the other
same tomb. Sepulchers being there, because the dooi
 NOTES TO INFERNO.
141
of the Church was shut: Signior Betto therefore, while we are here among the
and hib company came riding from Saint Graves and Monuments, it may be well
Reparala, and es])ying Signior Guido said, that we are not far from our own
amon.i; the Graves- and Tombs, said, Houses, or how soon we shall be pos-
' Come, let us go make some jests to sessors of them, in regard of the frailty
anger him.' So putting the Spurs to
their Morses they rode apace towards attending
Napier, onFlorentine
us.' " History, I. 368,
him ; and being upon him before hee per- speaks of Guido as " a bold, melan-
ceived them, one of them said, ' Guido, choly man, who loved solitude and
thou refusest to be one of our society, literature; but generous, brave, and
and soekest for that which never was: courteous, a poet and philosopher, and
when thou hast found it, tells us, what one that seems to have had the respect
wilt thou do with it ?"
and admiration of his age."' He then
"Guido seeing himself round engirt adds this singular picture of the times :—
with them, su.'denly thus replyed : " Corso Donati, by whom- he was
feared and hated, wpuld have had him
'Gentlemen, you luay use 'me in your murdered while on a pilgrimage to Saint
own House as you please.' And set-
ting his hand upon one of the Tombs James of Galicia ; on his return this
(which was somewhat great) he took became known and gained him many
his rising, and leapt quite over it on the supporters amongst the Cerchi and other
further side, as being of an agile and youth of Florence; he took no regular
sprightly body, and being thus freed measures of vengeance, but, accidentally
from tliem, he went away to his own meeting Corso in the street, rode
lodging. violently towards him, casting his javelin
"They stood all like men amazed, at the same time; it missed by the trip-
strangely hwking one upon another, and ping of his horse, and he escaped with a
began afterward to murmur among
themselves : That Guido was a man sligjit wound from one of Donati's
without any understanding, and the attendants."
Sacchetti, Nov. 68, tells a pleasant
answer which he had made unto them
story of Guido's having his cloak naileu
was to no purpose, neither savoured of to the bench by a roguish boy, while he
any discretion, but meerly came from an was playing chess in one of the streets
empty Brain, because they had no more of Florence, which is also a curious
to do in the place where now they were, picture of Italian life.
than any of the other Citizens, and 75. Farinata pays no attention to
Signior Guido (iiimself) as little as any this outburst of paternal tenderness on
of them ; whereunto Signior Betto thus the part of his Guelfic kinsman, but
replyed : ' Alas, Gentlemen, it is you waits, in stem indifference, till it is ended,
your selves that are void of understand- and then calmly resumes his discourse.
ing: for, if you had but observed the 80. The moon, called in the heavens
answer which he made unto us : he did Diana, on earth Luna, and in the in-
honestly, and (in very few words) not fernal regions Proserpina.
only notably express his own wisdom, 86. In the great battle of Monte
but also deservedly reprehend us. Be- A pert o. The river Arbia is a few miles
cause, ifwe observe things as we ought south of Siena. The traveller crosses it
to do. Graves and Tombs are the Houses on his way to Rome. In this battle the
of the dead, ordained and prepared to be banished Ghibellines of Florence, join-
the latest dwellings. He told us more- ing the Sienese, gained a victory over
over that although we have here (in this the Guelfs, and retook the city of
life) our habitations and abidings, yet Florence, Before the battle Buonaguida,
these (or the like) must at last be our .Syndic of Siena, presented the keys o{
Houses. To let us know, and all other the city to the Virgin Mary in the Cathe
foolish, indiscreet, and unlearned men, dral, and made a gift to her of the city
that we are worse than dead men, and the neighbouring country. After
in comparison of him, and other men the battle the standard of the vanquished
equal to him in skill and learning. And Florentines, together with their battle-
142 NOTES TO INFERNO.

bell, the Martinella, was tied to the tail That you should return in triumph to
of a jackass and dragged in the dirt. See your hearths, and we with whom you
Ampere, Voyage Danlesque, 254. have conquered should have nothing in
94. After the battle of Monte Aperto exchange but exile and the ruin of our
a diet of the Ghibellines was held at country ? Is there one of you who can
Empoli, in which the deputies from believe that I could even hear such
Siena and Pisa, prompted no doubt by things with patience? Are you indeed
provincial hatred, urged the demolition ignorant that if I have carried arms, if I
of Florence. Farinata vehemently op- have persecuted my foes, I still havenever
posed the project in a speech, thus given ceased to love my country, and that I
in Napier, Florentine History, I. 257 : — never will allow what even our enemies
" ' It would have been better,' he have respected to be violated by your
exclaimed, ' to have died on the Arbia, hanfls, so that posterity may call them the
than survive only to hear such a propo- saviours, us the destroyers of ourcountry ?
sition as that which they were then dis- Here then I declare, that, although I
cussing. There is no happiness in stand alone amongst the Florentines, I
victory itself, that must ever be sought will never permit my native city to be de-
for amongst the companions who helped stroyed, and if it be necessary for her sake
us to gain the day, and the injury we to die a thousand deaths, I am ready to
receive from an enemy inflicts a far meet them all in her defence.'
more trifling wound than the wrong that "Farinata then rose, and with angry
comes from the hand of a friend. If I gestures quitted the assembly ; but left
now complain, it is not that I fear the such an impression on the mind of his
destruction of my native city, fortas long audience that the project was instantly
as I have life to wield a sword Florence
dropped, and the only question for the
shall never be destroyed : but I cannot moment was how to regain a chief of
suppress my indignation at the dis- such talent and influence."
courses Ihave just been listening to : 119. Frederick II., son of the Em-
we are here assembled to discuss the peror Heniy VI., sumamed the Severe,
wisest means of maintaining our in- and grandson of Barbarossa. He reigned
fluence in Florence, not to debate on its from 1220 to 1250, not only as Em-
destruction, and my country would in- peror of Germany, but also as King ot
deed be unfortunate, and I and my com- Naples and Sicily, where for the most
panions miserable, mean-spirited crea- part he held his court, one of the most
tures, ifit were true that the fate of our brilliant of the Middle Ages. Villani,
city depended on the fiat of the present Cronica, V. I, thus sketches his cha-
assembly. I did hope that all former racter: "This Frederick reigned thirty
hatred would have been banished from years as Emperor, and was a man of
such a meeting, and that our mutual great mark and great worth, learned in
destruction would not have been trea- letters and of natural ability, universal
cherously aimed at from under the false in all things ; he knew the Latin lan-
colours of general safety ; I did hope guage, the Italian, the German, French,
that all here were convinced that counsel Greek, and Arabic ; was copiously en-
dictated by jealousy could never be ad- dowed with all virtues, liberal and
vantageous to the general good ! But courteous in giving, valiant and skilled
to what does your hatred attach itself? in arms, and was much feared. And he
To the ground on which the city stands ? was dissolute and voluptuous in many
To its houses and insensible walls ? To ways, and had many concubines and
the fugitives who have abandoned it ? mamelukes, after the Saracenic fashion ;
Or to ourselves that now possess it ? he was addicted to all sensual delights,
Who is he that thus advises? Who is and led an Epicurean life, taking no
the bold bad man that dare thus give accoiint of any other ; and this was one
voice to the malice he hath engendered principal reason why he was an enemy
in his soul ? Is it meet then that all
to Milman,
the clergyLat.
and Christ.,
the Holy B.Church. "
X., Chap,
your
ours cities
alone should exist to
be devoted unhai-med, and?
destruction
I iii., says of him: "Frederick's pr©>
 M3

NOTES TO INFERNO.

dilection for his native kingdom, for departure for Palestine. In the harbours
the bright cities reflected in the blue of Sicily and Apulia he prepared a fleet
Mediterranean, over the dark barbaric of one hundred galleys, and of one
towns of Germany, of itself characte- hundred vessels, that were framed to
rizes the man. Tlie summer skies, the transport and land two thousand five
more polished manners, the more ele- hundred knights, with horses and at-
gant luxuries, the knowledge, the arts, tendanthis
s ; vassals of Naples and Ger-
the poetry, the gayety, the beauty, the many formed a powerful army ; and
romance of the South, weie throughout the number of English crusaders was
his life more congenial to his mind, than magnified to sixty thousand by the re-
the heavier and more chilly climate, port of fame. But the inevitable, or
the feudal barbarism, the ruder pomp, affected, slowness of these mighty pre-
the coarser habits of his German liege- parations consumed the strength and
men And no doubt that deli- provisions of the more indigent pil-
cious climate and lovely land, so highly grims ; the multitude was thinned by
appreciated by the gay sovereign, was sickness and desertion, and the sultry
not without influence on the state, and summer of Calabria anticipated the
even the manners of his court, to which mischiefs of a Syrian campaign. At
other circumstances contributed to give length the Emperor hoisted sail at
a peculiar and romantic character. It Brandusium with a fleet and army of
resembled probably (though its full forty thousand men ; but he kept the
splendour was of a later period) Grenada sea no^nore than three days ; and his
in its glory, more than any other in hasty retreat, which was ascribed by
Europe, though more rich and pictu- his friends to a grievous indisposition,
resque from the variety of races, of was accused by his enemies as a volun-
manners, usages, even dresses, which tary and obstinate disobedience. For
prevailed within it." suspending his vow was Frederick ex
Gibbon also. Decline and Fall, Chap, communicated by Gregory the Ninth;
lix., gives this graphic picture : — for presuming, the next year, to ac-
" l-rederick the Second, the grandson complish his vow, he was again excom-
v)f Barbarossa, was successively the pu- municated bythe same Pope. While
he served under the banner of the cross,
"il, the enemy, and the victim of the
a crasade was preached against him in
<,'hurch. At the age of twenty-one
years, and in obedience to his guardian Italy ; and after his return he was
Innocent the Third, he assumed the compelled to ask pardon for the injuries
cross ; the same promise was repeated which he had suffered. The clergy
at his royal and imperial coronations ; and military orders of Palestine were
and his marriage with the heiress of previously instructed to renounce his
Jerusalem forever bound him to defend communion and dispute his commands ;
the kingdom of his son Conrad. But and in his own kingdom the Emperor
as Fretlcrick advanced in age and au- was forced to consent that the orders
thority, he repented of the rash engage- of the camp should be issued in the
ments of his youth : his liberal sense name of God and of the Christian re-
and knowledge taught him to despise public. Frederick entered Jerusalem
the phantoms of superstition and the in triumph ; and with his own hands
crowns of Asia : he no longer enter- (for no priest would perfonn the office)
tainea the same reverence for the suc- he took the crown from the altar of the
cessors of Innocent ; and his ambition
was occupied by the restoration of the holyMatthew Paris, A.D. 1239, gives a
sepulchre."
Italian monarchy, from Sicily to the long letter of Pope Gregory IX. in
Alps. But the success of this project which he calls the Emperor some very
would have reduced- the Pojies to their hard names; "a beast, full of the
f)rimitive simplicity ; and, after the da- words of blasphemy," "a wolf in
ays and excuses of twelve years, they sheep's clothing," "a son of lies," "a
jrged the Emperor, with entreaties and staff" of the impious," and "hammer of
threats, to fix the time and place of hb the eaith"; and finally accuses him of
144
NOTES TO INFERNO.

being the author of a work De Tribus stantinople, mutually excommunicated

Impostorihus, which, if it ever existed, each other. When Anastasius II. be-
is no longer to be found. " There is came Pope in 496, "he dared,'' says
one thing," he says in conclusion, "at Milman, Hist. Lat. Christ., I. 349, "to
which, although we ought to mourn for doubt the damnation of a bishop ex-
a lost man, you ought to rejoice greatly, communicated bythe See of Rome :
and for which you ought to return ' Felix and Acacius are now both be-
thanks to God, namely, that this man, fore a higher tribunal ; leave them to
who delights in being called a fore- that unerring judgment.' He would
runner of Antichrist, by God's will, no have the name of Acacius passed over
longer endures to be veiled in darkness ; in silence, quietly dropped, rather than
not expecting that his trial and disgrace publicly expunged from the diptychs.
are near, he with his own hands under- This degenerate successor of St. Peter
mines the wall of his abominations, is not admitted to the rank of a saint.
and, by the said letters of his, brings The Pontifical book (its authority on
his works of darkness to the light, this point is indignantly repudiated)
boldly setting forth in them, that he accuses Anastasius of having commu-
could not be excommunicated by us, nicated with a deacon of Thessalonica,
although the Vicar of ChrisI ; thus af- who had kept up communion with
firming that the Church had not the Acacius ; and of having entertained
power of binding and loosing, which secret designs of restoring the name
was given by our Lord to St. P?ter and of Acacius in the services of the
his successors But as it may not
be easily believed by some jieople that 9. Photinus is the deacon of Thes-
he has ensnared himself by the words Church." salonica alluded to in the preceding
of his own mouth, proofs are ready, note. His heresy was, that the Holy
to the triumph of the faith ; for this Ghost did not proceed from the Father,
king of pestilence openly asserts that and that the Father was greater than
the wliole world was deceived by the Son. The writers who endeavour
three, namely Christ Jesus, Moses, and to rescue the Pope at the expense of the
Mahomet ; that, two of them having Emperor say that Photinus died before
died in glory, the said Jesus was sus- the days of Pope Anastasius.
pended on the cross ; and he, more- 50. Cahors is the cathedral town
over, presumes plainly to affirm (or of the Department of the Lot, in the
rather to lie), that all are foolish who South of France, and the birthplace of
believe that God, who created nature, the poet Clement Marot and of the
and could do all things, was born of the romance-writer, Calprenede. In the
' Middle Ages it seems to have been a
Virgin. " is Cardinal
I20. This Ottaviano degli nest of usurers. Matthew Paris, in his
Ubaldini, who is accused of saying, Historic Major, under date of 1235, has
" If there be any soul, I have lost mine a chapter entitled. Of the Usury of the
for the Ghibellines." Dante takes him Caiirsiiies, which in the translation of
at his word.
Rev. J. A. Giles runs as follows •.'—
"In these days prevailed the horrible
CANTO XI. nuisance of the Caursines to such a de-
gree that there was hardly any one
8. Some critics and commentators in all England, especially among the
accuse Dante of confounding Pope Anas- bishops, who was not caught in theii
tasius with the Emperor of that name. net. Even the king himself was held
Is is liowever highly probable that Dante indebted to them in an incalculable sum
knew best whom he meant. Both were of money. For they circumvented the
accused of heresy, though the heresy needy in their necessities, cloaking their
of the Pope seems to have been of a usury under the show of trade, and pre-
mild type. A few years previous to tending not to know that whatever is
his time, namely, in the year 484, Pope added to the principal is usury, undei
Felix III, and Acacius, Bishop of Con- whatever name it may be called. Foi
 NOTES ro INFERNO.

it is manifest that their loans lie not in

242, has the following remarks upon
the path of charity, inasmuch as they do Dante's idea of rocks and mountains : —
not hold out a helping hand to the poor
to relieve them, but to deceive them ; "At the top of the. abyss of the se-
not to aid others in their starvation, but venth circle, appointed for the 'violent,'
or souls who had done evil by force,
to gratify their own covetousness ; seeing we are told, first, that the edge of it was
that the motive stamps our every deed." composed of ' great broken stones in a
70. Those within the fat lagoon, the
Irascible, Canto VII., VIII. circle;' then, that the place was 'Al-
pine ' ; and, becoming hereupon atten-
71. Whom the wind drives, the Wan- tive, in order to hear what an Alpine
ton, Canto v., and whom the rain doth
beat, the Gluttonous, Canto VI. place is like, we find that it was 'like
the place beyond Trent, where the rock,
72. And who encounter with such bitter either by earthquake, or failure of sup-
tongues, the Prodigal and Avaricious, port, has broken down to the plain, so
Canto VII. that it gives any one at the top some
80. The Ethics of Aiistotle, VII. i.
means of getting down to the bottom.'
" After these things, making another This is not a very elevated or enthusiastic
beginning, it must be observed by us description of an Alpine scene; and it
that there are three species of things is far from mended by the following
which are to be avoided in manners, verses, in which we are told that Dante
viz.. Malice, Incontinence, and Bestial- 'began to go down by this great un-
ity." loading of stones, ' and that they moved
loi. The Physics of Aristotle, Book often under his feet by reason of the new
II. weight. The fact is that Dante, by
107. Genesis, i. 28: "And God said many expressions throughout the poem,
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, shows himself to have been a notably
and replenish the earth, and subdue it." bad climber ; and being fond of sitting
109. Gabrielle Rossetti, in the Co- in the sun, looking at his fair Baptistery,
mento Analitico of his edition of the or walking in a dignified manner on flat
Divina Commedia, quotes here the lines pavement in a long robe, it puts him
of Florian :— seriously out of his way when he has to
take to his hands and knees, or look to
" Nous ne recevons I'existence
his feet ; so that the first strong impres-
Qu'afin autrui
de :travailler pour nous, ou pour sion made upon him by any Alpine
De ce devoir sacr^ quiconque se dispense scene whatever is, clearly, that it is bad
Est puni par la Providence,
walking. When he is in a fright and
Par le besoin, ou par I'ennui." hurry, and has a very steep place to go
1 10. The constellation Pisces pre- down, Virgil has to carry him alto-
cedes Aries, in which the sun now is.
This indicates the time to be a little 5. Speaking of the region to which
before sunrise. It is Saturday morning. Dante here gether. "
alludes, Eustace, Classical
114. The Wain is the constellation Tour, I. 7 1, says :—
Charles's Wain, or Bootes ; and Caurus between "The descent becomes more rapid
is the Northwest, indicated by the Latin Roveredo and Ala ; the river,
name of tlic northwest wind. which glided gently through the valley
of Trent, assumes the roughness of a
torrent ; the defiles become narrower ;
CANTO XII. and the mountains break into rocks and
precipices, which occasionally approach
1. With this Canto begins the Se- the road, sometimes rise perpendicular
venth Circle of the Inferno, in which the from it, and now and then hang over it
Violent are punished. In the first Girone
in terrible majesty."
or round are the Violent against their In a note he adds : —
neighbours, plunged more or less deeply " Amid these wilds the traveller can-
in the river of boiling blood. not fail to notice a vast tract called the
2. Mr. Kuskin, Modern Painters, III Slavini di Marco, covered with frag-
146 NOTES TO INFERNO.

ments of rock torn from the sides of the

39. Christ's descent into Limbo,
neighbouring mountains by an earth- and
ion. the earthquake at the Crucifix-
quake, or perliaps by their own unsup-
ported weight, and hurled down into the 42. This is the doctrine of Empedo-
plains below. They spread over the cles and other old philosophers. See
whole valley, and in some places con- Ritter, History of Ancient Philosophy,
tract the road to a very narrow space. Book v.. Chap. vi. The following
A few firs and cypresses scattered in the
passages are from Mr. Morrison's trans-
intervals, or sometimes rising out of the
crevices of the rocks, cast a partial and lation—:
" Empedocles proceeded from the
melancholy shade amid the surrounding Eleatic principle of the oneness of ah
nakedness and desolation. This scene truth. In its unity it resembles a ball ;
of ruin seems to have made a deepim- he calls it the sphere, wherein the an-
pression upon the wild imagination of cients recognized the God of Empedo-
Dante, as he has introduced it into the cles
twelfth canto of the Inferno, in order to " Into the unity of the sphere all
give the reader an adequate idea of one elementary things are coml)ined by
love, without difference or distinction :
of his infernal ramparts."
12. The Minotaur, half bull, half man. within it they lead a happy life, replete
See the infamous story in all the classical with holiness, and remote from dis-
dictionaries.
1 8. The Duke of Athens is Theseus. cord —:
battles,
Chaucer gives him the same title in The " They know no god of war nor the spirit of
Knightes Tale: — Nor Zeus, the sovereign, norChronos, nor yet
Poseidon,
Whilom, as olde stories tellen us, But Cypris the queen. . . .
Ther was a duk that highte Theseus.
Of Athenes he was lord and govemour,
That greter was ther non under the sonne." The actual separation of the ele-
Ful many a rich contree had he wonne ments one from another is produced by
What with his wisdom and his chevalrie.
discord ; for originally they were bound
He C0M()uerd all the regne of Feminie,
That whilom was ycleped Scythia ; together in the sphere, and therein con-
And wedded the freshe quene Ipolita, tinued perfectly unmovable. Now in
And brought hire home with him to his this Empedocles posits different periods
contree
and different conditions of the world ;
With niochel glorie and great solempnitee
And eke hire yonge su.ster Emelie. for, according to the above position,
And thus with victorie and with melodie
originally all is united in love, and then
Let I this worthy duk to Athenes ride,
subsequently the elements and living
And all his host, in armes him beside."
essences are separated
Shakespeare also, in the Midsummer "His assertion of certain mundane
Nii^hfs Dream, calls him the Duke of periods was taken by the ancients liter-
Athens. ally for
; they tell us that, according to
20, Ariadne, who gave Theseus the his theory. All was originally one by
silken thread to guide him back through love, but afterwards many and at en-
the Cretan labyrinth after slaying the mity with itself through discord."
Minotaur, Hawthome has beautifully 56. The Centaurs are set to guard
tdld the old story in his Taiiglerwood this Circle, as symbolizing violence,
with some form of which the classic
Tales. "Ah, the bull - headed vil-
poets usually associate them.
lain!" he says. "And O my good
little people, you will perhaps see, one 68. Chaucer, l^he Monkes Tale .•—
of tiiese days, as I do now, that every
human being who suffers anything evil " A lemman had this noble champion.
That highte Deianire, as fresh as May ;
to get into his nature, or to remain there, And as thise clerkes maken mention,
is a kind of Minotaur, an enemy of his She hath him sent a sherte fresh and gay;
Alas ! this therte, alas and wala wa !
t'ellow-creatures, and separated from all Envenimed was sotilly withalle.
good companionship, as this poor mon- That or that he had wered it half a day.
ster was, " It made his flesh all from his bones fallc."
 «47

NOTES TO INFERNO.

Chiron was a son of Saturn ; Pholus, of arrow before he can speak, is a thing
Silenus ; and Nessus, of Ixion and the that no mortal would ever have thought
Cloud. of, if he had not actually seen the Cen-
71. Homer, Jliad, XI. 832, "Whom taur do it. They might have com-
Chiron instructed, the most just of the posed handsome bodies ot men and
Centaurs." Hawthorne gives a humor- horses in all jX)ssible ways, through a
ous turn to the fable of Chiron, in the whole life of pseudo-idealism, and yet
Tangleivood Tales, p. 273 : — never dreamed of any such thing. But
" I have sometimes suspected that the real living Centaur actually trotted
Master Chiron was not really very dif- across Dante's brain, and he saw him
ferent from other people, but that, be-
ing a kind-hearted and meriy old fel- 107. Alexander of Thessaly and
low, he was in the habit of making Dionysius do it."
of Syracuse.
believe that he was a horse, and scram- no. Azzolino, or Ezzolino di Ro-
bling about the school-room on all fours, mano, tyrant of Padua, nicknamed the
and letting the little boys ride upon Son of the Devil. Ariosto, Orlando
his back. And so, when his scholars Furioso, HI. 33, describes him as
had grown up, and grown old, and
were trotting their grandchildren on " Fierce Ezelin, that most inhuman lord,
their knees, they told them about the Who shall be deemed by men a child of hell."'
sports of their school days ; and these His story may be found in Sismondi's
young folks took the idea that their Histoire des Rcpubliques Italiennes, Ciiap.
grandfathers had been taught their let- XIX. He so outraged the religious
ters by a Centaur, half man and half sense of the people by his cruelties,
horse that a crusade was preached against
"Be that as it may, it has always him, and he died a prisoner in 1259,
been told for a fact, (and always will tearing the bandages from his wounds,
be told, as long as the world lasts,) and fierce and defiant to the last.
that Chiron, with the head of a school- " Ezzolino was small of stature," says
master, had the body and legs of a horse. Sismondi, " but the whole aspect of his
Just imagine the grave old gentleman person, all his movements, indicatad
clattering and stamping into the school- the soldier. His language was bitter,
room on his four hoofs, perhaps tread- his countenance proud ; and by a single
ing on some little fellow's toes, flou- look, he made the boldest tremble.
rishing his switch tail instead of a rod, His soul, so greedy of all crimes, felt
and, now and then, trotting out of no attraction for sensual pleasures.
Never had Ezzolino loved women ; and
doore to eat a mouthful of grass ! "
77. Mr. Ruskin refers to this line this perhaps is the reason why in his
in confirmation of his theory that " all punishments he was as pitiless against
great art represents something that it them as against men. He was in his
sees or believes in ; nothing unseen or sixty-sixth year when he died ; and his
uncredited." The passage is as fol- reign of blood had lasted thirty-four
lows. Modem Painters, HI. 83 :—
" And just because it is always some- Many glimpses of him are given in
thing that it sees or believes in, there the Cento Novelle Antiche, as if his
is the jieculiar character above noted, memory long haunted the minds of
almost unmistakable, in all high and men. years."Here are two of them, from
Novella 83.
true ideals, of having been as it were
studied from the life, and involving " (Jnce upon a time Messer Azzolino
pieces of sudden familiarity, and close da Romano made proclamation, through
specific painting which never would his own territories and elsewhere, that
have been admitted or even thought he wished to do a great charity, and
of, had not the painter drawn e'ther therefore that all the beggai-s, both
from the bodily life or from the life of men and women, should assemble in his
faith. For instance, Dante's Centaur, meadow, on a certain day, and to each
Chiron, dividing his beard with his he would give a new gown, and abun-
1. %
148 NOTES TO INFERNO.

dance of food. The news spread among proceedings Prince Henry, while tak-
the servants on all hands. When the ing the sacrament in the church of San
day of assembling came, his seneschals Silvestro at Viterbo, was stabbed to
went among them with the gowns and the heart by his own cousin, Guy de
the food, and made them strip naked Montfort, in revenge for the Earl of
one by one, and then clothed them with Leicester's death, although Henry was
new clothes, and fed them. They then endeavouring to procure his par-
asked for their old rags, but it was all don. This sacrilegious act threw Vi-
in vain ; for he put them into a heap terbo into confusion, but Montfort had
and set fire to them. Afterwards he many supporters, one of whom asked
found there so much gold and silver him what he had done. '7 have taken
melted, that it more than paid the ex- my revenge, ' said he. ' But your father's
pense, and then he dismissed them with body was trailed!^ At this reproach,
his blessing De Montfort instantly re-entered the
"To tell you how much he was church, walked straight to the altar,
feared, would be a long stoiy, and and, seizing Henry's body by the hair,
many people know it. But I will re- dragged it through the aisle, and left it,
call how he, being one day with the still bleeding, in the open street : he
Emperor on horseback, with all their then retired unmolested to the castle
people, they laid a wager as to which of his father-in-law. Count Rosso of
of them had the most beautiful sword. the Maremma, and there remained in
The Emperor drew from its sheath his
own, which was wonderfully garnished "The body of the Prince," says
security!"
with gold and precious stones. Then Barlow, Study 0/ Dante, p. 125, "was
said Messer Azzolino : ' It is very brought to England, and interred at
beautiful ; but mine, without any great Hayles, in Gloucestershire, in the Ab-
ornament, bey which his father had there built
he drew itis forth. far moreThen
beautiful;' — and
six hundred for monks of the Cistercian order ; but
knights, who were with him, all drew his heart was put into a golden vase,
theirs. When the Emperor beheld this and placed on the tomb of Edward
cloud of swords, he said : ' Yours is the the Confessor, in Westminster Abbey;
most beautiful.' " most probably, as stated by some writers,
III. Obizzo da Esti, Marquis of in the hands of a statue. "
Ferrara. He was murdered by Azzo, 123. Violence in all its forms was
" whom he thought to be his son," says of common enough in Florence in the age
Dante.
Boccaccio, ' ' though he was not. " The
Ottimo Comento remarks: "Many call 134. Attila, the Scourge of God.
themselves sons, and are step-sons." Gibbon, Decline and Eall, Chap. 39,
119. Guido di Monforte, who mur- describes him thus : —
dered Prince Henry of England " in " Attila, the son of Mundzuk, de-
the bosom of God," that is, in the duced his noble, perhaps his regal, de-
'hurch, at Viterbo. The event is thus scent from the ancient Huns, who had
narrated by Napier, Florentine History, formerly contended with the monarchs
1.283:- of China. His features, according to
" Another instance of this revenge- the observation of a Gothic historian,
ful sjnrit occurred in the year 1271 at bore the stamp of his national origin ;
Viterbo, where the cardinals had as- and the portrait of Attila exhibits the
semhled to elect a successor to Clement
genuine deformity of a modern Cal-
the Fourth, about whom they had been muk ; a large head, a swarthy com-
long disputing: Charles of Anjou and plexion, small, deep-seated eyes, a flat
Philip of France, with Edward and nose, a few hairs in the place of a
Henry, sons of Richard, Duke of Corn- beard, broad shoulders, and a shoii.,
wall, had repaired there, the two first square body, of nervous strength,
to hasten the election, which they though of a disproportioned form.
finally accomplished by the elevation The haughty step and demeanour of
of Gregory the Tenth. During these the King of the Huns expressed the
 149

NOTES TO INFERNO.

consciousness 01 his sujjeriority above

the rest of mankind ; and he had a Pliny'stial.time the climate was pestilen-
The Lombards gave it a new as-
custom of fiercely rolling his eyes, as pect of misery. Wherever they found
if he wished to enjoy the terror which culture they built castles, and to each
he inspired." castle they allotted a 'bandita ' or mili-
135. Which Pyrrhus and which tary fief. Hence baronial wars which
Sextus, the commentators cannot de- have left so many picturesque ruins on
termine ;but incline to Pyrrhus of the hills, and such desolation round
Epirus, and Sextus Pompey, the cor- them. Whenever a baron was con-
^ir of the Mediterranean. quered, his vassals escaped to the cities,
137. Nothing more is known of these and the vacant fief was annexed to the
nighwaymen than that the first infested victorious. Thus stripped of men, the
the Reman sea-shore, and that the second lands returned into a state of nature:
wa;> of a noble family of Floi ence. some were flooded by the rivers, others
grew into horrible forests, which enclose
and concentrate the pestilence of the
CANTO XIII. lakes and marshes.
1. In this Canto is described the " In some parts the water is brackish,
and lies lower than the sea : in others it
punishment of those who had laid vio-
lent hands on themselves or their pro- oozes full of tartar from beds of traver-
tine. At the iottom or on the sides of
l)erty.
2. Ch&ViCtT, Knightes Tale, 1977: — hills are a multitude of hot springs,
which form pools, called Lagotti. A
" First on the wall was peinted a forest,
In which ther wonneth ncyther man ne best.
few of these are said to produce borax :
With knotty knarry barrein trees old some, which are called fumache, exhale
Of stubbes sh irpe and hidoiis to behold ; sulphur; others, called bulicami, boil
In which there ran a romblc and a swough with a mephitic gas. The very air
As though -a stornie shuld bresten every
above is only a pool of vapours, which
bough." sometimes undulate, but seldom flow off.
9. The Cecina is a small river run- It draws corruption from a rank, un-
ning into the Mediterranean not many shorn, rotting vegetation, from reptiles
miles south of Leghorn; Corneto, a and fish both living and dead.
village in the Papal States, north of " All nature conspires to drive man
Civita Vecchia. The country is wild away from this fatal region; but man
and thinly peopled, and studded with will ever return to his bane, if it be well
thickets, the haunts of the deer and the baited. The Casentine peasants still
wild boar. This region is the fatal migrate hither in the winter to feed their
Maremma, thus described by Forsyth, cattle: and here they sow corn, make
Italy, p. 156: — charcoal, saw wood, cut hoops, and
" Farther south is the Maremma, a peel cork. When summer returns they
region which, though now worse than decamp, but often too late; for many
a desert, is supposed to have been an- leave their corpses on the road, or bring
ciently both fertile and healthy. The home the Maremmian disease."
Maremma certainly formed part of that
Ktruria which was called from its har- II. ^tieid, 111., Davidson's Tr. : —
" The shores of the Strophades first
vests the annonaria. Old Roman cis- receive me rescued from the waves.
terns may still be traced, and the ruins The Strophades, so called by a Greek
of Populonium are still visible in the name, are islands situated in the great
worst part of this tract : yet both na- Ionian Sea; which direful Celaeno and
ture and man seem to have conspired the other Harpies inhabit, from what
against it. time Phineus' palace was closed against
" Sylla threw this maritime part of them, and they were frighted from his
Tuscany into enormous latifundia for table, which they formerly haunted.
his disbanded soldiers. Similar distri- No monster more fell than they, no
butions continued to lessen its popula- plague and scourge of the gods more
tion during the Empire. In the younger cruel, ever issued from the Stygian
»5o NOTES TO INFERNO.

waves. They are fowls with virgin with guilt thy pious hands : Troy
faces, most loathsome is their bodily brought me forth no stranger to you ;
discharge, hands hooked, and looks nor is it from the trunk this blood
ever pale with famine. Hither con-
veyed, as soon as we entered tlie port, 40. Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 2339: —
lo ! we observe joyous herds of cattle distils.' "
" And as it queinte, it made a whistelin^
roving up and down the plains, and As don these brondes wet in hir brennmg,
And at the brondes ende outran anon
flocks of goats along the meadows with- As it were blody dropes many on."
out akeeper. We rush upon them with
our swords, and invoke the gods and See also Spenser, Faerie Queene, I. ii. 30.
Jove himself to share the booty. Then 58. Pietro della Vigna, Chancellor
along the winding shore we raise the of the Emperor Frederick H. Florenttne
Napier's
couches, and feast on the rich repast. account of him is as follows,
But suddenly, with direful swoop, the History, I. 197 :—
Harpies are upon us from the mountains, "The fate of his friend and minister,
shake their wings with loud din, prey Piero delle Vigne of Capua, if truly
upon our banquet, and defile everything told, would nevertheless impress us with
with their touch : at the same time, toge- an unfavourable idea of his mercy and
ther with a rank smell, hideous screams magnanimity : Piero was sent with
Taddeo di Sessa as Frederick's advocate
arise."
21. His words in t||e Mndd, HI., and representative to the Council of
Davidson's Tr. :— Lyons, which was assembled by his
" Near at hand there chanced to be a triend Innocent tlie Fourth, nominally
rising ground, on whose top were young to reform the Church, but really to im-
cornel-trees, and a myrtle rough with part more force and solemnity to a fresh
thick, spear-like branches. I came up sentence of excommunication and depo-
to it, and attempting to tear from the sition. There Taddeo spoke with force
earth the verdant wood, that I might and boldness for his master; but Piero
cover the altars with the leafy boughs, I was silent ; and hence he was accused of
observe a dreadful prodigy, and won- being, like several others, bribed by the
drous to relate. For from that tree Pope, not only to desert the Emperor,
which first is torn from the soil, its but to attempt his life ; and whether he
rooted fibres being burst asunder, drops were really culpable, or the victim of
of black blood distil, and stain the court intrigue, is still doubtful. Fre-
ground with gore: cold terror shakes derick, on apparently good evidence,
my limbs, and my chill blood is con- condemned him to have his eyes burned
gealed with fear. I again essay to tear out, and the sentence was executed at
off a limber bough from another, and San Miniato al Tedesco: being after-
thoroughly explore the latent cause: and wards sent on horseback to Pisa, where
from the rind of that other the purple he was hated, as an object for popular
blood descends. Raising in my mind derision, he died, as is conjectured, from
many an anxious thought, I with reve- the effects of a fall while thus craelly
rence besought tbe rural nymphs, and exposed, and not by his own h.tnd, as
father Mars, who presides over the
Dante believed
Milman, and Christianity,
LM-lin sung." V. 499,
Thracian territories, kindly to prosper
the vision and avert evil from the omen.
gives the story thus: —
But when I attempted the boughs a " Peter de Vinea had been raised by
third time with a more vigorous effort, the wise choice of Frederick to the
and on my knees straggled against the highest rank and influence. All the
opposing mould, (shall I speak, or shall acts of Frederick were attributed to his
I forbear?) a piteous groan is heard Chancellor. De Vineft, like his master,
from the bottom of the rising ground, was a poet ; he was one of the coun-
and a voice sent forth reaches my ears : sellors inhis great scheme of legislation.
'yEneas, why dost thou tear an un- Some rumours spread abroad that at the
happy wretch ? Spare me, now that I Council of Lyons, though Frederick had
am in my grave ; forbear to pollute forbidden all his representatives from
 NOTES TO INFERNO.
151

holding private intercourse with the Club, they also being all rich, together
Pope, De VineS, had many secret con- with them, not spending but squander-
ferences with Innocent, and was accused ing, in a short time he consumed all
of betraying his master's interests. Yet that he had and became very poor."
there was no seeming diminution in the Joining some Florentine troops sent
trust placed in De Vinea. Still, to the out against the Aretines, he was in a
skirmish at the parish of Toppo, whicli
end the Emperor's letters concerning
the disaster at Parma are by the same Dante calls a joust ; "and notwithstand-
hand. Over the cause of his disgrace ing he might have saved himself," con-
and death, even in his own day, there tinues Boccaccio, "remembering his
was deep doubt and obscurity. The wretched condition, and it seeming to
popular rumour ran that Frederick was him a grievous thing to bear poverty, as
ill ; the physician of De Vine& prescribed he had been very rich, he rushed into the
for him; the Emperor having received thick of the enemy and was slain, as
some warning, addressed De Vine^ :
perhaps
125. he Some desired to be."
commentators interpret
' My friend, in thee I have full tnist ;
art thou sure that this is medicine, not these dogs as poverty and despair, still
poison ? ' De Vine^ replied : ' How pursuing their victims. The Ottimo
often has my physician ministered health- Comento calls them "poor men who,
ful medicines !— why are you now afraid ? ' to follow pleasure and the kitchens of
Frederick took the cup, sternly com- other people, ^abandoned their homes
manded the physician to drink half of it. and families, and are therefore trans-
The physician threw himself at the formed into hunting dogs, and pursue
King's feet, and, as he fell, overthrew and devour their masters."
the liquor. But what was left was 133. Jacopo da St. Andrea was a
administered to some criminals, who Paduan of like character and life as
died in agony. The Emperor wrung Lano. " Among his other squander-
his hands and wept bitterly : ' Whom ings," says the Ottimo Comento, "it is
can I now trust, betrayed by my own said that, wishing to see a grand and
familiar friend ? Never can I know beautiful fire, he had one of his own
security, never can I know joy more.' villas burned." '
By one account Peter de VineS, was led 143. Florence was first under the
ignominiously on an ass through Pisa, protection of the god Mars; afterwards
and thrown into prison, where he dashed under that of St. John the Baptist. But
his brains verse
immortal out against the wall.
has saved Dante'sof in Dante's time the statue of Mars was
the fame still standing on a column at the head
De VineS. : according to the poet he was of the Ponte Vec«.hio. It was over-
the victim of wicked and calumnious thrown byan inundation of the Amo in
1333- See Canto XV. Note 62.
jealousy."
Sej also Giuseppe de Blasiis, Vita et 149. Florence was destroyed by To-
Opere di Pietro delta Vigiia. tila in 450, and never by Attila. In
112. Iliad, XII. 146: "Like two Dante's time the two seem to have been
wild boars, which catch the coming pretty generally confounded. The Ottimo
tumult of men and dogs in the moun- Comento remarks upon this point, ' ' Some
tains, and, advancing obliquely to the say that Totila was one person and At-
attack, break down the wood about tila another ; and some say that he was
them, cutting it off at the roots." one and the same man."
Chaucer, I^gende of Goode Women : — 150. Dante does not mention the
name of this suicide ; Boccaccio thinks,
" Envie
For sheysnelavendere of the court
parteth neither nyght alway
ne day;
for one of two reasons ; " either out
Out of the house of Cesar, thus saith Daunte." of regard to his surviving relatives, who
120. " Lano," says Boccaccio, Co- therefore peradventure are honourable men, and
he did not wish to stain them
mento, " was a young gentleman of
Siena, who had a large patrimony, and with the infamy of so dishonest a death,
^'-'ociating himself with a club of other or else (as in those times, as if by a
/(mng Sienese, called the .Spendthrift malediction sent by God upon our dty,
152 NOTES TO INFERNO.

many hanged themselves) that each one 63. Capaneus was one of the seven
might apply it to either he pleased of kings who besieged Thebes. Euripi-
these many. " des, Phcenisso', line 1188, thus describes
his death : —
CANTO XIV. " While o'er the battlements sprang Capaneus,
Jove struck him with his thunder, and the
I. In this third round of the seventh earth
circle are punished the Violent against kind with the crack ; meanwhile man-
Resounded
God,
Stood all aghast
His limbs ; from
were far off the
asunder ladder's
hurled, heighi
his hair
" In heart denying and blaspheming him, Flew to'ards Olympus, to the ground his blond.
And by disdai'iing N^iture and her bounty." His hands and feet whirled like Ixion^s wheel,
And to the earth his flaming body fell."
15. When he retreated across the
l^ibyan desert with the remnant of Pom- Also Gower, Confes. Amant., I. :—
pey's army after the battle of Pharsalia. " As he the cite wolde .assaile,
God toke him selfe the bataile
Lucan, Pharsalia, Book IX. :—
Ayen his pride, and fro the sky
" Foremost, behold, I lead you to the toil. A firy thonder sudeinly
My feet shall foremost print the dusty soil." He sende and him to pouder smote. "
31. Boccaccio confesses that he does 72. Like Hawthorne's scarlet letter,
not know where Dante found this tradi- at once an ornament and a punishment.
tion of Alexander. Benvenuto da Imola 79. The Bulicame or Hot Springs
says it is in a letter which Alexander of Viterbo. Villani, Cronica, Book I.
wrote to Aristotle. He quotes the Ch. 51, gives the following brief ac-
passage as follows : " In India ignited count of these springs, and of the ori-
vapours fell from heaven like snow. I gin of the name of Viterbo :—
commanded my soldiers to trample them "The city of Viterbo was built by
under foot." the Romans, and in old times was called
Dante perhaps took the incident from Vigezia, and the citizens Vigentians.
the old metrical Romance of Aiexatnier, And the Romans sent the sick there
which in some form or other was current on account of the baths which flow from
tri his time. In the English version of the Bulicame, and therefore it was called
it. published by the Roxburghe Club, we Vila Erbo, that is, life of the sick, or city
find the rain of fire, and a fall of snow ;
hut it is the snow, and not the fire, that 80. ' ' The building thus appropri-
the soldiers trample down. So likewise of life."ated," says Mr. Barlow, Contributions
in the French version. The English runs to the Study of the Divine Comedy, p.
as follows, line 4164 :— 129, "would appear to have been the
large ruined edifice known as the Bagno
" Than fandis he fnrth as I finde five and
twenti days. di Ser Paolo Benigno, situated between
Come to a velanus vale thare was a vile cheele, the Bulicame and Viterbo. About half
Quare heven,
flaggis of the fell snawe fell fra the a mile beyond the Porta di Faule,
which leads to Toscanella, we come to
'J hat was
of woUe. a brade, sais the buke, as battes ere a way called Riello, after which we
nold, he many brigt fire and lest it bin arrive at the said ruined edifice, which
Than bett
received the water from the Bulicame
And made his folk with thaire feete as flores it
to trede. by conduits, and has popularly been
« • « * regarded as the Bagno delle Meretrici
Than fell ther fra the firmament as it ware fell alluded to by Dante ; there is no other
sparkes,
Kopand doune o rede fire, than any rayne
building here found, which can dispute
with it the claim to this distinction.'
thikir." 102. The shouts and cymbals of the
45. Canto VIII. 83. Corybantes, drowning the ciies of the
55. Mount Etna, tmder which, with infant Jove, lest Saturn should find him
and devour him.
his Cyclops, Vulcan forged the thun-
derbolts ofJove. 103. The statue of Time, turning its
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

back upon the East and looking towards 5. These lines recall Goldsmith's de-
Rome. Compare Daniel ii. 31. scription inthe Traveller :—
105. The Ages of Gold, Silver, " Methinks her patient sons before me stand,
Brass, and Iron. See Ovid, Meta- Where the broad ocean leans against the land.
morph. I. And sedulous to stop the coming tide,
Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride.
See also Don Quixote's discourse to Onward, methinks, and diligently slow
the goatherds, inspired by the acorns The firm connected bulwark seems to grow ;
they gave him. Book II. Chap. 3 ; and Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar.
Scoops out an empire and usurps the shore."
Tasso's Ode to the Golden Age, in the
Aminta. 9. That part of the Alps in which the
113. The Tears of Time, forming Brenta rises.
the infernal rivers that flow into Co- 29. The reading la mia seems pre-
cytus. line 45. ferable to la inano, and is justified by
Milton, Farad. Lost, IT. 577 :—
" Abhorred Styx, the flood of <\eajly hate ; 30. Brunette Latini, Dante's friend
Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep ; and teacher. Villani thus speaks of
CocytiiR, named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream ; fierce Phlegeton, him, Cronka, VIII. 10 : " In this year
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. 1294 died in Florence a worthy citizen,
whose name was Sir Brunetto Latini,
Far oft" the
Lethfe, fromriver
these
of aoblivion,
slow androlls
silent stream,
Her watery labyiinth, whereof who drinks who was a great philosopher and per-
Forthwith his former state and being forgets. fect master of rhetoric, both in speaking
Forgets both joy and griff, plea.sure and and in writing. He commented the
Rhetoric of Tully, and made the good
and useful book called the Tesoro, and
136. See pain." Fur^atorio, XXVIII. the Tesoretto, and the Keys of the Tesoro,
and many other books of philosophy,
and of vices and of virtues, and he was
CANTO XV. Secretary of our Commune. He was a
I. In this Canto is described the worldly man, but we have made men-
tion of him because he was the first
punishment of the Violent against Na-
ture—: master in refining the Florentines, and in
teaching them how to speak correctly,
" And for this reason does the smallest round
Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors." and how to guide and govern our Re-
public on political principles."
4. Guizzante is not Ghent, but Cad- Boccaccio, Comento, speaks of him
sand, an island opposite L'Ecluse, where thus : " This Ser Brunetto Latini was
the great canal of Bruges enters the sea. a Florentine, and a very able man in
A canal thus flowing into the sea, the some of the liberal arts, and in phi-
dikes on either margin uniting with the losophybut
; his principal calling was
sea-dikes, gives a perfect image of this that of Notary ; and he held himself
part of the Inferno and his calling in such great esteem,
Lodovico Guicciardini in his Descrit- that, having made a mistake in a con-
Hone di tutti i Paesi Bassi (1 5 8 1 ), p. 416, tract drawn up by him, and having
speaking of Cadsand, says : " This is been in consequence accused of fraud,
the very place of which our great poet he preferred to be condemned for it
Dante makes mention in the fifteenth rather than to confess that he had made
chapter of the Inferno, calling it incor- a mistake ; and afterwards he quitted
rectly, perhaps by error of the press, Florence in disdain, and leaving in
Guizzante ; where still at the present memory of himself a book composed
day great repairs are continually made by him, called the Tesoretto, he went
upon the dikes, because here, and in to Paris and lived there a long time,
the environs towards Bruges, the flood, and composed a book there which is
or I should rather say the tide, on in French, and in which he treats of
account of the situation and lowness many matters regarding the liberal arts,
of the land, has very great power, par- and moral and natural philosophy, and
ticularly during a north-west wind. * metaphysics, which he called the Te-
>54
NOTES TO INFERNO.

" Mastro di storlomia

wro ; and finally, I believe, he died in
Paris." £ di iilosofia."
He also wrote a short poem, called It has been supposed by some com-
the Favoletto, and perhaps the Pataffio, mentators that Dante was indebted to
a satirical poem in the Florentine dia- the Tesoretto for the first idea of the
lect, "a jargon," says Nardini, "which Commedia. " If any one is pleased to
cannot be understood even with a com-
imagine this," says
in the Preface to the
his Abbate
edition Zannoni
of the
mentary." But his fame rests upon the
J'tsoretto and the Tesoro, and more than Tesoretto, (Florence, 1824,) "he must
ail upon the fact that he was Dante's confess that a slight and almost invisible
teacher, and was put by him into a very spark served to kindle a vast conflagra-
disreputable place in the Inferno. He
died in Florence, not in Paris, as Boc- The Tesoro, which is written in
caccio supposes, and was buried in French, is a much more ponderous and
Santa Maria Novella, where his tomb pretentious
tion." volume. Hitherto it has
still exists. It is strange that Boccaccio been known only in manuscript, or in
should not have known this, as it was the Italian translation of Giamboni, but
In this church that the " seven young at length appears as one of the volumes
gentlewomen " of his Decameron met of the Collection de Documents Inidits
" on a Tuesday morning," and resolved siir r Histoire de France, under the title
to go together into the country, where of Li Livres doii Tresor, edited by P.
they " might hear the birds sing, and see Chabaille, Paris, 1863 ; a stately quarto
the verdure of the hills and plains, and of some seven hundred pages, which it
the fields full of grain undulating like would assuage the fiery torment of Ser
the sea." in saying to look upon, and justify him
Brunetto
The poem of the Tesoretto, written
in a jingling metre, which reminds one
" Commended unto thee be my Tesoro,
of the V isioii of Piers Ploughman, is it-
In which I still live, and no more I ask."
self a Vision, witVi the customary alle-
gorical personages of the Virtues and The work is quaint and curious, but
Vices. Ser Bnmetto, returning from mainly interesting as being written by
an embassy to King Alphonso of Spain, Dante's schoolmaster, and showing what
meets on the plain of Roncesvalles a he knew and what he taught his pupil.
student of Bologna, riding on a bay I cannot better describe it than in the
mule, who informs him that the Guelfs author's own words. Book I. ch. I :—
have been banished from Florence.
" The smallest part of this Treasure
Whereupon Ser Brunetto, plunged in is like unto ready money, to be ex-
meditation and sorrow, loses the high- pended daily in things needful ; that is,
road and wanders in a wondrous forest. it treats of the beginning of time, of
Here he discovers the august and gi- the antiquity of old histories, of the
gantic figure of Nature, who relates to creation of the world, and in fine of
him the creation of the world, and gives the nature of all things
him a banner to protect him on his " The second part, which treats of
pilgrimage through the forest, in which the vices and virtues, is of precious
he meets -with no adventures, but with the stones, which give unto man delight
Virtues and Vices, Philosophy, Fortune, and virtue ; that is to say, what things
Ovid, and the God of Love, and sundry a man should do, and what he should
other characters, which are sung at large not, and shows the reason why
through eight or t n chapters. He then " The third part of the Treasure is
emerges from the forest, and confesses of fine gold ; that is to say, it teaches a
himself to the monks of Montpiellier ; man to speak according to the rules of
after which he goes back into the forest rhetoric, and how a ruler ought ta
again, and suddenly finds himself on the govern those beneath him
summit of Olympus ; and the poem ab- " And I say not that this book is ex-
ruptly leaves him discoursing about the tracted from my own poor sense and mj
elements with Ptolemy, own naked knowledge, but, on the ooi>
 155

NOTES TO INFERNO.

trary, it is like a honeycomb gathered tines did not perceive it. Boccaccio re-
from diverse flowers ; for this book is peats the story with variations, but does
wholly compiled from the wonderful not think it a sufficient reason for calling
sayings of the authors who before our the Florentines blind, and confesses that
time have treated of philosophy, each he does not know what reason there can
one according to his knowledge be for so calling them.
" And if any one should ask why 89. The "other text" is the predic-
this book is written in Romance, ac- tion of his banishment, Canto X. 81, and
cording to the language of the French, the lady is Beatrice.
since we are Italian, I should say it is 96. Boileau, Epitre, V. : —
for two reasons ; one, because we are
in France, and the other, because this " QuTl son gr^ d^sormais la fortune me joue.
speech is more delectable, and more On me verra dormir au branle de sa roue."
common to all people. " And Tennyson's song of "Fortune
62. " Afterwards," sayS Brunetto and her Wheel " :—
Latini, Tresor, Book I. Ft. I. ch. 37,
" the Romans besieged Fiesole, till at " Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the
last they conquered it and brought it proud ;
into subjection. Then they built upon Turn thy wild wheel
and cloud ; thro' suRshine, storm,
the plain, which is at the foot of the Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.
high rocks on which that city stood,
another city, that is now called Florence. " Turn, frown ; turn thy wheel with smile 01
Fortune,
And know that the spot of ground With that wild wheel we go not up or down ;
where Florence stands was formerly Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.
called the House of Mars, that is to say
the House of War; for Mars, who is " Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands ;
Frown hands ;
and we smile, the lords of Our own
one of the seven planets, is called the
God of War, and as such was wor- For man is man and master of his fate.
shipped of old. Therefore it is no won-
der that the Florentines are always in " Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd ;
Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the clo\id ;
war and in discord, for that planet reigns Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor ha^e."
over them. Of this Master Brunez
Latins ought to know the truth, for he 109. Priscian, the grammarian of
\\ as bom there, and was in exile on ac- Constantinople in the sixth century.
count of war with the Florentines, when no. Francesco d'Accorso, a distin-
he composed this book. " guished jurist and Professor at Bologna
See also Villani, I. 38, who assigns in the thirteenth century, celebrated for
a different reason for the Florentine dis- his Commentary upon the Code Jus-
sensions, "And observe, that if the tinian.
Florentines are always in war and dis- 113. Andrea de' Mozzi, Bishop of
sension among themselves it is not to be Florence, transferred by the Pope, the
wondered at, they being descended from " Servant of Servants," to Vicenza; the
two nations so contrary and hostile and two cities being here designated by the
different in customs, as were the noble rivers on which they are respectively
and virtuous Romans and the rude and situated.
warlike fiesolans." 119. See Note 3a
Again, IV. 7, he attributes the Flor- 122. The Corsa del Pallio, or foot
entine dissensions to both the above- races, at Verona; in which a green
mentioned causes. mantle or Pallio, was the prize. But-
67. Villani, IV. 31, tells the story of tura says that these foot-races are still
certain columns of porphyry given by continued (1823), and that he has seen
the Pisans to the Florentines for guard- them more than once ; but certainly not
ing their city while the Pisan army had in the nude state in which Boccaccio
gone to the conquest of Majorca. The describes them, and which renders
columns were cracked by fire, but being Dante's comparison more complete and
covered with crimson cloth, the Floren- striking.
 NOTES TO INFERNO.
fsfi

CANTO XVI. her ; and gave him as her dowry a large

territory in Cassentino and the Alps, and
I. In this Canto the subject of the made him Count thereof."
preceding is continued. Ampere says in his Voyage Dantesque,
4. Guidoguerra, Tegghiajo Aklo- page 242 : " Near the battle-field ol
brandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci. Campaldino stands the little town of
37. The good Gilaldrada was a Poppi, whose castle was built in 1230
(laughter of Bellincion Berti, the sim- by the father of the Aniolfo who built
some years later the Palazzo Vecchio of
time,ple who
citizen of P'lorence
used to walkin the
the streets
olden Florence. In this castle is still shown
the bedroom of the beautiful and modest
"begirt with bone and leather," as
mentioned in the Faradiso, XV. 1 12.
Francesco Sansovino, an Italian nov-
Villani, I. 37, reports a story of her Gualdrada."
with all the brevity of a chronicler. elist of the sixteenth century, has made
Boccaccio tells the same story, as if he Gualdrada the heroine of one of his tales,
were writing a page of the Deca- but has strangely perverted the old tra-
meron. In his version it runs as fol- dition. His story may be found in
lows. Roscoe's Italian Novelists, III. p. 107.
"The Emperor Otho IV., being by 41. Tegghiajo Aldobrandi was a dis-
chance in Florence and having gone to tinguished citizen of Florence, and op-
the festival of St. John, to make it posed what Malespini calls "the ill
more gay with his presence, it hap- counsel of the people," that war should
pened that to the church with the other be declared against the Sienese, which
city dames, as our custom is, came the war resulted in the battle of Monte
wife of Messer Berto, and brought with Aperto and the defeat of the Floren-
her a daughter of hers called Gualdrada, tines.
who was still unmarried. And as they 44. Jacopo Rusticucci was a rich
sat there with the others, the maiden Florentine gentleman, whose chief mis-
being beautiful in face and figure, nearly fortune seems to have been an ill-as-
all present turned round to look at her, sorted marriage. Whereupon the ami-
and among the rest the Emperor. And able Boccaccio in his usual Decameron
having much commended her beauty style remarks: "Men ought not then to
and manners, he asked Messer Berto, be over- hasty in getting married ; on thn
who was near him, who she was. To contrary, they should come to it with
which Messer Berto smilingly answered :
much precaution." And then he in-
' She is the daughter of one who, I dare dulges in five octavo pages against
say, would let you kiss her if you matrimony and woman in general.
wished.' These words the young lady 45. See Macchiavelli's story oi Bel-
heard, being near the speaker ; and fagor, wherein Minos and Rhadaman-
somewhat troubled by the opinion her thus, and the rest of the infernal judges,
father seemed to have of her, that, if he are greatly surprised to hear an infinite
wished it, she would suffer herself to be number of condemned souls " lament
kissed by any one in this free way, ris- nothing so bitterly as their folly in ha^ -
ing, and looking a moment at her father, ing taken wives, attributing to them th"*
and blushing with shame, said: 'Father, whole of their misfortune. "
do not make such courteous promises at 70. Boccaccio, in his Comento, speak ;
Ihe expense of my modesty, for certainly, of Guglielmo Borsiere as " a oourteou;
unless by violence, no one shall ever kiss gentleman of good breeding and excel-
me, except him whom you shall give me lent manners ; and in the Decameron,
us my husband.' The Emperor, on Gior. I. Nov. 8, tells of a sharp rebuke
hearing this, much commended the administered by him to Messer Ermino
words and the young lady. .... And de' Grimaldi, a miser of Genoa.
calling forward a noble youth named "It came to pass that, whilst by
Guide Beisangue, who was afterwards spending nothing he went on accumu-
ealled Guido the I'^lder, who as yet had lating wealth, there came to Genoa a
no wife, he insisted upon his marrying well-bred and witty gentleman called
 NOTES TO INFERNO. m
Gulielmo Borsiere, one nothing like the until we come to the Montone, which
courtiers of the present day ; who, to above Forli is called Acquacheta. This
the great reproach of the debauched dis- is the first which flows directly into the
positions ofsuch as would now be re- Adriatic, and not into the Po. At least
puted fine gentlemen, should more pro- it was so in Dante's time. Now, by
perly style themselves asses, brought up some change in its course, the Lamone,
amidst the filthiness and sink of man- farther north, has opened itself a new
kind, rather than in courts outlet, and is the first to make its own
" This Gulielmo, whom I before men- way to the Adriatic. See Barlow, Con-
tioned, was much visited and respected tributions tothe Study of the Divine Co-
by the better sort of people at Genoa ; medy, p. 131. This comparison shows
when having made some stay here, and the delight which Dante took in the
hearing much talk of Ermino's sordid- study of physical geography. To reach
ness, he became desirous of seeing him. the waterfall of Acquacheta he traverses
Now Ermino had been informed of Gu- in thought the entire valley of the Po,
Italy.
lielmo's worthy character, and having, stretching across the whole of Northern
however covetous he was, some small
sparks of gentility, he received him in a 102. Boccaccio's interpretation of
courteous manner, and, entering into this line, which has been adopted by
discourse together, he took him, and most of the commentators since his time,
some Genoese who came along with him, is as follows : " I was for a long time
to see a fine house which he had lately in doubt concerning the author's mean-
built ; and when he had shown every ing in this line ; but being by chance at
part of it, he said : ' Pray, sir, can you, this monastery of San Benedetto, in
who have heard and seen so much, tell company with the abbot, he told me
me of something that was never yet seen, that there had once been a discussion
to have painted in my hall ? ' To whom among the Counts who owned the
Gulielmo, hearing him speak so simply, mountain, about building a village near
replied : ' Sir, I can tell you of nothing the waterfall, as a convenient place for
which has never yet been seen, that I a settlement, and bringing into it their
know of; unless it be sneezing, or some- vassals scattered on neighbouring farms ;
thing of that sort ; but if you please, I but the leader of the project dying, it
can tell you of a thing which, I believe, was not carried into effect ; and that is
you never saw.' Said Ermino (little what the author says, Oz^e dovea per mille,
expecting such an answer as he received), that is, for many, esser ricetto, that is,
' I beg you would let me know what home and habitation."
that is.' Gulielmo immediately replied, Doubtless grammatically the words
• Paint Liberality.' When Ermino heard will bear this meaning. But evidently
this, such a sudden shame seized him, as the idea in the author's mind, and which
quite changed his temper from what it
he wished to impress upon the reader's,
had hitherto been ; and he said : ' Sir, was that of a waterfall plunging at a
I will have her painted in such a man- single leap down a high precipice. To
ner that neither you, nor any one else, this idea, the suggestion of buildings
shall be able to say, hereafter, that I am and inhabitants is wholly foreign, and
unacquainted with her.' And from that adds neither force nor clearness. Where-
time such effect had Gulielmo's words as, to say that the river plunged at one
uj)on him, he became the most liberal bound over a precipice higli enough for
and courteous gentleman, and was the a thousand cascades, presents at once a
most respeqted, both by strangers and vivid picture to the imagination, and I
his own citizens, of any in Genoa. " have interpreted the line accordingly,
95. Monte Veso is among the Alps, making the contrast between una scesa
between Piedmont and Savoy, where and mille. It should not be foi^otten
the Po takes its rise. From this point that, while some editions read dtrvea,
eastward to the Adriatic, all the rivers others read dovria, and even potria.
on the left or northern slope of the 106. This cord has puzzled the
Apennines are tributaries to the Po, commentators exceedingly. Boccaccio^
158 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Volpi, and Veiituri do not explain it. hurled down to their appointed places,
The anonymous author of the Ottiino, as soon as Minos doomed them. In-
Benvenuto da Imola, Buti, Landino, Vel- ferno, V. 15.
lutello, and Daniello, all think it means 132. Even to a steadfast heart.
fraud, which Dante had used in the
pursuit of pleasure, — "the panther with
the painted skin." Lombardi is of opi- CANTO XVII.
nion that, " by girding himself with the
Franciscan cord, he had endeavoured to
restrain his sensual appetites, indicated I. In this Canto is described the
by the panther ; and still wearing the punishment of Usurers, as sinners
cord as a Tertiary of the Order, he against Nature and Art See Inf. XI.
makes it serve here to deceive Geiyon,
and bring him up." Biagioli under- "109
And:—since the usurer takes another way.
stands by it " the humility with which Nature herself and in her follower
a man should approach Science, because Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope."
it is she that humbles the proud." Fra-
ticelli thinks it means vigilance ; Tom- The monster Geryon, here used as
maseo, "the good faith with which he the symbol of Fraud, was born of Chry-
hoped to win the Florentines, and now saor and Callirrhoe, and is generally
wishes to deal with their fraud, so that represented by the poets as having three
bodies and three heads. lie was in
it may not harm him ; " and Gabrielli
Rossetti says, ' ' Dante flattered himself, ancient times King of Hesperia or Spain,
ajcting as a sincere Ghibelline, that he living on Erytheia, the Red Island oi
should meet with good faith from his sunset, and was slain by Hercules,
Guelf countrymen, and met instead with who drove away his beautiful oxen.
horrible fraud." The nimble fancy of Hawthorne thus
Dante elsewhere speaks of the cord in depicts him in his Wonder -Book, p.
a good sense. In Purgatorio, VII. 114,
Peter of Aragon is "girt with the cord " But was it really and truly an old
of every virtue." In Inferno, XXVII. man ? Certainly at first sight it looked
148:—
92, it is mortification, "the cord that very like one ; but, on closer inspection,
used to make those girt with it more it rather seemed to be some kiml of a
creature that lived in the sea. For on
meagre;" and in Paradise, XI. 87, it
is humility, "that family which had his legs and arms there were scales, such
already girt the humble cord. " as fishes have ; he was web-footed and
It will be remembered that St. Fran- web-fingered, after the fashion of a duck;
cis, the founder of the Cordeliers (the and his long beard, being of a greenish
wearers of the cord), used to call his tinge, had more the appearance of a
body asino, or ass, and to subdue it with tuft of sea- weed than of an ordinary
the capestro, or halter. Thus the cord beard. Have you never seen a stick of
is made to symbolise the subjugation of timber, that has been long tossed about
the animal nature. This renders Lom- by the waves, and has got all oveigrown
bardi's interpretation the most intelli- with barnacles, and at last, drifting
gible and satisfactory, though Virgil ashore, seems to have been thrown up
seems to have thrown the cord into from the very deepest bottom of the sea ?
the abyss simply because he had nothing Well, the old man would have put you in
else to throw, and not with the design
of deceiving. mind
Theof three
just such a wave-tost
bodies spar."
and three heads,
112. As a man does naturally in the
which old poetic fable has' given to the
act of throwing. monster Geryon, are interpreted by
131. That Geryon, seeing the cord, modern prose as meaning the three
ascends, expecting to find some nioine Balearic Islands, Majorca, Minorca, and
difroqui, and carry him down, as Lom- Ivica, over which he reigned.
bardi suggests, is hardly admissible ; for ID. Ariosto, Orlando Fnrioso, XIV.
that was not his office. The spirits were
87, Rose's Tr., thus depicts Fraud :—
 >59

A/OTES TO INFERNO.

vest, mien, grave walk, and decent

" With pleasing greatest usurer of his day, called here
Fraud rolled her eyeballs humbly in her head ; in irony "the sovereign cavalier."
And such benign and modest speech possest. 74. As the ass-driver did in the
She might a Gabriel seem who Ati said. streets of Florence, when Dante beat
Foul was she and deformed in all the rest ;
But with a mantle, long and widely spread. him for singing his verses amiss. See
Concealed her hideous parts ; and evermore Sacchetti, Nov. CXV.
Beneath the stole a poisoned dagger wore." 78. Dante makes as short work with
these usurers as if he had been a curious
The Gabriel saying Avi: is from Dante, traveller walking through the Ghetto of
Purgatory, X. 40 :— ^ Rome, or the Judengasse of Frankfort.
"One would have sworn that he was saying 107. Ovid, Metamorph. II., Addi-
son's Tr. :—
Ave." reins ;
17. Tartars nor Turks, "who are " Half dead wawith
y sudden fear he dropt tht
most perfect masters therein," says Boc-
The horses felt "en; loose upon their manes.
caccio, "as we can clearly, see in Tar- And, flying out through all the plains above.
tarian cloths, which truly are so skil- Ran uncontrolled where'er their fury drove ;
fully woven, that no painter with his Rushed on the stars, and through a pathles.^
brush could equal, much less surpass Of unknow regions hurried on the day.
them. The Tartars are . . . ." And And now abn
ove, and now below they flew.
with this unfinished sentence close the And near the earth the burnin chariot drew.
g
Lectures upon Dante, begun by Giovanni
Boccaccio on Sunday, August 9, 1373, At once from life and from the chariot driv'n,
I'h' ambitious boy fell thunder-struck from
in the church of San Stefano, in Flo-
rence. That there were some critics The horses started with a sudden bound.
And flunghcav'n.
the reins and chariot to the ground:
broke.
among his audience is apparent from The studded harness from their necks th-y
this sonnet, which he addressed " to one
who had censured his public Exposition Here fell a wheel, and here a silver spoke.
Here were the beam and axle torn away ;
of Dante." See D. G. Rosetti, Early ments lay. the earth, the shining frag-
And, scatter'd o'er
Italian Poets, p. 447 : —
The breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair,
" If Dante mourns, there wheresoe'er he be. Shot from the chariot, like a falling star.
That such high fancies of a soul so proud drop:
Should be laid open to the vulgar crowd, That in a summer's ev'ning from the top
theej) my Discourse, Of heav'n drops down, or seems at least to
(As, touching I'm told by
This were my grievous pain ; and certainly Till on the Po his blasted corpse was hurled.
My proper blame should not be disavowed ; Far from his country, in the Western World."
Though hereof somewhat, I declare aloud.
Were due to others, not alone to me. 108. The Milky Way. In Spanish
False hopes, true poverty, and therewithal El camino de Santiago ; in the Northern
Thi blinded judgment of a host of friends,
And their entreaties, made that I did thus. Mythology the pathway of the ghosts
^ut of all this there is no gain at all going to Valhalla.
Unto the thankless souls with whose base ends
109. Ovid, Metamorph. VIII., Crox-
Nothing agrees that's great or generous." all's Tr. :—
18. Ovid, Metamorph. VI. :— " The soft'ning wax, that felt a nearer sun,
Dissolv'd
The youthapace,
in vainandhissoon beganpinions
melting to rtin.shakes.
" One at the loom so excellently skilled
That to the Goddess she refused to yield. " His feathers gone, no longer air he takes
O father, father, as he strove to cry,
57. Their love of gold stili haunting Down to the sea he tumbled from on high.
them in the other world. And found his fate : yet still subsists by fame^
59. The arms of the Gianfigliacci of Among those waters that retain his name.
Florence. The father, now no more a father! cries.
Ho, Icarus ! where are you ? as he flies :
63. The arms of the Ubbriachi of Where shall I "seek my boy ? he cries again.
Florence. And saw his feathers scattered on the main."
64. The Scrovigni of Padua.
68. Vitaliano del Dente of Padua. 136. L\ican, Pharsal. I. : —
73. Giovarmi Bujamonte, who seems " To him the Balearic sling is slow.
\o have had the ill repute of being the And the shaft loiters fion: the Parthian bo'.A"
i6o NOTES TO INFERNO.

CANTO XVIII. the Apennine limestones nearly always

are ; the gray being peculiarly cold and
1. Here begins the third division of disagreeable. As we go down the very
the Inferno, embracing the Eighth and hill which stretches out from Pietra-pana
Ninth Circles, in which the Fraudulent towards Lucca, the stones laid by the
are punished. road-side to mend it are of this ashen
" But because fraud is man's peculiar vice
gray, with efflorescences of manganese
More it displeases God ; and so stand lowest and iron in the fissures. The whole of
The fraudulent, and greater dole assails
Malebolge is made of this rock, ' All
them." wrought in stone of iron-coloured grain.'
The Eighth Circle is called Male- 29. The year of Jubilee 1300. Mr.
bolge, or Evil-budgets, and consists of Norton, in his Notes of Travel and Study
ten concentric ditches, or Bolge, of in Italy, p. 255, thus describes it : —
stone, with dikes between, and rough "The beginning of the new century
bridges running across them to the brought many pilgrims to the Papal
centre like the spokes of a wheel. city, and the Pope, seeing to what
In the First Bolgia are punished Se- account the treasury of indulgences pos-
ducers, and in the second Flatterers. sessed by the Church might now be
2. Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. turned, hit upon the plan of promising
p. 237, says :— plenary indulgence to all who, during
" Our slates and granites are often the year, should visit with fit dispositions
of very lovely colours ; but the Apen- the holy places of Rome. He, accord-
nine limestone is so gray and toneless, ingly, in the most solemn manner, pro-
that I know not any mountain dis- claimed a year of Jubilee, to date from
trict so utterly melancholy as those the Christmas of 1299, and appointed a
which are composed of this rock, when similar celebration for each hundredth
tmwooded. Now, as far as I can disco- year thereafter. The report of the mar-
ver from the internal evidence in his vellous promise spread rapidly through
poem, nearly all Dante's mountain wan- Europe ; and, as the year advanced,
derings had been upon this ground. He pilgrims poured into Italy from remote
had journeyed once or twice among the as well as from neighbouring lands
Alps, indeed, but seems to have been The roads leading to Rome were dusty
impressed chiefly by the road from Garda with bands of travellers pressing forward
to Trent, and that along the Cornice, to gain the unwonted indulgence. The
1)0th of which are either upon those Crusades had made travel familiar to
limestones, of a dark serpentine, which men, and a journey to Rome seemed
shows hardly any colour till it is po- easy to those who had dreamed of the
lished. It is not ascertainable that he Farther East, of Constantinople, and
had ever seen rock scenery of the finely Jerusalem. Giovanni Villani, who was
coloured kind, aided by the Alpine among the pilgrims from Florence, de-
mosses : I do not know the fall at Forli clares that there were never less than
{Inferno^ XVI. 99), but every other two hundred thousand strangers at Rome
scene to which he alludes is among during the year ; and Guglielmo Ven-
these Apennine limestones ; and when tura, the chronicler of Asti, reports the
he wishes to give the idea of enormous total number of pilgrims at not less than
mountain size he names Tabernicch and two millions. The picture which he
Pietra-pana, — the one clearly chosen draws of Rome during the Jubilee is a
only for the sake of the last syllable of curious one. ' Mirandum est quod pas-
its name, in order to make a sound as sim ibant viri et mulieres, qui anno illo
of crackling ice, with the two sequent Noma fuerunt quo ego ihi fui et per dies
rhymes of the stanza, — and the other XV. steti. De pane, vino, carnibus, pis-
is an Apennine near Lucea. cibus, et avena, bonum mercatum ibi erat;
" His idea, therefore, of rock colour, foenum carissimum ibi fuit ; hospitia ca-
founded on these experiences, is that of rissima ; taliter quod lectus mens et equi
a dull or ashen gray, more or less stained viei super fittto et avena constabat mihi
by the brown of iron ochie, precisely as tornesium unum grossum, Exiens dt
 NOTES TO INFERNO. iti

Noma in Vi^iia Nath'itatis Christi, vidi and the Golden Fleece, see Ovid, Me-
tiirbam magnam, quam dinunierare nemo tamorph. VII. Also Chaucer, Legendt
poterat ; et fama erat inter Romanos, of Goode Women :—
qtwd ihi fiiemnt plusquam vigenti centum " Thou roote of fals loveres, duke Jason I
millia virarnm et miilierum. Pluries ego Thou slye devourer and confusyon
vidi ibi tarn vivos quam mulieres concul- Of gentil wommen, gentil creatures ! "
(^atos sub pedibus aliornm ; et etiam ego- 92. When the women of Lemnos
met in eodem periailo plures vices evasi. put to death all the male inhabitants
Papa innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem of the island, Hypsipyle concealed her
recepit, quia die ac nocte duo clerici sta- father Thoas, and spared his life.
hant ad altare Sancti Pauli tenentes in Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautics, II.,
eorum manibus rastellos, rastellantes pe- Fawkes's Tr. :—
cuniam infinitam.'' To accommodate " Hipsipyle alone, illustrious maid,
the throng of pilgrims, and to protect Spared her sire Thoas, who the sceptre
them as far as possible from the danger
which was Ventura feelingly 122. "Allessio Interminelli," says
barrier erected along "the
describes,
middle ofa Benvenutoswayed. "
da Imola, "a soldier, a no-
the bridge, under the Castle of Sant' bleman, and of gentle manners, was of
Angelo, so that those going to St. Lucca, and from him descended that
Peter's and those coming from the tyrant Castruccio who filled all Tuscany
church, passing on opposite sides, with /ear, and was lord of Pisa, Lucca,
might not interfere with each other. and Pistoja, of whom Dante makes no
It seems not unlikely that Dante him- mention, because he became illustrious
self was one of the crowd who thus after the author's death. Allessio took
crossed the old bridge, over whose such delight in flattery, that he could
arches, during this year, a flood of men not open his mouth without flattering.
was flowing almost as constantly as the He besmeared everybody, even the low-
river's flood ran through below."
31. The castle is the Castle of St. est menials."
The Ottimo says, that in the dialect of
Angelo, and the mountain Monte Gia- Lucca, the head "was facetiously called
nicolo. See Barlow, Study of Dante, p.
126. Others say Monte Giordano. 133. Thais, the famous courtesan of
a pumpkin."
5a " This Caccianimico," says Ben- Athens. Terence, The Eunuch, Act
venuto da Imola, "was a Bolognese ; III. Sc. I :—
a liberal, noUe, pleasant, and very " Thraso. Did Thais really return
powerful man." Nevertheless, he was me many thanks ?
so utterly corrupt as to sell his sister, " Gnat ho. Exceeding thanks.
the fair Ghisola, to the Marquis of Este. " Thraso. Was she delighted, say
51. In the original the word is salse.
" In Bologna," says Benvenuto da Imo- " Gnatho. Not so much, indeed, at
la, " the name of Salse is given to a the present itself, as because it was given
certain valley outside the city, and near byyou? you; really, in right earnest, she does
to Santa Maria in Monte, into which the
mortal remains of desperadoes, usurers, exult at that."
136. "The filthiness of some pas-
and other infamous persons are wont to
be thrown. Hence I have sometimes sages," exclaims Landor, Pentameron,
heard boys in Bologna say to each other, p. 15, " would disgrace the drunkenest
horse-dealer ; and the names of such
by way of insult, ' Your father was criminals are recorded by the poet, as
thrown into the Salse. ' " would be forgotten by the hangman in
61. The two rivers between which
Bologna is situated. In the Bolognese six months. "
dialect sipa is used for si. CANTO XIX.
72. They cease going round the cir-
cles as heretofore, and now go straight I. The Third Bolgia is devoted to
forward to the centre of the abyss. the Simoniacs, so called from Simon
86. For the story of Jason, Medea, Magus, the Sorcerer mentioned in Acts
1 62 NOTES TO INFERNO

viii. 9, i8. See Tar. XXX. Note Dante, but Lami, staring it the moon,
147.
fell into the hole. "
Brunette I>atini touches lightly upon 20. Dante's enemies had accused
them in the Tesordto, XXI. 259, on him of committing this act through im-
account of their high ecclesiastical dig- piety. He takes this occasion to vindi-
nity. His pupil is less reverential in cate himself
this particular. 33. Probably an allusion to the red
stockings worn by the Popes.
" Altri per simonia
Si getta in mala via, 50. Burying alive with the head
E Dio e' Santi offende downward and the feet in the air was
E vende le prebende, the inhuman punishment of hired assas-
E Sante Sagramente,
E mette 'nfra la gente sins, "according to justice and the mu-
Assempri di mal fare. nicipal law in Florence," says the Ot-
Ma questo lascio stare, Hmo. It was called Propagginare, to
Che tocca a ta' persone, plant in the manner of vine-stocks.
Che non e mia ragione Dante stood bowed down like the
Di dime lungamente." confessor called back by the criminal
Chaucer, Persones Tale, speaks thus in order to delay the moment of his
of Simony :— death.
" Certes simonie is cleped of Simon 53. Benedetto Gaetani, Pope Boni-
Magus, that wold have bought for tem- face VIII. Gower, Conf. Amant. II.,
porel catel the yefte that God had yeven calls him
by the holy gost to Seint Peter, and to
the Apostles : and therfore understond " Thou Boneface, thou proude clerke,
ye, that both he that selleth and he that Misleder of the papacie."
byeth thinges spirituel ben called Simoni- This is the Boniface who frightened
ackes, be it by catel, be it by procuring, Celestine from the papacy, and perse-
or by fleshly praier of his frendes, fleshly cuted him to death after his resignation.
frendes, or spirituel frendes, fleshly in
" The lovely Lady " is the Church.
two maners, as by kindrede or other The fraud was his collusion with Charles
frendes : sothly, if they pray for him
II. of Naples. " He went to King
that is not worthy and able, it is simonie, Charles by night, secretly, and with few
if he take the benefice : and if he be
attendants," says Villani, VIII. ch. 6,
worthy and able, ther is non." " and said to him : ' King, thy Pope
5. Gower, Confer. Amant. I. : — Celestine had the will and the power to
serve thee in thy Sicilian wars, but did
" A irompe with a steme breth. not know how : but if thou wilt contrive
Which was cleped the trompe of deth.
with thy friends the cardinals to have
He shall this dredfull trompe blowe me elected Pope, I shall know how, and
To-fore his gate and make it knowe.
How that the jugement is yive shall have the will and the power ; '
Of deth, which shall nought be foryive." promising upon his faith and oath to
aid him with all the power of the
19. Lami, in his DelicicB Eniditorum, Church." Farther on he continues:
makes a strange blunder in reference to "He was very magnanimous and lordly,
this passage. He says : " Not long ago and demanded great honour, and knew
the baptismal font, which stood in the well how to maintain and advance the
cause of the Church, and on account of
middle of Saint John's at Florence, was
removed ; and in the pavement may his knowledge and power was much
still be seen the octagonal shape of its dreaded and feared. He was avaricious
ample outline. Dante says, that, when exceedingly in order to aggrandize the
a boy, he fell into it and was near Church and his relations, not being over-
drowning ; or rather he fell into one of scrupulous about gains, for he said that
the circular basins of water, which sur- all tilings were lawful which were of the
rounded the principal font." Upon this
Arrivabeni, Comento Storico, p. 588,
He was chosen Pope in 1294. "The
Church."
where I find this extract, remarks : "Not inauguration of Boniface." says Milmai^
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Latin Christ., Book IX., ch. 7, "was Roman house, the Orsini, a man of re-
the most magnificent which Rome had markable beauty of person and de-
ever beheld. In his procession to St. meanour. His name, ' the Accom-
Peter's and back to the Lateran palace, plished,' implied that in him met all
where he was entertained, he rode not a the graces of the handsomest clerks in
humble ass, but a noble white horse, the world, but he was a man likewise of
richly caparisoned : he had a crown on irreproachable morals, of vast ambition,
his head ; the King of Naples held the and of great ability." He died in 1280.
bridle on one side, his son, the King of 83. The French Pope Clement V.,
Hungary, on the other. The nobility elected in 1305, by the influence ol
of Rome, the Orsinis, the Colonnas, the Philip the Fair of France, with sundry
Savellis, the Stefaneschi, the Annibaldi, humiliating conditions. He transferred
who had not only welcomed him to the Papal See from Rome to Avignon,
Rome, but conferred on him the Sena- where it remained for seventy-one years
torial dignity, followed in .a body : the in what Italian writers call its " Baby-
procession could hardly force its way lonian captivity." He died in 1 3 14, on
through the masses of the kneeling his way to Bordeaux. " He had hardly
people. In the midst, a furious hurri- crossed the Rhone," says Milman, Lat.
cane burst over the city, and extin- Christ., Bookwith XII. mortal
ch. 5, sickness
"when he
guished every lamp and torch in the was seized at
church. A darker orama followed : a Roquemaure. The Papal treasure was
riot broke out among the populace, in seized by his followers, especially his
which forty lives were lost. The day nephew ; his remains were treated with
after, the Pope dined in pubiic in the such utter neglect, that the torches set
Lateran ; the two Kings waited behind fire to the catafalque under which he
his chair." lay, not in state. His body, covered
Dante indulges towards him a fierce only with a single sheet, all that his ra-
Ghibelline hatred, and assigns him his pacious retinue had left to shroud their
place of torment before he is dead. In forgotten master, was half burned . . .
before alarm was raised. His ashes were
Canto XXVII. 85, he calls him "the
Prince of the new Pharisees;" and, after borne back to Carpentras and solemnly
many other bitter allusions in various
parts of the poem, puts into the mouth 85. Jason, to whom Antiochus Epi-
interred."
of St. Peter, Par. XXVII. 22, the ter- phanes granted a ' ' license to set him up
rible invective that makes the whole a place for exercise, and for the train-
heavens red with anger. ing up of youth in the fashions of the
" He who usurps upon the earth my place,
My place, my place, which vacant has be-
2 Maccabees iv. 13: " Now such was
heathen."
come the height of Greek fashions, and in-
^ Now in the presence of the Son of God, crease of the heathenish manners,
Has of my cemetery made a sewer through the exceeding profaneness of
Of blood and fetor, whereat the Perverse,
Who fell from here, below there is ap-
Jason, that ungodly wretch and not
high priest, that the priests had no cou-
peased." rage to serve any more at the altar, but,
He died in 1303. See Note 87, despising the temple, and neglecting the
Purg. XX. sacrifices, hastened to be partakers of
70. Nicholas III., of the Orsini (the the unlawful allowance in the place of
Bears) of Rome, chosen Pope in 1277. exercise, after the game of Discus called
" He was the first Pope, or one of the them forth."
first," says Villani, VII. ch. 54, "in 87. Philip the Fair of France See
whose court simony was openly prac- Note 82, "He was one of the hand-
tised." On account of his many accom- somest men in the world," says Villani,
plishments hewas sumamed // Compiuto. \ IX. 66, "and one of the largest in
Milman, Lat. Christ., Book XI. ch. 4, person, and well proportioned in every
says of him : "At length the election limb, — a wise and good man for a lay-
fell on John Gaetano, of the noble
M S

man."
Jr64
NOTES rO INFERNO.

94. Matthew, chosen as an Apostle which, in direct defiance of history, acce-

in the place ol Judas. lerated the baptism of Constantine, and
99. According to Villani, VII. 54, sanctified a porphyry vessel as appropri-
Pope Nicholas III. wished to marry his ated to, or connected with, that holy
"liece to a nephew of Charles of Anjou, use : and at a later period produced the
King of Sicily. To this alliance the monstrous fable of the Donation.
King would not consent, saying : " Al- " But that with which Constantine
though he wears the red stockings, his actually did invest the Church, the right
lineage is not worthy to mingle with of holding landed property, and receiving
ours, and his power is not hereditary." it by bequest, was far more valuable to
This made the Pope indignant, and to- the Christian hierarchy, and not least to
gether with the bribes of John of Procidathe Bishop of Rome, than a prematura
led him to encourage the rebellion in
Sicily, which broke out a year after the and prodigal endowment."
Pope's
1282. death in the "Sicilian Vespers," CANTO XX.
107. The Church of Rome under
I. In the Fourth Bolgia are punished
Nicholas, Boniface, and Clement. Reve-
lation xvii. I — 3 :— the Soothsayers
them, :—
" And there came one of the seven " Because they wished to see too far before
atigels which had the seven vials, and Backward they look, and backward make
talked with me, saying unto me. Come
hither ; I will show unto thee the judg- their way."
ment of the great whore that sitteth upon 9. Processions chanting prayers and
many waters ; with whom the kings of jsupplications.
the earth have committed fornication, 13. Ignaro in Spenser's Faerie Queene,
and the inhabitants of the earth have I. viii. 31 :—
been made drunk with the wine of her " But very uncouth sight was to behold.
fornication. So he carried me away in How he did fashion his untoward pace ;
For as he forward moved his footing old.
the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw So backward still was turned his wrinkled
a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, hav-
34. Amphiaraus was one of the seven
ing seven heads and ten horns."
The seven heads are interpreted to kings against Thebes. Foreseeing his
mean the Seven Virtues, and the ten own fate, he concealed himself, to avoid
face."
horns the Ten Commandments. going to the war ; but his wife Eriphyle,
no. Revelation x\\\. 12, 13: — bribed by a diamond necklace (as famous
" And the ten horns which thou sawest in ancient story as the Cardinal de
are ten kings, .... and shall give their Rohan's in modern), revealed his hiding-
place, and he went to his doom with the
power and strength unto the beast." others.
117. Gower, Confes. Amant., Pro-
./^schylus. The Seven against Thebes :
logus : — " I will tell of the sixth, a man most
" The patrimonie and the richesse
Which to Silvester in pure alraesse prudent and in valour the best, the seer,
The firste Constantinus lefte." the mighty Amphiaraus And
through his mouth he gives utterance to
Upon this supposed donation of im-
mense domains by Constantine to the this speech ' I, for my part, in
very truth shall fatten this soil, seer as I
Pope, called the " Patrimony of St.
Peter," Milman, Lat. Christ., Book I. am, buried beneath a hostile earth.' "
ch. 2, remarks : — Statius, Thebaid, VIII. 47, Lewis'*
" Silvester has become a kind of hero
of religious fable. But it was not so Tr. :— of my treacherous wife for cursed
" Bought
much the genuine mythical spirit which
And in the list of Argive chiefs enrolled,
unconsciously transmutes history into Resigned to fate I sought the Theban plain ;
legend ; it was rather deliberate inven- Whence flock the shades that scarce tfaf
tion, with a specific aim and design,
realm contain ; ' •
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

When, how my soul yet dreads 1 an earth- would seemingly not have spoken of the
quake came, Carrara hills in the whole course of his
Big with destruction, and my trembling
frame. poem : when he does allude to them, he
Rapt from the midst of gaping thousands speaks of their white marble, and their
hurled command of stars and sea, but has
To night eternal in thy nether world." evidently no regard for the hills them-
40. The Theban soothsayer. Ovid, selves. There is not a single phrase or
H/rf., III., Addison's Tr. : — syllable throughout the poem which in-
dicates such a regard. Ugolino, in his
"It happen'd.once, within a shady wood. dream, seemed to himself to be in the
Two twisted snakes he in conjunction view'd,
When with his staff their slimy folds he broke, mountains, ' by cause of which the Pisan
And lost his manhood at the fatal stroke.
cannot see Lucca ;' and it is impossible
But, self-same
The after sevenserpents
revolving years
in the wood : to look up from Pisa to that hoary slope
he view'd
self-same
' And if,' says he, ' such virtue m you lie, without remembering the awe that there
That he who dares your slimy folds untie is in the passage ; nevertheless it was as
Must change his kind, a second stroke I'll a hunting-ground only that he remem-
Again he struck the snakes, and stood again bered these hills. Adam of Brescia,
New-sex'd, and straight recovered into man. tormented with eternal thirst, remembers
When Juno fired, the hills of Romena, but only for the
More than so trivial an affair required, sake of their sweet waters. "
Deprived him, in her fury, of his sight. 55. Manto, daughter of Tiresias, who
And left him groping round in sudden night.
fled from Thebes, the "City of Bacchus,"
But Jove (for so it is in heav'n decreed when it became subject to the tyranny of
That no one god repeal another's deed)
Irradiates all his soul with inward light.
Cleon.
And with the prophet's art relieves the want 63. Lake Benacus is now called the
of sight." Lago di Garda. It is pleasantly alluded
to by Claudian in his "Old Man of
45. His beard. The word " plumes"
is used by old English writers in this Verona," who has seen " the grove grow
old coeval with himself "" Verona seems
sense. Ford, Lady's Trial : —
" Now the down
To him remoter than the swarthy Ind,
Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age." He deems the Lake Benacus as the shore
See also Ping. I. 42. OftheRedSea."
46. An Etrurian soothsayer. Lucan, 65. The Pennine Alps, or Alpes Pceme,
Pkarsaliaf I., Rowe's Tr. :— watered by the brooklets flowing into
" Of these
the Sarca, which is the principal tribu-
age, the chief, for learning famed and
tary of Benaco.
Aruns by name, a venerable sage. 69. The place where the three dioceses
At Luna lived." of Trent, Brescia, and Verona meet.
Ruskin, Modem Painters, III. p. 246, 70. At the outlet of the lake.
says :— 77. ^neid, X. : —
" But in no part of the poem do we " MinciuK crowned witli sea-green reeds."
find allusion to mountains in any other
than a stern light ; nor the slightest evi- Milton, Lycidas : —
dence that Dante cared to look at them. " Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with voca*
From that hill of San Miniato, whose
steps he knew so well, the eye com- 82. Manto. Benvenutodalmola says:
mands, at the farther extremity of the reeds."should here be rendered Vi-
" Virgin
Val d'Amo, the whole purple range of
the mountains of Carrara, peaked and 93. Aitteid, X. : " Ocnus, .... son
mighty, seen always against the sunset of the prophetic Manto, and of the Tus-
light in silent outline, the chief forms can river, who gave walls and the name
rago."
that rule the scene as twilight fades of his mother to thee, O Mantua !"
away. By this vision Dante seems to 95. Pinamonte dei Buonacossi, a bold,
have been wholly unmoved, and, but ambitious man, persuaded Alberto, Count
for Lucan's mention of Aruns at Luna, of Casalodi and Lord of Mantua, to
i66 NOTES TO INFERNO.

banish to their estates the chief nobles of A wizard of such dreaded fame
the city, and then, stirring up a popular That when, his
Him listed in Salamanca's
magic wand tocave,
wave.
tumult, fell upon the rest, laying waste The bells would ring in Notre Dame !
their houses, and sending them into exile Some of his skill he taught to me ;
And, warrior, I could say to thee
or to prison, and thus greatly depopu- The words that cleft Eildon hills in three,
lating the city. And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone ;
no. Iliad, 1. (x) '. "AndCalchas, the But within,
to speak them were a deadly sin ;
son of Thestor, arose, the best of augurs, And for having but thought them my heart
a man who knew the present, the future,
and the past, and who had guided the A treble penance must be done."
ships of the Achaeans to Ilium, by that And the opening of the tomb to recover
power of prophecy which Phoebus Apollo
the Magic Book :—
gave him." " Before their eyes the wizard lay.
112. yEneid, IT. 114: "In suspense As if he had not been dead a day.
we send Eurypylus to consult the oracle His hoary beard in silver rolled,
of Apollo, and he brings back from the He seemed some seventy winters old ;
shrine these mournful words : ' O Greeks, AWith
palmer's amice Spanish
a wrought wrappedbaldric
him round.
bound.
ye appeased the winds with blood and a Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea ;
virgin slain, when first ye came to the His left hand held his book of might ;
Trojan shores ; your return is to be A silver cross was in his right ;
sought by blood, and atonement made The lamp was placed beside his knee ;
High and majestic was his look.
At which the fellest fiends had shook.
by a Grecian life.' "
Dante calls Virgil's poem a Tragedy, And all unruffled was his face :—
to mark its sustained and lofty style, in They trusted his soul had gotten grace."
contrast with that of his own Comedy,
of which he has already spoken once, See also Appendix to the Lay of the Last
Canto XVI. 138, and speaks again, Minstrel.
Canto XXI. 2 ; as if he wished the 118. Guido Bonatti, a tiler and astro-
reader to bear in mind that he is wear- loger of Forli, who accompanied Guido
ing the sock, and not the buskin. di Montefeltro when he marched out of
116. "Michael Scott, the Magician," Forli to attack the French " under the
says Benvenuto da Imola, " practised great oak." Villani, VII. 81, in a pas-
divination at the court of Frederick II., sage in which the he and him get-a little
and dedicated to him a book on natural
entangled, says : " It is said that the
history, which I have seen, and in which Count of Montefeltro was guided Vjy
among other things he treats of Astro- divination and the adviceof Guido Bonatti
logy, then deemed infallible It (a tiler who had become an astrologer),
is said, moreover, that he foresaw his or some other strategy, and he gave the
own death, but could not escape it. He orders ; and in this enterprise he gave
had prognosticated that he should be him the gonfalon and said, ' So long as a
killed by the falling of a small stone rag of it remains, wherever thou bearest
upon his head, and always wore an iron it, thou shall be victorious ; ' but I rather
skiiil-cap under his hood, to prevent this think his victories were owing to his own
disaster. But entering a church on the
wits and his mastery in war."
festival of Corpus Domini, he lowered Benvenuto da Imola reports the fol-
his liood in sign of veneration, not of lowing anecdote of the same personages.
Christ, in whom he did not believe, but " As the Count was standing one day in
to deceive the common people, and a the large and beautiful square of Forli,
small stone fell from aloft on his bare there came a rustic mountaineer and gave
him a basket of pears. And when the
head."
The reader will recall the midnight
Count said, ' Stay and sup with me,' the
scene of the monk of St. Mary's and rustic answered, ' My Lord, I wish to go
William of Deloraine in Scott's Lay of home before it rains ; for infallibly there
the Last Minstrel, Canto II. :— will be much rain to-day.' The Count,
" In these far climes it was my lot
wondering at him, sent for Guido Bonatti,
To meet tbe wondrous Michael Scott; as a great astrologer, and said to him,
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

'Dost thou hear what this man says?' man in the moon ; this thorn-bush, my
Guide answered, ' He does not know thorn-bush
The time; and
here this dog, myisdc^."
indicated an hour
what he is saying; but wait a little.'
Guido went to his study, and, having after simrise on Saturday morning.
taken his astrolabe, observed the aspect
of the heavens. And on returning he
CANTO XXI.
said that it was impossible it should rain
that day. But the rustic obstinately 1. The Fifth Bolgia, and the punish-
affirming what he had said, Guido asked ment of Barrators, or " Judges who take
him, ' How dost then know?' The rus- bribes for giving judgment."
tic answered, ' Because to-day my ass, in 2. Having spoken in the preceding
coming out of the stable, shook his head
Canto of Virgil's " lofty Tragedy," Dante
and pricked up his ears, and whenever here speaks of his own Comedy, as if to
he does this, it is a certain sign that the prepare the reader for the scenes which
weather will soon change.' ,Then Guido are to follow, and for which he apolo-
replied, ' Supposing this to be so, how gises in Canto XXII. 14, by repeating
dost thou know there will be much rain ?' the proverb,
'Because,' said he, 'my ass, with his " In the church
ears pricked up, turned his head aside,
With saints, and in the tavern with carousers. "
and wheeled about more than usual.'
Then, with the Count's leave, the rustic 7. Of the Arsenal of Venice Mr. Hil-
departed in haste, much fearing the rain, lard thus speaks in his Six Months in
though the weather was very clear. Italy, I. 63 :—
And an hour afterwards, lo, it began to " No reader of Dante will fail to pay
thunder, and there was a great down- a visit to the Arsenal, from which, m
pouring of waters, like a deluge. Then order to illustrate the terrors of his
Guido began to cry out, with great indig- ' Inferno, ' the great poet drew one of
nation and derision, ' Who has deluded these striking and picturesque images,
characteristic alike of the boldness and
me? Who has put me to shame?' And
for a long time this was a great source of the power of his genius, which never
hesitated to look for its materials among
merriment among the people."
Asdente, a cobbler of Parma. " I the homely details and familiar incidents
think he must have had acuteness of of life. In his hands, the boiling of
mind, although illiterate ; some having pitch and the calking of seams ascend to
the gift of prophecy by the inspiration the dignity of poetry. Besides, it is the
of Heaven." Dante mentions him in the most impressive and characteristic spot
Convito, IV. 16, where he says that, if in Venice. The Ducal Palace and the
nobility consisted in being known and Church of St. Mark's are symbols of
talked about, " Asdente the shoemaker pride and power, but the strength of
of Parma would be more noble than any Venice resided here. Her whole his-
of his fellow-citizens." tory, for six hundred years, was here
126. The moon setting in the sea west epitomized, and as she rose and sunk,
of Seville. In the Italian popular tradi- the hum of labouriiere swelled and sub-
tion to which Dante again alludes. Par. sided. Here was the index-hand which
II. 51, the Man in the Moon is Cain marked the culmination and decline of
with his Thorns. This belief seems to her greatness. Built upon several small
have been current too in England, Mid- islands, which are united by a wall of
else one summer mustN^ight^s l3ream.
come : "Orof two miles in circuit, its extent and com-
III.a ibush
in with pleteness, decayed as it is, show what
thorns and a lantern, and say he comes the naval power of Venice once was, as
to disfigure, or to present, the person of the disused armour of a giant enables us
moon-shine." And again, V. i: "The to measure his stature and strength.
man should be put into the lantern. Near the entrance are four marble lions,
How is it else the man i' the moon ? brought by Morosini from the Pelopon-
All that I have to say is to tell nesus in 1685, two of which are striking
you, that the lantem is the moon ; I, the works of art. Of these two, one is by
l68 NOTES TO INFERNO.

far the oldest thing in Venice, being not It sweeps into the affrighted sea.
In morning's smile its eddies coil,
much younger than the battle of Mara- Its billows sparkle, toss, and boil,
thon ; and thus, from the height of Torturing all its quiet light
twenty-three centuries, entitled to look Into columns fierce and bright."
down upon St. Mark's as the growth of
yesterday. The other two are nonde-
script animals, of the class commonly 63. Canto IX. 22 :—
called heraldic, and can be styled lions " True is it once before I here below
only by courtesy. In the armoury are Was conjured by that pitiless Erictho,
Who summoned back the shades unto then
some very interesting objects, and none
more so than the great standard of the
Turkish admiral, made of crimson silk, 95. bodies."
A fortified town on the Amo, in
taken at the battle of I^epanto, and the Pisan territory. It was besieged by
which Cervantes may have grasped with the troops of Florence and Lucca in
his unwounded hand. A tew fragments 1289, and capitulated. As the garrison
of some of the very galleys that were marched out under safe-guard, they were
engaged in that memorable fight are also terrified by the shouts of the crowd,
preserved here." crying: "Hang them! hang them!"
37. Malebranche, Evil-claws, a general In this crowd was Dante, ' ' a youth of
HMie for the devils.
38. Santa Zita, the Patron Saint of twenty-five," says Benvenuto da Imola.
no. Along, the circular dike that
Lucca, where the magistrates were called separates one Bolgia from another.
Elders, or Aldermen. In Florence they 111. This is a falsehood, as all the
bore the name of Priors.
bridges over the next Bolgia are broken.
41. A Barrator, in Dante's use of the See Canto XXIII, 140.
word, is to the State what a Simoniac is 112. At the close of the preceding
to the Church ; one who sells justice, Canto the time is indicated as being an
office, or employment. hour after sunrise. Five hours later
Benvenuto says that Dante includes would be noon, or the scriptural sixth
Bontura with the rest, " because he is hour, the hour of the Crucifixion. Dante
speaking ironically, as who should say, understands St. Luke to say that Christ
' Bontura is the greatest barrator of all. ' died at this hour. Convito, IV. 23 :
For Bontura was an arch-barrator, who ' ' Luke says that it was about the sixth
sagaciously led and managed the whole hour when he died ; that is, the culmina-
commune, and gave offices to whom he
wished. He likewise excluded whom he tion of the day." Add to the "one
thousand and two hundred sixty-six
wished."
46. Bent down in the attitude of one years," the thirty-four of Christ's life on
earth, and it gives the year 1300, the
in prayer ; therefore the demons mock date of the Infernal Pilgrimage.
him with the allusion to the Santo Volto.
114. Broken by the earthquake at
48. The Santo Volto, or Holy Face, the time of the Crucifixion, as the rock
is a crucifix still preserved in the Cathe- leading to the Circle of the Violent,
dral of Lucca, and held in great venera- Canto XII. 45 :—
tion by the people. The tradition is
that it is the work of Nicodemus, who " And at that moment this primeval rock
sculptured it from memory. Both here and elsewhere made such over-
See also Saccbetti, Nov. 73, in which
a preacher mocks at the Santo Volto in ft
the church of Santa Croce at Florence. As inthrow."
the next Bolgia Hypocrites are
49. The Serchio flows near Lucca. punished, Dante couples them with the
Shelley, in a poem called The Boat, on Violent, by making the shock of the
the Serchio, describes it as a "torrent earthquake
elsewhere.
more felt near them than
fierce," 125. The next crag or bridge, tra-
" Which fervid from its mountain source, versing the dikes and ditches.
Shallow, smooth, and strong, doth come ;
Swift as fire, tempestuously 137. See Canto XVIL 75.
 169

NOTES TO INFERNO.

bullocks : the car was always red, and

the bullocks, even to their hoofs, ctivered
CANTO XXII.
as above described, but with red or white
I. The subject of the preceding according to the faction ; the ensign staff
Canto is continued in this. was red, lofty, and tapering, and sur-
mounted bya cross or golden ball : on
5. Aretino, P'ita di Dante, says that
Dante in his youth was present at the this, between two white fringed veils,
"great and memorable battle, which hung the national standard, and half-
befell at Campaldino, fighting valiantly way down the mast, a crucifix. A plat-
on horseback in the front rank." It was form ran out in front of the car, spacious
there he saw the vaunt-couriers of the enough for a few chosen men to defend
Aretines, who began the battle with it, while behind, on a corresponding
such a vigorous charge, that they routed space, the musicians with their military
the Florentine cavalry, and drove them instruments gave spirit to the combat :
back upon the infantry. mass was said on the Carroccio ere it
7. Napier, Florentine Hist. , I. 2 14 — quitted the city, the surgeons were
2I7» gives this description of the Car- stationed near it, and not unfrequently a
roccio and the Martinella of the Floren- chaplain also attended it to the field.
tines—: The loss of the Carroccio was a great
"In order to give more dignity to the disgrace, and betokened utter discom-
national army and form a rallying point fiture* itwas given to the most distin-
for the troops, there had been established guished knight, who had a public salary
a great car, called the Carroccio, drawn and wore conspicuous armour and a
by two beautiful oxen, which, carrying golden belt : the best troops were sta-
the Florentine standard, generally accom- tioned round it, and there was frequently
panied them into the field. This car was the hottest of the fight
painted vermilion, the bullocks were "Besides the Carroccto,\}n& Florentine
covered with scarlet cloth, and the driver, army was accompanied by a great bell,
a man of some consequence, was dressed called Martinella or Campana deglt
in crimson, was exempt from taxation, Asini, which, for thirty days before hos-
and served without pay ; these oxen tilities began, tolled continually day and
were maintained at the public charge in night from the arch of Porta Santa
a public hospital, and the white and red Maria, as a public declaration of war,
banner of the city was spread above the and, as the ancient chronicle hath it,
car between two lofty spars. Those ' for greatness of mind, ihat the enemy
taken at the battle of Monteaperto are
still exhibited in Siena Cathedral as might
At the havesame full timetime to the
also, prepare himself.'
Carroccit was
trophies of that fatal day. drawn from its place in the offices of
"Macchiavelli erroneously places the .San Giovanni by the most distinguished
adoption of the Carroccio by the Floren- knights and noble vassals of the republic,
tines at this epoch, but it was long before and conducted in state to the Alercaio
in use, and probably was copied from Nuot'o, where it was placed upon the
the Milanese, as soon as Florence be- circular stone still existing, and remained
came strong and independent enough to there until the army took the field.
Then also the Martinella was removed
equip a national army. Eribert, -Arch-
bishop of Milan, seems to have been its from its station to a wooden tower placed
author, for in the war between Conrad I. on another car, and with the Carroccio
and that city, besides other arrange- served to guide the troops by night and
ments for military organisation, he is day. 'And with these two pomps, of
said to have finished by the invention of the Carroccio and Campana, 'says Males-
the Carroccio; it was a pious and not pini. the pride of the old citizens, our
impolitic imitation of the ark as it was
carried before the Israelites. This vehicle ancestors, was ruled.' "
15. Equivalent to the proverb, "Do
is described, and also represented in in Rome as the Romans do."
ancient paintings, as a four-wheeled ob- 48. Giampolo, or Ciampolo, say all
long car, drawn by two, four, or six the commentators ; but nothing more is
I70 NOTES TO INFERNO.

known of him than his name, and what "A painted

he tells us here of his history. Who wentpeople
aboutthere
with below we found,
footsteps very slow,
Weeping and in their looks subdued and
52. It is not very clear which King
Thibault is here meant, but it is proba-
l)ly King Thibault IV., the crusader and Chaucer, Knightes Tale, 2780 : —
weary." " In his colde grave
poet, born 1201, died 1253. His^poems
have been published by Leveque de la
Ravalliere, under the title of Les Poisies Alone, withouten any compagnie."
(ill Roi de Navarre; and in one of his And Gower, Conf. Amant. :—
songs (Chanson 53) he makes a clerk " To muse in his philosophic
address him as the Boris Rots Thiebaut.
Dante cites him two or three times in Sole withouten corapaignie "
his Volg. Eloq., and may have taken 4. The Fables of ^sop, by Sir Roger
this expression from his song, as he does L'Estrange, IV.: "There fell out a
afterwards, Canto XXVIII. 135, lo Re bloody quarrel once betwixt the Frogs
jozrs, the Re Giovane, or Young King, and the Mice, about the sovereignty of
from the songs of Bertrand de Born. the Fenns ; and whilst two of their
65. A Latian, that is to say, an champions were disputing it at swords
Italian. point, down comes a kite powdering
82. This Frate Gomita was a Sar- upon them in the interim, and gobbles
dinian in the employ of Nino d)!* Vis- up both together, to part the fray. "
conti, judge in the jurisdiction of Gallura,
mo,7.from
Both the words signifying
Latin modo "now;"
; and issa, from
the "gentle Judge Nino" of Pitrg,
VIII. 53. The frauds and peculations the Latin ipsa; meaning ipsa hora.
of the Friar brought him finally to the " The Tuscans say mo," remarks Ben-
gallows. Gallura is the north-eastern venuto, " the Lombards issa"
jurisdiction of the island. 37. *' When he is in a fright and
88. Don Michael Zanche was Senes- hurry, and has a very steep place to go
chal of King Enzo of Sardinia, a natural down, Virgil has to carry him alto-
,son of the Emperor Frederick II. Dante gether," says Mr. Ruskin. See Canto
gives him the title of Don, still used in XII., Note 2.
Sardinia for Signore. After the death of 63. Benvenuto speaks of the cloaks
Enzo in prison at Bologna, in 1271, Don of the German monks as " ill-fitting and
Vlichael won by fraud and flattery his
vidow Adelasia, and became himself 66. The leaden cloaks which Frede-
shapeless. "
Lord of Logodoro, the north-western rick put upon malefactors were straw in
•urisdiction, adjoining that of Gallura. comparison. The Emperor Frederick II.
The gossip between the Friar and the is said to have punished traitors by
Seneschal, which is here described by wrapping them in lead, and throwing
Ciampolo, recalls the Vision of the them into a heated cauldron. I can find
Sardinian poet Araolla, a dialogue be- no historic authority for this. It rests
tween himself and Gavino Sambigucci, only on tradition ; and on the same
written in the soft dialect of Logodoro, authority the same punishment is said to
a mixture of Italian, Spanish, and Latin, have been inflicted in Scotland, and is
and beginning :— thus <lescribed in the ballad of "Lord
Soulis," Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish
" Dulche, amara raeraoria de giornadas
Border, IV. 256 :—
f'uggitivas cun dopjiia peiia mia,
Qui quanto plus Tistringo sunt passadas." " On a circle of stones they placed the pot,
On a circle of stones but barely nine ;
See Valery, V^oyages en Corse el en They heated it red and fiery hot.
Sardaigne, II. 410. Till shine.
the burnished brass did glimmer and

CANTO xxin. " They roU'd him up in a sheet of lead,

A sheet of lead for a funeral pall,
And plunged him into the cauldron rod,
I. In this Sixth Bolgia the Hypo- And melted him, — lead, and bones, ani
crites are punished.

all."
 171
NOTES TO INFERNO.

We get also a glimpse of this punish- accord in seeking rather their own pri-
ment in Ducange, Glos. Capa Plinnbea,
where he cites the case in which one vate gains than the common good. "
108. A street in Florence, laid waste
man tells another : " If our Holy Father by the Guelfs.
the Pope knew the life you are leading, 113. Hamlet, I, 2. :—
he would have you put to death in a
cloak of lead. " " Nor windy suspiration of forced breath.'
67. Comedy of Errors, IV. 2 :—
115. Caiaphas, the High-Priest, who
"A devil in an everlasting garment hath him."
thought "expediency" the best thing.
91. Bologna was renowned for its 121. Annas, father-in-law of Caia-
University ; and the speaker, who was
a Bolognese, is still mindful of his 134. The great outer circle surround-
college. phas.ing this division of the Inferno.
95. Florence, the Mlissima e famo- 142. He may have heard in the lec-
sissimafiglia di Boma, as Dante calls it, tures of the University an exposition of
Convitc, I. 3, 'John viii 44: "Ye are of your father
103. An order of knighthood, esta- the devil, and the lusts of your father ye
blished by Pope Urban IV. in 1261, will do : he was a murderer from the
under the title of " Knights of Santa beginning, and abode not in the truth,
Maria." The name Frati Gandenti, or because there is no truth in him. When
"Jovial Friars," was a nickname, be- he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his
cause they lived in their own homes and own ; for he is a liar, and the father
were not bound by strict monastic rules.
Napier, Flor. Hist. I. 269, says :—
" A short time before this a new
order of religious knighthood under the of it." CANTO XXIV.
name of Frati Gandenti began in Italy :
it was not bound by vows of celibacy, 1. The Seventh Bolgia, in which
or any very severe regulations, but took Thieves are punished.
the usual oaths to defend widows and 2. The sun enters Aquarius during
orphans and make peace between man the last half of January, when the Equi-
and man : the founder was a Bolognese nox is near, and the hoar-frost in the
gentleman, called Loderingo di Liandolo, morning looks like snow on the fields,
who enjoyed a good reputation, and but soon evaporates. If Dante had been
along with a brother of the same order, a monk of Alonte Casino, illuminating a
named Catalano di Malavolti, one a manuscript, he could not have made a
Guelf and the other a Ghibelline, was more clerkly and scholastic flourish with
now invited to Florence by Count Guide his pen than this, nor have painted a
to execute conjointly the office of Podesti. more beautiful picture than that which
It was intended by thus dividing the follows. The mediaeval poets are full of
supreme authority between two magis- lovely descriptions of Spring, whiih seems
trates of different politics, that one to blossom and sing through all their
should correct the other, and justice be verses ; but none is more beautiful or
equally administered ; more especially suggestive than this, though serving only
as, in conjunction with the people, they as an illustration.
were allowed to elect a deliberative 21. In Canto I.
council of thirty-six citizens, belonging 43. See what Mr. Ruskin says of
to the principal trades without distinction Dante as "a notably bad climber," Canto
XII. Note 2.
of party."
Farther on he says that these two 55. The ascent of the Mount of Pur-
Frati Gaudenti " forfeited all public gatory.
confidence by their peculation and hypo- 73. The next circular dike, dividing
the fosses.
crisy." And Villani, VII. 13 : "Although
they were of different parties, under 86. This list ol serpents is from Lucan,
cover of a false hyixjcrisy, they were of Phars. IX 711, Rowe'sTr. :—
179 NOTES TO INFERNO.

' Slimy Chelyders the parched earth distain And,vives

though her body die, her fame sur-
And trace a reeking furrow on the plain.
The spotted Cenchrls, rich in various dyes,
Shoots in a Hne, and forth directly flies. A secular bird ages of lives. "

ITie lutes,
Swimmer there the crystal stream pol- 114. Any obstruction, "such as the
epilepsy," says Benvenuto. "Gouts and
And swift thro' air the flying Javelin shoots. dropsies, catarrhs and oppilations," says
Jeremy Taylor.
The Amphisbaena doubly armed appears 125. Vanni Fucci, who calls himself a
At either end a threatenmg head she rears ;
Raised on his active tail Pareas stands, mule, was a bastard son of Fuccio de'
Lazzari. All the commentators paint
And as he passes, furrows up the sands." him in the darkest colours. Dante had
Milton, Parad. Lost, X. 521 : — known him as "a man of blood and
wrath," and seems to wonder he is here,
" Dreadful was the din and not in the circle of the Violent, or
Of hissing
now through the hall, thick-swarming of the Irascible. But his great crime
With complicated monsters head and tail. was the robbery of a sacristy. Benve-
Scorpion, and asp, and amphisbsena dire. nuto da Imola relates the story in detail.
Cerastes horned, hydrus, and elops drear.
And dipsas. He speaks of him as a man of depraved
life, many of whose misdeeds went un-
Of the Phareas, Peter Comestor, Hist. punished, because he was of noble family.
Scholast., Gloss of Genesis iii. i, ftys : Being banished from Pistoia for his
crimes, he returned to the city one night
"And this he (Lucifer) did by means of of the Carnival, and was in company
the serpent ; for then it was erect like
man ; being afterwards made prostrate with eighteen other revellers, among
by the curse ; and it is said the Phareas whom was Vanni della Nona, a notary ;
when, not content with their insipid
walks erect even to this day."
Of the Amphisbaena, Brunetto La- diversions, he stole away with two com-
panions to the church of San Giacomo,
tini, Tresorl. v. 140, says: "The Am- and, finding its custodians absent, or
phimenie is a kind of serpent which has
asleep with feasting and drinking, he
two heads ; one in its right place, and
the other in the tail ; and with each she entered the sacristy and robbed it of all its
can bite ; and she runs swiftly, and her precious jewels. These he secreted in
the house of the notary, which was close
eyes shine like candles." at hand, thinking that on account of his
93. Without a hiding-place, or the honest repute no suspicion would fall
heliotrope, a precious stone of great
upon him. A certam Rampino was
virtue against poisons, and supposed to
arrested for the theft, and put to the
render the wearer invisible. Upon this
torture ; when Vanni Fucci, having
latter vulgar error is founded Boccaccio's escaped to Monte Carelli, beyond the
comical story of Calandrino and his
friends Bruno and Buffulmacco, Decant., Florentine jurisdiction, sent a messenger
Gior. VIII., Nov. 3. to Rampino's father, confessing all the
107. Brunetto Latini, Tresorl. v. 164, circumstances of the crime. Hereupon
says of the Phcenix : " He goeth to a the notary was seized "on the first Mon-
day in Lent, as he was going to a sermon
good tree, savoury and of good odour, and
maketh a pile thereof, to which he set- in the church of the Minorite Friars,"
teth fire, and entereth straightway into and was hanged for the theft, and Ram-
pino set at liberty.
it toward the rising of the sun." No one has a good word to say for
And Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1697 ;
Vanni Fucci, except the Canonico Cres-
" So Virtue, given for lost, cimbeni, who, in the Comeniarj to the
Depressed and overthrown, as seemed, /slo'ia della Volg. Poesia, II. ii., p. 99,
Like that self-begotten bird
In the Arabian woods cmbost, counts him among the Italian Poets,
That no second knows nor third. and speaks of him as a man of great
And lay erewhile a holocaust. courage and gallantry, and a leader o'
From out her ashy womb now teemed,
Revives, reflourishes, then vigorous most the Neri party of Pistoia, in 1300. He
When most unactive deemed ;
smooths over Dante's invectives bj
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

remarking that Dante " makes not too founded by the soldiers of Catiline.
honourable mention of him in the Come- Brunetto Latini, Tresor, I. i. 37, says :
dy ;" and quotes a sonnet of his, which " They found Catiline at the foot of the
is pathetic from its utter despair and mountains and he had his army and his
self-reproach : — people in that place where is now the
" For I have lost the good 1 might have had city of Pestoire. There was Catiline
Through little wit, and not of mine own will." conquered in battle, and he and his
It is like the wail of a lost soul, and the were slain ; also a great part of the
same in tone as the words which Dante Romans were killed. And on account
here puts into his mouth. Dante may of the pestilence of that great slaughter
have heard him utter similar self-accusa- the city was called Pestoire."
tions while living, and seen on his face The Italian proverb says, Pistoia la
the blush of shame, which covers it ferrigna, iron Pistoia, or Pistoia the
here.
pitiless.
15. Capaneus, Canto XIV. 44.
143. The Neri were banished from
Pistoia in 1301 ; the Bianchi, from
Florence in 1302. 19. See
25. CantowasXIII.the Note
Cacus 9. ' Giant
classic
145. This vapour or lightning flash Despair, who had his cave in Mount
Aventine, and stole a part of the herd
from Val di Magra is the Marquis Mala- of Geryon, which Hercules had brought
spini,
banished and Neri the of" turbid
Pistoia,clouds" are isthe
whom he to to Italy. Virgil, ^neid, VIII., Dry-
gather about him to defeat the Bianchi den's Tr. :—
at Campo Piceno, the old battle-field of " See yon huge cavern, yawning wide around,
Catiline. As Dante was of the Bianchi Where still the shattered mountain spreads the

party, this prophecy of impending dis- That spacio\is

ground :hold grim Cacus once possessed,
aster and overthrow could only give him Tremendous fiend ! half human, half a beast :
pain. See Canto VI. Note 65. Deep, deep as hell, the dismal dungeon lay,
Dark and
floor,impervious to the beams of day.
With copious slaughter smoked the purple
CANTO XXV.
Pale heads hung horrid on the lofty door.
1. The subject of the preceding Canto Dreadful to view ! and dropped with crimson
is continued in this.
2. This vulgar gesture of contempt 28. Dante makes a Centaur of Cacus,
consists in thrusting the thumb between
the first and middle fingers. It is the and separates him from the others be-
cause he was fraudulent as well as
same that the ass-driver made at Dante
violent. Virgil gore." calls him only a mon-
in the street ; Sacchetti, Nov. CXV. : ster, a half-man, Scmihominis Caci
" When he was a little way off, he
turned round to Dante, and, thrusting
35. Agr.ello Brunelleschi, Buoso degli
out his tongue and making a fig at him fades. Abati, and Puccio Sciancato.
with his hand, said, ' Take that.'" 38. The story of Cacus, which Virgil
Villani, VI. 5, says: "On the Rock was telling.
of Carmignano there was a tower seventy
43. Cianfa Donati, a Florentine noble-
yards high, and upon it two marble arms, man. He appears immediately, as a
the hands of which were making the figs serpent with six feet, and fastens upon
at Florence." Others say these hands Agnello Brunelleschi.
were on a finger-post by the road-side. 65. Some commentators contend that
In the Merry Wives of Windsor, I. 3, in this line papiro does not mean paper,
PistOi says : ' ' Convey, the wise it call ; but a lamp- wick made of papyrus. This
Steal ! foh ; a fico for the phrase ! " And destroys the beauty and aptness of the
Martino, in Beaumont and Fletcher's image, and rather degrades
Widow, V. I :— " The leaf of the reed,
" The fig of everlasting obloquy Which has grown through the clefts in the
Go with him."
ruins of ages."
10. Pistoia is supposed to have been 73. These four lists, or hands, art
'74
NOTES TO INFERNO.

the fore feet of the serpent and the arms Bubbling on heaps, in boiling cauldrons rise ;
Nor swells the stretching canvas half so fast,
of Agnello. When the sails gather all the driving blast.
76. Shakespeare, in the "Additional Strain mast.
the tough yards, and bow the loftj
Poems to Chester's Love's Martyrs," The various parts no longer now are known.
Knight's Shakespeare, VII. 193, speaks One headless, formless heap remains alone."
of "Two distincts, division nonej" and
continues :— 97. Ovid, Metamorpk., IV., Eus-
" Property was thus appalled den's Tr. : —
That the self was not the same.
Single nature's " ' Come, my Harmonia, come, thy face recline
Neither two nor double
one wasname
called. Down mine.
to my face : still touch what still is

" Reason, in itself confounded, O let these hands, while hands, be gently
Saw division grow together ; pressed,
To themselves yet either neither,
While yet the serpent has not all possessed.'
Simple were so well compounded." More he had spoke, but strove to speak in
83. This black serpent is Guercio The forky
vain, tongue
— refused to tell his pain.
Cavalcanti, who changes form with And learned in hissings only to complain.
Buoso degli Abati. " Then Cadmus,
shriekedstayHarmonia, ' Stay, my
!
95. Lucan, Phars., IX., Rowe's Glide not in such a monstrous shape away !
Tr. :— Destruction, like impetuous waves, rolls on.
Where are thy feet, thy legs, thy shoulders
" But soon a fate more sad with new surprise frame,
From the first object turns their wondering
eyes. Changed is thy visage, changed is all thy
Wretched Sabellus by a Seps was stung :
Fixed on his leg with deadly teeth it hung. Cadmusgone?
is only Cadmus now in name.
Sudden the soldier shook it from the wound, Ye gods ! my Cadmus to himself restore.
Transfixed and nailed it to the barren ground. Or me like him transform, — I ask no more.' "
Of all the dire, destructive serpent race,
None have so much of death, though none
are less. And v., Maynwaring's Tr. :—
For straight
drew. around the part the skin with- " The goddew,
so near, a chilly sweat possessed
My fainting limbs, at every pore expressed ;
flew, and
The flesh shrinking sinews backward My strength distilled in drops, my hair in

And left the naked bones exposed to view. My form

new was
: changed, and all my substance
The spreading poisons all the parts confound.
And the whole body sinks within the wound. Each frame
motion was a stream, and my whole

Small relics of the mouldering mass were left. Turned to a fount, which still preserves my
At once of substance as of form bereft ;
Dissolved, the whole in liquid poison ran.
And to a nauseous puddle shrunk the man.
See also Shelley's Arethum :—
" Arethusa arose
name."
So snows dissolved by southern breezes run.
So melts the wax before the noonday sun. From her couch of snows
Nor ends the wonder here ; though flames are In the Acroceraunian mountains, —
known From many
With cloud aand
jagfrom crag
To waste the flesh, yet still they spare the
oone : Shepherding her bright fountains.
Here seen.
none were left, no least remains were She leapt down the rocks.
With her rainbow locks
No marks to show that once the man had Streaming among the streams :
been. Her steps paved with green
The downward ravine
A fate of different kind Nasidius found, — Which slopes to the western gleams ;
A burning Prester gave the deadly wound, And gliding and springing.
She went, ever singing,
And straight a sudden flame began to spread,
And paint his visage with a glowing red. In murmurs as soft as sleep.
With swift expansion swells the bloated ITie Earth seemed to love her,
And Heaven smiled above her.
skin, —
Natight but an undistinguished mass is seen, As she lingered towards the deep."
While the fair human form lies lost within ;
The puffy poison spreads and heaves around.
Till all the man is ui the monster drowned.
144. Some editions read /a penna,
the pen, instead of la lingua, the tongue.
No more the steejy plate his breast can stay,
But yields, and gives the bursting poison way. 151. Gaville was a village in the
Not waters so, when fire the rage supplies, Valdamo, where Guercio Cavalcanti
 rs
NOTES TO INFERNO.

was murdered. The family took ven- place, from Vacchereccia to Porta Santa
Maria and the Ponte Vecchio, all was
geance upon the inhabitants in the old
Italian style, thus causing Gaville toone broad sheet of fire : more than nine-
lament the murder. teen hundred houses were consumed;
plunder and devastation revelled un-
checked aniongst the flames, whole races
were reduced in one moment to beggary,
CANTO XXVI.
and vast magazines of the richest mer-
I. The Eighth Bolgia, in which chandise were destroyed. The Caval-
canti, one of the most opulent families
Fraudulent Counsellors are punished. in Florence, beheld their whole property
4. Of these five Florentine nobles,
consumed, and lost all courage; they
Cianfa Donati, Agnello Brunelleschi,
made no attempt to save it, and, after
Buoso degli Abati, Puccio Sciancato,
almost gaining possession of the city,
and Guercio Cavalcanti, .nothing is were finally overcome by the opposite
known but what Dante tells us. Per-
haps that is enough.
10. Macbeth, I. 7: —
7. See Purg. IX. 13 :— faction. "
" If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere
" Just
Theat little
the hour when near
swallow, her sad
unto lay
the begins
morning. well
Perchance in memory of her former woes. It were done quickly."
And when the mind of man, a wanderer
More from the flesh, and less by thought 23. See /VjsrW. XII. 112: —
imprisoned.
Almost prophetic in its visions is." " O glorious stars ! O light impregnated
With mighty
ledge virtue, from which I acknow-
9. The disasters soon to befall Flor-
All of my genius, whatsoe'er it be."
ence, and in which even the neighbour-
ing town of Prato would rejoice, to 24. I may not bauiK or deprive my-
mention no others. These disasters self of this good.
vi^ere the fall o*" the wooden bridge of 34. The Prophet Elisha, 2 Kings
Carraia, with a crowd upon it, witness-
ing a Miracle Play on the Amo; the ii. 23:—
"And he went up from thence unto
strife of the Bianchi and Neri; and the Bethel; and as he was going up by the
great fire of 1304. See Villani, VIII., way, there came forth little children
70, 71. Napier, Florentine History, I. out of the city, and mocked him, and
394, gives this account: — said unto him. Go up, thou bald head;
" Battles first began between the go up, thou bald head. And he turned
Cerchi and Giugiii at their houses in back, and looked on them, and cursed
the Via del Garbo ; they fought day them in the name of the Lord: and
and night, and with the aid of the Ca- there came forth two she-bears out of
valcanti and Antellesi the former sub- the wood, and tare forty and two chil-
dued all that quarter: a thousand rural
adherents strengthened their bands, and dren of them."
35. Z Kings \\. II: —
that day might
destruction if an have seen disaster
unforseen the Neri's
" And it came to pass, as they still
had
went on and talked, that, behold, there
not turned the scale. A certain dis- appeared a chariot of fire, and horses
solute priest, called Neri Abati, prior of fire, and parted them both asunder;
of San Piero Scheraggio, false to his and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into
family and in concert with the Black
chiefs, consented to set fire to the dwell- 54. These " two sons of CEdipus, Ete-
heaven.
ings of his own kinsmen in Orto-san- ocles and Polynices, were so hostile to
Michele; the flames, assisted by faction, each other, that, when after death their
spread rapidly over the richest and most bodies were burned on the same funeral
crowded part of Florence: shops, ware- piia, the flames swayed apart, and the
houses, towers, private dwellings and ashes separated. Statius, Thebaid, XII

r
palaces, from the old to the new market-
43a Lewis's Tr. : —
 176 A'OTES TO INFERNO.

" Again behold the brothers ! When the fire II. 19, Miss Willi.ams's Tr., has this
Pervades their limbs in many a curling spire,
The vast hill trembles, and the intruder's corse passage : ' ' From the time we entered
Is driven from the pile with sudden force. the torrid zone, we were never wearied
The flames, dividing at the point, ascend with admiring, every night, the beauty
And at each other adverse rays extend.
of the Southern sky, which, as we ad-
I'hus when the ruler of the infernal state, vanced towards the south, opened new
Pale-visaged Dis, commits to stern debate
The sister-fiends, their brands, held forth to constellations to our view. We feel
fight.
an indescribable sensation, when, on
Now clash, then part, and shed a transient
approaching the equator, and particu-
light." larly on passing from one hemisphere to
56. The most cunning of the Greeks the other, we see those stars, which we
at the siege of Troy, now united in have contemplated from our infancy,
their punishment, as before in warlike progressively sink, and finally disappear.
wrath. Nothing awakens in the traveller a live-
59- As Troy was overcome by the lier remembrance of the immense distance
fraud of the wooden horse, it was in by which he is separated from his
a poetic sense the gateway by which country, than the aspect of an un-
.^neas went forth to establish the Ro- known firmament. The grouping of
man empire in Italy. the stars of the first magnitude,
62. Deidamia was a daughter of Ly- some scattered nebulae, rivalling in
comedes of Scyros, at whose court splendour the milky way, and tracks oi
Ulysses found Achilles, disguised in space remarkable for their extreme
woman's attire, and enticed him away blackness, give a particular physiog-
to the siege of Troy, telling him that, nomy to the Southern sky. This sight
according to the oracle, the city could fills with admiration even those who,
not be taken without him, but not uninstructed in the branches of accurate
telling him thatf according to the same science, feel the same emotion of delight
oracle, he would lose his life there. in the contemplation of the heavenly
63. Ulysses and Diomed together vault, as in the view of a beautiful land-
stole the Palladium, or statue of Pallas, scape, or a majestic site. A traveller
at Troy, the safeguard and protection of has no need of being a botanist, to recog-
the city. nize the torrid zone on the mere aspect
75. The Greeks scorned all other of its vegetation; and without havitig
nations as "outside barbarians." Even acq'nred any notions of astronom.y, with-
Virgil, a Latin, has to plead with out iny acquaintance with the celestial
Ulysses the merit of having praised him charts of Flamstead and De la Caille, he
in the y^neid. feels he is not in Europe, when he sees
108. The Pillars of Hercules at the the immense constellation of the Ship, or
straits of Gibraltar; Abyla on the African the phosphorescent clouds of Magellan,
shore, and Gibraltar on the Spanish ; in arise on the horizon."
which the popular mind has lost its faith, 142. Compare Tennyson's 67)'.fj« ; —
except as symbolized in the columns on
nners.
the .Spanish dollar, with the legend, Pltis " There lies the port ; the vessel puflTs her sail :
ultra. There gloom the dark broad seas. My ma-
Brunette Latini, Tesor. IX. 119: — Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and
thought with me, —
That ever with a frolic welcome took
" Appres.so questo
Vidi diritto mare,
stare The thunder
old: and the sunshine, and opposed
Gran colonne, le quali Free hearts, free foreheads, — you and I are
Vi mise per segnali
Ercuies il potente. Old age hath yet his honour and his toil ;
Per mostrare alia gente Death closes all : but something ere the end,
Che loco sia finata Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
La terra e tcrminata." The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks :
the day
The long deepwanes : the slow moon climbs
125. Odyssey, XI. 155: "Well-fitted
ftars, which are also wings to ships." Moans friends,
round with many voices. Come, mj
127. Humboldt, Personal Narratwe,
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Tis not too late to seek a newer world. It shulde seme, as though it were
Push off, and, sitting well in order, smite A bellewing in a mannes ere
The sounding furrows ; for my purpose holds And nought the cricng of a man.
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths But he, which alle sleightes can.
Of all the western stars, until I die. The devil, that lith in helle fast,
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down : Him that it cast hath overcast.
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, That for a trespas, which he dede.
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. He was put in the same stede.
And was himself the first of alle.
ITio' much is taken, much abides ; and tho' Which was into that peine falle
We are not now that strength which in old
days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, That he for other men ordeigneth."
we are ;
One equal temjier of heroic hearts. 21. Virgil "being a Lombard, Dante
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in suggests that, in giving Ulysses and
will Diomed license to depart, he had used
To strive to seek, to find, and not to yield." the Lombard dialect, saying, "/r.fa ^' en
va." See Canto XXIII. Note 7.
28. The inhabitants of the province
CANTO XXVII. of Romagna, of which Ravenna is the
I. The subject of the preceding capital.
Canto is continued in this. 29. It is the spirit of Guido da
7. The story of the Brazen Bull of Montefeltro Montefeltro that speaks. The city of
Perillus is thus told in the Gesta Roma- lies between Urbino and
that part of the Apennines in which the
norum. Tale 48, Swan's Tr. : — Tiber rises. Count Guido was a famous
" Dionysius records, that when Perillus
desired to become an artificer of Phalaris, warrior, and one of the great Ghibelline
a cruel and tyrannical king who depopu- leaders. He tells his own story suffi-
lated the kingdom, and was guilty of ciently indetail in what follows.
many dreadful excesses, he presented to 40. Lord Byron, Don Jtmn, III. 105,
him, already too well skilled in cruelty, gives this description of Ravejina, with
a brazen bull, which he had just con- an allusion to Boccaccio's Tale, versified
structed. In one of its sides there was by Dryden under the title of Theodore
a secret door, by which those who were and Honoriao'er. :—
sentenced should enter and be burnt to
death. The idea was, that the sounds " Sweet horn- of twilight !— in the solitude
Of the pine forest, and the silent shore
produced by the agony of the sufferer Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood.
confined within should resemble the Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd
roaring of a bull ; and thus, while no- To where the last Csesarean fortress stood.
thing human struck the ear, the mind Ever-green forest ! which Boccaccio's lore
should be unimpressed by a feeling of And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me,
How havesong,I lovesl the twilight hour and thee !
mercy. The king highly applauded the
invention, and said, ' Friend, the value " TheMaking
shrill cicalas, people of the pine,
their summer lives one ceaseless
of thy industry is yet untried : more mine,
cruel even than the people account me, Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and
thou thyself shalt be the first victim.' "
Also in Gower, Confts. Atnant.^ And vesper-bell's that rose the bougos along ;
throng.
VII. :— The spectre huntsman of Onesti's line.
His hell-dogs, and their chase, and the fair
" He had of counseil many one, Which learned from this example not to fly
Among the whiche there was one.
By name which Berillus hight. From a true lover, shadowed my mind's eye."
And he bethought him how he might
Unto the tirant do liking. Dryden's Tkeodore and //onoria begins
And of his own ymaginuig with these words :-
Let forge and make a bulle of bras.
And on the side cast there was " Of all the cities in Romanian lands.
The chief, and most renowned,
stands, Ravenna
A dore, where a man may inne.
Whan he his peine shall bcginne Adorned in ancient times with arms and arts.
Through fire, which that men put under
And all this did he for a wonder. And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts."
That whan a man for peine cride.
The bull of bras, which gapetb wide. It was at Ravenna that Dante passed
178 NOTES TO INFERNO.

the last years of his life, and there he had been deceived in the election, and
died and was buried. were rebellious under the rule of Boni-
41. The arms of Guido da Polenta, face. The Cardinals of the great Ghi-
Lord of Ravenna, Dante's friend, and belline house took no pains to conceal
father (or nephew) of Francesca da Ri- their ill-will toM'ard the Guelf Pope.
mini, were an eagle half white in a field Boniface, indeed, accused them of plot-
of azure, and half red in a field of gold. ting with his enemies for his overthrow.
Cervia is a small town some twelve miles The Colonnas, finding Rome unsafe, had
from Ravenna. withdrawn to their strong town of Pales-
43. The city of ForR, where Guido trina, whence they could issue forth at
da Montefeltro defeated and slaughtered will for plunder, and where they could
the French in 1282. See Canto XX. give shelter to those who shared in their
Note 118. hostility toward the Pope. On the other
45. A Green Lion was the coat of hand, Boniface, not trusting himself in
arms of the Ordelaffi, then Lords of Rome, withdrew to the secure height of
ForlL Orvieto, and thence on the 14th of De-
46. Malatesta, father and son, ty- cember, 1297, issued a terrible bull for a
rants of Rimini, who murdered Mon- crusade against them, granting plenary
tagna, a Ghibelline leader. Verrucchio indulgence to all (such was the Christian
■was their castle, near the city. Of temper of the times, and so literally were
this family were the husband and lover the violent seizing upon the kingdom of
of Francesca. Dante calls them mas- heaven, ) who would take up arms against
tiflFs, because of their fierceness, making these rebellious sons of the Church and
" wimbles of their teeth " in tearing and march against their chief stronghold, their
devouring. ^alfo seggio ' of Palestrina. They and their
49. The cities of Faenza on the La- adherents had already been excommuni-
mone, and Imola on the Santerno. They cated and put under the ban of the
Church } they had been stripped of all
were ruled by Mainardo, surnamed ' ' the
Demon," whose coat of arms was a lion dignities and privileges ; their property
azure in a white field. had been confiscated ; and they were now
52. The city of Cesena. by this bull placed in the position of ene-
67. Milton, Parad. Lost, III. 479 :— mies, not of the Pope alone, but of the
Church Universal. Troops gathered
" Dying put on the weeds of Dominic, against them from all quarters of Papal
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised." Italy. Their lands were ravaged, and
70. Boniface VIIL, who in line 85 they themselves shut up within their
is called "the Prince of the new Phari- stronghold ; but for a long time they held
out in their ancient high-walled moun-
81.se s. " Dante, Comnto, IV. 28, quoting tain-town. Itwas to gain Palestrina that
Cicero, says : " Natural death is as it Boniface 'had war near the Lateran.'
were a haven and rest to us after long The great church and palace of the La-
navigation. And the noble soul is like teran, standing on the summit of the
a good mariner ; for he, when he draws Coelian Hill, close to the city wall, over-
near the port, lowers his sails, and enters looks the Campagna, which, in broken
levels of brown and green and pvrple
it softly with feeble steerage."
86. This Papal war, which was waged fields, reaches to the base of the encir-
against Christians, and not against pagan cling mountains. Twenty miles away,
Saracens, nor unbelieving Jews, nor crowning the top and clinging to the
against the renegades who had helped side of one of the last heights of the Sa-
them at the si(>ge of Acre, or given them bine range, are the gray walls and roofs
aid and comfort by traffic, is thus de- of Palestrina. It was a far more con-
scribed byMr. Norton, Travel and Study spicuous place at the close of the thir-
in Italy, p. 263 : - teenth century than it is now ; for the
" This ' war near the Lateran ' was a great columns of the famous temple of
war with the great family of Colonna. Fortune still rose above the town, and
Two of the house were Cardinals, They the an(.ieiit citadel kept watch over it
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

from its high rock. At length, in Sep- riot to the place where the bath was to
tember, 1298, the Colonnas, reduced to be prepared, the mothers of these chil-
the hardest extremities, became ready dren threw themselves in his way with
for peace. Boniface promised largely. dishevelled hair, weeping, and crying
The two Cardinals presented themselves aloud for mercy. Then Constantine was
before him at Rieti, in coarse brown moved to tears, and he ordered his cha-
dresses, and with ropes around their riot to stop, and he said to his nobles anil
necks, in token of their repentance and to his attendants who were around him,
submission. The Pope gave them not ' Far better is it that I should die, than
only pardon and absolution, but hope of cause the death of these innocents ! '
being restored to their titles and posses- And then he commanded that the chil-
dren should be restored to their mothers
sions. This was the ' lunga promessa
con r atiender corlo ; ' for, while the Co- with great gifts, in recompense of what
lonnas were retained near him, and these they had suffered ; so they went away
deceptive hopes held out tp them, Boni- full of joy and gratitude, and the Empe-
face sent the Bishop of Orvieto to take ror returned to his palace.
possession of Palestrina, and to destroy " On that same night, as he lay asleep,
It utterly, leaving only the church to St. Peter and St. Paul appeared at his
stand as a monument «bove its ruins. bedside : and they stretched their hands
The work was done thoroughly ;— a over him and said, * Because thou hast
plough was drawn across the site of the feared to spill the innocent blood, Jesus
imhappy town, and salt scattered in the Christ has sent us to bring thee good
furrow, that the land might thenceforth counsel. Send to Sylvester, who lies
be desolate. The inhabitants were re- hidden among the mountains, and he
moved from the mountain to the plain, shall show thee the pool in which, hav-
and there forced to build new homes for ing washed three times, thou shall be
themselves, which, in their turn, two clean from thy leprosy ; and henceforth
years afterwards, were thrown down and thou shalt adore the God of the Chris-
burned by order of the implacable Pope. tians, and thou shalt cease to persecute
This last piece of malignity was accom- and to oppress them.' Then Constan-
plished in 1300, the year of the Jubilee, tine, awaking from this vision, sent his
the year in which Dante was in Rome, soldiers in search of Sylvester. And
and in which he saw Guy of Montefeltro, when they took him, he supposed that it
the counsellor of Boniface in deceit, was to lead him to death ; nevertheless
burning in Hell. " he went cheerfully ; and when he ap-
94. The story of Sylvester and Con- peared before the Emperor, Constaytine
stantine is one of the legends of the arose and saluted him, and said, ' I would
Legenda Aurea. The part of it relating know of thee who are those two gods
to the Emperor's baptism is thus con- who appeared to me in the visions of
densed byMrs. Jameson in her Sacred the night ? ' And Sylvester replied,
and Ltgatdary Art, II, 313 :— ' They were not gods, but the apostles of
" Sylvester was bom at Rome of vir- the Lord Jesus
tuous parents ; and at a time when Con- tine desired thatChrist.'
he would Then
show Constan-
him the
stantine was still in the darkness of idola- effigies of these two apostles ; and Syl-
try and persecuted the Christians, Syl- vester sent for two pictures of St. Peter
vester, who had been elected Bishop of and St. Paul, which were in the posses-
Rome, fled Irom the persecution, and sion of certain pious Christians. Con-
dwelt for some time in a cavern, near the stantine, having beheld them, saw that
summit of Monte Calvo. While he lay they were the same who had appeared
there concealed, the Emperor was at- to him in his dream. Then Sylvester
tacked bya horrible leprosy : and having baptized him, and he came out of the
called to him the priests of his false gods,
they advised that he should bathe himself font cured of his malady."
Gower also, Covfes. AnMtttis, XL, tells
in a bath of children's blood, and three the story at length :—
thousand children were collected for this
" And in the while it was bcgunne
purpose. And as he proceedetl in his cha- A light, as though it were a suano.
N 2
i8o NOTES TO INFERNO.

Fro heven into the place come lay promiscuously on the field, as chance
Where that he toke his christendome.
And ever amonge the holy tales had thrown them together, either in the
Lich as they weren fisches scales battle, or flight. ' Some, whom their
They fellen from him now and efte. wounds, being pinched by the morning
Till that there was nothing belefte cold, had roused from their posture, were
Of all this grete maladie. " put to death by the enemy, as they were
96. Montefeltro was in the Francis- rising up, all covered with blood, from
can monastery at Assisi. the midst of theheaps of carcasses. Some
102. See Note 86 of this Canto. they found lying alive, with their thighs
Dante calls the town Penestrino from its and hams cut, who, stripping their necks
Livtin name Prseneste. and throats, desired them to spill what
105. Pope Celestine V., who made remained of their blood. Some were
" the great refusal," or abdication of the found, with their heads buried in the
papacy. See Canto III. Note 59. earth, in holes which it appeared they
118. Gower, Confes. Amantis, II. : — had made for themselves, and covering
" For shrifte slant of no value their faces with earth thrown over them,
To him, that woU him nought vertue. had thus been suffocated. The attention
To leve of vice the folic, of all was particularly attracted by a
For worde is wind, but the maistrie
Is, that a man himself defende living Numidian with his nose and ears
of thing whiche is nought to coiiimende, mangled, stretched under a dead Roman,
Wherof ben fewe now a day." who lay over him, and who, when his
hands had been rendered unable to hold
CANTO XXVIII. a weapon, his rage being exasperated to
madness, had expired in the act of tear-
I. The Ninth Bolgia, in which are
punished the Schismatics, and ing his antagonist with his teeth. "
When Mago, son of Hamilcar, car-
" where is paid the fee ried the news of the victory to Carthage,
By those who sowing discord win their bur- "in confirmation of his joyful intelli-

a burden difficult den ;" to describe even with gence," says the same historian, XXIII.
12, "he ordered the gold rings taken
untrammelled words, or in plain prose, from the Romans to be poured down in
free from the fetters of rhyme. the porch of the senate-house, and of
9. Apulia, or La Puglia, is in the these there was so great a heap that, ac-
south-eastern part of Italy, " between the cording to some writers, on being mea-
spur and the heel of the boot." sured, they filled three pecks and a half ;
I©. The people slain in the conquest but the more general account, and like-
of Apulia by the Romans. Of the battle wise the more probable, is, that they
of Maleventum, Livy, X. 15, says : — amounted to no more than one peck.
" Here likewise there was more of He also explained to them, in order to
flight than of bloodshed. Two thousand show the greater extent of the slaughter,
of the Apulians were slain, and Decius, that none but those of equestrian rank,
despising such an enemy, led his legions and of these only the principal, wore
into Samnium." this14.ornament."
II. Hannibal's famous battle at Can- Robert Guiscard, the renowned
nae, in the second Punic war. Accord- Norman conqueror of southern Italy.
ing to Livy, XXII. 49, "The number Dante places him in the Fifth Heaven
of the slain is computed at forty thou- of Paradise, in the planet Mars. For
sand foot, and two thousand seven hun- an account of his character and achieve-
dred horse." ments see Gibbon, Ch. LVI. See also
Parad. XVIIL Note 20.
He continues, XXII. 51, Baker's Tr. :
" On the day following, as soon as light Matthew Paris, Giles's Tr. I. 171,
appeared, his troops applied themselves A.D. 1239, gives the following account
to the collecting of the spoils, and view- of the manner in which he captured the
ing the carnage made, which was such monastery of Monte Cassino :—
as shocked even enemies ; so many thou- " In the same year, the monks ol
•and Romans, horsemen and footmen, Monte Cassino (where St, Benedict had
 NOT£S TO INFERNO. l8i

planted a monastery), to the number of thusiast or impostor jnore properly be-

thirteen, came to the Pope in old and longs to that extraordinary man. Had
torn garments, with dishevelled hair and I been intimately conversant with the
unshorn beards, and with tears in their son of Abdallah, the task would still be
eyes ; and on being introduced to the difficult, and the success uncertain ; at
presence of his Holiness, they fell at his the distance of twelve centuries, I dai kly
feet, and laid a complaint that the Em- contemplate his shade through a cloud of
f>eror had ejected them from their house religious incense ; and could I truly deli-
at Monte Cassino. This mountain was neate the portrait of an hour, the fleet-
impregnable, and indeed inaccessible to ing resemblance would not equally apply
any one unless at the will of the monks to the solitary of Mount Hera, to the
and others who dwelt on it ; however, R. preacher of Mecca, and to the conqueror
Guiscard, by a device, pretending that of Arabia From enthusiasm
he was dead and being carried thither on to imposture the step is perilous and
a bier, thus took possession 'of the monks' slippery ; the daemon
fords a memorable of Socrates
instance af-
how a wise
castle. When the Pope heard this, he
concealed his grief, and asked tlie reason ; man may deceive hirnself, how a good
to which the monks replied, ' Because, in man may deceive others, how the con-
obedience to you, we excommunicated science may slumber in a mixed and
middle state between self-illusion and
the Emperor.' The Pope then said,
'Your obedience shall save you;' on
which the monks went away without voluntary Of Ali, fraud." the son-in-law and faithful fol-
receiving anything more from the Pope." lower of Mahomet, he goes on to say:
1 6. The battle of Ceperano, near " He united the qualifications of a poet,
Monte Cassino, was fought in 1265, be- a soldier, and a saint ; his wisdom still
tween Charles of Anjou and Manfred, breathes in a collection of moral and re-
king of Apulia and Sicily. The Apu- ligious sayings ; and every antagonist, in
lians, seeing the battle goingagainst them, the combats of the tongue or of the
deserted their king and passed over to sword, was subdued by his eloquence and
the enemy. valour. From the first hour of his mis-
17. The battle of Tagliacozzo in sion to the last rites of his funeral, the
Abruzzo was fought in 1268, between apostle was never forsaken by a generous
Charles of Anjou and Curradinoor Con- friend, whom he delighted to name his
radin, nephew of Manfred. Charles brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful
gained the victory by the strategy of Aaron of a second Moses."
Count Alardo di Valleri, who, 55. Fra Dolcino was one of the early
social and religious reformers in the North
" weaponless himself. of Italy. His sect bore the name of
Made arms ridiculous."
"Apostles," and its chief, if not only,
This valiant but wary crusader persuaded heresy was a desire to bring back the
the king to keep a third of his forces in Church to the simplicity of the apostolic
reserve ; and when the soldiers of Cur- times. In 1305 he withdrew with his
Tadino, thinking they had won the day, followers to the mountains overlooking
were scattered over the field in pursuit the Val Sesia in Piedmont, where he was
cf plunder, Charles fell upon them, and pursued- and besieged by the Church
routed them.
party, and, after various fortunes of vic-
Alanlo is mentioned in the Cento N'o- tory and defeat, being reduced by " stress
7-dh-Antiche, Nov. LVII., as "celebrated of snow " and famine, was taken prisoner,
for his wonderful prowess even among the together with his companion, the beau-
chief nobles, and no less esteemed for his tiful Margaret of Trent. Both were
singular virtues than for his courage." burned at Vercelli on the ist of June,
31. Gibbon, Ch. L., says : " At the 1307. This "last act of the tragedy "
conclusion of the Life of Mahomet, it is thus described by Mr. Mariotti, Ifts-
may perhaps be expected that I should tot teal Memoir of Fra Dolcino and his
i>alance his faults and virtues, that I
should decide whether the title of en- Times, p. 290 :—
" Margaret of Trent enjoyed the pre
iSi NO TBS TO INFERNO.

cedence due to her sex. She was first utter his name without an imprecation,
led out into a spot near Vercelli, bearing we have reason to be astonished at the
the name of ' Arena Servi,' or more little we find in it that may be construed
into a wilful deviation from the strictest
properly ' Arena Cervi,' in the sands,
that is, of the torrent Cei"vo, which has orthodoxy. Luther and Calvin would
its confluent with the Sesia at about one equally have repudiated him. He was
mile above the city. A high stake had neither a Presbyterian nor an Episco-
been erected in a conspicuous part of the palian, but an uncompromising, stanch
place. To this she was fastened, and a Papist. His was, most eminently, the
pile of wood was reared at her feet. heresy of those whom we have designated
The eyes of the inhabitants of town and as ' literal Christians. ' He would have
country were upon her. On her also the Gospel strictly — perhaps blindly —
were the eyes of Dolcino. She was adhered to. Neither was that, in the
burnt alive with slow fire. abstract, an unpardonable offence in the
"Next came the turn of Dolcino : he eyes of the Romanism of those times —
was seated high on a car drawn by oxen, witness St. Francis and his early flock —
and thus paraded from street to street all provided he had limited himself to make
over Vercelli. His tormentors were all
Gospel-law binding upon liimself and his
around him. Beside the car, iron pots followers only. But Dolcino must needs
were carried, filled with burning char- enforce it upon the whole Christian com-
coals; deep in the charcoals were iron munity, enforce it especially on those who
pincers, glowing at white heat. These set up as teachers of the Gospel, on those
pincers were continually applied to the who laid claim to Apostolical succession.
various parts of Dolcino's naked body, That was the error that damned him."
all along his progress, till all his flesh Of Margaret he still further says,
was torn piecemeal from his limbs : when referring to some old manuscript as
every bone was bare and the whole town authority: —
was perambulated, they drove the still "She was known by the emphatic
living carcass back to the same arena, appellation of Margaret the Beautiful.
and threw it on the burning mass in It is added, that she was an orphan,
which Margaret had been consumed." heiress of noble parents, and had been
Farther on he adds : — placed for her education in a monastery
" Divested of all fables which igno- of St. Catherine in Trent ; that there
rance, prejudice, or open calumny in- Dolcino— who had also been a monk, or
volved itill, Dolcino's scheme amounted at least a novice, in a convent of the
to nothing more than a reformation, Order of the Humiliati, in the same
not of religion, but of the Church ; his town, and had been expelled in conse-
aim was merely the destruction of the quence either of his heretic tenets, or of
temporal power of the clergy, and he immoral conduct— succeeded, neverthe-
died for his country no less than for his less, in becoming domesticated in the
God. The wealth, arrogance, and cor- nunnery of St. Catherine, as a steward
ruption of the Pa])al See appeared to or agent to the nuns, and there accom-
him, as it appeared to Dante, as it ap- plished the fascination and abduction of
peared to a thousand other patriots before
and after him, an eternal hindrance to the wealthy heiress."
59. Val Sesia, among whose moun-
the union, peace, and welfare of Italy, tains Fra Dolcino was taken prisoner, is
us it was a perpetual check upon the in the diocese of Novara.
progress of the human race, and a source 7J. A Bolognese, who stirred up
of infinite scandal to the piety of earnest dissensions among the citizens.
believers 74. The plain of Lombardy .sloping
"To this clear mission of Italian Pro- down two hundred miles and more, from
testantism Dolcino was true throughout. Vercelli in Piedmont to Marcabo, a
If we bring the light of even the clumsiest village near Ravenna.
criticism to bear on his creed, even such 76. Guido del Cassero and Angio-
as it has been summed up by the igno- lello da Cagnano, two honourable citizeni
iance or malignity of men who never of Fano, going to Rimini by invite tioi
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

of Malatestino, were by his order thrown " Bertrand de Bom," says the old
into the sea and drowned, as here pro- Provencal Ijiography, published by Ray-
phesied or narrated, near the village of nouard, Choix de Poisks Origitiales Jei
Cattolica on the Adriatic. Troubadours, V. 76, " was a chatelain
85. Malatestino had lost one eye. of the bishopric of Perigueux, Viscount
86. Rimini. of Hautefort, a castle with nearly a
89. Focara is a headland near Cat- thousand retainers. He had a brother,
tolica, famous for dangerous winds, to and would have dispossessed him of his
be preserved from which mariners offered inheritance, had it not been for the King
up vows and prayers. These men will of England. He was always at war with
not need to do it ; they will not reach all his neighbours, with the Count of
that cape. Perigueux, and with the Viscount of
102. Curio, the banished Tribune, Limoges, and with his brother Constan-
tine, and with Richard, when he was
who, fleeing to Caesar's camp on the
Rubicon, urged him to advance upon Count of Poitou. He was a good
Rome. Lucan, Pharsalia, I., Rowe's cavalier, and a good warrior, and a
Tr. :— good lover, and a good troubadour ; and
well informed and well spoken ; and
" Curio,
To Caesar'^ camp turbulent
a speaker the busy and
Curiobold,
fled ; knew well how to bear good and evil
Of venal eloquence, that served for gold. fortune. Whenever he wished, he was
And principles that might be bought and sold.
master of King Heniy of England and of
To CcBsar thus, while thousand cares infest. his son ; but always desired that father
Revolving round the warrior's anxious breast,
and son should be at war with each other,
His speech the ready orator addressed. and one brother with the other. And
he always wished that the King of France
' Haste, way
then, ; thy towering eagles on their and the King of England should be at
When fair occasion calls, 'tis fatal to delay.' "
variance ; and if there were either peace
or truce, straightway he sought and
106. Mosca degl' Uberti, or dei endeavoured by his satires to undo the
Lamberti, who, by advising the murder
of Buondelmonte, gave rise to the peace, and to show how each was dis-
parties of Guelf and Ghibelline, which honoured byit. And he had great ad-
so long divided Florence. See Canto vantages and great misfortunes by thus
exciting feuds between them. He wrote
X. Note 51.
134. Bertrand de Bom, the turbulent many satires, but only two songs. The
Troubadour of the last half of the twelfth King of Aragon called the songs of
Giraud de Borneil the wives of Bertrand
century, was alike skilful with his pen
and his sword, and passed his life in de Bom's satires. And he who sang for
him bore the name of Papiol. And he
alternately singing and fighting, and in was handsome and courteous ; and called
stirring up dissension and strife among the Count of Britany, Rassa ; and the
his neighbours. He is the author of
King of England, Yes and No ; and his
that spirited war-song, well known to all son, the young king, Marinier. And he
readers of Troubadour verse, b^inning set his whole heart on fomenting war ;
" The beautiful spring delights me well, and embroiled the father and son of
When flowers and leaves are growing ;
And it pleases my heart to hear the swell England, until the young king was killed
Of the In
birds' by an arrow in a castle of Bertrand de
the sweet
echoingchorus
wood flowing
; Bom.
And I love to see, all scattered around,
Pavilions and tents on the martial ground ; " And Bertrand used to boast that he
And my spirit finds it good. had more wits than he needed. And
To see. Oil the level plains beyond. when the King took him prisoner, he
Gay knights and steeds capanson'd ; " — asked him, * Have you all your wits, for
and ending whh a challenge to Richard you will need them now?' And he
Cceur de Lion, telling his minstrel Pa- answered, '1 lost them all when tht
piol to go young king died.' Then the king wept,
" And tell the Lord of ' Yes and No ' and pardoned him, and gave him
That peace already too long has been." robes, and lands, and honours. And hr
184
iVOTES TO INFERNO.

lived long and became a Cistercian against him. They were, Henry, sur-
named Curt-Mantle, and called by the
monk."
Fauriel, FHstoire de la Poisie Proven- Troubadours and novelists of his time
^ale, Adler's Tr. , p. 483, quoting part of " The Young King," because he was
this passage, adds ;— crowned during his father's life ; Richard
" In this notice the old biographer Cceur-de-Lion, Count of Guienne and
indicates the dominant trait of Bertrand's Poitou ; Geoffroy, Duke of Brittany ;
character very distinctly ; it was an un- and John Lackland. Henry was the
bridled passion for war. lie loved it only one of these who bore the title of
not only as the occasion for exhibiting king at the time in question. Bertrand
proofs of valour, for acquiring power, de Born was on terms of intimacy with
and for winning glory, but also, and even him, and speaks of him in his poems
more, on account of its hazards, on ac- as lo Reys joves, sometimes lauding and
count of the exaltation of courage and of sometimes reproving him. One of the
life which it produced, nay, even for the best of these poems is his Complainte,
sake of the tumult, the disorders, and on the death of Henry, which took place
the evils which are accustomed to follow in 1 183, from disease, say some accounts,
in its train. Bertrand de Born is the from the bolt of a crossbow say others.
ideal of the undisciplined and adventure- He complains that he has lost " the best
some warrior of the Middle Age, rfither king that was ever bom of mother ;" and
than that of the chevalier in the proper goes on to say, " King of the courteous,
sense of the term." and emperor of the valiant, you would
See also Millot, Hist. Lift, des Trou- have been Seigneur if you had lived
badours, I. 210, and Hist. Lift, de la longer ; for you bore the name of the
France par des Bbtedictins de St. Maur, Young King, arid were the chief and
continuation, XVII. 425. peer of youth. Ay ! hauberk and sword,
Bertrand de Born, if not the best of and beautiful buckler, helmet and gon-
the Troubadours, is the most prominent falon, and purpoint and sark, and joy
and striking character among them. and love, there is none to maintain
His life is a drama full of romantic them !"IV.See
Poesies, 49. Raynouard, Choix de
interest ; beginning with the old. castle
in Gascony, " the dames, the cavaliers, Iii the Bihle Guiot de Provins, Bar-
the arms, the loves, the courtesy, the bazan. Fabliaux et Contes, II., 518, he
bold emprise ;" and ending in a Cister- is spoken of as "li Jones Rois,
cian convent, among friars and fastings,
and penitence and prayers. Li proux, li saiges, li cortois."
135. A vast majority of manuscripts In the Cento Novelle Anttche, XVIII.,
and printed editions read in this line, XIX., XXXy., he is called // Re Gio-
Re Gtavanni, King John, instead of Re vane ; and in Roger de Wendover's
Giovane, the Young King. Even Boc- Flowers of History, A.D. II 79 — 1183,
caccio's copy, which he wrote out with " Henry the Young King."
his own hand for Petrarca, has Re Gio- It was to him that Bertrand de Bom
vanni. Out of seventy-nine Codici "gave the evil counsels," embroiling
examined by Barlow, he says. Study of him with his father and his brothers.
the Divina Commedia, p. 153, "Only Therefore, when the commentators chal-
five were found with the correct reading lenge us as Pistol does Shallow, " Under
— re giovane The reading re gio- which king, Bezonian ? speak or die !" I
iiane is not found in any of the early think we must answer as Shallow does,
editions, nor is it noticed by any of the "Under King Harry. "
early commentators." See also Gin- 137. See 2 Samuel xvii. I, 2 :—
guene, Hist. Litt. de PItalie, II. 586, " Moreover, Ahithojjhel said unto
where the subject is elaborately dis- Absalom, let me now choose out twelve
cussed, and the note of Biagioli, who thousand men. and I will arise and pur-
takes the opposite side of the question. sue after David this niglit. And I will
Henry II. of England had four sons, come upon him while he is weary and
all of wlioni were more or less rebellious weak-handed, and will make him afraid ;
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

an>l all the people that are with him cession of mutual injuries ; vengeance
shall flee ; and 1 will smite the King was not only considered lawful and just,
but a positive duty, dishonourable to
only."
Dryden, in his poem of Absalom and omit ; and, as may be learned from
Achitophel, gives this portrait of the ancient private journals, it was some-
latter :— times allowed to %\ee\) for five-and-
" Of these the false Achitophel was first ; thirty years, and then suddenly struck a
A name to all succeeding ages curst ; victim who perhaps had not yet seen the
For close designs and crooked counsels fit ;
Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit ; light when the original injury was in-
kestless, unfix'd in principles and place ;
In power unpleas'd, impatient of disgrace : 46. The Val di Chiana, near Arezzo,
A fiery soul, which, working out its way, flicted."
Fretted the pigmy body to decay. was in Dante's time marshy and pesti-
lential. Now, by the effect of drainage,
And o'er inform d the tenement of clay." it is one of the most beautiful and fruitful
Then he puts into the mouth of Achi- of the Tuscan valleys. The Maremma
tophel the following description of Absa- was and is notoriously unhealthy ; see
lom —: Canto XIII. Note 9, and Sardinia would
" Auspicious prince, at whose nativity seem to have shared its ill repute.
Some royal planet rul'd the southern slty ; 57. Forgers or falsifiers in a general
Thy longing coimtry's darling and desire ;
Their cloudy pillar and their guardi:m fire ; sense. The ' ' false semblaunt " of Gower,
Their second Moses, whose extended wand Confes. Amant,, II :—
Divides the seas, and shows the promised
land ; " Offals semblaunt if I shall telle.
Above all other it is the welle
Whose dawning day, in every distant age.
Has exerci.sed the sacred prophet's rage ; Out of the which deceipte floweth."
The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, They are registered here on earth to be
The young men's vision, and the old men's
dream."
punished hereafter.
59. The plague of Mgmsi is descril>ed
CANTO XXIX. by Ovid, Metamorph. VII., Stone-
street's Tr. :—
I. The Tenth and last "cloister of " Their black dry tongues are swelled, and
scarce can move,
Malebolge," where
And short thick sighs from panting lungs are
" Justice infa'Iible drove.
Punishes forgers."
and falsifiers of all kinds. This Canto They gape
Their ragingfor flames,
air, withbutflatt'ring hopes t'abate
that augments their
is devoted to the alchemists. heat.
27. Geri del Bello was a disreputable No bed, no cov'ring can the wretches bear.
But on the ground, exposed to open air.
member of the Alighieri family, and was They lie,there.
and hope to find a pleasing coolness
murdered by one of the Sacchetti. His The suflTring earth, with that oppression curst^
death was afterwards avenged by his Returns the heat which they imparted first.
brother, who in turn slew one of the creep
Sacchetti at the door of his house.
29. Bertrand de Bom. " Here one,
heapwith
; fainting steps, does slowly
35. Like the ghost of Ajax in the O'er heaps of dead, and straight augments the
Odyssey, XI. " He answered me not vailed.
Another, while his strength and tongue pre-
at all, Init went to Erebus amongst the
other souls of the dead." Bewails his friend, and falls himself bewailed ;
36. Dante seems to share the feeling This with imploring looks surveys the skies.
The l.xst dear office of his closing eyes.
of the Italian vendetta, which required
retaliation from some member of the But finds the Heav'ns implacable, and dies."
injured family. The birth of the Myrmidons, "who
"Among the Italians of this age," still retain the thrift of ants, though now
says Napier, Florentine Hist , I. Ch. transformed to men," is thus given in
VII., "and for centuries after, j)rivate the same book :—
offence was never forgotten until re- " As many ants the num'rous branches bear.
venged, and generally involved a suc- The same their labour, and their frugal care :
iS6 NOTES TO INFERN-0.
The branches too alike commotion found, tlemen, who took it into their heads
And shook th' industrious creatures on the to do things that would make a great
ground,
Who by degrees (what's scarce to be believed)
A nobler form and larger bulk received, part of the world wonder." Accord-
And on the earth walked an unusual pace. ingly each contributed eighteen thon-
With manly strides, and an erected face ;
sand golden florins to a common fund,
amounting in all to two hundred and
Their num'rous legs, and former colour lost,
The insects could a human figure boast."
sixteen thousand florins. They built
a palace, in which each member had a
88. Latian, or Italian ; any one of
the Latin race. splendid chamber, and they gave sump-
tuous dinners and suppers ; ending their
109. The speaker is a certain Grif- banquets sometimes by throwing all the
folino, an alchemist of Arezzo, who
dishes, table-ornaments, and knives of
practised upon the credulity of Albert,
a natural son of the Bishop of Siena. gold and silver out of the window.
For this he was burned ; but was " con- "This silly institution," continues Ben-
venuto, "lasted only ten month.s, the
demned to the last Bolgia of the ten for
treasury being exhausted, and the
alchemy." wretched members became the fable
116. The inventor of the Cretan
labyrinth. Ovid, Metainorph. VIII. :— andInlaughing-stock
honour of this of all the Folgore
club, world." da
" Great Usedalus of Athens was the man San Geminiano, a clever poet of the
Who made the draught, and formed the won-
day (1260), wrote a series of twelve
drous plan.''
convivial sonnets, one for each month
Not being able to find his way out of of the year, with Dedication and Con-
the labyrinth, he made wings for him- clusion. Atranslation of these sonnets
self and his son Icarus, and escaped by
may be found
Italian Poets. inThe D. G. Rossetti's runs
Dedication Early
as
flight.
122. Speaking ot the people of Sie- follows :—
na, Forsyth, Italy, 532, says: "Vain, " Unto the blithe and lordly Fellowship,
flighty, fanciful, they want the judgment (1 know and
not blithe,)
where, be
but greeting
wheresoe'er,
and penetration of their Florentine neigh- Lordly whip ; ; and Ithereto.
know.
bours ;who, nationally severe, call a nail Dogs, hawks, and a full purse wherein to dip ;
without a head chiodo Sanese. The ac- Quails struck i' the flight ; nags mettled to the
complished Signora Rinieri told me, that Hart-hounds,
even so hare-hounds,
; and blood-hounds
her father, while Governor of Siena, was
once stopped in his carriage by a crowd And o'er that realm, a crown for Niccolii,
Whose praise in Siena springs from lip to lip,
at Florence, where the mob, recognizin^ij^ Tingoccio,Ban,
Atuin di Togno, and Ancai&n,
Eartolo, and Mugaro, and FaSnot,
him, called out: *■ Lasciate passare il Go- Who well might pass for children of King
vernatorede' matti.'' A native of Siena is
presently known at Florence ; for his very Courteous and valiant more than Lancelot, —
walk, being formed to a hilly town, de- 'I'o each,
man God speed ! How worthy every
tects him on the ])lain."
125. The persons here mentioned To hold high tournament in Camelot."
gain a kind of immortality from Dante's 136. "This Capocchio," says the
verse. The Stricca, or Baldastricca, Ottimo, "was a very subtle alchemist ;
was a lawyer of Siena; and Niccolo dei and because he was burned for prac-
Salimbeni, or Bonsignori, introduced tising alchemy in Siena, he exhibits his
the fashion of stuffing pheasants with hatred to the Sienese, and gives us to
cloves, or, as Benvenuto says, of roast- understand that the author knew him."
ing them at a fire of cloves. Though
Dante mentions them apart, they seem, CANTO XXX.
like the two others named afterwards,
to have been members of the Rrigata I. In this Canto the same Bolgia is
Spetidereccia, or Prodigal Club, of Siena, continued, with different kinds of Falsi-
fiers.
whose extravagances are recorded by
Benvenuto da Imola. This club con- 4. Athamas, king of Thebes and
sisted of "twelve very rich young gen- husband of I no, daughter of Cadmus
 187

NOTES TO INFERNO.

His madness is thus described by Ovid, Extends her jaws, as she her voice would mis';
To keen invectives in her wonted phrase ;
Metamorph. IV. Eusden's Tr. :— But barks, and thence the yelping brute be-
" Now Athamas cries out, his reason fled,
' Here, fellow-hunters, let the toils be spread.
I saw a lioness, in quest of food.
in 31.
CantoGriffolino d'Arezzo, mentioned
XXIX. 109.
trays."
With her two young, run roaring in this wood.'
Again the fancied savages were seen.
As
42. The same " mad sprite," Gianni
Thenthro'
torehisLearchus
palace still
fromhe her
chased
breasthis: queen ;
the child Schicchi, mentioned in line 32. "Buoso
Stretched little arms, and on its father Donati of Florence," says Benvenuto,
smiled, — "although a nobleman and of an illus-
A father now no n: — who now begun trious house, was nevertheless like other
Around his head to whirl his giddy son,
noblemen of his time, and by means of
And, quite insensible to nature's call,
The helpless infant flung against the wall. thefts had greatly increased his patri-
The same mad poison in the mother wrought ; mony. When the hour of death drew
Young Melicerta in her arms she caught.
And with disordered tresses, hojvling, flies, near the sting of conscience caused him
' O Bacchus, Ev6e, Bacchus ! ' loud she cries. to make a will in which he gave fit
The name of Bacchus Juno laughed to hear. legacies to many people ; whereupon his
And said, 'Thy foster-god has cost thee dear.'
A rock there stood, whose side the beating son Simon, (the Ottimo sTiys his nephew,)
waves thinking himself enormously aggrieved,
Had long consumed, and hollowed into caves. suborned Vanni Schicchi dei Cavalcanti,
The head shot forwards in a bending steep,
And cast a dreadful covert o'er the deep. who got into Buoso's bed, and made
The wretched Ino, on destruction bent. a will in opposition to the other.
Climbed up the cliflF, — such strength her fury
lent : Gianni much resembled Buoso." In
this will Gianni Schicchi did not for-
Thence with
vain. her guiltless boy, who wept in get himself while making Simon heir ;
At one bold spring she plunged into the for, according to the Otlimo, he put
this clause into it: "To Gianni Schic-
16. Hecuba, wife of Priam, of Troy, chi I bequeath my mare." This was
and mother of Polyxena and Polydorus. the "lady of the herd," and Benvenuto
adds, "none more beautiful was to be
Ovid. XHL, Stanyan's Tr. :— found in Tuscany ; and it was valued at
" Transfixed
When on thewithbanksThracian
her son arrows
in ghastly hue her
strikes a thousand florins."
view. 61. Messer Adamo, a false-coiner
The matrons shrieked : her big swoln grief of Brescia, who at the instigation of
surpassed the Counts Guido, Alessandro, and
The power of utterance ; she stood aghast ; Aghinolfo of Romena, counterfeited the
She had nor speech, nor tears to give relief :
Excess of woe suppressed the rising grief. golden florin of Florence, which bore on
Lifeless as stone, on earth she fix'd her eyes ; one side a lily, and on the other the
And then look'd up to Ileav'n with wild sur- figure of John the Baptist.
prise, 64. Tasso, Gerusalemme, XIII. 60,
Now she contemplates o'er with sad delight
Her son's pale visage ; then her aking sight Fairfax's Tr. :—
Dwells on his wounds : she varies thus by
turns. " He that the gliding rivers erst had seen
Till with collected rage at length she bums. Adown their verdant channels gently rolled.
Wild as the mother-lion, when among Or falling streams, which to the valleys green.
The haunts of prey she seeks her ravished Distilled from tops of Alpine mountains cold.
young : Those he desired in vain, new torments been
Swift flies the ravisher ; she marks his trace, Augmented thus with wish of comforts old ;
And by the print directs her anxious chase. Those waters cool he drank in vain conceit.
So Hecuba with mingled grief and rage Which more increased his thirst, increased his
Pursues the king, regardless of her age.
Fastens her forky fingers in his eyes ; 65. The upper valley of the Amo 15
Tears out the rooted tails ; her rage pursues, in the province of Cassentino. Quoting
And in the hollow orbs her hand imbrues
these threeheat."
lines, Ampere, Voyage Dan'
" The scene.
Thracians, fired at this inhuman tesque, 2^6, says j '' In these untrans-i
latabl? verses, there is a feeling of humic^
With darts and stones assail the frantic queen.
She snarls and growls, nor in an human tone ; freshness, which almost makes one shudi
Then bites impatient at the bounding stone ; der, I owe it tq tfuth te sf>y, that \h^

Ik
i88 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Cassentine was a great deal less fresh Now the outward trench of the walls of
and less verdant in reality than in the Rome (whether real or imaginary we
poetry of Dante, and that in the midst
of the aridity which surrounded me, this say not) was reckoned by Dante's con-
temporaries to be exactly twenty-two
poetry, by its very perfection, made one miles ; and the walls of the city were
feel something of the punishment of then, and still are, eleven miles round.
Master Adam." Hence it is clear, that the wicked timi
which looks into Rome, as into a mirror,
73. Forsyth, Italy, 116, says: "The
castle of Romena, mentioned in these sees there the corrupt place which is the
veises, now stands in ruins on a pre- final goal to its waters or people, that
cipice about a mile from our inn, and is, the figurative Rome, 'dread seat of
not far off is a spring which the peasants
call Fonte Branda. Might I presume The trench here spoken of is the last
to differ from his commentators, Dante, trench of Malebolge. Dante mentions
in my opinion, does not mean the great no wall about the well ; only giants
fountain of Siena, but rather this ob- standing round it like towers.
scure spring ; which, though less known Dis.'"
to the world, was an object more fami- 97. Potiphar's wife.
98. Virgil's "perjured Sinon," the
liar to the poet himself, who took refuge Greek who persuaded the Trojans to
here from proscription, and an image accept the wooden horse, telling them it
more natural to the coiner who was was meant to protect the city, in lieu of
burnt on the spot." the statue of Pallas, stolen by Diomed
Ampere is of the same opinion, and Ulysses.
Voyage Dantesqiie, 246: "The Fonte Chaucer, Nonnes Precstes Tale: —
Branda, mentioned by Master Adam, " O false dissimilour, O Greek Sinon,
is assuredly the fountain thus named, That broughtest Troye at utterly to sorwe."
which still flows not far from the
103. The disease of tympanites is so
tower of Romena, between the place called "because the abdomen is dis-
of the crime and that of its punish- tended with wind, and sounds like a

On the other hand, Mr. Barlow, Con- drum

ment."
128.
when struck."
Ovid, Metamorph. III. :—
tributions, remarks: "This little fount " A fountain in a darksome wood.
was known only to so few, that Dante, Nor stained with falling leaves nor rising
who wrote for the Italian people gene-
rally, can scarcely be thought to have
meant this, when the famous Fonte
CANTO XXXI.
Branda at Siena was, at least by name,
familiar to them all, and formed an I. This Canto describes the Plain of
image more in character with the in- the Giants, mud." between Malebolge and the
satiable thirsit of Master Adam." mouth of the Infernal Pit.
Poetically the question is of slight im- 4. Iliad, XVI.: "A Pelion ash,
portancefor,
; as Fluellen says, " There
is a river in Macedon, and there is also which Chiron gave to his ^ Achilles')
father, cut from the top of Mount
moreover a river at Monmouth, ....
Pelion, to be the death of heroes. "
and there is salmons in both." Chaucer, Squieres Tale: —
86. This line and line 1 1 of Canto
" And of Achilles for his queintc spere,
XXIX. are cited by Gabrielle Rossetti For he coude with it bothe hele and drere."
in confirmation of his theory of the And Shakspeare, in King Ileniy thl
"Principal Allegory of the Inferno,"
that the city of Dis is Rome. He says, Sixth, V. i. : —
" Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear,
Spirito Antipapale, I. 62, Miss Ward's Is able with the change to kill and cure."
Tr. :— 16. The battle of Roncesvalles,
" This well is surrounded by a high
wall, and the wall by a vast trench ; " When Charlemain with all his peerage fell
the circuit of the trench is twenty-two
miles, and that of the wall eleven miles. 18.By Kontarabia."
Archbishop Turpin, Chronicle
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

XXIII., Rodd's Tr., thus describes the summit. "I have looked daily," says
blowing of Orlando's horn : — Mrs. Kemble, Year of Consolation, 152,
" He now blew a loud blast with his " over the lonely, sunny gardens, open
horn, to summon any Christian con- like the palace halls to me, where the
cealed in the adjacent woods to his as- wide - sweeping orange- walks end in
sistance, or to recall his friends beyond some distant view of the sad and noble
the pass. This horn was endued with Campagna, where silver fountains call
such power, that all other horns were to each other through the silent, over-
split by its sound ; and it is said that arching cloisters of dark and fragrant
Orlando at that time blew it with such green, and where the huge bronze pine,
vehemence, that he burst the veins and by which Dante measured his great
nerves of his neck. The sound reached giant, yet stands in the midst of graceful
the king's ears, who lay encamped in vases and bas-reliefs wrought in former
the valley still called by his name, ages, and the more graceful blossoms
about eight miles fiom Ronceval, to- blown within the very hour."
And Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 277,
wards Gascony, being carrie'd so far by
su{)ematural power. Charles would remarks : "Here Dante takes as a point
have flown to his succour, but was pre- of comparison an object of determinate
vented by Ganalon, who, conscious of size ; the pigtia is eleven feet high, the
Orlando's giant then must be seventy ; it performs,
usual with sufferings,him to sound insinuated it was
his honi on in the description, the office of those
light occasions. ' He is, perhaps,' said figures which are placed near monu-
he, ' pursuing some wild beast, and the ments to render it easier for the eye to
sound echoes through the woods ; it
measure
Mr. Norton, their height." Travel and Study in
will be fruitless, therefore, to seek him.'
O wicked traitor, deceitful as Judas ! Italy, 253, thus speaks of the same ob-
What dost thou merit ? "
Walter Scott in Marmion, VI. 33, "This pine-cone, of bronze, was set
makes allusion to Orlando's horn :— originally
ject—: upon the summit of the
Mausoleum of Hadrian. After this
" O for a blast of that dread horn.
On Fontarabian echoes borne, imperial sepulchre had undergone many
That to King Charles did come, evil fates, and as its ornaments were
When Rowland brave, and Olivier,
And every paladin and peer. stripped one by one from it, the cone
was in the sixth century taken down,
On Roncesvalles died ! "
and carried off to adorn a fountain,
Orlando's horn is one of the favourite whicji had been constructed for the
fictions of old romance, and is surpassed use of dusty and thirsty pilgrims, in a
in power only by that of Alexander, pillared enclosure, called the Paradise,
which took sixty men to blow it and in front of the old basilica of St. Peter.
could be heard at a distance of sixty Here it remained for centuries ; and
miles ! when the old church gave way to the
41. Montereggione is a picturesque new, it was put where it now stands,
old castle on an eminence near Siena. useless and out of place, in the trim and
Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 251, re- formal gardens of the Papal palace."
marks : " This fortress, as the com- And adds in a note :—
mentators say, was furnished with " At the present day it serves the
towers all round about, and had none bronze-workers of Rome as a model
in the centre. In its present state it is for an inkstand, such as is seen in the
still very faithfully described by the shop-windows every winter, and is sold
verse, — to travellers, few of whom know the
history and the poetry belonging to its
' Montereggion di torri si corona.' "
59. This pine-cone of bronze, which 67, "The gaping monotony of this
is now in the gardens of the Vatican, original."
was found in the mausoleum of Hadrian, jargon," says Leigh Hunt, "fiUl of the
vowel a, is admirably suited to the
and is supposed to have crowned its mouth of the vast half-stupid speaker.
IQO NOTES TO INFERNO.

It is like a babble of the gigantic infancy pirate, and the fable of the hundred
of the world." hands arose from the hundred sailors
77. Nimrod, the "mighty hunter be- that manned his ship.
fore the Lord," who built the tower of 100. The giant Antaeus is here un-
Babel, which, according to the Italian bound, because he had not been at " the
popular tradition, was so high that who- mighty war" against the gods.
ever mounted to the top of it could hear 115. The valley of the Bagrada, one
the angels sing. of whose branches flows by Zama, the
Cory, Ancient Fragments, 51, gives scene of Scipio's great victory over Han-
this extract from the Sibylline Oracles: — nibal, bywhich he gained his greatest
renown and his title of Africanus.
" But when the judgments of the Almighty God
Were ripe for execution ; when the Tower Among the neighbouring hills, accord-
Rose to the skies upon Assyria's plain, ing to Lucan, Pharsalia, I V. , the giant
And all mankind one language only knew ; Antaeus had his cave. Speaking of
A dread commission from on high was given
To the fell whirlwinds, which with dire alarms Curio's voyage, he says :—
Beat on the Tower, and to its lowest base " To Afric'shies,
coast he cuts the foamy way.
Shook it convulsed. And now all intercourse, Where low the once victorious Carthage lay.
By some occult and overruling power, There landing, to the well-known camp he
Ceased among men : by utterance they strove
Perplexed and anxious to disclose their mind ; Wliere from afar the distant seas he spies ;
But their lip failed them, and in lieu of words
Produced a painful babbling sound : the place Where Bagrada's dull waves the sands divide,
And slowly downward roll their sluggish tide.
Was thence
crew called Babel ; by th' apostate From thence he seeks the heights renowned
by fame.
Named away
from the event. Then severed far And hallowed by the great Cornelian name :
The rocks and hills which long, traditions say,
They sped uncertain into realms unknown ;
Thus kingdoms rose, and the glad world was Were held by huge Antseus' horrid sway.
But greater deeds this rising mountain grace,
filled." And Scipio's name ennobles much the place.
While, fixing here his famous camp, he calls
94. Odyssey, XI., Buckley's Tr. :
" God-like Otus and far-famed Ephialtes; Fierce Hannibal from Rome's devoted walls.
whom the faithful earth nourished, the As yet the mouldering works remain in view.
tallest and far the most beautiful, at least Where dreadful once the Latian eagles flew."
after illustrious Orion. For at nine 124. ^neid, VI.: "Here too you
years old they were also nine cubits in might have seen Tityus, the foster-child
width, and in height they were nine fa- of all-bearing earth, whose body is ex-
thoms. Who even threatened the im- tended over nine whole acres ; and a
mortals that they would set up a strife of huge vulture, with her hooked beak,
impetuous war in Olympus. They at- pecking at his immortal liver." Also,
tempted to place Ossa upon Olympus, Odyssey, XI., in similar words.
and upon Ossa leafy Pelion, that heaven Typhoeus was a giant with a hundred
might be accessible. And they would heads, like a dragon's, who made wai
have accomplished it, if they had reached upon the gods as soon as he was born.
fhe measure of youth; but the son of He was the father of Geryon and Cer-
berus.
Jove, whom fair-haired Latona bore,
destroyed them both, before the down 132. The battle between Hercules
flowered under their temples and thick- and Antaeus is described by Lucan, Phar-
ened upon their cheeks with a flowering salia, IV. : —
beard." " Bright in Olympic oil Alcides shone,
98. The giant with a hundred hands. Antaius with his mother's dust is sirown,
/lineid, X. : " /Egseon, who, they say, And seeks her friendly force to aid his own."
had a hundred arms and a hundred hands,
136. One of the leaning towers of
and flashed fire from fifty mouths and Bologna, which Eustace, Classical Tour,
breasts; when against the thunderbolts
I. 167, thinks are "remarkable only for
of Jove he on so many equal buck- their unmeaning elevation and dangerous,
lers clashed ; unsheathed so many
deviation from the perpendicular."
swords. "
He is supposed to have been a famous
 NOTES TO INFERNO. 191

half-brother. See Note 65, Canto VI.

CANTO XXXII. He is said also to have killed his uncle.
65. .Sassol Mascheroni, according to
I. In this Canto begins the Ninth Benvenuto, was one of the Toschi family
and last Circle of the Inferno, where of Florence. He murdered his nephew
Traitors are punished. in order to get possession of his property ;
" Hence in the smallest circle, at the point for which crime he was carried through
Of all the universe, where Dis is seated. the streets of Florence, nailed up in a
Whoe'er betrays forever is consumed." cask, and then beheaded.
3. The word thrust is here used in its 68. Camicion de' Pazzi of Valdamo,
architectural sense, as the thrust of a who murdered his kinsman Ubertino,
bridge against its abutments, and the But his crime will seem small and ex-
like. cusable when compared with that of
9. Still using the babble of child- another kinsman, Carlino de' Pazzi, who
hood. treacherously surrendered the castle of
II. The Muses; the poetic tradition Piano in Valdamo, wherein many Flo-
being that Amphion built the walls of rentine exiles were taken and put to
Thebes l>y the sound of his lyre ; and the death.
prosaic interpretation, that he did it by 81. The speaker is Bocca degli Abati,
his persuasive eloquence. whose treason caused the defeat of the
15. Matthew xxvi. 24: "Woe unto Guelfs at the famous battle of Monta-
that man by whom the Son of man is perti, in 1260. See Note 86, Canto X.
betrayed ! it had been good for that man " Messer Bocca degli Abati, the trai-
if he had not been bom. " tor," says Malispini, Storia, ch. 171,
28. Tambemich is a mountain of Scla- " with his sword in hand, smote and cut
vonia, and Pietrapana another near off the hand of Messer Jacopo de' Pazzi
Lucca. of Florence, who bore the standard of
55. These two. "miserable brothers" tiie cavalry of the Commune of Florence.
are Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of And the knights and the people, seeing
Alberto degli Alberti, lord of Falterona the standard down, and the treachery,
in the valley of the Bisenzio. After
88.putTheto second
were rout." division of the Circle,
their father's death they quarrelled, and
one treacherously slew the other. called Antenora, from Antenor, the Tro-
58. Caina is the first of the four di- jan prince, who l>etrayed his country by
visions of this circle, and takes its name keeping up a secret correspondence with
from the first fratricide. the Greeks. Virgil, /Eneid, I. 242,
62. Sir Mordred, son of King Arthur. makes him founder of Padua.
See La Mart iV Arthure, III. ch. 167 : 106. See Note 81 of this Canto.
116. Buoso da Duera of Cremona,
"And there King Arthur smote Sir
Mordred under the shield with a foine being bribed, suffered the French cavalry
of his speare throughout the body more under Guido da Monforte to pass through
than a iadom." Lombardy on their way to Apulia, with-
Nothing is said here of the sun's out opposing them as he had been com-
shining through the wound, so as to manded.
break the shadow on the ground, but 117. There is a double meaning in
that incident is mentioned in the Italian the Iialian expression sta fresco, which
version of the Romance of Launcelot of is well rendered by the vulgarism, left
the lake, Z' illustre e famosa istoria lii out in the cold, so familiar in American
Lancillotto del Lago, III. ch. 162: "Be-
hind the opening made by the lance politics. 1 19. Beccaria of Pavia, Abbot of
there passed through the wound a ray Vallombrosa, and Papal Legate at Flo-
of the sun so manifestly, that Girflet rence, where he was beheaded in 1258
saw it." for plotting against the Guelfs.
63. Focaccia was one of the Cancel- 121. Gianni de' Soldanieri, of Flor-
lieri Bianchi, of Pistoia, and was engaged ence, a Ghibelline, who betrayed his
in the affair of cutting off the hand of his party. Villani, VII. 14, says : " Messei
192 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Gianni de' Soldanieii put himself at the Visconte retired to the absolute govern-
head of the populace from motives of ment of Sardinia. But Ugolino, still
ambition, regardless of consequences dissatisfied, sent his son to disturb the
which were injurious to the Ghibelline island ; a deadly feud was the conse-
party, and to his own detriment, which quence, Guelph against Guelph, while
seems always to have been the case in the latent spirit of Giiibellinism, which
Florence with those who became popular filled the breasts of the citizens and was
leaders." encouraged by priest and friar, felt its
122. The traitor Ganellon, or Gana- advantage; the Archbishop Ruggiero
lon, who betrayed the Christian cause at Rubaldino was its real head, but he
Koncesvalles, persuading Charlemagne worked with hidden caution as the appa-
not to go to the assistance of Orlando. rent friend of either chiefta n. In 1287,
See Canto XXXI. Note i8. after some sharp contests, both of them
abdicated, for the sake, as it was alleged,
Tebaldello de' Manfredi treacherously
opened the gates of Faenza to the French of public tranquillity ; but, soon perceiv-
in the night. ing their error, again united, and, scour-
130. Tydeus, son of the king of Ca- ing the streets with all their followers,
lydon, slew Menalippus at the siege forcibly re-established their authority.
of Thebes, and was himself mortally Ruggieri seemed to assent quietly to this
wounded. Statins, Thehaid, VIII., thus new outrage, even looked without emo-
describes what followed :— tion on the bloody corpse of his favourite
nephew, who had been stabbed by Ugo-
" O'ercome with joy and anger, Tydeus tries lino ;and so deep was his dissimulation,
To raise himself, and meets with eager eyes
The deathful object, pleased as he surveyed that he not only refused to believe the
His own condition in his foe's pourtrayed. murdered body to be his kinsman's, but
The severed head impatient he demands,
And hands.
grasps with fervour in his trembling zealously assisted the Count to establish
himself alone in the government, and
While he remarks the restless balls of sight
That sought and shunned alternately the light. accomplish Visconte's ruin. The design
Contented now, his wrath began to cease,
was successful ; Nino was overcome and
And the fierce warrior had expired in peace ; driven from the town, and in 1288 Ugo-
But bred.
the fell fiend a thought of vengeance lino entered Pisa in triumph from his
villa, where he had retired to await the
Unworthy of himself and of the dead.
Meanwhile, her sire unmoved, Tritonia came. catastrophe. The Archbishop had ne-
To crown her hero with immortal fame ; glected nothing, and Ugolino found him-
But when she saw his jaws besprinkled o'er self associated with this prelate in the
With spattered brains, and tinged with living
public government ; events now began
Whilst his imploring friends attempt in vain to thicken ; the Count could not brook
To .sol's!his fury, and his rage restrain.
, calm a competitor, much less a Ghibelline
Again, recoiling from the loathsome view, priest ; and in the month of July both
The sculptur'd target o'er her face she threw." parties flew to arms, and the .Archbishop
was victorious. After a feeble attempt
CANTO XXXIII. to rally in the public palace. Count Ugo-
lino, his two sons, Uguccione and Gad-
I. In this Canto the subject of the do, and two young grandsons, Ansel-
preceding is continued. muccio and Brigata, surrendered at
13. Count Ugolino della Gherardesca discretion, and were immediately im-
was Podesta of Pisa. " Raised to the prisoned in a tower, afterwards called
highest offices of the republic for ten the Torre della fame, and there perished
years," says Napier, Florentiite History, by starvation. Count Ugolino della
I. 318, "he would soon have become Gherardesca, whose tragic story after
absolute, had not his own nephew, Nino five hundred years still sounds in awful
Visconte, Judge of Gallura, contested numbers from the lyre of Dante, was
this supremacy and forced himself into stained with the ambition and darker
conjoint and equal authority; this could vices of the age; like other potent chiefs,
not continue, and a sort of compromise he sought to enslave his country, and
was lor the moment eflfected, by which checked at nothing in his impetuous
 /VOTES TO INFERNO.

career. He was accused of many crimes ; and grandchildren, who were young and
of poisoning his own nephew, of failing innocent boys ; and this sin, committed
in war, making a disgraceful peace, of by the Pisans, did not remain un-
flying shamefully, perhaps traitorously,
at Meloria, and of obstructing all nego- Chaucer'spunished. " version of the story in the
tiations with Genoa for the return of Menkes Tale is as follows :—
his imprisoned countrymen. Like most
others of his rank in those frenzied times, " Of the erl Hugelin of Pise the langour
Ther may no tonge tellen for pitee.
he belonged more to faction than his But litel out of Pise stant a tour,
In whiche tour in prison yput was he,
country, and made the former subser- And with him ben his litel children three,
vient to his own ambition; but all these The eldest scarsely five yere was of age :
accusations, even if well founded, would Alas ! fortune, it was gret crueltee
not draw him from the general stand- Swiche briddes for to put in swiche a cage.
ard ; they would only prove that he Dampned was he to die in that prison.
shared the ambition, the cruelty, the For Roger, which that bishop of Pise,
Had on him made a false suggestion,
ferocity, the recklessness of human life Thurgh which the peple gan upon him rise,
and suffering, and the relentless pursuit And put him in prison, in swiche a wise,
of power in common with other chief As ye han herd ; and mete and drinke he had
tains of his age and country. Ugolino So smale, that wel unntehe it may suflfise,
And therwithal it was ful poure and bad.
was overcome, and suffered a cruel death ;
And on a day befell, that in that houre,
his family was dispersed, and his me- Whan that his mete wont was to be brought.
mory has perhaps been blackened with a The gailer shette the dores of the toure ;
darker colouring to excuse the severity He hered it wel, but he spake right nought.
of his punishment; but his sons, who And in his herte anon ther fell a thought,
That they for hunger wolden do him dien ;
naturally followed their parent's fortune, Alas ! quod he, alas that I was wrought !
were scarcely implicated in his crimes, Therwith the teres fellen fro his eyen.
although they shared his fate; and his His yonge sone, that three yere was of age.
grandsons, though not children, were Unto him said, fader, why do ye wepe ?
still less guilty, though one of these was Whan will the gailer bringen our potage ?
not imstained with blood. The Arch- Is ther no morsel bred that ye do kepe?
I am so hungry, that I may not slepe.
bishop had public and private wrongs to Now wolde God that I might slef>en ever,
revenge, and had he fallen, his sacred Than shuld not hunger in my wombe crepe ;
character alone would probably have Therlever.
n'is no thing, sauf bred, that me were
procured for him a milder destiny." Thus day by day this childe began to one.
Villani, VII. 128, gives this account
Til in his fadres barme adoun it lay,
of the imprisonment : — And saide, farewel, fader, I mote die ;
" The Pisans, who had imprisoned And kist his fader, and dide the same day.
Count Ugolino and his two sons and two And whan the woful fader did it sey.
grandsons, children of Count Guelfo, as For wo his armes two he gan to bite.
And saide, alas ! fortune, and wala wa !
we have before mentioned, in a tower on Thy false whele my wo aJl may I wite.
!he Piazza degli Anziani, ordered the His children wenden, that for hunger it was
door of the tower to be locked, and the That he his amies gnowe, and not for wo.
keys to be thrown into the Amo, and And sayden : fader, do not so, alas !
forbade any food should be given to the But rather etc the flesh upon us two.
Our flesh thou yaf us, take our flesh us fro.
prisoners, who in a few days died of And ete ynough : right thus they to him seide.
hunger. And the five dead bodies, being And after that, within a day or two,
taken together out of the tower, were I'hey laide hem in his lapp: adoun, and deide.
ignominiously buried ; and from that day Himself dispeired eke for hunger starf.
forth the tower was called the Tower of Thus ended is this mightj- Erl of Pise :
lamine, and shall be for evermore. From high estat fortune away him carf.
Of this tragedie it ought ynough suffice
For this cruelty the Pisans were much Who so wol here it in a longer wise,
blamed through all the world where it Redeth the grete poete of Itaille,
That highte Dante, for he can it devise
was known ; not so much for the Count's
sake, as on account of his crimes and Fro point to point, not o word wol he faille."
treasons he perhaps deserved such a Buti, Cotnmenio, says : " After eight
death, but for the sake of bis children days they were removed from prisor
 194
NOTES TO INFERNO.

and carried wrapped in matting to the tower was locked, and the keys thrown
church of the Minor Friars at San into the Arno ; and I believe most ol
Francesco, and buried in the monu- the commentators interpret the line in
ment, which is on the side of the steps this way. But the locking of a prison
leading into the church near the gate of door, which must have been a daily oc-
the cloister, with irons on their legs, currence, could hardly have caused the
which irons I myself saw taken out of dismay here pourtrayed, unless it can be
shown that the lower door of the tower
the monument."
22. "The remains of this tower," was usually left unlocked.
says Napier, Florentine History, I. 319, "The thirty lines from Ed io sentt
note, "still exist in the Piazza de' Cava- are unequalled," says Landor, Penta-
lieri, on the right of the archway as the meron, 40, "by any other continuous
spectator looks toward the clock." Ac- thirty in the whole dominions of poetry."
cording to Buti it was called the Mew, 80. Italy ; it being an old custom to«
"because the eagles of the Commune call countries by the affirmative particle
of the language.
were kept there to moult."
Shelley thus sings of it, Poems, III. 82. Capraia and Gorgona are two
islands opposite the mouth of the Arno.
91:— Ampere, Voyage Dantesqiie, 217, re-
" Amid the desolation of a city,
Which was the cradle, and is now the grave marks: "This imagination may appear
Of an extinguished people, so that pity grotesque and forced if one looks at the
Weeps
There o'er
stands the the
shipwrecks
Tower of
of oblivion's It is map, for the isle of Gorgona is at some
Famine. wave.
built distance from the mouth of tlie Arno,
Upon some prison-homes, whose dwellers rave and I had always thought so, until the
For bread, and gold, and blood : pain, linked day when, having ascended the tower of
to guilt.
Agitates the light flame of their hours. Pisa, I was struck with the aspect which
Until its vital oil is spent or spilt ; the Gorgona presented from that point.
There stands the pile, a tower amid the towers It seemed to shut up the Arno. I then
And sacred domes ; each marble-ribbed roof, understood how Dante might naturally
The brazen-gated temples, and the bowers have had this idea, which had seemed
Of solitary wealth I The tempest-proof
Pavilions of the dark Italian air strange to me, and his imagination was
by its presence dimmed, — they stand justified in my eyes. He had not seen the
Are aloof.
Gorgona from the Leaning Tower, which
And bare.
are withdrawn, — so that the world is
did not exist in his time, but from some
As if a spectre, wrapt in shapeless terror, one of the numerous towers which pro-
Amid a company of ladies fair tected the ramparts of Pisa. This fact
Should glide and glow, till it became a mirror alone would be sufficient to show what
Of all their beauty, and their hair and hue.
The life of their sweet eyes, with all its error. an excellent interpretation of a poet tra-
Should be absorbed till they to marble grew."
30. Monte San Giuliano, between 86, velling
Napier,
is." Florentine History, I.
Pisa and Lucca. 313 : " He without hesitation surren-
dered Santa Maria a Monte, Fuccechio,
Shelley, Poems, Til. i66 :— Santa Croce, and Monte Calvole to
'' It was that hill whose intervening brow Florence ; exiled the most zealous Ghi-
Screens Lucca from the Pisan's envious eye. bellines from Pisa, and reduced it to a
Which the circumfluous plain waving below.
Like a wide lake of green fertility, purely Guelphic republic ; he was ac-
With streams and fields and marshes bare, cused of treachery, and certainly his own
Divides from the far Apennine, which lie
Islanded in the immeasurable air."
objects were admirably forwarded by the
continued captivity of so many of his
31. The hounds are the Pisan mob ; countrymen, by the banishment of the
the hunters, the Pisan noblemen here adverse faction, and by the friendship
mentioned ; the wolf and whelps, Ugo-
lino and his sons. and87.
supportThebes of Florence."
was renowned for its
46. It is a question whether in this misfortunes and grim tragedies, from the
line citinvnr is to be rendered nailed up
%x locked. Villani and Benvenuto say the days of the sowing of the dragon's teeth
by Cadmus, down to the destruction 0/
 NOTES TO INFERNO.

the city by Alexander, who commanded ceived the might of Hercules, an image ;
it to be utterly demolished, excepting for he himself amongst the immortal
only the house in which the poet Pindar gods is delighted with banquets, and has
was born. Moreover, the tradition runs the fair-legged Hebe, daughter of mighty
that Pisa was founded by Pelops, son of
Jove, and golden-sandalled Juno. "
King Tantalus of Thebes, although it 137. Ser Branca d'Oria was a
derived its name from " the Olympic Genoese, and a member of the cele-
Pisa on the banks of the Alpheus." brated Doria family of that city. Never-
1 1 8. Friar Alberigo, of the family of theless he murdered at table his father-
tlie Manfredi, Lords of Faenza, was one in-law, Michel Zanche, who is men-
of the Irati Gandenti, or Jovial Friars, tioned Canto XXII. 88.
mentioned in Canto XX III. 103. The 151. This vituperation of the Genoese
account which the Ollimo gives of his reminds one of the bitter Tuscan pro-
treason is as follows : " Having made verb against them: "Sea without fish;
})eace with certain hostile fellow-citizens, mountains without trees ; men without
he betrayed them in this wise. One faith ; and women without shame."
evening he invited them to supper, and 1 54. Friar Alberigo.
had armed retainers in the chambers
round the supper room. It was in sum- CANTO XXXIV.
mer-time, and he gave orders to his
servants that, when after the meats he I. The fourth and last division of the
should order the fruit, the ciiambers Ninth Circle, the Judecca, —
should be opened, and the armed men
should come forth and should murder all " the smallest circle, at the poin-.
Of all the Universe, where Dis is seated."
the guests. And so it was done. And
he did the like the year before at Cas- The first line, " The banners of the
tello delle Mura at Pistoia. These are king of Hell come forth," is a parody of
the fruits of the Garden of Tieason, of the first line of a Latin hymn of the
sixth century, sung in the churches du-
which he speaks. " Benvenuto says that
his guests were his brother Manfred and ring Passion week, and written by For-
tunatus, an Italian by birth, but who
his (Manfred's) son. Other commen- died Bishop of Poitiers in 600. The first
tators say they were certain members of
the Order of Frati Gaiideitti. In 1300, stanza of this hymn is, —
the date of the poem, Alberigo was still " Vexilla regis prodeunt,
living. Fulget cnicis mysterium, '
1 20. A Rowland for an Oliver. Quo came carnis conditor,

124. This division of Cocytus, the Suspensus est patibulo."

See Konigsfeld, Lateiuische Hymnen
Lake of Lamentation, is called Ptolo- tind Gesdnge aits dem Mitlelalter, 64.
msea from Ptolomeus, I Maccabees, xvi.
18. Milton, Farad. Lost, V. 708 :—
II, where
viteth Simon"the
and captain
two of ofhisJericho in-
sons into " His countenance as the morning star, that
his castle, and there treacherously mur-
The starrj' flock."
guides
dereth them ;" for " when Simon and
his sons had drunk largely, Ptolomee and 28. Compare Milton's descriptions of
Satan, Farad. Lost, I. 192, 589, II. 636,
his men rose up, and took their wea-
pons, and came upon Simon into the IV. 985 :—
f)anqueting-place, and slew him, and " Thus Satan, talking to his nearest matie,
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes
his two sons, and certain of his ser- That sparkling blazed : his other parts besides
vants." Prone on the flood, extended long and large.
Or perhaps from Ptolemy, who mur- Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge
As whom the fables name of monstrous size,
dered Pompey after the battle of Phar- Titanian, or Earth-bom, that warred on Jove,
salia.
Briareiis, or Typhon, whom the den
126. Of the three Fates, Clothe held By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast
the distaff, Lachesis spun the thread, and Leviathan, which God of all hU works
Created hugest that swim the ocean stream :
Atropos cut it. Him, haply, slumbering on the Norway foam,
Odyssey, XI. : " After him I per- C. t
The pilot of some small night-foundered skilf,
196 NOTES TO INFERNO.

Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell,

With fixed anchor in his scaly rind, papale, I. 75, Miss Ward's Tr., says:
Moors by his side under the lee, while night " The three spirits, who hang from the
Invests lthe
ay sea, and wished morn delays. mouths of his Satan, are Judas, Brutus,
So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend
and Cassius. The poet's reason for se-
lecting those names has never yet been
Chain o t b l
ed n he urning ake." satisfactorily accounte 1 for ; but we have
" He, above the rest
In shape and gesture proudly eminent, no hesitation in pronouncing it to have
Stood like a tower : his form had yet not lost been this, — he considered the Pope not
All her original brightness, nor appeared
Less than archangel ruined, and the excess only a betrayer and seller of Christ, —
Of glory obscured : as when the sun new-risen ' Where gainful merchandise is made of
Looks through the horizontal misty air. Christ throughout the livelong day,'
Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon. (Parad. 17,) and for that reason put Judas
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds into his centre mouth ; but a traitor and
On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarchs : darkened so, yet shone rebel to Ceesar, and therefore placed
Brutus and Cassius in the other two
Above them all the Archangel."
" As when far off at sea a fleet descried mouths; for the Pope, who was ori-
Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds
Close sailing from Bengala or the isles cameginally no more than
his enemy, Crcsar's the
and usurped vicar, be-
capital
Of Ternate and Jidore, whence merchants bring
Their .spicy drugs : they on the trading flood of his empire, and the supreme autho-
I'hrough the wide .(Ethiopian to the Cape rity. His treason to Christ was not dis-
Ply, stemming nightly toward the pole : so covered by the world in general ; hence
seemed
the face of Judas is hidden, — ' He that
Far off the flying fiend." hath his head within, and plies the
" On the other side, Satan, alarmed, feet without' (Inf. 34); his treason tc
Collecting all his might, dilated stood,
Like Teneriff or Atlas, unremoved : Caesar was open and manifest, there-
His stature reached the sky, and on his crest fore Brutus and Cassius show their
Sat horror plumed ; nor wanted in his grasp
What seemed both spear and shield." He adds in a note : " The situation of
38. Tlie Ottimo and Benvenuto both Judas is the same as that of the Popes
faces."
interpret the three faces as symbolizing who were guilty of simony."
Ignorance, Hatred, and Impotence. 68. The evening of Holy Saturday.
Others interpret them as signifying the 77. Iliad, V. 305 : " With this he
three quarters of the then known world, struck the hip of /Eneas, where the
liuroije, Asia, and Africa. thigh turns on the hip."
45. yEtliiopia; the region about the 95. The canonical day, from sunrise
Cataracts of the Nile. to sunset, was divided into four equal
48. Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 527:— parts, called in Italian Ta-za, Sesta,
Nona, and Vcspro, and varying in length
" At last his sail-broad vans
He .spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke with the change of season. "These
Uplifted spurns the ground." hours," says Dante, Conviio, III. 6,
" are short or long according as
55. Landor in his Petttanieroit, 527,
day and night increase or diminish."
Terza was the first division after sunrise ;
makes Petrarca say: "This is atro-
cious, not terrific nor grand. Alighieri and at the equinox would be from six
is grand by his lights, not by his shadows ; till nine. Consequently mezza terza,
by his human affections, not by his in- or middle tierce, would be half-past
seven,
fernal. As the minutest sands are the
labours of some profound sea, or the 114. Jerusalem.
spoils of some vast mountain, in like 125. TheMountainof Purgatory, rising
manner his horrid wastes and wearying out of the sea at a point directly oppo-
minutenesses are the chafings of a turbu- site Jerusalem, upon the other side o^
lent spirit, grasping the loftiest things, the globe. It is an island in the South
and penetrating the deepest, and moving Pacific Ocean.
and moaning on the earth in loneliness 130. Tills brooklet is Lethe, whose
source is on the summit of the Mountain
and sadness."
62. Gabriele Rossetti, Spiiito Aiiti- of Purgatory, flowing down to mingle
 197

NOTES TO INFERNO.

with Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon, the stars; " at the end of the Purgatorio
and form Cocytus. See Canto XIV. he isend
" ready to ascend to the
136. ^ the of the Paradiso he stars;" at
feels the
138. It will be observed that each of power of "that Love which moves the
the three divisions of the Divine Comedy sun and other stars." He is now look-
ends with the word " Stars," suggesting ing upon the morning stars of Easter
Sunday.
and symbolizing endless aspiration. At
the end of the Inferno Dante "re-beholds
 ILLUSTRATIONS.

L' OTTIMO COMENTO. perfect in prose and verse as he was in

Inferno, X. 8.5. public speaking a most noble orator ; in
rhyming excellent, with the most polished
I, the writer, heard Dante say that and beautiful style that ever apjieared in
never a rhyme had led him to say other our language up to this time or since.
than he would, but that many a time and He wrote in his youth the book of The
oft he had made words say in his rhymes Early Life of Lm>e, and afterwards when
what they were not wont to express for in exile made twenty moral and amorous
other poets. canzonets very excellent, and amongst
other things three noble epistles : one he
sent to the Florentine Government, com-
VILLA-Nl'S NOTICE OF DANTE. plaining ofhis undeserved exile ; another
to the Emperor Henry when he was at
Cronica, Lib. IX cap ,^36. Tr. in Napier's the siege of Brescia, reprehending him
Florentine History,' Book I. ch. 16. for his delay, and almost prophesying ;
In the month of July,, 1 321, died the the third to the Italian cardinals during
Poet Dante Alighieri of Florence, in the the vacancy after the death of Pope
city of Ravenna in Romagna, after his Clement, urging them to agree in elect-
return from an embassy to Venice for ing an Italian Pope ; all in Latin, with
the Lords of Polenta with whom he re- noble precepts and excellent sentences
sided ;and in Ravenna before the door and authorities, which were much com-
of the principal church he was interred mended bythe wise and leanied. And
with high honour, in the habit of a poet he wrote the Commedia, where, in
and great philosopher. He died in polished verse and with great and subtile
banishment from the community of arguments, moral, natural, astrological,
Florence, at the age of about fifty-six. philosophical, and theological, with new
This Dante was an honourable and and beautiful figures, similes, and poeti-
ancient citizen of Porta San Piero at cal graces, he composed and treated in a
Florence, and our neighbour ; and his hundred chapters or cantos of the exist-
exile from Florence was on the occasion ence of hell, purgatory, and paradise ;
of Charles of Valois, of the house of so loftily as may be said of it, that who-
France, coming to Florence in 1301, and ever isof subtile intellect may by his said
the expulsion of the White party, as has treatise perceive and understand. He
already in its place been mentioned. was well j^leased in this poem to blame
The said Dante was of the supreme and cry out, in the manner of poets, in
governors of our city, and of that party some places perhaps more than he ought
although a Guelf ; and therefore with- to have done ; but it may be that his
out any other crime was with the said exile made him do so. He also wrote
White party expelled and banished from the Moiiarchia, where he treats of the
Florence ; and he went to the University office of popes and emperors. And he
of Bologna, and into many parts of the began a comment on fourteen of the
world. This was a great and learned above-named moral canzonets in the
person in almost every science, although vulgar tongue, which in consequence of
a layman ; he was a consummate poet his death is found imperfect except on
and philosopher, and rhetorician ; as three, which, to judge from what is seen.
 iqq

LETTER OF ERA TE ILARIO.

would have proved a lofty, beautiful, when he had given me the book, I
subtile, and most important work ; be- pressed it gratefully to my bosom, and in
cause itis equally ornamented with noble his presence fixed my eyes upon it with
opinions and fine philosophical and astro- great love. But I beholding there the
logical reasoning. Besides these he com- Vulgar tongue, and showing by the fashion
posed alittle book which he entitled De of my countenance my wonderment there-
Vuli^ari Eloquentia, of which he pro- at, he asked the reason of the same. I
mised to make four books, but only two answered, that I marvelled he should
are to be found, perhaps in consequence sing in that language ; for it seemed a
of his early death ; where, in powerful difficult thing, nay, incredible, that those
and elegant Latin and good reasoning, most high conceptions could be expressed
he rejects all the vulgar tongues of Italy. in common language ; nor did it seem to
This Dante, from his knowledge, was me right that such and so worthy a sci-
somewhat presumptuous, harsh, and dis- ence should be clothed in such plebeian
dainful, like an ungracious philosopher ;
garments. " You think aright," he said,
he scarcely deigned to converee with lay- " and I myself have th'^ught so. And
men ;but for his other virtues, science, when at first the seeds of these matters,
and worth as a citizen, it seems but perhaps inspired by Heaven, began to
reasonable to give him perpetual re- bud, I chose that language which was
membrance inthis our chronicle ; never- most worthy of them : and not alone
theless, his noble works, left to us in chose it, but began forthwith to poetize
writing, bear true testimony of him, and therein, after this wise :
honourable fame to our city.
' Ultima regna canam fluidocontermina inundo,
Spiritibus
vunt quae lata patent ; quae praemia sol-

LETTER OF FRATE ILARIO. Pro mentis cuicumque suis.'

But when I recalled the condition of the
Arrivabene, Comento Storico, p. 379.
present age, and saw the songs of the
Hither he came, passing through illustrious poets esteemed almost as
the diocese of Luni, moved either by naught, and knew that the generous men,
the religion of the place, or by some for whom in better days these things
other feeling. And seeing him, as yet were written, had abandoned, ah me !
unknown to me and to all my brethren, the liberal arts unto vulgar hands, I
I questioned him of his wishings and threw aside the delicate lyre, which had
his seekings there. He moved not; but armed my flank, and attuned another
stood silently contemplating the columns more befitting, the ear of moderns ;— for
and arches of the cloister. And again I the food that is hard we hold in vain to
asked him what he wished, and whom the mouths of sucklings."
he sought. Then, slowly turning his Having said this, he added with emo-
head, and looking at the friars and at tion, that if the occasion served, I should
make some brief annotations upon the
me, he answered " Peace ! " Thence
kindling more and more the wish to work, and, thus apparailed, should for-
know him and who he might be, I led ward it to you. Which task in truth,
hini aside somewhat, and, having spoken although I may not have extracted all tl.e
a few words with him, I knew him ; for marrow of his words, I have neverthe-
although I had never seen him till that less performed with fidelity ; and the
hour, his fame had long since reached work required of nie I frankly send you,
me. And when he saw that I hung upon as was enjoined upon me by that most
his countenance, and listened to him with friendly man ; in which work, if it ap-
strange affection, he drew from his bosom pear that any ambiguity still remains,
a l»ok, did gently open it, and offered it you must impute it to my insufficiency,
for there is no doubt that the text is per-
to me, saying: "Sir P'riar, here is a fect in all points
portion of my work, which perad venture
tiiou hast not seen. This remembrance
I leave with thee. Forget me not. " And
 ILLUSTRA rWNS.

certain sum of money, and submit to

PASSAGE FROM THE CONVITO, the humiliation of asking and receiving
I. iii. absolution : wherein, my father, I see
Leigh Hunt, Stories from the Italian Poets, p. 12. two propositions that are ridiculous and
impertinent. I speak of the imperti-
Ah ! would it had pleased the Dis- nence of those who mention such con-
penser of all things that this excuse had
never been needed ; that neither others ditions to me; for in your letter, dic-
tated byjudgment and discretion, there
had done me wrong, nor myself under- is no such thing. Is such an invita-
gone penalty undeservedly, — the penalty, tion, then, to return to his country
1 say, of exile and of poverty. For it
pleased the citizens of the fairest and glorious to Dante Alighieri, after suffer-
ing in exile almost fifteen years? Is it
most renowned daughter of Rome — Flo- thus they would recompense innocence
rence— to cast me out of her most sweet which all the world knows, and the
bosom, where I was bom, and bred, and
labour and fatigue of unremitting study ?
passed half of the life of man, and in Far from the man who is familiar with
which, with her good leave, I still desire
with all my heart to repose my weary philosophy be the senseless baseness of
a heart of earth, that could act like a
spirit, and finish the days allotted me ; little sciolist, and imitate the infamy of
and so I have wandered in almost every
some others, by offering himself up as
place to which our language extends, a it were in chains : far from the man
stranger, almost a beggar, exposing
against my will the wounds given me by who cries aloud for justice, this com-
fortune, too often unjustly imputed to the promise by his money with his perse-
cutors. No, my father, this is not the
sufferer's fault. Truly I have been a way that shall lead me back to my
vessel without sail and without rudder,
countiy. I will return with hasty
driven about upon different ports and
steps, if you or any other can open to
shores by the dry wind that springs out
me a way that shall not derogate from
of dolorous poverty ; and hence have I the fame and honour of Dante ; but if
appeared vile in the eyes of many, who,
by no such way Florence can be en-
perhaps, by some better report had con- tered, then Florence I shall never enter.
ceived of me a different impression, and What ! shall I not everywhere enjoy
in whose sight not only has my person the hght of the sun and stars ? and may
become thus debased, but an unworthy I not seek and contemplate, in every
opinion created of everything which I
corner of the earth, under the canopy of
did, or which I had to do.
heaven, consoling and delightful truth,
without first rendering myself inglorious,
DANTE'S LETTER TO A nay infamous, to the people and rejjuljlic
FRIEND. of Florence? Bread, I hope, will not
fail me.
Leigh Hunt, Stories from the Italian Poets, p. 13.
From your letter, which I received
with due respect and affection, I observe PORTRAITS OF DANTE.
how much you have at heart my restora-
tion to my country. I am bound to you By Charles E. Norton.
the more gratefully, inasmuch as an exile In his Life of Dante, Boccaccio, the
rarely finds a friend. But after mature earliest of the biographers of the poet,
consideration I must, by my answer, dis- describes him in these words : " Our
appoint the wishes of some little minds ; poet was of middle height, and after
and I confide in the judgment to which reaching mature years he went somewhat
your impartiality and prudence will lead stooping ; his gait was grave and se-
you. Your nephew and mine has written date ;always clothed in most becoming
to me, what indeed had been mentioned garments, his dress was suited to the
by many other friends, that by a decree ripeness of his years ; his face was long,
concerning the exiles I am allowed to his nose aquiline, his eyes rather large
return to Florence, provided I pay a than small, his jaw heavy, and his
 PORTRAITS OF DANTE.

ander lip prominent ; his complexion was a fortunatt and delightful incident,
was dark, and his hair and beard thick, that they were so brought together
black, and crisp, and his countenance by sympathy of genius and by favour-
was always sad and thoughtful. ing circumstance as to become friends,
His manners, whether in public or at to love and honour each other in life,
home, were wonderfully composed and and to celebrate each other through all
restrained, and in all his ways he was time in their respective works. The
more courteous and civil than any one story of their friendship is known only
in its outline, but that it begar. when
else."
Such was Dante as he appeared in they were young is certain, and that
his later years to those from whose re- it lasted till death divided them is a tra-
collections ofhim Boccaccio drew this dition which finds ready acceptance.
description. It was probably between 1290 and
But Boccaccio, had he chosen so to 1300, when Giotto was just rising to
do, might have drawn another portrait unrivalled fame, that this painting was
of Dante, not the author of the Divine executed. There is no contemporary
Comedy, but the author of the Nexv record of it, the earliest known refer-
Life. The likeness of the youthful ence to it being that by Filippo Vil-
Dante was familiar to those Florentines lani, who died about 1404. Gianozzo
who had never looked on the living Manetti, who died in 1459, also men-
presence of their greatest citizen. tions it, and Vasari, in his Life of Giotto^
On the altar-wall of the chapel of published in 1550, says, that Giotto
the Palace of the Podesta (now the Bar- " became so good an imitator of nature,
gello) Giotto had painted a grand re- that he altogether discarded the stiff
ligious composition, in which, after the Greek manner, and revived the modem
fashion of the times, he exalted the and good art of painting, introducing
glory of Florence by the introduction exact drawing from nature of living
of some of her most famous citizens persons, which for more than two hun-
into the assembly of the blessed in dred years had not been practised, or
Paradise. "The head of Christ, full if indeed any one had tried it, he had
of dignity, appears above, and lower not succeeded very happily, nor any-
down, the escutcheon of Florence, sup- thing like so well as Giotto. And he
ported by angels, with two rows of portrayed among other persons, as may
saints, male and female, attendant to even now be seen, in the chapel of the
the right and left, in front of whom Palace of the Podesta in Florence,
stand a company of the magnates of the Dante Alighieri, his contemporary and
city, headetl by two crowned person- greatest friend, who was not less fa-
ages, close to one of whom, to the mous a poet than Giotto was painter
right, stands Dante, a pomegranate in in those days. ... In the same chapel
his hand, and wearing the graceful fall- is the portrait by the same hand of Ser
ing cap of the day."* The date when Brunetto Latini, the master of Dante,
this picture was painted is uncertain, and of Messer Corso Donati, a great
but (jiotto represented his friend in it citizen of those times."
as a youth, such as he may have been One might have supposed that such
in the first flush of early fame, at the a picture as this would have been
season of the beginning of their memor- among the most carefully protected and
able friendship. jealously prized treasures of Florence.
Of all the portraits of the revival of But such was not the case. The
Art, there is none comparable in in- shameful neglect of many of the best
terest to this likeness of the supreme and most interesting works of the ear-
poet by the supreme artist of mediaeval lier period of Art, which accompanied
Eurojje. It was due to no accident of and was one of the symptoms of the
fortune that these men were contem- moral and political decline of Italy
poraries, and of the same country ; but it during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, extended to this as to other
• Lord Lindsay's History of Christian Art, of the noblest paintings of Giotto.
Vol. IL p. 174.
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.

Florence, in losing consciousness of May II, 1850, "the eye of the beauti-
present worth, lost care for the me- ful profile was wanting. There was a
. morials of her past honour, dignity, and hole an inch deep, or an inch and a
distinction. The Palace of the Po- half Marini said it was a nail. It
desta, no longer needed for the dwell- did seem precisely the damage of a nail
ing of the chief magistrate of a free drawn out. Afterwards Marini
city, was turned into a jail for common filled the hole, and made a new eye,
criminals, and what had once been its too little and ill designed, and then he
beautiful and sacred chapel was occu- retouched the whole face and clothes,
pied as a larder or store-room. The to the great damage of the expression
walls, adorned with paintings more and character. The likeness of the
precious than gold, were covered witli face, and the three colours in wliich
whitewash, and the fresco of Giotto Dante was dressed, the same with
was swept over by the brush of the those of Beatrice, those of young Italy,
plasterer. It was not only thus hidden white, green, and red, stand no more ;
from the sight of those unworthy in- the green is turned to chocolate-colour ;
deed to behold it, but it almost disap- moreover, the form of the cap is lost and
peared from memory also ; and from confounded.
the time of Vasari down to that of "I desired to make a drawing. . . .
Moreni, a Florentine antiquary, in the It was denied to me But I ob-
early part of the present century, hardly tained the means to be shut up in the
a mention of it occurs. In a note prison for a morning ; and not only
found among his papers, Moreni la- did I make a drawing, but a tracing
ments that he had spent two years of also, and with the two I then made a
his life in unavailing efforts to recover fac-simile sufificiently careful. Luckily
the portrait of Dante, and the other it was Ijefore the rifachnento."
portions of the fresco of Giotto in the This fac-simile afterwards passed into
Bargello, mentioned by Vasari ; that the hands of Lord Vernon, well known
others before him had made a like for his interest in all Dantesque studies,
effort, and had failed in like manner ; and by his permission it has been admi-
and that he hoped that better times rably reproduced in chromo-lithography
would come, in which this painting, under the auspices of the Arundel
of such historic and artistic interest, Society. The reproduction is entirely
would again be sought for, and at satisfactory as a presentation of the au-
length recovered. Stimulated by these thentic portrait of the youthful Dante,
words, three gentlemen, one an Ame- in the state in which it was when Mr.
rican, Mr. Richard Henry Wilde, one Kirkup was so fortunate as to gain ad-
an Englishman, Mr. Seymour Kirkup, mission to it
and one an Italian, Signor G. Aubrey This portrait by Giotto is the only
Bezzi, all scholars devoted to the study likeness of Dante known to have l)een
of Dante, undertook new researches, made of the poet during his life, and is
in 1840, and, after many hindrances of inestimable value on this account.
on the jwrt of the government, which But there exists also a mask, concern-
were at length successfully overcome, ing which there is a tradition that it
the work of removing the crust of was taken from the face of the dead
plaster from the walls of the ancient poet, and which, if its genuineness
chapel was intrusted to the Florentine could be established, would not be of
painter, Marini. This new and well- inferior interest to the early portrait.
directed search did not fail. After But there is no trustworthy historic
some months' labour the fresco was testimony concerning it, and its autiio-
found, almost uninjured, under the rity as a likeness depends upon tlie
whitewash that had protected while evidence of truth which its own cha-
concealing it, and at length the likeness racter affords. On the very threshold of
of Dante was uncovered. the inquiry concerning it, we are met
" But," says Mr. Kirkup, in a letter witli tlie doubt whether the art of taking
-published in the Spectator (London), casts was practised at the time of Dante's
 203

PORTRAITS OF DANTE.

death. In his Life of Andrea de Ver- of which have been judged" by the
rocchio, Vasari says that this art began first Roman and Florentine sculptors
to come into use in his time, that to have been taken from life, [that is,
is, about the middle of the fifteenth from the face after death,] — the slight
century : and Bottari refers to the Hke- differences noticeable between them
ness of Brunelleschi, who died in 1446, being such as might occur in casts
whicli was taken in this manner, and made from the original mask." One
was preserved in the office of the Works of these casts was given to Mr. Kirkup
of the Cathedral at Florence. It is not by the sculptor Bartolini, another be-
impossible that so simple an art may longed to the late sculptor Professor
have been sometimes practised at an Ricci, and the third is in the possession
earlier period ; and if so, there is no of the Marchese Torrigiani
inherent improbability in the supposi- In the absence of historical evidence
tion that Guido Novello, the friend in regard to this mask, some support is
and protectrjr of Dante at Ravenna, given to the belief in its genuineness by
may, had at the time of the topoet's the fact that it appears to be the type of
have a mask taken servedeath,
as a the greater number of the portraits of
model for the head of a statue intended Dante executed from the fourteenth to
to form part of the monument which the sixteenth century, and was adopted
he proposed to erect in honour of Dante. by Raffaelle as the original from which
And it may further be supposed, that, he drew the likeness which has done
this desiijn failing, owing to the fall of most to make the features of the poet
Guido from power before its accom- familiar to the world.
plishment, the mask may have been The character of the mask itself af-
preserved at Ravenna, till we first fords, however, the only really satisfac-
catch a trace of it nearly three centuries tory ground for confidence in the truth
later. of the tradition concerning it. It was
There is in the Magliabecchiana Li- plainly taken as a cast from a face after
brary at Florence an autograph manu- death. It has none of the character-
script byGiovanni Cinelli, a Florentine istics which a fictitious and imaginative
antiquary who died in 1706, entitled representation of the sort would be
La Toscana letlerata, owero Istoria degli likely to present. It bears no trace of
Scrittori Fiorentini, which contains a being a work of skilful and deceptive
life of Dante. In the course of the art. The difference in the fall of the
biography Cinelli states that the Arch- two half-closed eyelids, the difference
bishop of Ravenna caused the head between the sides of the face, the slight
of the poet which had adorned his deflection in the line of the nose, the
sepulchre to be taken therefrom, and droop of the corners of the mouth, and
that it came into the possession of the other delicate, but none the less con-
famous sculptor, Gian Bologna, who vincing indications, combine to show
left it at his death, in 1606, to his that it was in all probability taken di-
pupil Pietro Tacca. " One day Tacca rectly from nature. The countenance,
showed it, with otjier curiosities, to moreover, and expression, are worthy of
the Duchess Sforza, who, having wrap- Dante ; no ideal forms could so answer
ped it in a scarf of green cloth, carried to the face of him who had letl a life apart
it away, and God knows into whose from the world in which he dwelt, and
hands tlie precious object has fallen, or had been conducted by love and faith
where it is to l>e found On ac- along hard, painful, and solitary ways, to
behold
count of its singular l)eauty, if had often
been drawn by the scholars of Tacca."
It has been supjwsed that this head " L' alto trionfo del regno veracc."
was the original mask from which the
casts now existing are derived. Mr. The mask conforms entirely to the
Seymour Kirkup, in a npte on this pas- description by Boccaccio of the poet's
sage from Cinelli, says that " there are countenance, save tha? it is beardless,
three masks of Dante at Florenrr, all and this difference is to be accounted for
«04
ILLUSTRA TIONS.

by the fact that to obtain the cast the exist between the portrait of a man in
beard must have been removed. the freshness of a happy youth, and the
The face is one of the most pathetic portrait of him in his age, after much
upon which human eyes ever looked, for experience and many trials. Dante was
it exhibits in its expression the conflict fifty-six years old at the time of his
betw^een the strong nature of the man death, when the mask was taken ; the
and the hard deahngs of fortune, — be- portait by (iiotto represents him as not
tween the idea of his Hfe and its prac- much past twenty. There is an interval
tical experience. Strength is the most of at least thirty years between the two.
striking attribute of the countenance, And ! what years they had been for
him
displayed alike in the broad forehead,
the masculine nose, the firm lips, the The interest of this comparison lies
heavy jaw and wide chin ; and this not only in the mutual support which
strength, resulting from the main forms the portraits afford each other, in the
of the features, is enforced by the assurance each gives that the other is
strength of the lines of expression. The genuine, but also in their joint illustra-
look is grave and stern almost to grim^ tion of the life and character of Dante.
ness ; there is a scornful lift to the eye- As Giotto painted him, he is the lover of
brow, and a contraction of the forehead Beatrice, the gay companion of princes,
as from painful thought ; but obscured the friend of poets, and himself already
under this look, yet not lost, are the the most famous writer of love verses in
marks of tenderness, refinement, and Italy, There is an almost feminine
self-mastery, which, in combination with softness in the lines of the face, with a
more obvious characteristics, give to the sweet and serious tenderness well be-
countenance of the dead poet an inef- fitting the lover, and the author of the
fable dignity and melancholy. There is sonnets and canzoni which were in a
neither weakness nor failure here. It is few years to be gathered into the incom-
the image of the strong fortress of a strong parable record of his Neiu Life. It is
soul " buttressed on conscience and im- the face of Dante in the May-time of
pregnable will," battered by the blows of youthful hope, in that serene season of
enemies without and within, bearing upon promise and of joy, which was so soon
its walls the dints of many a siege, but to reach its fore-ordained close in the
standing firm and unshaken against all death of her who had made life new and
attacks until the warfare was at end. beautiful for him, and to the love and
The intrinsic evidence for the truth of honour of whom he dedicated his soul
this likeness, from its correspondence, and gave all his future years. It is the
not only with the description of the poet, same face with that of the mask ; but
but with the imagination that we form of the one is the face of a youth, '' with
him from his life and works, is strongly
all triumphant splendour on his brow,"
confirmed by a comparison of the mask the other of a man, burdened with "the
with the portrait by Giotto. So far as I dust and injury of age." The forms
am aware, this comparison has not and features are alike, but as to the
later face,
hitherto been made in a manner to ex-
hibit effectively the resemblance between cold, of year thou mayst in it behold
" That time
the two. A direct comparison between When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
the painting and the mask, owing to the Upon those boughs which shake against the
difficulty of reducing the forms of the . Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds
latter to a plain surface of light and
shade, is unsatisfactory. But by taking
a photograph from the mask, in the The face of the youth is grave, as
same position as that in which the face with the shadow of distant sorrow ; the
is painted by Giotto, and placing it face of sang."
the man is solemn, as of one
who had gone
alongside of the fac-simile from the paint-
ing, a very remarkable similarity be- " Per tutti i eerchj del dolente regno.
comes at once apparent
The differences are only such as must The one is the young poet of Flor
 BOCCACCIO'S ACCOUNT OF THE COMMEDIA.

ence, the other the supreme poet of the But after five years or more had
world, — elapsed, and the city was more ration-
ally governed, it is said, than it was
" che al divino dall' umano. when Dante was sentenced, persons
Air eterno dal tempo era venuto."
began to question their rights, on dif-
ferent grounds, to what had been the
BOCCACCIO'S ACCOUNT OF property of the exiles, and they were
THE COMMEDIA. heard. Therefore Madonna Gemma
Balbo, Life of Dante. Tr. by Mrs. Bunbury, II. was advised to demand back Dante's
6i, 269, 290.
property, on the ground that it was her
It should be known that Dante had dowry. She, to prepare this business,
a sister, who was mairied to one of our required certain writings and documents
citizens, called Leon Poggi, by whom which were in one of the chests, which,
she had several children. Among these in the violent plunder of the effects she
was one called Andrew, who wonder- had sent away, nor had she ever since
fully resembled Dante in the outline of removed them from the place where she
his features, and in his height and figure ; had deposited them. For this pui-pose,
and he also walked rather stooping, as this Andrew said, she had sent for him,
Dante is said to have done. He was a
and as Dante's nephew had entrusted
weak man, but with naturally good feel- Kim with the keys of these chests, and
ings, and his language and conduct were had sent him with a lawyer to search for
regular and praiseworthy. And I having the required papers ; while the lawyer
become intimate \vith him, he often searched for these, he, Andrew, among
spoke to me those of Dante's other of Dante's writings, found many
but among things haj)i^
which and ways ;
I delight sonnets, canzoni, and such similar pieces.
most in recollecting, is what he told me But among them what pleased him the
relating to that of which we are now most was a sheet in which, in Dante's
speaking. He said then, that Dante handwriting, the seven preceding cantos
belonged to the party of Messer Vieri were written ; and therefore he took it
de' Cerchi, and was one of its great and carried it off with him, and read it
leaders ; and when Messer Vieri and over and over again ; and although he
many of his followers left Florence, understood but little of it, still it ap-
Dante left that city also and went to peared to him a very fine thing ; and
Verona. And on account of this depar- therefore he determined, in order to
ture, through the solicitation of the op- know what it was, to carry it to an es-
posite party, Messer Vieri and all who teemed man of our city, who in those
had left Florence, especially the prin- times was a much celebrated reciter of
cipal ])ei-sons, were considered as rebels, verses, whose name was Dino, the son
£nd had their persons condemned and of Messer I^mbertuccio Frescobaldi.
their property confiscated. When the It pleased Dino marvellously ; and
people heard this, they ran to the houses having made copies of it for several of
of those proscribed, and plundered all his friends, and knowing that the com-
that was within them. It is tnie that position was merely begun, and not
Dante's wife. Madonna Gemma, fearing completed, he thought that it would be
this, and by the advice of some of her best to send it to Dante, and at the
friends and relations, had withdrawn same time to beg him to follow up his
from his house some chests containing design, and to finish it ; and having in-
certain precious things, and Dante's quired, and ascertained that Dante was
writings along with them, and had put at this time in the Lunigiana, with a
them in a place of safety. And not noble man of the family of Malaspina,
satisfied with having plundered the called the Marquis Moroello, who was
houses of the proscribed, the most pow- a man of understanding, and who had a
erful partisans of the opposite faction singular friendship for him, he thought
occupied their possessions, — some taking of sending it, not to Dante himself, but
one and some another, — and thus Dante's to the Marquis, in order that he should
house was occupied. show it to him : and so Dino did, beg-
206 ILLUSTRA TIONS.

ging him that, as far as it lay in his And those friends he left behind him,
power, he would exert his good offices his sons and his disciples, having searched
to induce Dante to continue and finish at many times and for several months
his work. everything of his writing, to see whether
The seven aforesaid cantos having he had left any conclusion to his work,
reached the Marquis's hands, and hav- could find in nowise any of the remain-
ing marvellously pleased him, he showed ing cantos; his friends generally being
them to Dante ; and having heard from much mortified that God had not at
him that they were his composition, he least lent hiir. so long to the world, that
entreated him to continue the work. he might have been able to complete
To this it is said that Dante answered : the small remaining part of his work ;
" I really supposed that these, along and having sought so long and never
with many of my other writings and found it, they remained in despair.
effects, were lost when my house was Jacopo and Piero were sons of Dante,
plundered, and therefore I had given and each of them being rhymers, they
up all thoughts of them. But since it were induced by the persuasions of their
has pleased God that they should not friends to endeavour to complete, as far
be lost, and He has thus restored them
to me, I shall endeavour, as far as I am as they were
in order that able, it should their not
father's
remainwork,
im-
able, to proceed with them according perfect ;when to Jacopo, who was more
to my first design." And recalling his eager about it than his brother, there
old thoughts, and resuming his inter- appeared a wonderful vision, which not
rupted worK, he speaKS rnus in me oe- omy mduced him to abandon such pre-
ginning of the eighth canto : " My won- sumptuous fblly, but showed him where
the thirteen cantos were which were
drous history I here renew."
Now precisely the same story, almost wanting to the Divina Commedia, and
without any alteration, has been related which they had not been able to
find
to me by a Ser Dino I'erino, one of our
citizens and an intelligent man, who, A worthy man of Ravenna, whose
according to his own account, had been name was Pier Giardino, and who had
on the most friendly and familiar terms long been Dante's disciple, grave in his
with Dante ; but he so far alters the manner and worthy of credit, relates
story, that he says, " It was not Andrea that, after the eighth month from the
Leoni, but I myself, who was sent by day of his master's death, there came to
the lady to the chests for the papers, his house before dawn Jacopo di Dante,
and that found these seven cantos and who told him that that night, while he
took them to Dino, the son of Messer was asleep, his father Dante had ap-
Lambertuccio." I do not know to peared to him, clothed in the whitest
which of these I ought to give most garments, and his face resplendent with
credit, but whichever of them spoke the an extraordinary light ; that he, Jacopo,
truth, still a doubt occurs to me in what asked him if he lived, and that Dante
they say, which I cannot in any manner replied : " Yes, but in the true life, not
solve to my satisfaction ; and my doubt our life." Then he, Jacopo, asked him
is this. The poet introduces Ciacco if he had completed his work before
into the sixth canto, and makes him passing into the true life, and, if he had
prophesy, that before three years had done so, what had become of that part
elapsed from the moment he was speak- of it which -was missing, which they
ing, the party to which Dante belonged none of them had been able to find.
should fall, and so it happened. But To this Dante seemed to answer, "Yes,
we know the removal of the Bianchi
I finished it ;" and then took him,
from office, and their departure from Jacopo, by the hand, and led him into
Florence, all happened at once ; and that chamber in which he, Dante, had
therefore, if the author departed at that been accustomed to sleep when he lived
time, how could he have written this, in this life, and, touching one of the
— and not only this, but another canto walls, he said, " What you have sought
after it ? . , , .
for so much, is here;" and at these
 THE POSTHUMOUS DANTE.

words both Dante and sleep fled from The bread of others, and how hard a path
Jacopo at once. For which reason Parad. stairs
To climb and to descend the stranger's xvii. !'
Jacopo said he could not rest without
coming to explain what he had seen Come sa di sale! Who never wet his
to Pier Giardino, in order that they bread with tears, says Goethe, knows
should go together and search out the ye not, ye heavenly powers! Our
place thus pointed out to him, which he nineteenth century made an idol of the
had retained excellently in his memory, noble lord who broke his heart m verse
and to see whether this had been pointed once every six months, but the fourteenth
out by a true spirit, or a false delusion. was lucky enough to produce and not to
For which purpose, although it was still make an idol of that rarest earthly phe-
far in the night, they set off together, nomenon, a man of genius who could
and went to the house in wliich Dante hold heart-break at bay for twenty years,
resided at the time of his death. Hav- and would not lei himself die till he had
ing called up its present owner, he done his task. At the end of the Vita
admitted them, and they went to the Niiova, his first work, Dante wrote down
place thus pointed out ; there they that remarkable aspiration that God
found a blind fixed to the wall, as they would lake him to himself after he had
had always been used to see it in past written of Beatjice such things as were.
days ; they lifted it gently up, when never yet written of woman. It was
they found a little window in the wall, literally fulfilled when the Commedia
never before seen by any of them, nor was finished, twenty- five years later.
did they even know it was there. In it Scarce was Dante at rest in his grave
they found several writings, all mouldy when Italy felt instinctively that this
from the dampness of the walls, and had was her great man. Boccaccio tells us
they remained there longer, in a little that in 1329 Cardinal Poggetto (du Poiet)
while they would have crumbled away. caused Dante's treatise De MonarchiA to
Having thoroughly cleared away the be publicly burned at Bologna, and pro-
mould, they found them to be the posed further to dig up and burn the
thirteen cantos that had been wanting bones of the poet at Ravenna, as having
to complete the Coinmedia. been a heretic ; but so much opposition
was roused that he thought better of it.
Yet this was during the pontificate of
THF POSTHUMOUS DANTE.
the Frenchman, John XXII., the reproof
Bv J R Lov.ft!l in the American Cyclopxdia, of whose simony Dante puts in the
VI. 251.
mouth of St. Peter, who declares his
Looked at outwardly, the life of Dante scat vacant (Parad. xxvii.), whose dam-
seem« to have l>een an utter and disas- nation the poet himself seems to pro-
t'ous failure. What its inward satis- phesy {Iiif. xi. ), and against whose
faction must have been, we, with the election he had endeavoured to persuade
Paradise, open before us, can form some the cardinals, in a vehement letter. In
fain* conception. To him, longing with 1350 the republic of Florence voted the
an intensity which only the word Dan- sum of ten golden florins to be paid by
te.ufitf will express to realize an ideal the hands of Messer Giovanni Boccaccio
upon earth, and continually baffled and to Dante's daughter Beatrice, a nun in
misunderstoo<l, the far greater part of the convent of Santa Chiara at Ravenna.
his mature life must have been labour In 1396 Florence voted a monument,
and sorrow. We can see how essential and begged in vain for the metaphorical
all tliat sad experience was to him, can ashes of the man of whom she had
understand why all the fairy stories hide threatened to make literal cinders if she
the luck in the ugly black casket ; but could catch him alive. In 1429 she
to him, then and there, how seemed it? begged again, but Ravenna, a dead city,
was tenacious of the dead poet. In
* Thou sh.ilt reHnquish everything of thee 1 5 19 Michael Angelo would have built
Beloved most dearly ; this that arrow is
Shot from the bow of exile first of all ; the monument, but Leo X. refused to
And thou shalt prove how salt a savour hath allow the sacred dust to be removed.
208 ILL USTRA TIONS.

Finally, in 1829, five hundred and eight of sceptical dilettantism, only three;
years after the death of Dante, Florence during the eighteenth, thirty-four; and
got a cenotaph fairly built in Santa already, during the first half of the
Croce (by Ricci), ugly beyond even the nineteenth, at least eighty. The first
usual lot of such, with three colossal translation was into Spanish, in 1428.
figures on it, Dante in the middle, with M. St. Rene Taillandier says that the
Italy on one side and Poesy on the Commedia was condemned by the In-
other. The tomb at Ravenna, built quisition in Spain, but this seems too
general a statement, for, according to
originally in 1483, by Cardinal "Bembo,
was restored by Cardinal Corsi in 1692, Foscolo ("Dante," Vol. IV. p. 116),
and finally rebuilt in its present form by it was the commentary of Landino and
Cardinal Gonzaga, in 1780, all three of Vellutello, and a few verses in the In-
whom commemorated themselves in ferno and Paradise, which were con-
Latin inscriptions. It is a little shrine demned. The first French translation
covered with a dome, not unlike the was that of Grangier, 1596, but the
tomb of a Moliammedan saint, and is study of Dante struck no root there till
now the chief magnet which draws the present century, Rivarol, who
foreigners and their gold to Ravenna. translated the Inferno in 1783, was the
The valet de place says that Dante is not first Frenchman who divined the won-
buried under it, but beneath the pave- derful force and vitality of the Commedia.
ment of the street in front of it, where The expressions of Voltaire represent
also, he says, he saw my Lord Byron very well the average opinion of culti-
kneel and weep. Like everything in vated persons in respect of Dante in the
Ravenna, it. is dirty and neglected. In middle of the eighteenth century. He
1373 (A-Ug. 9) Florence instituted a chair says: "The Italians call him divine;
of the Divina Commedia, and Boccaccio but it is a hidden divinity; few people
was named fii-st professor. He accord- understand his oracles. He has com-
ingly began his lectures on Sunday, mentators, which, perhaps, is another
Oct. 3, following, but his comment was reason for his not being understood.
broken off abruptly at the seventeentli His reputation will go on increasing,
verse of the seventeenth canto of the
because scarce anybody reads him.'
Inferno, by the illness which ended in {Did. Phil., art. "Dante.") To Father
his death, Dec. 21, 1375. Among his IJettinelli he writes : " I estimate highly
successors was Filippo Villani and the courage with which you have dared
Filelfo. Bologna was the first to follow to say that Dante was a madman and
the example of Florence, Benvenuto da his work a monster." But he adds,
Imola having begun his lectures, accord- what shows that Dante had his admirers
ing to Tiraboschi, as early as 1375. even in that flippant century: "There
Chairs were established also at Pisa, are found among us, and in the eighteenth
Venice, Piacenza, and Milan before the century, people who strive to admire
close of the century. The lectures were imaginations so stupidly extravagant and
delivered in the churches and on feast
barbarous." {Corresp. gen., CEuvres,
days, which shows their popular cha- Tom. LVII. pp. 80, 81.) Elsewhere
racter. Balbo reckons (but tiiat is guess- he says that the Commedia was "an odd
work) that the manuscript copies of the poem, but gleaming with natural beau-
Divina Commedia made during the four- ties, a work in which the author rose in
teenth century, and now existing in the parts above the bad taste of his age and
libraries of Europe, are more numerous his subject, and full of passages written
than those of all other works, ancient as purely as if tliey had been of the
and modern, made during the same time of Ariosto and Tasso." (Essai sur
period. Between the invention of print- les Mceitrs, CEuvres, Tom. XVII., pp.
ing and the year I5CK>, more than twenty 371, 372.) It is curious to see this
editions were published in Italy, the antipathetic fascination which Dante
earliest in 1472. During the sixteenth exercised over a nature so opposite to
century there were forty editions ; during his own. At the beginning of this
ihe seventeenth, a period, for Italy, century Chateaubriand speaks of Danto
 9

THE SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY.

with vague commendation, evidently also of Alexander Hales and Bradwar-

from a very superficial acquaintance, dine) Duns Scotus and William of Ock-
and that only with the Inferno. ham ;France alone must content herself
with names somewhat inferior (she had
THE already given Abelard, Gilbert de la
Poree, Amauri de Bene, and other
SCHOLASTIC PHILOSOPHY. famous or suspected names), now Wil-
From Milman's liam of Auvergne, at a later time Dii-
BookHistory
XIV. ofCh.Latin
III. Christianity, randus. Albert and Aquinas were of
Now came the great age of the noble houses, the Counts of Bollstadt
Schoolmen. Latin Christianity raised up and Aquino ; Bonaventura of good pa-
those vast monuments of Theolog)' which rentage at Fidenza ; of Scotus the birth
amaze and appall the mind with the was so obscure as to be untraceable ;
enormous accumulation of intellectual Ockham was of humble parents in the
industry, ingenuity, and t^il ; but of village of that name in Surrey. But
which the sole result to posterity is this France may boast that the University of
barren amazement. The tomes of Scho- Paris was the great scene of their studies,
lastic Divinity may be compared with their labours, their instruction : the Uni-
the Pyramids of Egypt, which stand in versity of Paris was the acknowledged
that rude majesty which is commanding awarder of the fame and authority
from the display of immense human obtained by the highest Schoolmen. It
power, yet oppressive from the sense of is no less remarkable that the New
the waste of that power for no disco- Mendicant Orders sent forth these five
verable use. Whoever penetrates within Patriarchs, in dignity, of the science.
finds himself bewildered and lost in a Albert and Aquinas were Dominicans ;
labyrinth of small, dark, intricate pas- Bonaventura, Dims Scotus, Ockham,
sages and chambers, devoid of grandeur, Franciscans. It might have been sup-
devoid of solemnity : he may wander posed that the popularising of religious
without end, and find nothing! It was teaching, which was the express and
not indeed the enforced labour of a slave avowed object of the Friar Preachers
population : it was rather voluntary and of the Minorites, would have left
slavery, submitting in its intellectual am- the higher places of abstrase and learned
bition and its religious patience to mon- Theology to the older Orders, or to the
astic discipline : it was the work of a more dignified secular ecclesiastics. Con-
small intellectual oligarchy, monks, of tent with being the vigorous antagonists
necessity, in mind and habits ; for it of heresy in all quarters, they would not
imperiously required absolute seclusion aspire also to become the aristocracy of
either in the monasteiy or in the imiver- theologic erudition. But the dominant
sity, a long life under monastic rule. religious imjiulse of the times could not
No Schoolman could be a great man but but seize on all the fervent and powerful
as a Schoolman. William of Ockham minds which sought satisfaction for their
alone was a powerful demagogue — scho- devout yearnings. No one who had
laslic even in his political writings, but strong religious ambition could be any-
still a demagogue. It is singular to see thing but a Dominican or a Franciscan ;
every kingdom in Latin Christendom, to be less was to be below the highest
every order in the social state, furnishing standard. Hence on one hand tho
the great men, not merely to the succes- Orders aspired to rule the Universities,
sive lines of Doctors, who assumed the contested the supremacy with all the
splendid titles of the Angelical, the Se- great established authorities in the
raphic, the Irrefragable, the most Pro- schools ; and having already drawn into
found, the most Subtile, the Invincible, their vortex almost all who united
even the Perspicuous, but to whaf may powerful abilities with a devotional tem-
be called the supreme Pentarchy of Scho- perament, never wanted men who could
lasticism. Italy sent Thomas of Aquino enter into this dreary but highly reward-
and Bonaventura ; Germany, All^ert the ing service, — men who could rule the
Great ; the British Isles (they boasted schools, as others of their brethren haJ
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.

begun to rule the Councils and the ing to the world of angels and spirits,
minds of kings. It may be strange to of which, according to them, we might
contrast the popular simple preaching — suppose the revelation to man as full
for such must have been that of St. and perfect as that of God or of the
Dominic and St. Francis, such that of Redeemer, there is hardly a question
their followers, in order to contend with which has not been examined in other
success against the plain and austere language and in less dry and syllogistic
sermons of the heretics — with the Sum form. There is no acute observation on
of Theology of Aquinas, which of itself the workings of the human mind, no
(and it is but one volume in the works bringing to bear extraordinary facts on
of Thomas) would, as it might seem, the mental, or mingled mental and cor-
occupy a whole life of the most secluded poreal, constitution of our being. With
study to write, almost to read. The all their researches into the unfathom-
unlearned, unreasoning, only profoundly able they have fathomed nothing ; with
passionately loving and dreaming St. all their vast logical apparatus, they
Francis, is still more oppugnant to the have proved nothing to the satisfaction
intensely subtile and dry Duns Scotus, of the inquisitive mind. Not only have
at one time carried by his severe logic they not solved any of the insoluble
into Pelagianism ; or to William of Ock- problems of our mental being, our pri-
ham, perhaps the hardest and severest mary conceptions, our relations to God,
intellectualist of all, — a political fanatic, to the Infinite, neither have they (a
not like his visionary brethren, who more possible task) shown them to be
brooded over the Apocalypse and their insoluble.
own prophets, but for the Imperial
against the Papal sovereignty.
As, then, in these five men culminates HOMER'S ODYSSEY.
the age of genuine Scholasticism, the Book XI. Buckley's Translation.
rest may be left to be designated and But when we were come down to the
described to posterity by the names ship and the sea, we first ot all drew the
assigned to them by their own wondering ship into the divine sea ; and we placed
disciples. a mast and sails in the black ship. And
We would change, according to our taking the sheep, we put them on board ;
notion, the titles which discriminated and we ourselves also embaiked griev-
this distinguished pentarchy. Albert the ing, shedding the warm tear. And
Great would be the Philosopher, Aquinas fair-haired Circe, an awful goddess,
the Theologian, Bonaventura the Mystic, possessing human speech, sent behind
Duns Scotus the Dialectician, Ockham our dark-blue-prowed ship a moist v/ind
the Politician. It may be said of Scho- that filled the sails, an excellent compa-
lasticism, as a whole, that whoever takes nion. And we sat down, making use of
delight in what may be called gymnastic each of the instruments in the ship ; and
exercises of the reason or the reasoning the wind and the pilot directed it. And
powers, efforts which never had, and the sails of it passing over the sea were
hardly cared to have, any bearing on stretched out the whole day ; and the
the life, or even on tiie sentiments and sun set, and all the ways were over-
opinions of mankind, may study these shadowed. And it reached the extreme
works, the crowning effort of Latin, of boundaries of the deep-flowing ocean ;
Sacerdotal, and Monastic Christianity, where are the people and city of the
and may acquire something like respect Cimmerians, covered with shadow and
for these forgotten athletes in the intel- vapour, nor does the shining sun behold
lectual games of antiquity. They are them with his beams, neither when he
not of so much moment in the history of goes towards the starry heaven, nor
religion, for their theology was long when he turns back again from heaven
before rooted in the veneration and awe to earth ; but pernicious night is spread
of Christendom ; nor in that of philoso- over hapless mortals. Having come
phy, for except what may be called there, we drew up our ship ; and we
mythological subtilties, questions relat- took out the sheep ; and we ourselves
 HOMER'S ODYSSEY.

went again to the stream of the ocean, swered me in discourse, "O Jove-bom
until we came to the place which Circe son of Laertes, much-contriving Ulysses,
mentioned. There Perimedes and Eury- the evil destiny of the deity and the
lochiis made sacred offerings ; but I, abundant wine hurt me. Lying down
drawing my sharp sword from my thigh, in the palace of Circe, I did not think to
dug a trench, the width of a cubit each go down backwards, having come to the
way ; and around it we poured libations long ladder, but I fell downwards from
to all the dead, first with mixed honey, the roof; and my neck was broken from
then with sweet wine, again a third time the vertebrre, and my soul descended to
with water; and I sprinkled white Hades. Now, I entreat thee by those
meal over it. And I much besought who are left behind, and not present, by
the unsubstantial heads of the dead, thy wife and father, who nurtured thee
promising that, when I came to Ithaca, when little, and Telemachus, whom
I would offer up in my palace a barren thou didst leave alone in thy palace ; for
heifer, whichever is the best, and would I know that, going hence from the house
fill a pyre with excellent things; and of Pluto, thou wilt moor thy well-
that I would sacrifice separately to wrought ship at the island of JExs. :
Tiresias alone a sheep all black, which there then, O king, I exhort thee to
excels amongst our sheep. be mindful of me, nor, when thou de-
But when I had besought them, the partest, leave me behind, unwept for,
nations of the dead, with vows and unburied, going at a distance, lest I
prayers, then taking the sheep, I cut off should become some cause to thee of
their heads into the trench, and the the wrath of the gods : but burn me
black blood flowed : and the souls of the with whatever arms are mine, and build
perished dead were assembled forth from on the shore of the hoary sea a monu-
Erebus, betrothed girls and youths, and ment for me, a wretched man, to be
much-enduring old men, and tender heard of even by posterity ; perform
virgins, having a newly-grieved mind, these things for me, and fix upon the
and many Mars-renowned men wounded tomb the oar with which I rowed
with brass-tipped spears, possessing gore- whilst alive, being with my compa-
smeared arms, who, in great numbers,
were wandering about the trench on Thus he spoke ; but I, answering,
different sides with a divine clamour:
addressed
nions." him: "O wretched one, I
and pale fear seized upon me. Then will perform and do these things for
at length exhorting my companions, I
commanded them, having skinned the Thus we sat answering one another
sheep which lay there, slain with the with bitter words ; I indeed holding my
cniel brass, to bum them, and to. invoke thee. "
s\\'Oid off over the blood, but the image
the gods, both Pluto and dread Proser- of my companion on the other side
pine. But I, having drawn my sharp
spoke many things. And afterwards
sword from my thigh, sat down, nor did there came on the soul of my deceased
I suffer the powerless heads of the deadmother, Anticlea, daughter of magnani-
to draw nigh the blood, before I inquired mous Autolycus, whom I left alive, on
of Tiresias. And first the soul of my going to sacred Ilium. I indeed wept
companion Elpenor came; for he was l)eholding her, and pitied her in my
not yet buried beneath the wide-wayed mind ; but not even thus, although
earth; for we left his body in the palace
grieving very much, did I suffer her to
of Circe unwept for and unburied, since go forward near to the blood, before I
another toil then urged us. Beholding inquired of Tiresias. But at length the
him, I wept, and pitied him in my mind, soul of Theban Tiresias came on, hold-
and addressing him, spoke winged words: ing a golden sceptre, but me he knew
"() Elpenor,
under the dark how west?didst
Thou thou
hast come
and addressed: "O Jove-born son of
come
Laertes, why, O wretched one, leaving
sooner, being on foot, than I with a the light of the sun, hast thou come,
black ship." that thou mayest see the dead and this
Thus 1 spoke ; but he, groaning, an- joyless region ? but go back from the
p 2
212 ILLUSTRATIONS.

trench, and hold off thy sharp sword, the mate of swine, return home, and
that I may drink the blood and tell thee offer up sacred hecatombs to the im-
what is unerring." mortal gods, who possess the wide
Thus he spoke ; but I, retiring back, heaven, to all in order : but death will
fixed my silver-hilted sword in the come upon thee away from the sea,
sheath ; but when he had drunk the gentle, very much such a one, as will
black blood, then at length the blame- kill thee, taken with gentle old age ,
less prophet addressed me with words : and the people around thee will be happy :
"Thou seekest a pleasant return, O these things I tell thee true."
illustrious Ulysses ; but the deity will Thus he spoke : but I, answering,
render it difficult for thee ; for I do not addressed him : " O Tiresias, the gods
think that thou wilt escape the notice of themselves have surely decreed these
Neptune, who has set wrath in his mind things. But come, tell me this, and
against thee, enraged because thou hast relate it truly. I behold this the soul
blinded his dear son. But still, even of my deceased mother ; she sits near
so, although suffering ills, thou mayest the blood in silence, nor does she dare
come, if thou art willing to restrain thy to look openly at her son, nor to speak
longing, and that of thy companions, to him. Tell me, O king, how she can
when thou shalt first drive thy well- know me, being such a one."
wrought ship to the Trinacrian island, Thus I spoke ; but he, immediately
escaping from the azure main, and find answering, addressed me : " I will tell
the beeves pasturing, and the fat cattle thee an easy word, and will place it in
of the sun, who beholds all things, and thy mind ; whomever of the deceased
hears all things ; if indeed thou shalt dead thou sufferest to come near the
leave those unhanned, and art careful of blood, he will tell thee the truth ; but
thy return, even then thou mayest come whomsoever thou grudgest it, he will go
to Ithaca, although suffering ills : but if
thou harmest them, then I foretell to back Thusagain." having spoke, the soul of King
thee destruction for thy ship and thy Tiresias went within the house of Pluto,
companions ; but even if thou shouldst when he had spoken the oracles : but I
thyself escape, thou wilt return late, in remamed there firmly, until my mother
calamity, having lost all thy companions, came and drank of the blood ; but she
in a foreign ship ; and thou wilt find immediately knew me, and, lamenting,
troubles in thine house, overbearing addressed to me winged words : "My
men, who consume thy livelihood, woo- son, how didst thou come under the
ing thy goddess-like wife, and offering shadowy darkness, being alive ? but it
thyself for her dowry gifts. But cer- is diflicult for the living to behold these
tainly when thou comest thou wilt re- things ; for in the midst there are
venge their violence ; but when thou mighty rivers and terrible streams, first
slayest the suitors in thy palace, either indeed the ocean, which it is not pos-
by deceit, or openly with sharp brass, sible to pass, being on foot, except any
then go, taking a well-fitted oar, until one having a well-built ship. Dost thou
thou comest to those men, who are not now come here wandering from Troy,
acquainted with the sea, nor eat food with thy ship and companions, after a
mixed with salt, nor indeed are ac- long time ? nor hast thou yet reached
quainted with crimson-cheeked ships, Ithaca ? nor hast thou seen thy wife u\
nor well-fitted oars, which also are
wings to ships. But I will tell thee a Thus she spoke ; but I, answering,
very manifest sign, nor will it escape addressed thy palace her ?"
: " O my mother, neces-
thee : when another traveller, now sity led me to Hades, to consult the
meeting thee, shall say that thou hast soul of Theban Tiresias. For I have
a winnowing-fan on thine illustrious not yet come near Achaia, nor have I
shoulder, then at length having fixed ever stept upon my own land, but I still
thy well-fitted oar in the earth, and hav- wander about, having grief, since first I
ing offered beautiful sacrifices to King followed divine Agamemnon to steed-
Neptune, a r?.\\\, and bull, and boar, exceliing Ilium, that I might fight with
 HOMER'S ODYSSEY,

the Trojans. But come, tell me this, from my hands, like unto a shadow, or
and relate it truly, what fate of long- even to a dream : but sharp grief arose
sleeping death subdued thee? Whether in my heart still more ; and addressing
a long disease ? or did shaft-rejoicing her, I spoke winged words : *' Mother
Diana, coming upon thee with her mild mine, why dost thou not remain for me,
weapons, slay thee ? And tell me of desirous to take hold of thee, that even
my father and my son, whom I left, in Hades, throwing around our dear
whether my property is still with them, hands, we may both be satiated with
or does some other of men now possess sad grief? Has illustrious Proserpine
it, ancj do they think that I shall not sent forth this an image for me, that I
any more return ? And tell me the may lament still more, mourning?"
counsel and mind of my wooed wife, Thus I spoke ; my venerable mother
whether does she remair. with her son, immediately answered me : "Alas ! my
and guard all things safe ? or now has son, unhappy above all mortals, Proser-
one of the Grecians, whoever is the best, pine, the daughter of Jove, by no means
wedded her?" deceives thee, but this is the condition
Thus I spoke ; but my venerable of mortals, when they are dead. For
mother immediately answered me : their nerves no longer have flesh and
"She by all means remains with an bones, but the strong force of burning
enduring mind in thy palace : and her fire subdues them, when first the mind
miserable nights and days are continu- leaves the white bones, but the soul,
ally spent in tears. But no one as yet like as a dream, flittering, flies away.
possesses thy noble property : but Te- But hasten as quick as possible to the
lemachus manages thy estates in quiet, light ; and know all these things, that
and feasts upon equal feasts, which it is even hereafter thou mayest tell them to
fit for a man who is a prince to prepare ;
for all invite him : but thy father remains Thus we twain answered each other
there in the country, nor does he come thy wife."
with words ; but the women came, —
to the city ; nor has he beds, and for illustrious Proserpine excited them,
couches, anfl clothes, and variegated — as many as were the wives and
rugs. I3ut he sleeps indeed, during the daughters of chiefs. Aud they were
winter, where the servants sleep, in the assembled together around the black
house, in the dust, near the fire, and he blood. And I took counsel how I
puts sad garments about his body : but might inquire of each ; and this plan in
when summer arrives, and flourishing my mind appeared to me to be the best :
autumn, his bed is strewn on the ground, having drawn my long sword from my
of the leaves that fall on every side of stout thigh, I did not suffer them all to
his wine-producing vineyard. Here he drink the black blood at the same time.
lies sorrowing, and he cherishes great But they came one after another, and
grief in his mind, lamenting thy fate ; each related her race ; but I inquired oi
and severe old age conies upon him : for all. There then I saw Tyro first, bom
so I also perished and drew on my fate. of a noble father, who said that she was
Nor did the well-aiming, shaft-delight- the offspring of blameless Salmoneus.
ing goddess, coming upon me with her And she said that she was the wife of
mild weapons, slay me in the palace. Cretheus, son of .^olus. She loved the
Nor did any disease come upon me, divine river Enipeus, which flows far the
which especially takes away the mind fairest of rivers upon the earth ; and she
from the limbs with hateful consump- was constantly walking near the beau-
tion. But regret for thee, and cares for tiful streams of the Enipeus. Earth-
thee, O illustrious Ulysses, and kindness shaking Neptune, therefore, likened unto
for thee, deprived me' of my sweet life." him, lay with her at the mouth of the
Thus she spoke ; but I, meditating eddying river : and the purple wave sur-
in my mind, wished to lay hold of the rounded them, like unto a mountain,
soul of my departed mother. Thrice arched, and concealed the god, and the
indeed I essayed it, and my mind urged mortal woman ; and he loosed her
me to lay hold of it, but thrice it new virgin zone, and shed sleep over her.
214
ILL USTRA TIONS.

But when the god had accomplished countless dowries, the youngest daughter
the deeds of love, he laid hold of her of Amphion, son of lasus: who once
hand, and spoke and addressed her : ruled strongly in Minyean Orchomenus ;
" Rejoice, O woman, on account of our and he reigned over Pylos ; and she bore
love ; for when a year has rolled round, to him noble children, Nestor and Chro-
thou shalt bring forth illustrious chil- mius, and proud Periclymenus; and be-
dren ;since the beds of the immortals sides these she brought forth strong Pero,
are not in vain ; but do thou take Care a marvel to mortals, whom all the neigh-
of them, and bring them up, but now bouring inhabitants wooed ; nor did
go to thine house, and restrain thyself, Neleus at all offer her to any one, who
nor mention it ; but I am Earth-shaking could not drive away from Phylace the
crumple-horned oxen of mighty Iphicles,
Neptune."
Thus having spoke, he dived beneath with wide foreheads, and troublesome; a
the billowy sea ; but she, having con- blameless seer alone promised that he
ceived, brought forth Pelias and Neleus, would drive these away ; but the severe
who both became noble servants of Jove. Fate of the gods hindered him, and diffi-
Pelias, indeed, abounding in cattle, dwelt cult fetters, and rustic herdsmen. But
in spacious lolcus; but the other in sandy when the months and days were now com-
Pylos. And the queen of women brought pleted, a year having again gone round,
forth the others to Cretheus, ^son, and and the hours came on, then at length
Pheres, and steed-rejoicing Amithaon. the mighty Iphicles loosed him, having
After her I beheld Antiope, the told all the oracles ; and the counsel of
daughter of Asopus, who also boasted Jove was fulfilled.
to have slept in the arms of Jove ; and And I beheld Leda, the wife of Tyn-
she brought forth two sons, Amphion dareus, who brought forth two noble-
and Zethus, who first laid the founda- minded sons from Tyndareus, steed-sub-
tions of seven-gated Thebes, and sur- duing Castor, and Pollux who excelled
rounded itwith turrets ; since they were in pugilism ; both of these the fruitful
not able, although they were strong, to earth detains alive ; who, even beneath
dwell in spacious Thebes without turrets. the earth, having honour from Jove,
After Ker I beheld Alcmene, the wife sometimes live on alternate days, and
of Amphitr}'on, who, mingled in the sometimes again are dead, and they
arms of great Jove, brought forth bold, have obtained by lot honour equally with
lion-hearted Hercules. And Megara, the gods.
daughter of high-minded Creon, whom After her I beheld Iphimedia, wife of
the son of Amphitryon, ever unwasted Aloeus, who said that she had been
in strength, wedded. united to Neptune : and bore two sons,
And I beheld the mother of CEdipus, but they were short-lived, god-like Otus,
beautiful Epicaste, who committed a and far-famed Flphialtes ; whom the
dreadful deed in the ignorance of her fruitful earth nourished, the tallest, and
mind, having married her own son ; and far the most beautiful, at least after
he, having slain his father, married her : illustrious Orion. For at nine years old
but the gods immediately made it public they were also nine cubits in width, but
amongst men. Then he, suffering grief in height they were nine fathoms. Who
in delightful Thebes, ruled over the Cad- even threatened the immortals that they
meians, through the pernicious counsels would set up a strife of impetuous war
of the gods ; but she went to the dwel- in Olympus: they attempted to place
lings of strong-gated Hades, suspending Ossa upon Olympus, and upon Ossa
the cord on high from the lofty house, leafy Pelion, that heaven might be acces-
held fast by her own sorrow; but she sible. And they would have accom-
left behind for him very many griefs, plished it,if they had reached the mea-
as many as the Furies of a mother accom- sure of youth : but the son of Jove, whom
plish. fair-haired Latona bore, destroyed them
And I saw the very beautiful Chloris, both, before the down flowered undei
whom Neleus once married on account their temples, and thickened upon theif
of her beauty, when he had given her cheek with a flowering beard.
 HOMER'S ODYSSEY.

And I beheld Phnedra and Procris, quet of a wealthy, very powerful man.
and fair Ariadne, the daughter of wise Thou hast already been ]iresent at the
Minos, whom Theseus once led from slaughter of many men, slain separately,
Crete to the soil of sacred Athens, but and in hard battle; but if thou hadst
he did not enjoy her; for Diana first seen those things, thou wouldst have
slew her in the island Dia, on account of especially lamented in thy mind, how we
the testimony of Bacchus. lay in the palace about the cups and full
And I beheld Masra and Clymene, tables ; and the whole ground reeked with
and hateful Eri hyle, .who received pre- blood. And I heard the most piteous
cious gold for her dear husband. But I voice of the daughter of Priam, Cassan-
cannot relate nor name all, how many dra, whom deceitful Clytemnestra slew
wives and daughters of heroes I beheld : near me; but I, raising my hands from
for even the immortal night would first the earth, dying, laid them on my sword ;
waste away. but she, impudent one, went away, nor
did she endure to close my eyes with
When chaste Prosperine had dispersed her hands, and shut my mouth, although
the souls of women in different places, I was going to I lades. .So there is no-
the soul of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, thing else more terrible and impudent
came up, sorrowing: and the rest were than a woman, who indeed casts about
assembled around him, as many as died, such deeds in her mind : what an un-
and drew on their fate in the house of seemly deed has she indeed contrived,
^gisthus together with him ; and he having prepared murder for her husband,
immediately knew me, when he had whom she lawfully married ! I thought
drunk the black blood ; and he wept indeed that I should return home welcome
shrilly, shedding the warm tear, holding to my children and my servants ; but she,
out his hands to me, desiring to lay hold above all acquainted with wicked things,
of me. But he had no longer firm has shed disgrace over herself, and fe-
strength, nor power at all, such as was male women about to be hereafter, even
before in his bending limbs. I wept in- upon one who is a worker of good."
deed, beholding him, and pitied him in Thus he spoke ; but I addressed him,
my mind, and addressing him I spoke answering: "Ogods! of a truth wide-
winged words: "O most glorious son of thundering Jove most terribly hates the
Atreus, Agamemnon, king of men, what race of Atreus, on account of women's
fate of long-sleeping death subdued thee? plans, from the beginning: many of us
Did Neptune subdue thee in thy ships, indeed perished for the sake of Helen ;
raising an immense blast of cniel winds ? and Clytemnestra has contrived a strata-
Or did unjust men injure thee on land, gem for thee when thou wast at a dis-
while thou wert cutting off their oxen,
and beautiful flocks of sheep, or contend- Thus I spoke ; but he immediately ad-
ing for a city, or for women?" tance." dressed me in answer: "Now therefore
Thus I spoke ; but he immediately do not thou ever be mild to thy wife, nor
addressed me, answering: "O Jove-bom inform her of everything with which
son of Laertes, much-planning Ulysses, thou art well acquainted: but tell one
neither did Neptune subdue me in my thing, and let another be concealed. But
ships, raising an immense blast of cruel for thee indeed there will not be murder
winds, nor did unjust men injure me on at the hands of thy wife, O Ulysses:
land; but /Egisthus, having contrived for prudent Penelope, the daughter of
death and Fate for me, slew me, con- Icarus, is very wise, and is well ac-
spiring with my pernicious wife, having quainted with counsels in her mind.
invited me to his house, entertaining me We left indeed her, when we came to
at a feast, as any one has slain an ox at the war, a young bride ; and she had an
the stall. Thus I died by a most piteous infant boy at her breast, who now pro-
death ; and my other companions were bably sits amongst the number of men,
cruelly slain around me, as swine with happy one ; for his dear father will surely
white tusks, which are slain either at the behold him, when returning, and he will
marriage, or collation, or splendid ban- embrace his sire, as is right ; but she my
2l6 ILL USTRA TIONS.

wife did not sufifer me to be satiated in illustrious Ulysses, speak to me of death ;

mine eyes with my son, for she first slew I would wish, being on earth, to serve
even me myself. But I will tell thee for hire with another man of no estate,
something else, and do thou lay it up in who had not much livelihood, rather
thy mind ; hold thy ship towards thy than rule over all the departed dead.
dear paternal land secretly, not openly ; But come, tell me an account of my noble
son ; did he follow to the war so as to
since confidence is ' no longer to be be a chief or not ? and tell me if thou
placed upon women. But come, tell
me this and relate it truly ; if thou hear- hast heard anything of blameless Peieus;
est of my son anywhere yet alive, either whether has he still honour amongst the
somewhere in Orchomenus, or in sandy many Myrmidonians ? or do they dis-
Pylos, or somewhere near Menelaus in honour him in Greece and Phthia, be-
wide Sparta? for divine Orestes has not cause old age possesses his hands and
feet ? for I am not assistant to him under
yet died upon the earth."
Thus he spoke ; but I addressed him the beams of the sun, being such a one
in answer : " O son of Atreus, why dost as when I slew the best of the people in
thou inquire these things of me ? I do wide Troy, fighting for the Grecians. If
not know at all whether he is alive or I should come as such a one even for a
dead ; and it is wrong to utter vain short time to the house of my father, so
" I would make my strength and uncon-
words.
We twain stood thus mourning, an- querable hands terrible to any who treat
swering one another with sad words, him with violence and keep him from
shedding the waiin tear. And the soul
of Achilles, son of Peieus, came on, and Thus he spoke ; but I, answering,
of Patroclus, and spotless Antilochus, honour." addressed him : "I have not indeed
and Ajax, who was the most excellent as heard anything of blameless Peieus.
to his form and person of all the Danaans But I will tell thee the whole truth, as
after the blameless son of Peieus. And thou biddest me, about thy dear son
the soul of the swift -footed descendant of Neoptolemus ; for I myself led him in
.(^iacus knew me, and, lamenting, ad- an equal hollow ship from Scyros to the
dressed me in winged words : " O Jove- well-greaved Grecians. Of a truth, when
born son of Laertes, much-contriving we were taking counsels concerning the
Ulysses, wretched one, why dost thou city Troy, he always spoke first, and did
meditate a still greater work in thy not err in his words : and godlike Nestor
mind ? how didst thou dare to descend and myself alone contended with him.
to Orcus, where dwell the witless dead, But when we were fighting about the
the images of deceased mortals ?" city of the Trojans, he never remained in
Thus he spoke ; but I addressed him the number of men, nor in the crowd,
in answer: " Achilles, son of Peieus, by but ran on much before, yielding to no
far the most excellent of the Grecians, I one in his might ; and many men he
came for the advice of Tiresias, if he slew in the terrible contest : but I could
could tell me how by any plan I may not tell nor name all, how great a people
come to craggy Ithaca. For I have not he slew, defending the Greeks. But 1
yet come anywhere near Greece, nor will relate how lie slew the hero Eury-
have I ever gone on my land anywhere, pylus, son of Telephus, with the brass,
but I still have troubles : but there was and many Cetean companions were slain
no man before more blessed than thou, around him, on account of gifts to a
O Achilles, nor will there be hereafter. woman: him certainly I beheld as the
For formerly we Argives honoured thee most beautiful, after divine Memnon.
when alive equally with the gods, and But when we, the chieftains of the
now again, when thou art here, thou Grecians, ascended into the horse which
hast great power amongst the deceased ; Epeus made, and all things were com-
do not therefore when dead be sad, O mitted to me, both to open the thick
Achilles." ambush and to shut it, there the other
Thus I spoke ; but he immediately leaders and rulers of the Greeks both
addiessed me in answer: "Do not, O wiped away their tears, and the limbs ol
 217

HOMER'S ODYSSEY.

each trembled under them ; but him I There however, although angry, he
never saw at all with my eyes, either would have spoken to me, or I to him,
turning pale as to his beauteous com- but my mind in my breast wished to
plexion, or wiping away the tears from behold the souls of the other dead.
his cheeks ; but he implored me very There then I beheld Minos, the il-
much to go out of the horse ; and lustrious son of Jove, having a golden
grasped the hilt of his sword, and his sceptre, giving laws to the dead, sitting
brass-heavy spear, and he meditated evil down ; but the others around him, the
against the Trojans. But when we had king, pleaded their causes, sitting ami
sacked the lofty city of Priam, having standing through the wide-gated house
his share and excellent reward, he em- of Pluto.
barked unhurt on a ship, neither stricken After him I beheld vast Orion, hunt-
with the sharp brass, nor wounded in ing beasts at the same time, in the
fighting hand to hand, as oftentimes hap- meadow of asphodel, which he had him-
pens in war ; for Mars confusedly raves." self killed in the desert mountains, having
Thus I spoke ; but the soul of the an all-brazen club in his hands, for ever
swift-footed son of ^acus went away, unbroken.
taking mighty steps through the meadow And I beheld Tityus, the son of the
of aspliodel, in joyfulness, because I had very renowned earth, lying on the
said that his son was very illustrious. ground ; and he lay stretched over nine
But the other souls of the deceased dead acres ; and two vultures sitting on each
stood sorrowing, and each related their side of him were tearing his liver, diving
griefs. But the soul of Ajax, son of into the caul : but he did not ward them
Telamon, stood afar off, angry on ac- off with his hands ; for he had dragged
count of the victory in which I conquered Latona, the celebrated wife of Jove, as
him, contending in trial at the ships con- she was going to Pythos, through tlie
cerning the arms of Achilles; for his delightful Panopeus.
venerable mother proposed them : but And I beheld Tantalus suffering severe
the sons of the Trojans and Pallas griefs, standing in a lake ; and it ap-
Minerva adjudged them. How I wish proached his chin. But he stood thirst-
that I had not conquered in such a con- ing, and he could not get anything to
test for
; the earth contained such a person drink ; for as often as the old man
on account of them, Ajax, who excelled stooped, desiring to drink, so often the
in form and in deeds the other Greeks, water, being sucked up, was lost to him ;
after the blameless son of Peleus ; him and the black earth appeared around his
indeed I addressed with mild words : feet, and the deity dried it up. And
"O Ajax, son of blameless Telamon, lofty trees shed down fruit from the top,
art thou not about, even when dead, to pear-trees, and apples, and pomegranates
forget thine anger towards me, on ac- producing glorious fruit, and sweet figs,
count of the destructive arms? for the and flourishing olives : of which, when
gods made them a harm unto the the old man raised himself up to pluck
Grecians, For thou, who was such a some with his hands, the wind kept
fortress to them, didst perish ; for casting them away to the dark clouds.
thee, when dead, we Greeks altogether And I beheld Sisyphus, having violent
mourned, equally as for the person of griefs, bearing an enormous stone with
Achilles, the son of Peleus ; nor was both his hands : he indeed leaning with
any one else the cause ; but Jupiter his hands and feet kept thrusting the
venemently hated the army of the stone up to the top : but when it was
warrior Greeks ; and he laid fate upon about to pass over the summit, then
you. But come hither, O king, that strong force began to drive it back again,
thou mayest hear our word and speech ; then the impudent stone rolled to the
and subdue thy strength and haughty plain ; but he, striving, kept thrusting it
mind." back, and the sweat flowed down from
Thus I spoke ; but he answered me his limbs, and a dirt arose from bis
not at all, but went to Erebus amongst head.
the other souls of the deceased dead. After him I perceived the might of
2l8 ILL USTRA TIONS.

Hercules, an image ; for he himself

amongst the immortal gods is delighted VIRGIL'S ^NEID.
with banquets, and has the fair-legged
Hebe, daughter of mighty Jove and Book VI. Davidson's Tr., revised by Buckley.
golden-sandalled Juno. And around him Ye gods, to whom the empire
there was a clang of the dead, as of of ghosts belongs, and ye silent shades,
birds, frighted on all sides ; but he, like and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places where
unto dark night, having a naked bow, silence reigns around in night ! permit
and an arrow at the string, looking about me to utter the secrets I have heard ; may
terribly, was always like unto one about I by your divine will disclose things
to let fly a shaft. And there was a buried in deep earth and darkness. They
fearful belt around his breast, the thong moved along amid the gloom under the
was golden : on which wondrous forms solitary night through the shade, and
were wrought, bears, and wild boars, and through the desolate halls and empty
terrible lions, and contests, and battles, realms of Pluto ; such as is a journey in
and slaughters, and slayings of men ; he woods beneath the unsteady moon, under
who devised that thong with his art, a faint, glimmering light, when Jupiter
never having wrought such a one before, hath wrapped the heavens in shade, and
could not work any other such. But he sable night had stripped objects of
immediately knew me, when he saw me colour.
with his eyes, and, pitying me, addressed Before the vestibule itself, and in the
winged words: "O Jove-born son of first jaws of hell. Grief and vengeful
Laertes, much-contriving Ulysses, ah ! Cares have placed their couches, and pale
wretched one, thou too art certainly pur- Diseases dwell, and disconsolate Old
suing some evil fate, which I also endured Age, and Fear, and the evil counsellor
under the beams of the sun. I was in- Famine, and vile, deformed Indigence,
deed the son of Jove, the son of Saturn, forms ghastly to the sight ! and l3eath,
but I had infinite labour; for I was sub- and Toil ; then Sleep, akin to Death,
jected to a much inferior man, who en- and criminal Joys of the mind ; and in
joined upon me difficult contests: andthe opposite threshold murderous War,
once he sent me hither to bring the dog, and the iron bedchambers of the Furies,
for he did not think that there was any and frantic Discord, having her viperous
contest more difficult than this. I indeed locks bound with bloody fillets.
brought it up and led it from Pluto, but In the midst a gloomy elm displays its
Mercury and blue-eyed Minerva escorted boughs and aged arms, which seat vain
Dreams are commonly said to haunt, and
Thus having spoken, he went again under every leaf they dwell. Many mon-
me."
within the house of Phito. But I re- strous savages, moreover, of various
mained there firmly, if by chance any forms, stable in the gates, the Centaurs
one of the heroes, who perished in former and double-formed Scyllas, and Briareus
times, would still come; and 1 should with his hundred hands, and the enor-
now still have seen former men, whom I mous snake of Lerma hissing dreadful, and
wished, Theseus, and Pirithoiis, glorious Chimoera armed with flames ; Gorgons,
children of the gods ; but first myriads
of nations of the dead were assembled bodied Harpies, and the form of Geryon's three-
ghost. Here .^neas, discon-
around me with a fine clamour ; and pale certed with sudden fear, grasps his sword,
fear seized me, lest to me illustrious Pro- and presents the naked point to each ap-
serpine should send a Gorgon head of a proaching shade : and had not his skilful
terrific monster from Orcus. Going then guide put him in mind that they were
immediately to my ship, I ordered my airy unbodied phantoms, fluttering about
comjjanions to go on board themselves, under an empty form, he had rushed in
and to loose the halsers. But they and with his sword struck at the ghosts
quickly embarked, and sat down on the in vain.
benches. And the wave of the stream Hence is a path which leads to the
carried it through the ocean river, first floods of Tartarean Acheron : here a guh
the rowing and afterwards a fair wind. turbid and impure boils up with mire
 VIRGWS MNEID.

and vast whirpools, and disgoi^es all its There he espies Leucaspis, and Orontes,
sand into Cocytus. A grim ferryman the commander of the Lycian fleet,
g.tards these floods and rivers, Charon, mournful, and bereaved of the honours
of frightful slovenliness ; on whose of the dead : whom as they sailed from
chin a load of gray hair neglected lies ; Troy, over the stormy seas, the south
his eyes are flame : his vestments hang wind sunk together, whelming both ship
from his shoulders by a knot, with filth and crew in the waves. Lo ! the pilot
overgrown. Himself thrusts on the Palinurus slowly advanced, who lately
barge with a pole, and tends the sails, in his Libyan voyage, while he was ob-
and wafts over the bodies in his iron- serving the stars, had fallen from the
coloured boat, now in years : but the stem, plunged in the midst of the waves.
god is of fresh and green old age. Hither When with difficulty, by reason of the
the whole tribe in swarms come pouring thick shade, ^neas knew him in this
to the banks, matrons and men, the souls mournful mood, he thus first accosts
of magnanimous heroes who had gone him : What god, O Palinurus, snatched
through life, boys and unmarried maids, you from us, and overwhelmed you in
and young men who had been stretched the middle of the ocean? Come, tell
on the funeral pile before the eyes of me. For Apollo, whom I never before
their parents ; as numerous as withered found false, in this one response de-
leaves fall in the woods with the first ceived my mind, declaring that you
cold of autumn, or as numerous as birds should be safe on the sea, and arrive at
flock to the land from the deep ocean, the Ausonian coasts. Is this the amount
when the chilling year drives them beyond of his plighted faith ?
sea, and sends them to sunny climes. But he answers : Neither the oracle of
They stood praying to cross the flood Phoebus beguiled you, prince of the line
the firr.t, and were stretching forth their of Anchises, nor a god plunged me in
hands with fond desire to gain the farther the sea ; for, falling headlong, I drew
bank ; but the sullen boatman admits along with me the helm, which I
sometimes these, sometimes those ; while chanced with great violence to tear
others to a great distance removed, he de- away, as I clung to it and steered our
bars from the banks. course, being appointed pilot. By the
.(^ncas (for he was amazed and moved rough seas I swear that I was not so
with the tumult) thus speaks : O virgin, seriously apprehensive for myself, as that
say, what means that flocking to the thy ship, despoiled of her rudder, dis-
river? what do the ghosts desire? or by possessed of her pilot, might sink while
what distinction must these recede from such high billows were rising. The south
the banks, those sweep with oars the wind drove me violently on the water
livid flood ? To him the aged priestess over the spacious sea, three wintry
thus briefly replied : Son of Ancliises, nights : on the fourth day I descried
undoubted offspring of the gods, you see Italy from the high ridge of a wave
the deep pools of Cocytus, and the Sty- whereon I was raised aloft. I was
gian lake, by whose divinity tlie gods swimming gradually, toward land, and
dread to swear and violate their oath. should have been out of danger, had not
All that crowd which you see consists of the cruel people fallen upon me with the
naked and unburied persons : that ferry- sword (encumbered with my wet gar-
man is Charon : these, whom the stream ment, and grasping with crooked hands
carries, are interred ; for it is not per- the rugged tops of a mountain), and
mitted to transport them over the horrid ignorantly taking me for a rich prey.
banks, and hoarse waves, before their Now the waves possess me, and the
bones are quietly lodged in a final abode. winds toss me about the shore. But by
They wander a hundred years, and flut- the pleasant light of heaven, and by the
ter about these shores : then, at length vital air, by him who gave thee birth,
admitted, they visit the wished-for lakes. liy the hope of rising liilus, I thee im-
The offspring of Anchises paused and plore, invincible one, release me from
repressed his steps, deeply musing, and these woes : either throw on me some
pitying from his soul their unkind lot. earth (for thou canst do so), and seek
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.

out the Veline port ; or, if there be any In answer to which the Amphrysian
means, if thy goddess mother point out prophetess spoke : No such plots are
any, (for thou dost not, I presume, with- here, be not disturbed : nor do these
out the will of the gods, attempt to cross weapons bring violence : the huge porter
such mighty rivers and the Stygian lake,) may bay in his den for ever, terrifying
lend your hand to an unhappy wretch, the incorporeal shades : chaste Proser-
and bear me with you over the waves, pine may remain in her uncle's palace.
that in death at least I may rest in Trojan ^neas, illustrious for piety and
peaceful seats. arms, descends to the deep shades
Thus he spoke, when thus the pi'o- of Erebus to his sire. If the image
phetess began : Whence, O Palinurus, of such piety makes no impression on
rises in thee this so impious desire ? you, own a regard at least to this branch
Shall you unburied behold the Stygian (she shows the branch that was con-
floods, and the grim river of the Furies, cealed under her robe). Then his heart
or reach the bank against the command from swelling rage is stilled : nor passed
of heaven ? Cease to hope that the more words than these. He, with
decrees of the gods are to be altered by wonder gazing on the hallowed present
prayers ; but mindful take these predic- of the fatal branch, beheld after a long
tions as the solace of your hard fate. season, turns towards them his lead-
For the neighbouring people, compelled coloured barge, and approaches the
by portentous plagues from heaven, bank. Thence he dislodges the other
shall through their several cities far and souls that sat on the long benches, and
wide offer atonement to thy ashes, erect clears the hatches ; at the same time
a tomb, and stated anniversary offerings receives into the hold the mighty /Eneas.
on that tomb present ; and the place The boat of sewn hide groaned under
shall for ever retain the name of Pali- the weight, and, being leaky, took in
nurus. By these words his cares were much water from the lake. At length
removed, and grief was for a time he lands the hero and the prophetess safe
banished from his disconsolate heart : on the other side of the river, on the
he rejoices in the land that is to bear his foul, slimy strand and sea-green weed.
name. Huge Cerberus makes these realms to
They therefore accomplish their jour- resound with barking from his triple
ney begun, and approach the river : jaws, stretched at his enormous length
whom when the boatman soon from in a den that fronts the gate. To whom
the Stygian wave beheld advancing the prophetess, seeing his neck now
through the silent grove, and stepping bristle with horrid snakes, flings a sopo-
forward to the bank, thus he first accosts rific cake of honey and medicated grain.
them in words, and chides them un- He, in the mad rage of hunger, opening
provoked :Whoever thou mayest be, his three mouths, snatches the offered
who art now advancing armed to our morsel, and, spread on the ground, re-
rivers, say quick for what end thou laxes his monstrous limbs, and is extended
comest ; and from that very spot repress at vast length over all the cave. yEneas,
thy step. This is the region of Ghosts, now that the keeper of hell is buried in
of Sleep, and drowsy Night : to waft sleep, seizes the passage, and swift over-
over the bodies of the living in my passes the bank of that flood whence
Stygian boat is sot permitted. Nor there is no return.
indeed was it joy to me that I received Forthwith are heard voices, loud
Alcides on the lake when he came, or wailings, and weeping ghosts of infants,
Theseus and PirithoUs, though they in the first opening of the gate : whom,
were the offspring of the gods, and in- bereaved of sweet life out of the course
vincible in might. One with his hand of nature, and snatched from the breast,
put th» keeper of Tartarus in chains, a black day cut off, and buried in an
and dragged him trembling from the untimely grave.
throne of our king himself ; the others Next to those are such as had been
attempted to carry off our queen from condemned to death by false accusations.
Pluto s bedchamber. Nor yet were those seats assigned them
 VIRGWS MNEID.
221
without a trial, without a judge. Minos, my sight. Whom do you fly? Thisis
the last time fate allows me to address
as inquisitor, shakes the urn : he con-
vokes the council of the silent, and you. With these words /tneas thought
examines their lives and crimes. to soothe her soul inflamed, and eying
The next places in order those mourn- him with stern regard, and provoked his
ful ones possess who, though free from tears to flow. She, turned away, kept
crime, procured death to themselves her eyes fixed on the ground ; nor alters
with their own hands, and, sick of the her looks more, in consequence of the
light, threw away their lives. How conversation he had begun, than if she
gladly would they now endure poverty were fixed immovable like a stubborn
and painful toils in the upper regions ! flint or rock of Parian marble. At
Fate opposes, and the hateful lake im- length she abruptly retired, and in de-
prisons them with its dreary waves, and testation fled into a shady grove, where
Styx, nine times rolling between, con- Sichaeus, her first lord, answers her with
fines them. amorous cares, and returns her love for
Not far from this part, "extended on love,tion for^neas, nevertheless, in commo-
her disastrous fate, with weeping
every side, are shown the fields of
mourning : so they call them by name. eyes, pursues her far, and pities her as
Here by-paths remote conceal, and myr- she goes.
tle-groves cover those around, whom Hence he holds on his destined way ;
unrelenting love, with his cruel venom, and now they had reached the last fields,
consumed away. Their cares leave which by themselves apart renowned
them not in death itself. In these warriors frequent. Here Tydeus ap-
places he sees Phaedra and Procris, and pears to him, here Parthenopoeus illus-
disconsolate Eriphyle pointing to the trious in arms, and the ghost of pale
wounds she had received from her cruel Adrastus. Here appear those Trojans
son ; Evadne also, and Pasiphae : these who had died in the field of battle,
Laodamia accompanies, and Cseneus, much lamented in the upper world :
once a youth, then a woman, and again whom when he beheld all together in a
by fate transformed into his pristine numerous body, he inwardly groaned ;
shape. Among wliom Phoenician Dido, Glaucus, Medon, Thersilochus, the three
fresh from her wound, was wandering sons of Antenor, and Polyboetes de-
in a spacious wood ; whom as soon as voted to Ceres, and Idseus still hand-
the Trojan hero approached, and dis- ling his chariot, still his armour. The
covered faintly through the shades, (in ghosts in crowds around him stand on
like martner as one sees, or thinks he the right and left : nor are they satisfied
sees, the moon rising through the clouds with seeing him once ; they wish to de-
in the beginning of her monthly course,) tain him long, to come into close con-
he dropped tears, and addressed her in ference with him, and learn the reasons
of his visit. But as soon as the Grecian
love's sweet accents : Hapless Dido, was
it then a true report I had of your being chiefs and Agamemnon's battalions saw
dead, and that you had finished your the hero, and his arms gleaming through
own destiny by the sword ? Was I, the shades, they quaked with dire dis-
alas ! the cause of your death ? I swear may : some turned their backs, as when
by the stars, by the powers above, and they fled once to their ships ; some raise
by whatever faith may be under the their slender voices ; the scream begun
deep earth, that against my will, O dies in their gasping throats.
queen, I departed from your coast. But And here he espies Deiphobus, the
the mandates of the gods, which now son of Priam, mangled in every limb,
his face and both his hands cruelly torn,
compel me to travel through" these
shades, through noisome dreary regions his temples bereft of the ears cropped
and deep night, drove me from you by off, and his nostrils slit with a hideously
their authority ; nor could I believe that deformed wound. Thus he hardly knew
I should bring upon you such deep him, quaking for agitation, and seeking
anguish by my departure. Stay your to hide the marks of his dreadful punish-
steps, and withdraw not yourself from ment and
; he first accosts him with well<
323 ILL USTRA TIOMS.

known accents : Deiphobus, great in by the casualties of the main, or by the

direction of the gods? or what fortune
arms, sprung from Teucer's noble blood,
who copld choose to inflict such cruel- compels you to visit these dreary man-
ties ? Or who was allowed to exercise sions, troubled regions where the sun
such power over you ? To me, in that never shines ?
last night, a report was brought that In this conversation the sun in his
you, tired with the vast slaughter of the rosy chariot had now passed the meri-
Greeks, had fallen at last on a heap of dian in his ethereal course ; and they
mingled carcasses. Then, with my own perhaps would in this manner have
hands, I raised to you an empty tomb passed the whole time assigned them ;
on the Rhoetean shore, and thrice with but the Sibyl, his companion, put him
loud voice I invoked your manes. Your in mind, and thus briefly spoke : .^neas,
name and arms possess the place. Your the night comes on apace, while we
body, my friend, I could not find, or, at waste the hours in lamentations. This
my departure, deposit in your native is the place where the path divides it-
land. And upon this the son of Priam self in two : the right is what leads
said : Nothing, my friend, has been beneath great Pluto's walls ; by this
omitted by you ; you have discharged our way to Elysium lies : but the left
every duty to Deiphobus, and to the carries on the punishments of the
shadow of a corpse. But my own fate, wicked, and conveys to cursed Tar-
and the cursed wickedness of Helen, tarus. On the other hand, Deiphobus
plunged me in these woes : she hath said : Be not incensed, great priestess ;
left me these monuments of her love. I shall be gone ; I will fill up the
For how we passed that last night amid number of the ghosts and be rendered
ill-grounded joys you know, and must back to darkness. Go, go, tliou glory
remember but too well, when the fatal of our nation ; mayest thou find fates
horse came bounding ovsr our lofty more kind ! This only he spoke, and
walls, and pregnant brought armed in- at the word turned his steps.
fantry in its womb. She, pretending yEneas on a sudden looks back, and
a dance, led her train of Phrygian under a rock on the left sees vast pri-
matrons yelling around the orgies : her- sons enclosed with a triple wall, which
self in the midst held a large flaming Tartarean Phlegethon's rapid flood
torch, and called to the Greeks from the environs with . •-'ents of flame, and
lofty tower. I, being at that time op- whirls roaring rocks along. Fronting
l^ressed with care, and overpowered with is a huge gate, with columns of solid
sleep, was lodged in my unfortunate adamant, that no strength of men, nor
bedchamber : rest, balmy, profound, and the gods themselves, can with steel
the perfect image of a calm, peaceful demolish. An iron tower rises aloft ;
death, pressed me as I lay. Meanwhile and there wakeful Tisiphone, with her
my incomparable spouse removes all bloody robe tucked up around her, sits
arms from my palace, and had with- to watch the vestibule both night and
drawn my tnisty sword from my head : day. Hence groans are heard ; the
she calls Menelaus into the palace, and cruel lashes resound ; the grating too
throws open the gates ; hoping, no of iron, and clank of dragging chains,
doubt, that would be a mighty favour .(tineas stopped short, and, starting, lis-
to her amorous husband, and that thus tened to the din. What scenes of
the infamy of her former wicked deeds guilt are these ? O virgin, say ; or with
might be extinguished. In short, they what pains are they chastised ? what
burst into my chamber : that traitor of hideous yelling ascends to the skies !
the race of yEolus, the promoter of vil- Then ' thus the ofprophetess beganno : holy
Re-
lany, is joined in company with them. nowned leader the Trojans,
Ye gods, requite these cruelties to the person is allowed to tread the accursed
Greeks, if 1 supplicate vengeance with threshold ; but Hecate, when she se*
pious lips ! But come now, in your me over the groves of Avenuis, herseU
turn, say what adventure hath brought taught me the punishments appointee}
you hither alive. Do you come driven by the gods, and led me through every
 VIRGIVS MNEID.

part. Cretan Rhadamanthus possesses quet, and dwells in the deep recesses:
these most ruthless realms ; examines of his breast ; nor is any respite given
and punishes frauds ; and foices every to his fibres still springing up afresh.
one to confess what crimes committed Why should I mention that Lapithae,
in the upper world he had left un- Ixion, and Pirithoiis, over whom hangs
atoned till the late hour of death, a black flinty rock, every moment
hugging himself in secret crime of no threatening to tumble down, and seem-
avail. Forthwith avenging Tisiphone, ing to be actually falling? Golden
armed with her whip, scourges the pillars supporting lofty genial couches
guilty with cruel insult, and in her left shine, and full in their view are ban-
hand shaking over them her grim quets furnished out with regal magnifi-
snakes, calls the fierce troops of her cence ;the chief of the Furies sits by
sister Furies. them, and debars them from touching
Then at length the accursed gates, the provisions with their hands; and
grating on their dreadful-sounding hinges, starts up, lifting her torch on high, and
are thrown open. See you what kind thunders over them with her voice.
of watch sits in the entry ? what figure Here are those who, while life re-
guards the gate? An overgrown Hy- mained, had been at enmity with their
dra, more fell than any Fury, with brothers, had beaten a parent, or
fifty black gaping mouths, has her seat wrought deceit against a client ; or
within. Then Tartarus itself sinks who alone brooded over their acquired
deep down, and extends toward the wealth, nor assigned a portion to their
shades twice as far as is the pros- own, which class is the most nume-
pect upward to the ethereal throne of rous : those too who were slain for
Heaven. Here Earth's ancient pro- adultery, who joined in impious wars,
geny, the Titanian youth, hurled down and did not scruple to violate the faith
with thunderbolts, welter in the pro- they had plighted to their masters :
found aj5ys9. Here too I saw the two shut up, they await their punishment.
sons of Aloeus, gigantic bodies, who But what kind of punishment seek not
attempted with their might to overturn to be informed, in what shape of misery,
the spacious heavens, and thrust down or in what state they are involved.
Jove from his exalted kingdom. Sal- Some roll a huge stone, and hang fast
moneus likewise I beheld suffering se- bound to the spokes of wheels. There
vere punishment, for having imitated sits, and to eternity shall sit, the un-
Jove's flaming bolts, and the sounds of happy Theseus : and Phlegyas most
heaven. He, drawn in his chariot by wretched is a monitor to all, and with
four horses, and brandishing a torch, loud voice proclaims through the shades :
rode triumphant among the nations of " Warned by example, learn righteous-
Greece, and in the midst of the city ness, and not to contemn the gods."
Elis, and claimed to himself the honour One sold his country for gold, and im-
of the gods : infatuate ! who, with posed on it a domineering tyrant ; made
brazen car, and the prancing of his and unmade laws for money. Another
horn-hoofed steeds, would needs coun- invaded
terfeit the storms and inimitable thun- unlawful his wedlock daughter's
: all ofbed,
themanddare.l
an
der. But the almighty Sire amid the some heinous crime, and accomplished
thick clouds threw a bolt (not fire- what they dared. Had I a hundred
brands he, nor smoky light from tongues, and a hundred mouths, a voice
torches), and hurled him down head- of iron, I could not comprehend all
long in a vast whirlwind. Here too the species of their crimes, nor enu-
you might have seen Tityus, the foster- ments. merate the names of all their punish-
child of all-bearing Earth : whose body
is extended over nine whole acres ; and When the aged priestess of Phcebus
a huge vulture, with her hooked beak, had uttered these words, she adds. But
pecking at his immortal liver, and his come now, set forward, and finish the
bowels, the fruitful source of punish- task you have undertaken ; let us haste
ment, both searches them for her ban- on : I see the walls of Pluto, wrought
224
ILLUSTRATIONS.

in the forges of the Cyclops, and the remember them : all these have their
gates with their arch full in our view, temples crowned with a snow-white
where our instructions enjoin us to de- fillet. Whom, gathered around, the
posit this our offering. She said ; and, Sibyl thus addressed, Musseus chiefly ;
with equal pace advancing through the for a numerous crowd had him in their
gloomy path, they speedily traverse the centre, and looked up with reverence to
intermediate space, and approach the him, raised above them by the height of
gates, ^neas springs forward to the his shoulders : Say, blessed souls, and
entry, sprinkles his body with fresh thou, best of poets, what region, what
water, and fixes the bough in the front- place contains Anchises ? on his account
ing portal. we have come, and crossed the great
Having finished these rites, and per- rivers of hell. And thus the hero briefly
formed the offering to the goddess, they returned her an answer : None of us
came at length to the regions of joy, have a fixed abode ; in shady groves we
delightful green retreats, and blessed dwell, or lie on couches all along the
abodes in groves, where happiness banks, and on meadows fresh with rivu-
abounds. A freer and purer sky here lets :but do you, if so your heart's in-
clothes the fields with sheeny light : clination leads, overpass this eminence,
they know their own sun, their own and I will set you in the easy path. He
stars. Some exercise their limbs on said, and advances his steps on before,
the grassy green, in sports contend, and and shows them from a rising ground
wrestle on the tawny sand : some strike the shining plains ; then they descend
the ground with their feet in the dance, from the summit of the mountain. But
and sing hymns. Orpheus, too, the Father Anchises, deep in a verdant dale,
Thracian priest, in his long robe, re- was surveying with studious care the
plies in melodious numbers to the seven souls there enclosed, who were to revisit
distinguished notes ; and now strikes the light above ; and happened to be
the same with his fingers, now with reviewing the whole number of his race,
his- *ivory quill. Here may be seen his dear descendants, their fates and
Teucer's ancient race, a most illustri- fortunes, their manners and achieve-
ous line, magnanimous heroes, born in ments. As soon as he beheld ^'Eneas
happier times, — Ilus, Assaracus, and advancing toward him across the meads,
Dardanus, the founder of Troy. From he joyfully stretched out both his hands,
afar, ^neas views with wonder the and tears poured down his cheeks, and
arms and empty chariots of the chiefs. these words dropped from his mouth :
Their spears stand fixed in the ground, Are you come at length, and has that
and up and down their horses feed at piety, experienced by your sire, sur-
large through the plain. The same mounted the arduous journey ? Am I
fondness they had when alive for cha- permitted, my son, to see your face, to
riots and arms, the same concern for hear and return the well-known accents ?
training up shining steeds, follows them So indeed I concluded in my mind, and
when deposited beneath the earth. reckoned it would happen, computing
Lo ! he beholds others on the right the time ; nor have my anxious hopes
and left feasting upon the grass, and deceived me. Over what lands, O son,
singing the joyful ptean to Apollo in and over what immense seas have you,
concert, amid a fragrant grove of laurel ; I hear, been tossed ! with what dangers
Afhence from on high the river Erida- harassed ! how I dreaded lest you had
nus rolls in copious streams through the sustained harm from Libya's realms !
wood. Here is a band of those who But he said : Your ghost, your sorrow-
sustained wounds in fighting for their ing ghost, my sire, oftentimes appearing,
country ; priests who preterved them- compelled me to set forward to these
selves pure and holy, while life re- thresholds. My fleet rides in the Tyrr-
mained pious
; poets, wlio sang in strains hene Sea. Permit me, father, to joiu
worthy of Apollo ; those who improved my right hand with yours ; and with-
life by the invention of arts, and who draw not yourself from my embrace.
by their worthy deeds made others So saying, he at the same time bedew e<l
 VIRGWS ^NETD.

his cheeks with a flood of tears. There grieve and rejoice ; antl, shut up in
thrice he attempted to throw his arms darkness and a gloomy prison, lose sight
around his neck ; thrice the phantom, of their native skies. Even when with
grasped in vain, escaped his hold, like the last beams of light their life is gone,
the fleet gales, or resembling most a yet not every ill, nor all corporeal stains,
fugitive dream. are quite removed from the unhappy
Meanwhile ^neas sees in the retired beings; and it is absolutely necessary
vale a grove situate by itself, shrubs that many imperfections which have
rustling in the woods, and the river long been joined to the soul should be
Lethe, which glides by those peaceful in marvellous ways increased and riveted
dwellings. Around this, unnumbered therein. Therefore are they afflicted
tribes and nations of ghosts were flutter- with punishments, and pay the penalties
ing ; as in meadows on a serene sum- of their former ills. Some, hung on
mer's day, when the bees sit on the high, are spread out to the empty winds ;
various blossoms, and swarm around the in others, the guilt not done away is
snow-white lilies, all the plain buzzes washed out in a vast watery abyss, or
with their humming noise. .^neas, burned away in fire. We each endure
confounded, shudders at the unexpected his own manes, thence are we conveyed
sight, and asks the causes,— what are along the spacious Elysium, and we, the
those rivers in the distance, or what happy few, possess the fields of bliss;
ghosts have in such crowds fiUecI the till_ length of time, after the fixed period
banks ? Then Father Anchises said : is elapsed, hath done away the inherent
Those souls, for whom other bodies are stain, and hath left the pure celestial
reason, and the fiery energy of the
destined by fate, at the stream of Lethe's
flood quaff care-expelling draughts and simple spirit. All these, after they have
lasting oblivion. Long indeed have I rolled away a thousand years, are sum-
wished to give you a detail of these, and moned forth by the god in a great body
to point them out before you, and enu- to the river Lethe; to the intent that,
merate this my future race, that you losing memory of the past, they may re-
may rejoice the more with me in the visit the vaulted realms above, and again
discovery of Italy. O father, is it to be become willing to return into bodies.
imagined that any souls of an exalted Anchises thus spoke, and leads his son,
nature will go hence to the world above, together with the Sibyl, into the midst
and enter again into inactive bodies ? of the assembly and noisy throng ; thence
What direful love of the light possesses chooses a rising ground, whence he may
the miserable beings? I, indeed, re- survey them all as they stand opposite
plies Anchises, will inform you, my son, to him in a long row, and discern their
nor hold you longer in suspense : and looks as they approach.
thus he unfolds each particular in Now come, I will explain to you what
©rder. glory shall henceforth attend the Trojan
In the first place, the spirit within race, what descendants await them of
nourishes the heavens, the earth, and the Italian nation, distinguished souls,
and who shall succeed to our name ;
watery plains, the moon's enlightened
orb, and the Titanian stars; and the yourself too I will instruct in your par-
mind, diffused through all the members, ticular fate. See you that youth who
actuates the whole frame, and mingles leans on his pointless spear? He by
with the vast body of the universe. destiny holds a station nearest to the
Thence the race of men and beasts, the light ; he shall ascend to the upper
vital principles of the flying kind, and world the first of your race who shall
the monsters which the ocean breeds have a mixture of Italian blood in his
under its smooth plain. These prin- veins, Silvius, an Alban name, your last
ciples have the active force of fire, and issue ; whom late your consort Lavinia
are of a heavenly original, so far as they shall in the woods bring forth to you in
are not clogged by noxious bodies, your advanced age, himself a king, and
blunted by earth-bom limbs and dying the father of kings; in whom our line
members. Hence they fear and desire, shall -eign over Alba Longa. o The next
226 ILL USTRA TIONS.

is Procas, the glory of the Trojan nation ; Even Hercules did not run over so many
then Capys and Numitor follow, and countries, though he transfixed the
^neas Silvius, who shall represent thee brazen-footed hind, quelled the forests
in name, equally distinguished for piety of Erymanthus, and make Lerna tremble
and arms, if ever he receive the crown with his bow : nor Bacchus, who in
of Alba. See what youths are these, triumph drives his car with reins wrapped
what manly force they show ! and bear about with vine-leaves, driving the tigers
their temples shaded with civic oak ; from Nyssa's lofty top. And doubt we
these to thy honour shall build Nomen- yet to extend our glory by our deeds?
tum, Gabii, and the city Fidena; these or is fear a bar to our settling in the
on the mountains shall raise the Colla- Ausonian land?
tine towers, Pometia, the fort of Inuus, But who is he at a distance, distin-
Bola, and Cora, These shall then be guished bythe olive boughs, bearing the
famous names; now they are lands sacred utensils ? I know the locks and
without names. Further, martial Ro- hoary beard of the Roman king, who
mulus, whom Ilia of the line Assaracus first shall establish the city by laws, sent
shall bear, shall add himself as com- from little Cures and a poor estate to
panion to his grandsire Numitor. See vast empire. Whom Tulhis shall next
you not how the double plumes stand succeed, who shall break the peace of
on his head erect, and how the father his (;puntry, and rouse to arms his in-
of the gods himself already marks him active subjects, and troops now unused
out with his distinguished honours ! Lo, to triumphs. Whom follows next vain-
my son, imder his auspicious influence, glorious Ancus, even now too much re-
Rome, that city of renown, shall mea- joicing inthe breath of popular applause.
sure her dominion by the earth, and her Will you also see the Tarquin kings,
valour by the skies, and that one city and the haughty soul of Brutus, the
shall for herself wall around seven strong avenger
hills, happy in a race of heroes; like recoveredof fasces his country's wrongs,
? Pie first shall and the
receive
Mother Kerecynthia, when crowned with the consular power, and the axe of jus-
turrets she rides in her chariot through tice inflexibly severe ; and the sire shall,
the Phrygian towns, joyful in a progeny for the sake of glorious liberty, summon
of gods, embracing a hundred grand- to death his own sons, raising an un-
children, all inhabitants of heaven, all known kind of war. Unhappy he !
seated in the high celestial abodes. This however posterity shall interpret that
way now bend both your eyes; view action, love to his country, and the un-
this lineage, and your own Romans. bounded desire of praise, will prevail
This is Cresar, and these are the whole over paternal affection. See besides at
race of lUlus, who shall one day rise to some distance the Decii, Drusi, Torqua-
the spacious axle of the sky. This, this tus, inflexibly severe with the axe, and
is the man whom you have often heard Camillus recovering the standards. But
promised to you, Augustus Caesar, the those two ghosts whom you observe to
offspring of a god ; who once more shall shine in equal arms, in perfect friend-
establish the golden age in Latium, ship now, and while they remain shut
through those lands where Saturn reigned up in night, ah ! what war, what bat-
of old, and shall extend his empire uver tles and havoc, will they between them
the Garamantes and Indians: their land raise, if once they have attained to tiie
lies without the signs of the zodiac, light of life ! the father-in-law descend-
beyond the sun's annual course, where ing from the Alpine hills, and the tower
Atlas, supporting heaven on his shoul- of Moncecus ; the son-in-law furnished
ders, turns the axle studded with flaming with the troops of the East to oppose
stars. Against his approach, even now him. Make not, my sons, make not
both the Caspian realms and the land such unnatural wars familiar to your
about the Palus Mseotis are dreadfully minds ; nor turn the powerful strength
dismayed at the responses of the gods, of your country against its bowels. And
and the quaking mouths of seven-fold thou, Coesar, first forbear, thou who de-
Nile hurry on their troubled waves. rivest thy origin from heaven ! fling
 VIRGinS ^NEID.

those arms out of thy hand, O thou, the deep disaster of thy kindred ; him
my own blood ! That one, having the Fates shall just show on earth, nor
triumphed over Corinth, shall drive suffer long to exist. Ye gods, Rome's
his chariot victorious to the lofty Capi- sons had seemed too powerful in your
tol, illustrious from the slaughter of eyes, had these your gifts been per-
Greeks. The other shall overthrow manent. What groans of heroes shall
that field near the imperial city of
Argos, and Mycenae, Agamemnon's Mars send forth ! what funeral pomp
seat, and Eacides himself, the descend-
ant of valorous Achilles ; avenging his shall you, O Tiberinus, see, when you
Trojan ancestors, and the violated glide by his recent tomb ! Neither
temple of Minerva. Who can in silence shall any youth of the Trojan line in
pass over thee, great Cato, or thee, hope exalt the Latin fathers so high ;
Cossus? who the family of Gracchus, nor shall the Land of Romulus evei
or both the Scipios, those two thunder- glory so much in any of her sons. Ah
bolts of war, the bane of Africa, and. piety ! ah that faith of ancient times !
Fabricius in low fortune exalted ? or and that right hand invincible in war !
thee, Serranus, sowing in the furrow none with impunity had encountered
which thy own hands had made ? him in arms, either when on foot he
Whither, ye Fabii, do you hurry me rushed upon the foe, or when he pierced
tired ? Thou art that Fabius justly with his spur his foaming courser's
styled the Greatest, who alone shall flanks. Ah youth, meet subject for pity !
repair our state by delay. Others, I if by any means thou canst burst rigorous
grtmt indeed, shall with more delicacy fate, thou shalt be a Marcellus. Give
mould the breathing brass ; from marble me lilies in handfuls; let me strew the
draw the features to the life ; plead blooming flowers; these offerings at
causes better ; describe with the rod least let me heap upon my descendant's
the courses of the heavens, and explain shade, and discharge this unavailing
the rising stars : to rule the nations with duty. Thus up and down they roam
imperial sway be your care, O Romans ; through all the Elysian regions in
these shall be your arts ; to impose spacious airy fields, and survey every
terms of peace, to spare the humbled, object: through each of which when
and crush the proud. Anchises had conducted his son, and
Thus Father Anchises, and, as they fired his soul with the love of coming
are wondering, subjoins : Behold how fame, he next recounts to the hero
adorned with triumphal spoils Marcel- what wars he must hereafter wage, in-
lus stalks along, and shines victor above forms him of the Laurentine people,
the heroes all ? He, mounted on his and of the city of Latinus, and by what
steed, shall prop the Roman state in means he may shun or surmount every
the rage of a formidable insurrection; toil.
the Carthaginians he shall humble, and Two gates there are of Sleep, where-
the rebellious Gaul, and dedicate to of the one is said to be of horn ; by
Father Quirinus the third spoils. And which an easy egress is given to true
upon this ./Eneas says ; for he beheld visions; the other shining, wrought of
marching with him a youth distinguished white ivory ; but through it the infernal
by his beauty and shining arms, but his gods send up false dreams to the upper
countenance of little joy, and his eyes world. When Anchises had addressed
sunk and dejected: What youth is he, this discourse to his son and the Sibyl
O father, who thus accompanies the hero together, and dismissed them by the
as he walks ? is he a son, or one of the ivory gate, the hero speeds his way to
illustrious line of his descendants ? What the ships, and revisits his friends; then
bustling noise of attendants round him ! steers directly along the coast for the
How great resemblance in him to the port of Caieta: where, when he had
other ! but sable Night with her dreary arrived, the anchor is thrown out from
shade hovers aroimd his head. Then the forecastle, the stems rest upon the
Father Anchises, while tears gushed shore.
forth, b^;an : Seek not, my son, to know

Q 2
228 ILL USTRATIONS.

an eminence that was full of stars, bright

CICERO'S VISION OF SCIPIO.
Translated by Cyrus R. Edmonds. and glorious,) "which you are now
come, before you are a complete soldier,
When I had arrived in Africa as to attack. Within two years you shall
military tribune of the fourth legion, be Consul, and shall overthrow it ; and
as you know, under the Consul Lucius you shall acquire for yourself that sur-
Manlius, nothing was more delightful name that you now wear, as bequeathed
to me than having an interview with by me. After you have destroyed Car-
Massinissa, a prince who, for good rea- thage, performed a triumph, and been
sons, was most friendly to our family. censor ; after, in the capacity of legate,
When I arrived, the old man shed tears you have visited Egypt, Syria, Asia,
as he embraced me. Soon after, he and Greece, you shall, in your absence,
raised his eyes up to heaven and said, be chosen a second time Consul ; then
I thank thee, most glorious sun, and ye you shall finish a most dreadful war,
the other inhabitants of heaven, that and utterly destroy Numantia. But
before I depart from this life I see in when you shall be borne into the capi-
my kingdom, and under this roof, Pub- tol in your triumphal chariot, you shall
lius Cornelius Scipio, by whose very find the government thrown into con-
name I am refreshed, for never does the fusion bythe machinations of my grand-
memory of that greatest, that most in- son ; and here, my Africanus, you must
vincible of men vanish from my mind. display to your country the lustre of
After this I informed myself from him your spirit, genius, and wisdom.
about his kingdom, and he from me " But at this period I perceive that the
about our government ; and that day was path of your destiny is a doubtful one ;
consumed in much conversation on both for when your life has passed through
sides. seven times eight oblique journeys and
Afterward, having been entertained returns of the sun, and when these two
with royal magnificence, we prolonged numbers (each of which is regarded as a
■>ur conversation to a late hour of the complete one — one on one account and
night ; while the old man talked of the other on another) shall, in their
nothing but of Africanus, and remem- natural circuit, have brought you to the
bered not only all his actions, but all crisis of your fate, then will the whole
his sayings. Then, when we departed state turn itself toward you and your
to bed, owing to my journey and my glory ; the Senate, all virtuous men, our
sitting up to a late hour, a sleep sounder allies, and the Latins, shall look up to
than ordmary came over me. In this, you. Upon your single person the pre-
(1 suppose from the subject on which servation of your country will depend ;
we had been talking, for it commonly and, in short, it is your part, as dictator,
happens that our thoughts and conver- to settle the government, if you can but
sations beget something analogous in escape the imi)ious hands of your kins-
our sleep, just as Ennius writes about men." (Here, when Laehus uttered an
Homer, of whom assuredly he was ac- exclamation, and the rest groaned with
customed most frequently to think and great excitement, Scipio said, with a
talk when awake,) Africanus presented gentle smile, "I beg that you will not
himself to me in that form which was waken me out of my dream, give a little
more known from his statue than from time and listen to the sequel. )
Ills own person. " But that you may be more earnest
No sooner did I know him than I in the defence of your country, know
shuddered. " Draw near," said he, from me, that a certain place in heaven
" with confidence, lay aside your dread, is assigned to all who have preserved,
and commit what I say to your memory. or assisted, or improved their country,
You see that city, which by me was where they are to enjoy an endless dura-
forced to submit to the people of Rome, tion of happiness. For there is nothing
but is now renewing its former wars, which takes place on earth more accept-
and cannot remain at peace," (he spoke able to that Supreme Deity who governs
these words pointing to Carthage from all this world, than those councils and
 22q

CICERO'S VISION OF SCIPIO.

assemblies of men bound together by their bodies, inhabit that place which
law, which are termed states ; the
thou beholdest."
governors and preservers of these go Now the place my father spoke of
from hence, and hither do they retunu" was a radiant circle of dazzling bright-
Here, frightened as I was, not so much ness amid the flaming bodies, which
from the dread of death as of the trea- you, as you have learned from the
chery of my friends, I nevertheless asked Greeks, term the Milky Way ; from
him whether my father Paulus, and which position all other objects seemed
others, whom we thought to be dead, to me, as I surveyed them, marvellous
were yet alive ! " To be sure they are and glorious. There were stars which
alive," replied Africanus, "for they we never saw from this place, and their
have escaped from the fetters of the magnitudes were such as we never ima-
body as from a prison ; that which is gined ;the smallest of which was that
called your life is really death. But which, placed upon the extremity of the
behold your father Paulus approaching heavens, but nearest to the earth, shone
you." No sooner did I see him, than I with borrowed light. But the globular
poured forth a flood of tears ; but he, bodies of the stars greatly exceeded the
embracing and kissing me, forbade me magnitude of the earth, which now to
to weep. And when, having suppressed me appeared so small, that I was grieved
my tears, I began first to be able to to see our empire contracted, as it were,
into a very point.
speak, "Why," said I, "thou most
sacred and excellent father, since this is Which, while I was too eagerly gazing
life, as 1 hear Africanus affirm, why do on, Africanus said, " How long will
I tarry on earth, and not hasten to come your attention be fixed upon the earth ?
Do you not see into what temples you
to you ? " have entered ? All things are connected
" Not so, my son," he replied ; " un-
less that God, whose temple is all this by nine circles, or rather spheres ; one of
which you behold, shall free you from which (which is the outermost) is heaven,
this imprisonment in the body, you can and comprehends all the rest, inhabited
have no admission to this place ; for by that all-powerful God, who bounds
men have been created under this condi- and controls the others ; and in this
tion, that they should keep that globe sphere reside the original principles of
which you see in the middle of this those endless revolutions which the
tem])le, and wliich is called the earth. planets perform. Within this are con-
And a soul has been supplied to them tained seven other spheres, that turn
from those eternal fires which you call round backward, that is, in a contrary
constellations and stars, and which, being direction to that of the heaven. Of
globular and round, are animated with these, that planet which on earth you
divine spirit, and complete their cycles call Saturn occupies one sphere. That
and revolutions with amazing rapidity. shining body which you see next is called
Therefore you, my Publius, and all good Jupiter, and is friendly and salutary to
men, must preserve your souls in the mankind. Next the lucid one, terrible
keeping of your bodies ; nor are you, to the earth, which you call Mars. The
without the order of that Being who Sun holds the next place, almost under
bestowed them upon you, to depart the middle region ; t" is the chief, the
from mundane life, lest you seem to leader, and the director of the other
desert the duty of a man, which has luminaries ; he is the soul and guide of
been assigned you by God. Therefore, the world, and of such immense bulk,
Scipio, like your grandfather here, and that he illuminates and fills all other
me w ho begot you, cultivate justice and objects with his light. He is followed
piety ; which, while it should be great by the orbit of Venus, and that of Mer-
toward your parents and relations, should cury, as attendants ; and the Moon rolls
be greatest toward your country. Such in the lowest sphere, enlightened by the
a life is the path to heaven and the rays of the Sun. Below this there is
assembly of those who have lived before, nothing but what is mortal and transi-
and who, having been relea^sed from tory, excepting those souls which are
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
«30

given to the human race by the goodness ness of the noise. Now this sound,
of the gods. Whatever lies above the which is effected by the rapid rotation
Moon is eternal. For the earth, which of the whole system of nature, is so
is the ninth sphere, and is placed in the powerful that human hearing cannot
centre of the whole system, is immovable comprehend it, just as you cannot look
and below all the rest ; and all bodies, directly upon the sun, because your
by their natural gravitation, tend toward sight and sense are overcome by his

Which as I was gazing at in amaze- Though admiring these scenes, yet I

it."ment Isaid, as I recovered myself. From still continued directing my eyes in the
beams."
whence proceed these sounds, so strong same direction toward the earth. On
and yet so sweet, that fill my ears ? this Africanus said, " I perceive that
" The melody," replies he, " which you even now you are contemplating the
hear, and which, though composed in abode and home of the human race.
unequal time, is nevertheless divided And as this appears to you diminutive,
into regular harmony, is effected by the as it really is, fix your regard upon these
impulse and motion of the spheres them- celestial scenes, and despise those abodes
selves, which, by a happy temper of of men. What celebrity are you able to
sharp and grave notes, regularly pro- attain to in the discourse of men, or
duces various harmonic effects. Now what glory that ought to be desired ?
it is impossible that such prodigious You perceive that men dwell on but
movements should pass in silence ; and few and scanty portions of the earth,
nature teaches that the sounds which the and that amid these spots, as it were,
spheres at one extremity utter must be vast solitudes are interposed. As to
sharp, and those at the other extremity those who inhabit the earth, not only are
must be grave ; on which account, that they so separated that no communication
highest revolution of the star-studded can circulate among them from the one
heaven, whose motion is more rapid, is to the other, but part lie upon one side,
carried on with a sharp and quick sound ; part upon another, and part are diame-
whereas this of the moon, which is trically opposite to you, from whom you
situated the lowest, and at the other ex- assuredly can expect no glory.
tremity, moves with the gravest sound. "You are now to observe that the
For the earth, the ninth sphere, remain- same earth is encircled and encompassed
ing motionless, abides invariably in the as it were by certain zones, of which the
innennost position, occupying the central two that are most distant from one
spot in the universe. another, and lie as it were toward the
*' Now these eight directions, two vortexes of the heavens in both direc-
of which have the same powers, effect tions, are rigid as you see with frost,
seven sounds, differing in their modu- while the middle and the largest zone
lations, which number is the connecting is burned up with the heat of the sun.
principle of almost all things. Some Two of these are habitable ; of which
learned men, by imitating this harmony the southern, whose inhabitants imprint
with strings and vocal melodies, have their footsteps in an opposite direction
opened -a way for their return to this to you, have no relation to your race.
place ; as all others have done, who, As to this other, lying toward the north,
endued with pre-eminent qualities, have which you inhabit, observe what a small
cultivated in their mortal life the pursuits portion of it falls to your share ; for all
of heaven. that part of the earth which is inhabited
" The ears of mankind, filled with by you, which narrows toward the south
these sounds, have become deaf, for of and north, but widens from east to west,
all your senses it is the most blunted. is no other than a little island surrounded
Thus, the people who live near the place by that sea which on earth you call the
where the Nile rushes down from very Atlantic, sometimes the great sea, and
high mountains to the parts which are sometimes the ocean ; and yet, with so
called Catadupa, are destitute of the grand a name, you see how diminutive
sense of hearing, by reason of the great- it is ! Now do you think it possible foi
 CJCERaS VISION OF SCIPIO. 23 »

your renown, or that of any one of us, to fame that endures for but a little part of
move from those cultivated and inhabited a single year ? If, then, you would fain
spots of ground, and pass beyond that direct your regards on high, and aspire
Caucasus, or swim across yonder Ganges ? to this mansion and eternal abode, you
What inhabitant of the other parts of neither will devote yourself to the m-
the east, or of the extreme regions of the mours of the vulgar, nor will you rest
setting sun, of those tracts that run your hopes and your interest on human
toward I he south or toward the north, rewards. Virtue herself ought to attract
shall ever hear of your name ? Now, you by her own charms to tme glory ;
supposing them cut off, you see at once what others may talk of you, for talk
within what narrow limits your glory they will, let themselves consider. But
would fain expand itself As to those all such talk is confined to the narrow
who speak of you, how long ^ill they limits of those regions which you see.
speak ? None respecting any man was everlasting.
" Let me even suppose that a future It is both extinguished by the death of
race of men shall be desirous of trans- the individual, and perishes altogether in
mitting to their posterity your renown the oblivion of posterity. "
or mine, as they received it from their Which, when he had said, I replied,
fathers ; yet when we consider the con- "Traly, O Africanus, since the path to
vulsions and conflagrations that must heaven lies open to those who have
necessarily happen at some definite deserved well of their country, though
period, we are unable to attain not only from my childhood I have ever trod in
to an eternal, but even to a lasting fame.
your and my father's footsteps without
Now of what consequence is it to you to disgracing your glory, yet now, with so
be talked of by those who are bom after noble a prize set before me, I shall strive
you, and not by those who were bom
with much more diligence."
before you, who certainly were as nume- " Do so strive," replied he, "and do
rous and more virtuous, — especially as not consider yourself, but your body, to
among the very men who are thus to be mortal. For you are not the being
celebrate our renown not a single one which this corporeal figure evinces ; but
can preserve the recollections of a single the mind of every man is the man, and
year ? For mankind ordinarily measure not that form which may be delineated
their j^ear by the revolution of the sun, with a finger. Know therefore that you
that is, of a single heavenly body. But are a divine person. Since it is divinity
when all the planets shall retum to the that has consciousness, sensation, me-
same position which they once had, and mory, and foresight, — that governs,
bring back after a long rotation the same regulates, and moves that body over
aspect of the entire heavens, then the which it has been appointed, just as the
year may be said to be truly completed ; Supreme Deity mles this world ; and in
in which I do not venture to say how like manner as an etemal God guides
many ages of mankind will be contained. this world, which in some respect is
For, as of oid. when the spirit of Romulus perishable, so an etemal spirit animates
entered these temples, the sun disap- your frail body.
peared to mortals and seemed to be " For that which is ever moving is
extinguished ; so whenever the sun, at etemal ; now that which communicates
the same time with all the stars and to another object a motion which it
constellations brought back to the same received elsewhere, must necessarily
starting-point, shall again disappear, cease to live as soon as its motion is at
then you are to reckon the year to an end. Thus the being which is self-
be complete. But be assured that the motive is the only being that is eternal,
twentieth part of such a year b not yet because it never is abandoned by its
elapsed. own properties, neither is this self-motion
" If, therefore, you hope to return to ever at an end ; nay, this is the fountain,
this place, toward which all the aspira- this is the beginning of motion to all
tions of great and good men are tending, things that are thus subjects of motion.
what must be the value of that human Now there can be no connnencement of
2'^2
ILLUSTRA'IIONS.
what is aboriginal, for all things proceed material lonuenls : spirits which had
from a beginning ; therefore a beginning put off the mortal body, cognizable by
can rise from no other cause, for if it the corporeal sense. The mediaeval
proceeded from another cause it would Hell had gathered from all ages, all
not be aboriginal, which, if it have no lands, all races, its imagery, its denizens,
commencement, certainly never has an its site, its access, its commingling hor-
e;id ; for the primeval principle, if ex- rors ;from the old Jewish traditions,
tinct, can neither be reproduced from perhaps from the regions beyond the
any other source, nor produce anything sphere of the Old Testament ; from the
else from itself, because it is necessary Pagan poets, with their black rivers,
that all things should spring from some their Cerberus, their boatman and his
crazy vessel ; perhaps from the Teutonic
original source." Hela, through some of the earlier visions.
Then came the great Poet, and reduced
all this wild chaos to a kind of order,
HELL, PURGATORY, AND moulded it up with the cosmical notions
HEAVEN. of the times, and made it, as it were, ohe
Milman's History of Latin with the prevalent mundane system.
Book XIV. ch. 2.Christianity.
Above all, he brought it to the very
Throughout the Middle Ages the borders of our world ; he made the life
world after death continued to reveal beyond the grave one with our present
more and more fully its awful secrets. life ; he mingled in close and intimate
Hell, Purgatory, Heaven became more relation the present and the future. Hell.
distinct, if it may be so said, more visible. Purgatory, Heaven, were but an imme-
Their site, their topography, their tor- diate expansion and extension of the
ments, their trials, their enjoyments, present world. And this is among the
became more conceivable, almost more wonderful causes of Dante's power, the
palpable to sense : till Dante summed realizing the unreal by the admixture of
up the whole of this traditional lore, or the real : even as in his imagery the
at least, with a Poet's intuitive sagacity, actual, homely, every-day language or
seized on all which was most imposing, similitude mingles with and heightens
effective, real, and condensed it in his the fantastic, the vague, the transmun-
three co-ordinate poems. That Hell had dane. What effect had Hell produced,
a local existence, that immaterial spirits if peopled by ancient, almost immemo-
suffered bodily and material torments, rial objects of human detestation, Nim-
none, or scarcely one hardy speculative rod or Iscariot, or Julian or Mohammed ?
mind, presumed to doubt. Hell had It was when Popes all but living, Kings
admitted, according to legend, more but now on their thrones, Guelfs who
than one visitant from this upper world, had hardly ceased to walk the streets of
who returned to relate his fearful journey F'orence, Ghibellines almost yet in exile,
to wondering man : St. Farcy, St. Vettin, levealed their awful doom, — this it was
a layman Bernilo. But all these early which, as it expressed the passions and
descents interest us only as they may be '.he fears of mankind of an instant, im-
supposed or appear to have been faint mediate, actual, bodily, comprehensible
types of the great Italian Poet. Dante place of torment ; so, wherever it was
is the one authorized topographer of the read, it deepened that notion, and made
mediaeval Hell. His originality is no it more distinct and natural. This was
more called in question by these mere the Hell, conterminous to the earth, but
signs and manifestations of the popular separate, as it were, by a gulf passed by
belief, than by the existence and reality almost instantaneous transition, of which
of those objects or scenes in external the Priesthood held the keys. These keys
nature which he describes with such the audacious Poet had wrenched from
unrivalled truth. In Dante meet un- their hands, and dared to turn on many
reconciled (who thought of or cared for of themselves, speaking even against
their reconciliation ?) those strange con- Popes the sentence of condemnation.
tradictions, immaterial souls subject to Of that which Hell, Purgatory, Heaven,
 HELL, PURGATORY, AND HEAVEN.

were in popular opinion during the tion, closed not with the grave. The
Middle Ages, Dante was but the full, departed soul was still to a certain de-
deep, concentred expression ; what he gree dependent upon the Priest. They
embodied in verse, all men believed, had yet a mission, it might be of
feared, hoped. mercy; they had still some power of
Purgatory had now its intermediate saving the soul after it had departed from
place between Heaven and Hell, as the body. Their faithful love, their in
unquestioned, as undisturbed by doubt ; exhaustible interest, might yet rescue the
its existence was as much an article of sinner; for he had not reached those
uncontested popular belief as Heaven gates — over which alone was written,
or Hell. It were as unjust and un- " There is no hope " — the gates of Hell.
philosophical to attribute all the legen- That which was a mercy, a consolation,
dary lore which realized Purgatory to became a trade, an inexhaustible source
the sordid invention of the Churchman
of wealth. Praying souls out of Pur-
or the Monk, as it would-be unhistori- gatory by masses said on their behalf,
cal to deny the use which was made of became an ordinary office, an office
this superstition to exact tribute from which deserved, which could demand,
the fears or the fondness of mankind. which did demand, the most prodigal
But the abuse grew out of the belief; remuneration. It was later that the
the belief was not slowly, subtly, de- Indulgence, originally the remission of
liberately instilled into the mind for so much penance, of so many days,
the sake of the abuse. Purgatory, pos- weeks, months, years, or of that which
sible with St. Augustine, probable with was the commutation for penance, so
Gregory the Great, grew up, I am per- much almsgiving or munificence to
suaded, (its growth is singularly indis- churches or Churchmen, in sound at
tinct and untraceable,) out of the mercy least extended (and mankind, the high
and modesty of the Priesthood. To and low vulgar of mankind, are gov-
the eternity of Hell torments there is erned by sound) its significance : it was
and ever must be — notwithstanding the literally understood as the remission of
peremptory decrees of dogmatic theology so many years, sometimes centuries, of
and the reverential dread in so many Purgatory.
religious minds of tampering with what If there were living men to whom it
seems the language of the New Testa- had been vouchsafed to visit and to
ment— a tacit repugnance. But when return and to reveal the secrets of remote
the doom of every man rested on the lips and terrible Hell, there were those too
of the Priest, on his absolution or refusal who were admitted in vision, or in actual
of absolution, that Priest might well life to more accessible Purgatory, and
tremble with some natural awe — awe brought back intelligence of its real local
not confessed to himself— at dismissing existence, and of the state of souls within
the soul to an irrevocable, unrepealable, its penitential circles. There is a legend
unchangeable destiny. He would not be of St. Paul himself; of the French monk
averse to pronounce a more mitigated, a St. Farcy ; of Drithelm, related by
reversible sentence. The keys of Heaven Bede ; of the Emperor Charles the Fat,
and of Hell were a fearful trust, a ter- by William of Malmesbury. Matthew
rible responsibility ; the key of Purga- Paris relates two or three journeys of the
tory might be used with far less pre- Monk of Fvesham, of Thurkill, an Essex
sumption, with less trembling confidence. peasant, very wild and fantastic. The
Then came naturally, as it might seem, Purgatory of St. Patrick, the Purgatoiy
the strengthening and exaltation of the of Owen Miles, the vision of Alberic of
efficacy of prayer, of the efficacy of the Monte Casino, were among the most
religious ceremonials, of the efficacy of popular and wide-spread legends of the
Ihe sacrifice of the altar, and the efficacy ages preceding Dante; and as in Hell,
of the intercession of the Saints: and so in Purgatory, Dante sums up in his
these all within the province, within the noble verses the whole theory, the whole
p>ower, of the Sacerdotal Order. Their popular belijgf as to this intermediate
authority, their influence, their interven-
sphere.
»34
ILLUSTRA TIONS.

If Hell and Purgatory thus dimly it should seem, is below the ascending
divulged their gloomy mysteries, if they circles of the Celestial Hierarchies, that
had been visited by those who returned immediate vestibule or fore-court of the
to actual life, Heaven was unapproached, Holy of Holies, the Heaven of Heavens,
unapproachable. To be wrapt to the into which the most perfect of the Saints
higher Heaven remained the privilege of are admitted. They are commingled
the Apostle ; the popular conception was with, yet unabsorbed by, the Redeemer,
content to rest in modest ignorance. in mystic union ; yet the mysticism stili
Though the Saints might descend on reverently endeavours to maintain some
beneficent missions to the world of man ; distinction in regard to this Light, which,
of the site of their beatitude, of the state as it has descended upon earth, is drawn
of the Blesseii, of the joys of the supernal up again to the highest Heavens, and
world, they brought but vague and inde- has a kind of communion with the yet
finite tidings. In truth, the notion of Incommunicable Deity. That in all the
Heaven was inextricably mingled up with Paradise of Dante there should be a
the astronomical and cosmogonical as dazzling sameness, a mystic indistinct-
well as with the theological notions of ness, an inseparable blending of the real
and the unreal, is not wonderful, if we
the age. Dante's Paradise blends the
Ptolemaic system with the nine angelic consider the nature of the subject, and
circles of the Pseudo Dionysius ; the the still more incoherent and incongruous
material heavens in their nine circles ; popular conceptions which he had to
above and beyond them, in the invisible represent and to harmonise. It is more
heavens, the nine Hierarchies ; and yet wonderful that, with these few elements,
higher than the highest heavens the Light, Music, and Mysticism, he should,
dwelling of the Ineffable Trinity. The by his singular talent of embodying the
Beatific Vision, whether immediate or purely abstract and metaphysical thought
to await the Last Day, had been eluded in the liveliest imagery, represent such
rather than determined, till the rash and things with the most objective truth, yet
presumptuous theology of Pope John without disturbing their fine spiritualism.
XXII. compelled a declaration from the The subtilist scholasticism is not more
Church. But yet this ascent to the Heaven subtile than Dante. It is perhaps a bold
of Heavens would seem from Dante, the assertion, but what is there on these
best interpreter of the dominant concep- transcendent subjects in the vast theology
tions, to have been an especial privilege, of Aquinas, of which the essence and
if it may be so said, of the most Blessed sum is not in the Paradise of Dante?
of the Blessed, the Saint of Saints. Dante, perhaps, though expressing to a
There is a manifest gradation in Beati- great extent the popular conception of
tude and Sanctity. According to the Heaven, is as much by his innate sub-
universal cosmical theory, the Earth, limity above it, as St. Thomas himself.
the round and level Earth, was the
centre of the whole system. It was
usually supposed to be encircled by the THE VISION OF FRATE AL-
vast, circumambient, endless ocean ; BERICO.
but beyond that ocean (with a dim
reminiscence, it should seem, of the Wright, St. Patrick's Purgatory, p. Ii8.
Elysian Fields of the poets) was placed Alberic, when he wrote his vision,
a Paradise, where the souls of men here- was a monk of Monte Cassino. His
after to be blest awaited the final resur-
father was a baron, lord of the castle de'
rection. Dante takes the otlier theory ; Sette Fratelli, in the Campagna of
he peoples the nine material heavens — Rome. In his tenth year, the child
that is, the cycle of the Moon, Venus, Alberic was seized with a languor, and
Mercury, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, lay nine days and nine nights in a trance,
the fixed stars, and the firmament above, to all appearance dead. As soon as he
or the Primum Mobile — with those who had fallen into this condition, a white
are admitted to a progressively advancing bird, like a dove, came and put its bill
state of glory and blessedness. All this, into his mouth, and seemed to lift hira
 235

THE VISION OF FRATE A LB ERIC O.

up, and then he saw St. Peter and two pent stood a multitude of souls, which
angels, who carried him to the lower he sucked in like flies at each breath,
regions. St. Peter told him that he and then, with the return of respiration,
would see the least torments first, and blew them out scorched to sparks ; and
afterwards, successively, the more terrible this process continued till the souls were
punishments of the other world. They purged of their sins. The pit was so
came first to a place filled with red-hot dark that Alberic could not see what
burning cinders and boiling vapour, in was going on in hell. After quitting
which little children were purged ; those this spot, Alberic was conducted first to
of one year old being subjected to this a valley in which persons who had com-
torment during seven days ; those of two mitted sacrilege were burnt in a sea of
years, fourteen days ; and so on, in pro- flames ; then to a pit of fire in which
portion to their age. Then they entered simonists were punished ; next to a place
a terrible valley, in which Alberic saw a filled with flames, and with serpents and
great number of persons plunged to dif- dragons, in which were tormented those
ferent depths, according to their different who, having embraced the monastic pro-
degrees of criminality, in frost, and cold, fession, had quitted it and returned to a
and ice, which consumed them like fire ; secular life ; and afterwards to a great
these were adulterers, and people who black lake of sulphureous water, full of
had led impure lives. Then they ap- serpents and scorpions, in which the
proached astill more fearftil valley, filled souls of detractors and false witnesses
with trees, the branches of which were were immersed to the chin, and their
long spikes, on which hung women faces continually flogged with sei^pents
transfixed through their breasts, while by demons who hovered over them. On
venomous serpents were sucking them ; the borders of hell, Alberic saw twcJ
these were women who had refused pity "malignant spirits" in the form of a
to orphans. Other women, who had dog and a lion, which he was told blew
been faithless to the marriage bed, were out from their fiery mouths all the tor-
suspended by the hair over raging fires. ments that were outside of hell, and at
Next he saw an iron ladder, three hun- every breath the souls before them were
dred and sixty cubits long, red hot, and wafted each into the peculiar punish-
under it a great boiler of melted oil, ment appropriated to him. The visitor
pitch, and resin ; married persons who was here left for a moment by his on-
had not been continent on sabbaths and ductors ; and the demons seized upon
holy days were compelled to mount this him, and would have thrown him into
ladder, and ever as they were obliged to the fire, had not St. Peter suddenly
quit their hold by the heat, they dropped arrived to rescue him. He was carried
into the boiler below. Then they beheld thence to a fair plain, where he saw
vast fires in which were burnt the souls thieves carrying heavy collars of iron,
of tyrannical and cruel lords, and of red hot, about their necks, hands, and
women who had destroyed their off- feet. He saw here a great burning pitchy
spring. Next was a great space full of river, issuing from hell, and an iron
fire like blood, in which homicides were bridge over it, which appeared very
thrown ; and after this there stood an broad and easy for the virtuous to jiass ;
immense vessel filled with boiling brass, but when sinners attempted it, it became
tin, lead, sulphur, and resin, in which narrow as a thread, and they fell over
were immersed during three years those into the river, and afterwards atteiniited
who had encouraged wicked priests. it again, but were not allowed to pass
They next came to the mouth of the until they had been sufficiently boiled to
infernal pit, {os infemalis baratri,) a vast purge them of their sins. After this the
gulf, dark, and emitting an intolerable Apostle shower! Alberic an extensive
stench, and full of screaming and howl-
ing. By the pit was a serpent of infinite plain, three days' and three nights'
journey in breadth, covered with thorns
magnitude, bound by a great chain, the and brambles, in which souls were
one end of which seemed to be fastened hunte<l and tormented by a denum
in the pit ; before the mouth of this ser- mounted on a great and swift dragon,
236 ILLUSTRATIONS.

and their clothing and limbs torn to the way. Now the priest was young,
pieces by the thorns as they endeavoured undaunted, and bold, and of a powerful
to escape from him ; by degrees they and active frame of body. However, he
were purged of their sins, and became hesitated when the sounds, which seemed
lighter, so that they could run faster, to proceed from troops on the march,
until at last they escaped into a very first reached his ears, and began to
consider whether he should take to
plea'-ant plain, filled with purified souls,
where their torn members and garments flight to avoid being laid hold of and
were immediately restored ; and here discourteously stripped by the worthless
Alberic saw monks and martyrs, and camp followers, or manfully stand on his
good people, in great joy. He then defence if any one molested him. Just
proceeded through the habitations of the then he espied four medlar-trees in a
blessed. In the midst of a beautiful field at a good distance from the path,
plain, covered with flowers, rose the and determined to seek shelter beliind
mountain of paradise, with the tree at them, as fast as he could, until the
the top. After having conducted the cavalry had passed. But as he was
visitor through the seven heavens, the running he was stopped by a man of
last of which was held by Saturn, they enormous stature, armed with a massive
brought him to a wall, and let him look club, who, raising his weapon above his
over, but he was forbidden to tell what head, shouted to him, " Stand ! Take
he had seen on the other side. They not a step farther ! " The priest, frozen
subsequently carried him through the with terror, stood motionless, leaning on
different regions of the world, and his staff. The gigantic club-bearer also
showed him many extraordmary things, stood close to him, and, without offering
and, among the rest, some persons sub- to do him any injury, quietly waited for
jected to purgatorial punishments in dif- the passage of the troop. And now,
ferent places on the earth. behold, a great crowd of people came by
on foot, carrying on their iieads and
shoulders sheep, clothes, furniture, and
THE VISION OF WALKELIN. moveables of all descriptions, such as
robbers are in the habit of pillaging.
Odericus Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, Book
VIII. eh. 17. Tr. by Thomas Forester. All were making great lamentations,
and urging one another to hasten their
I consider that I ought not to suppress steps. Among them the priest recog-
and pass over in silence what happened nized a number of his neighbours who
to a certain priest of the diocese of had lately died, and heard them bewail-
Lisieux in the beginning of January. In ing the excruciating sufferings with which
a village called Bonneval there was a they were tormented for their evil deeds.
priest named Walkelin who served the They were followed by a troop of corpse-
church of St. Aubin of Anjou, who from bearers, who were joined by the giant
a monk became bishop and confessor. already mentioned. These carried as
At the commencement of the month of many as fifty biers, each of which was
January, 1091, this priest was summoned borne by two bearers. On these were
in the night-time, as the occasion re- seated, a number of men of the size ol
quired, to visit a sick man who lived at dwarfs, but whose heads were as large
the farthest extremity of his parish. As as barrels. Two Ethiopians also carried
he was pursuing his solitary road home- an immense trunk of a tree, to which a
wards, far from any habitation of man, poor wretch was rudely bound, who, in
he heard a great noise like the tramp of his tortures, filled the air with fearful
a numerous body of troops, and thought cries of anguish ; for a horrible demon
within himself that the sounds proceeded sat on the same trunk and goaded his
from the army of Robert de Belesme on loins and back with red-hot spurs until
their march to lay siege to the castle of the blood streamed from them. Wal-
Courci. The moon, being in her eighth kelin distinctly recognized in this wretch
day in the constellation of the Ram, shed the assassin of Stephen the priest, and
» clear light, so that it was easy to find was witness to the mtolerable tortures
 237

THE VISION OF WALKELIN.

he suffered for the innocent blood he the children of the kingdom triumph in
shed two years before, since which he the joys which attend perfect holiness.
had died without penance for so foul a Nothing that is unrighteous is done
crime. there ; nothing that is polluted can enter
Then followed a crowd of women who there ; no uncleanness, no impurity, is
seemed to the priest to be innumerable. there found. All the dross of carnal
They were mounted on horseback, riding desires is therefore consumed in the fires
in female fashion, with women's saddles of purgatory, and purified by sufferings
which were stuck with red-hot nails. of various degrees as the Judge eternal
The wind often lifted them a cubit from ordains. So that as a vessel cleansed
their saddles, and then let them drop from rust and thoroughly polished is laid
again on the sharp points. Their up in a treasury, so the soul, purified
haunches thus punctured with the burn- from all taint of sin, is admitted into
ing nails, and suffering horrible torments Paradise, where it enjoys perfect happi-
from the wounds and the scorching heat, ness unalloyed by fear or care.
the women pitiably ejaculated. Woe ! The priest, treml)ling at these appal-
woe ! and made open confession of the ling scenes, still rested on his staff, ex-
sins for which they were punished, pecting apparitions still more terrible.
undergoing in this manner fire and stench And now there followed an immense
and unutterable tortures for the obscene army in which no colour was visible, but
allurements and filthy delights to which only blackness and fiery flames. All
they had abandoned themselves when were mounted on great war-horses, and
living among men. In this company fully armed as if they were prepared for
the priest recognized several noble immediate battle, and they carried black
ladies, and beheld the palfreys and banners. There were seen Richard and
mules with the women litters of others Baldwin, the sons of Count Gilbert, who
who were still alive. were lately dead, with so many others
The priest stood fixed to the spot at that I cannot enumerate them. Among
this spectacle, his thoughts deeply en- the rest was Landri of Orbec, who was
gaged in the reflections it suggested. killed the same year, and who accosted
Presently, however, he saw pass before the priest, and, uttering horrible cries,
him a numerous company of clergy and charged him with his commissions, ur-
monks, with riieir rulers and judges, the gently begging him to carry a message
bishops and abbots carrying crosiers in to his wife. Upon this the troops who
their hands. The clergy and bishops marched before and after him interrupted
wore black copes, and the abbots and his cries, and said to the priest : "Believe
monks cowls of the same hue. They all not Landri, for he is a deceiver. " This
groaned and wailed, and some of them man had been a viscount and a lawyer,
called to Walkelin, and implored him, and had raised himself from a very low
in the name of their former friendship, origin by his talents and merit. He
to pray for them. The priest reported decided causes and affairs according to
that he saw among them many who his own pleasure, and perverted judg-
were highly esteemed, and who, in ment for bribes, actuated more by avarice
human estimation, were now associated and duplicity than by a sense of what
with the saints in heaven. He recognized was right. He was therefore justly
in the number Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, devoted to flagrant punishment, and
and those eminent abbots, Manier of publicly denounced by his associates as
Evroult and Cierbert of Fontenelles, a liar. In this company no one flattered
with many others whose names I either him, and no one had recourse to his
forget, or have no desire to publish. cunning loquacity. He, who while it
Human judgment is often fallible, but was in his power had shut his ears to
the eye of G(h1 seeth the inmost thoughts ; the cries of the poor, was now in his
for man looks only to outward appear- torments, treated as an execrable wretch
ances, God searcheth the heart. In the who was unfit to be heard.
realms of eternal bliss the clear light of Walkelin having seen these countless
an endless day is shed on ail around, and troops of soldiers pass, on reflection,
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
238

said within himself : " Doubtless these once the renowned steward of William
are Harlequin's people ; I have often de Breteuil and his father William, Earl
heard of their being seen, but I laughed of Hereford. While in the world I
at the stories, having never had any abandoned myself to evil deeds and
certain proofs of such things. Now, plunder, and was guilty of more crimes
indeed, I assuredly behold the ghosts of than can be recounted. But, above all,
the departed, but no one will believe me I am tormented for my usuries. I once
when I tell the tale, unless I can exhibit lent money to a poor man, and received
to mortal eyes some tangible proof of as security a mill which belonged to him,
what I have seen. I will therefore and, as he was not able to discharge the
mount one of the horses which are fol- debt, I kept the mortgage property and
lowing the troop without any riders, r.nd left it to my heirs, disinheriting my
will take it home and show it my neigh- debtor's family. You see that I have in
bours to convince them that I speak my mouth a bar of hot iron from the
the truth." Accordingly, he forthwith mill, the weight of which I feel to be
snatched the reins of a black steed ; but more oppressive than the tower of
the animal burst violently from his hold, Rouen. Tell, therefore, my wife Bea-
and galloped away among the troops of trice, and my son Roger, to afford me
Ethiopians. The priest was disappointed relief by speedily restoring to the right
at the failure of his enterprise ; but he heir the pledge, from which they have
was young, bold, and light-hearted, as received more than I advanced.' The
well as agile and strong. He therefore priest replied : " William de Glos died
stationed himself in the middle of the long ago, and this is a commission which
path, prepared for action, and, the mo- no Christian man can undertake. I
ment a horse came up, laid his hand know neither who you are, nor who are
upon it. The horse stopped, ready for your heirs. If I should venture to tell
him to mount without difficulty, at the such a tale to Roger de Glos, or his
same time snorting from his nostrils a brothers, or to their mother, they would
cloud of vapour as large as a full-grown laugh me to scorn, as one out of his
oak. The priest then placed his left wits." However, William continued
foot in the stirrup, and, seizing the reins, still to persist in his earnest entreaties,
laid his hand on the saddle ; but he and furnished him with many sure and
instantly felt that his foot rested on red- well-known tokens of his identity. The
hot iron, and the hand with which he priest understood very well all he heard,
held the bridle was frozen with insupport- but pretended not to comprehend it. At
able cold which penetrated to his vitals. length, overcome by importunities, he
While this was passing, four terrific consented to what the knight requested,
knights came up, and, uttering horrible and engaged to do what was required.
cries, shouted to him : " What do you Upon this, William repeated again all
want with our horses ? You shall come he had said, and impressed it upon his
with us. No one of our company had companion during a long conversation.
injured you, when you began laying The priest, however, began to consider
your hands on what belongs to us." that he durst not convey to any one the
The priest, in great alarm, let go the execrable message of a damned spirit.
horse, and three of the knights attempting "It is not right," he said, "to publish
to seize him, the fourth said to them : such things ; I will on no account tell to
" Let him go, and allow me to speak any one what you require of me." Upon
with him, for I wish to make him the this, the knight was filled with rage,
bearer of a message to ray wife and chil- and, seizing him by the throat, dragged
dren." He then said to the priest, who him along on the ground, uttering ter-
stood trembling with fright : " Listen to rible iraprecrations. The prisoner felt
me, I beseech you, and tell my wife the hand which grasped him burning
what I say." The priest replied: "I like fire, and in this deep extremity cried
know not who you are, or who is your aloud: "Help me, O holy Mary, the
wife." The knight then said: "I am glorious mother of Christ ! " No sooner
William de Glos, son of Barno, and was h.id he invoked the compassionate mother
 239

THE VISION OF WALKELIA'.

than the aid of the Son of God was suffering for the grievous sins wiih which
I was burdened. It is flaming armour
afforded him, according to the Ahnighty's
disposing will For a horseman imme- which you see us bear, it poisons us with
diately rode up, with a sword in his right an infernal stench, weighs us down with
hand, and, brandishing it over Roger's its intolerable weight, and scorches us
head, exclaimed : " Will ye kill my with heat which is inextinguishable I
brother, ye accursed ones ? Loose him Hitherto I have been tormented with
and begone ! " The knights instantly unutterable sufferings, but when you
fled and followed the black troops. were ordained in England, and sang
When they had all passed by, the your first mass for the faithful departed,
liorseman, remaining alone in the road your father Ralph was released from
with Walkelin, said to him, " Do you Purgatory, and my shield, which was a
not know me ? " The priest answered, great torment to me, fell from my arm.
" No." The other said : " I am Robert, I still, as you see, carry a sword, but I
son of Ralph le Blond, and your bro- confidently expect to be relieved of that
ther." The priest was much astonished burden in the course of a year."
at this unexpected occurrence, and much While the knight was thus talking,
troubled at what he had seen and heard, the priest, attentively listening to him,
as we have just related, when the knight espied a mass of clotted gore, in the
began *to remind him of a number of shape of a man's head, at the other's
things which happened in their youth, heels, round his spurs, and in great
and to give him many well-known tokens. amazement said to him: "Whose is
The priest had a clear recollection of all this clotted blood which clings to your
that was told him, but not daring to spurs?" The knight replied: "It is
confess it, he stoutly denied all know- not blood, but fire ; and it weighs me
ledge of the circumstances. At length down more than if I had Mount St.
the knight said to him : " I am astonished Michael to carry. Once I used sharp
at your hardness of heart and stupidity ; and bright spurs when I was hurrying ty
it was I who brought you up on your shed blood, and now I justly carry this
parents' death, and loved you more than enoraious weight at my heels, which is
any one living. I sent you to school in so intolerably burdensome, that I am
France, supplied you plentifully with unable to express the severity of my
clothes and money, and did all in my sufferings. Men ought to reflect on
power to benefit you in every way. You these things without ceasing, and to
seem now to have forgotten all this, and dread and beware, lest they, for their
will not even condescend to recognize sins, should undergo such chastisements.
me." At length the priest, after being I am not permitted, my brother, to con-
abundantly furnished with exact particu- verse longer with you, for I must hasten
lars, became convinced by such certain to follow this unhappy troop. Remember
proofs, and, bursting into tears, openly me, I pray you, and give the succour of
admitted the truth of what he had heard. your prayers and alms. In one year
His brother then said : " You deserve after Palm Sunday I tnist to be saved,
to die, and to be dragged with us to and by the mercy of the Creator released
partake of the torments we suffer, from all my torments. And you, consider
because you have rashly laid hands on well your own state, and prudently
tnings which belong to our reprobate mend your life, which is blemished by
crew ; no other living man ever dared many vices, for know, it will not be
to make such an attempt. But the mass very long. Now be silent, bury in your
you sang to-day has saved you from own bosom the things you have so un-
perishing. It is also permitted me thus expectedly seen and heard, and do not
to appear to you, and unfold to you my venture to tell them to any one for three
wretched condition. After I had con-
ferred with you in Normandy, I took With these words the knight hastened
leave of you and crossed over to F.ngland, away. The priest was seriously ill for a
where, by the Creator's order, my life whole days. "week ; as soon as he began to
ended, and I have undergone intense recover his strength, he went to Lisieux
240
ILLUSTRATION'S.
and related all that had happened to serve God quyetly with more devo-
Bishop Gilbert in regular order, and cyon ; and I counseyled hym to sayle
obtained, on his petition, the salutary into an ylonde ferre in the see, be-
remedies he needed. He afterwards sydes the Mountaynes of Stones, whiche
lived in good health almost fifteen years, is ful well knowen, and than he made
and I heard what I have written, and hym redy and sayled thyder with his
more which has escaped my memory, monkes. And whan he came thyder,
from his own mouth, and saw the mark he lyked that place full well, where he
on his face left by the hand of the and his monkes served our Lorde full
terrible knight. I have committed the devoutly." And than Beryne sawe in
account to writing for the edification of a visyon that this monke Meruoke was
my readers, that the righteous may be sayled ryght ferre eestwarde into the
confirmed in their good resolutions, and see more than thre dayes saylynge, and
the wicked repent of their evil deeds. sodeynly to his semynge there came a
derke cloude and overcovered them,
that a grete parte of the daye they sawe
FROM THE LIFE OF ST. no lyght ; and as our Lorde wold, the
BRANDAN. cloude passed awaye, and they sawe a
Edited by Thomas Wright.
full fayr ylond, and thyderwarde they
drewe. In that ylonde was joye and
Saynt Brandon, the holy man, was a myrth ynough, and all the erth of that
monke, and borne in Yrlonde, and there ylonde shyned as bryght as the sonne,
he was abbot of an hous wherein were a and there were the fay rest trees and
thousand monkes, and there he ladde a herbes that ever ony man sawe, and
full strayte and holy lyfe, in grele there were many precyous s'ones shyn-
penaunce and abstynence, and he ynge bryght, and every herbe there
governed his monkes ful vertuously. was ful of fygures, and every tree ful
And than within shorte tyme after, there of fruyte ; so that it was a glorious
came to hym an holy abbot that hyght sight, and an hevenly joye to abyde
Beryne to vysyte hym, and eche of them there. And than there came to them
was joyfull of other ; and than saynt a fayre yonge man, and full curtoysly
Brandon began to tell to the abbot he welcomed them all, and called every
Beryne of many wonders that he had monke by his name, and sayd that
seen in dyverse londes. And whan they were much bounde to prayse the
Beryne herde that of saynt Brandon, he name of our Lorde Jesu, that wold of
began to sygh, and sore wepte. And his grace shewe to them that glorious
saynt Brandon comforted him in the place, where is ever day, and never
best wyse he coude, sayenge, " Ye come night, and this place is called paradyse
hyther for to be joyfull with me, and terrestre. But by this ylonde is an
therefore for Goddes love leve your other ylonde wherein no man may
mournynge, and tell me what mervayles come. And this yonge man sayd to
ye have seen in the grete see occean, them, " Ye have ben here halfe a yere
that compasseth all the wprlde aboute,
without meet, drynke, or slepe." And
and all other waters comen out of hym, they supposed that they had not ben
whiche renneth in all the partyes of the there the space of half an houre, so
mery and joyfull they were there. And
And than Beryne began to tell to
erth." the yonge man tolde them that this is
saynt Brandon and to his monkes the the place that Adam and Eve dwelte
mervaylles that he had seen, full sore in fyrst, and ever should have dwelled
wepynge, and sayd, " I have a sone, his here, yf that they had not broken the
name is Meruoke, and he was a monke commaundement of God. And than
of grete fame, whiche had grete desyre the yonge man brought them to theyr
to seke aboute by shyppe in dyverse shyppe agayn, and sayd they might no
countrees, to fynde a solytary place lenger abyde there ; and whan they
wherein he myght dwell secretly out were all shypped, sodeynly this yonge
•f the besynesse of the worlde, for to man vanysshed away out of theyr sight
 FROM THE LIFE OF ST. BRANDAIST. 241

And than within shorte tyme after, by began to move ; whereof the monkes
the purveyannce of our Lorde Jesu, were afe^rde, and fledde anone to the.
thfy came to the abbey where saynt shyppe, and lefte the fyre and meet be-
Brandon dwelled, and than he with his hynde them, and mervayled sore of the
bretheme receyved them goodly, and movyng. And saynt Brandon comforted
demaunded where they had ben so them, and sayd that it was a grete fisshe
longe ; and they sayd, "We have ben named Jasconye, whiche laboureth nyght
in the Londe of Byheest, to-fore the and daye to put his tayle in his mouth,
gates of Paradyse, where as is ever daye, but for gretnes he may not. And than
and never night." And they sayd all anone they sayled west thre dayes and
that the place is full delectable, for yet thre nyghtes or they sawe ony londe,
all theyr clothes smelled of the swete wherfore they were ryght hevy. But
and joyfuU place. And than saynt Bran- soone after, as God wold, they sawe a
don purposed soone after for to seke that fayre ylonde, full of floures, herbes, and
place by Goddes helpe, and anone began trees, wherof they thanked God of his
to purvey for a good shyppe, and a good grace, and anone they went on
stronge, and vytaylled it for vij. yere ; londe. And whan they had gone longe
and than he toke his leve of all his in this, they founde a full fayre well, and
bretheme, and toke xij. monkes with therby stode a fayre tree, full of bowes,
him. But or they entred into the shyppe and on every bough sate a faf re byrde,
they fasted xl. dayes, and lyved devoutly, and they sate so thycke on the tree that
and eche of them receyved the sacra- unneth ony lefe of the tree myght be
ment. And whan saynt Brandon with seen, the nombre of them was so grete,
his xij. monkes were entred into the and they songe so meryly that it was an
shyppe, there came other two of his hevenly noyse to here. Wherfore saynt
monkes, and prayed hym that they Brandon kneled down on his knees, and
myght sayle with hym. And than he wepte for joye, and made his prayers
sayd, " Ye may sayle with me, but one devoutly unto our Lord God to knowe
of you shall go to hell, or ye come what these byrdes ment. And than
anone one of the byrdes fledde fro the
^gayn." But not for that they wold go
with hym. tree to saynt Brandon, and he with
And than saynt Brandon badde the flykerynge of his wynges made a full
shypmen to wynde up the sayle, and mery noyse lyke a fydle, that hym semed
forth they sayled in Goddes name, so that he herde never so joyful! a melodye.
on the morow they were out of syght of And than saynt Brandon commaunded
ony londe ; and xl. dayes and xl. nightes the byrde to tell hym the cause why they
after they sayled playn eest, and than sate so thycke on the tree, and sange so
they sawe an ylonde ferre fro them, and meryly. And than the byrde sayd,
they sayled thyder-warde as fast as they " Somtyme we were aungels in heven,
coude, and they sawe a grete roche of but whan our mayster Lucyfer fell down
stone appere above all the water, and into hell for his hygh pryde, we fell with
thre dayes they sayled aboute it or they hym for our offences, some hyther, and
coude getp in to the place. But at the some lower, after the qualyte of theyr
last, by the purveyaunce of God, they trespace ; and bycause our trespace is
founde a lytell haven, and there went a- but lytell, therfore our Lorde hath set us
londe everychone here out of all pyane in full grete joye
And than they sayled forth, and came and myrth, alter his pleasynge, here to
soone after to that lond ; but bycause of serve hym on tliis tree in the best maner
lytell depthe in some place, and in some that we can. The Sonday is a day of
place were grete rockes, but at the last rest fro all worldly occupacyon, and,
they wente upon an ylonde, wenynge to therfore, that daye all we be made as
them they had ben safe, and made ther- whyte as ony snow, for to prayse our
on a fyre for to dresse theyr dyner, but Lorde in the best wyse we may." And
saynt Brandon abode styll in the shyppe. than this byrde sayd to saynt Brandon,
And whan the fyre was ryght bote, and *' It is xij. monethes past that ye de-
the meet nygh soden, than this ylonde parted fro your abbey, and in the vij.
242 ILL USTRA TIONS.

yere hereafter ye shall se ihe place that dredefull place or they came home
ye desyre to come, and all this vij. yere agayne. And than came the south wynde
ye shal kepe your Eester here with us and drove them ferther into the north,
every yere, and in the ende of the vij. where they sawe an hyll all on fyre, and
yere ye shal come into the I.onde of a foule smoke and stenche comyng from
Byhest." And this was on Eester daye thens, and the fyre stode on eche syde of
that the byrde sayd these wordes to the hyll lyke a wall all brennynge.
saynt Brandon. And than this fowle And than one of his monkes began to
flewe agayn to his felawes that sate on crye and wepe ful sore, and sayd that
the tree. And than all the byrdes be- his ende was comen, and that he might
gan to synge evensonge so meiyly, that abyde no lenger in the shyppe, and
it was an hevenly noyse to here ; and anone he lepte out of the shyppe into
after souper saynt Brandon and his fel- the see, and than he cryed and rored full
awes wente to bedde, and slepte well, pyteously, cursynge the tyme that he
and on the morowe they arose betymes, was borne, and also fader and moder
and than those byrdes began matyns, that bygate him, bycause they sawe no
pryme, and houres, and all suche service better to his correccyon in his yonge
as Chiysten men use to synge age, ''for now I must go to perpetual
And seven dayes they sayled alwaye payne." And than the sayenge of saynt
in that <Jlere water. And than there Brandon was veryfyed that he sayd to
came a south wynde and drove the hym whan he entred into the shyppe.
shyppe north-warde, where as they sawe Therfore it is good a man to do penaunce
an ylonde full derke and full of stenche and forsake synne, for the houre of deth
and smoke ; and there they herde grete is incertayne.
blowynge and blastyng of belowes, but And than anone the wynde turned
they myght se no thynge, but herde into the north, and drove the shyppe
grete thondrynge, whereof they were into the south, whiche sayled vij. dayes
sore aferde and blyssed them ofte. And contynually ; and they came to a grete
soone after there came one stertynge out rocke standynge in the see, and theron
all brennynge in fyre, and stared full sate a naked man in full grete mysery
gastly on them with grete staryng eyen, and payne ; for the wawes of the see
of whome the monkes were agast, and at had so beten his body that all the flesshe
his departyng from them he made the was gone off, and nothynge lefte but
horryblest crye that myght be herde. synewes and bare bones. And whan
And soone there came a grete nombre the wawes were gone, there was a canvas
of fendes and assayled them with hokes that henge over his heed whiche bette his
and brennynge yren malles, whiche ranne body full sore with the blowynge of the
on the water, folowyng fast theyr wynde ; and also there were two oxe
shyppe, in suche wyse that it semed all tongues and a grete stone that he sate
the see to be on a fyre ; but by the wyll on, whiche dyd hym full grete ease.
of God they had no power to hurte ne to And than saynt Brandon charged hym to
greve them, ne theyr shyppe. Wher- tell hym what he was. And he sayd,
fore the fendes began to rore and crye, "My name is Judas, that solde our
and threwe theyr hokes and malles at Lorde Jesu Chryst for xxx. pens, whiche
them. And they than were sore aferde, sytteth here moche wretchedly, how be
and prayed to God for comforte and it I am worthy to be in the gretest payne
helpe ; for they sawe the fendes all that is ; but our Lorde is so mercyfull
about the shyppe, and them semed that that he hath rewarded me better than I
all the ylonde and the see to be on a have deserved, for of ryght my place is
fyre. And with a sorowfuU crye all in the brennynge hell ; but I am here
the fendes departed fro them and re- but certayne tymes of the yere, that is,
turned to the place that they came fro. fro Chrystmasse to twelfth daye, and fro
And than saynt Brandon tolde to them Eester tyll Whytsontyde be past, and
that this was a parte of hell, and ther- every feestfull daye of our lady, and
fore he charged them to be stedfast in every Saterdaye at noone tyll Sonday
the fayth, for they shold yet se many a that evepsonge be done ; but all other
 ICELANDIC VISION.

tymes I lye styll in hell in ful brennynge that nyght suffred grete i>ayne bycause
fyre with Pylate, Herode, and Cayphas; they brought not Judas, and sayd that
therfore accursed be the tyme that ever he shold suffre double payne the sixe
I knewe them." And than Judas prayed dayes folowynge. And they toke than
saynt Brandon to abyde styll there all Judas tremblynge for fere with them to
that nyght, and that he wolde kepe hym
there styll that the fendes sholde not
fetche hym to hell. And he sayd, payne.
" With Goddes helpe thou shalt abyde ICELANDIC VISION.
here all this nyght. " And than he asked From the Poetic Edda. Tr. by Wright, St
Judas what cloth that was that henge
Patrick's Purgatory, p. 177.
over his heed. And he sayd it was a
cloth that he gave unto a lepre, whiche sat I nine days seat
In the Nomi's ;
was bought with the money that he stale thence I was carried on a horse ;
fro our Lorde whan he bare his purse, the sun of the Gygiars
shone grimly
"wherfore it dothe to me grete payne out of the apertures of the clouds.
now in betying my face with the blow-
ynge of the wynde ; and these two oxe Without and within
tongues that hange here above me, I I seemed to go through all
gave them somtyme to two preestes to the seven lower worlds ;
praye for me. I bought them with myne above and below
sought I a better way,
owne money, and therfore they ease me, where I might have a more agreeable journey.
bycause the fysshes of the see knawe on
them and spare me. And this stone that I must relate
I syt on laye somtyme in a desolate what I first saw,
place where it eased no man ; and I toke when I was come into the places of torment ;
scorched birds,
it thens and layd it in a foule waye, which were souls,
where it dyd moche ease to them that fled numerous as flies.
went by that waye, and therfore it
easeth me now ; for every good dede From the west saw I fljr
the dragons of expectation,
shall be rewarded, and every evyll dede
and open the way of the fire-powerful ;
shal be punysshed." And the Sondaye "they beat their wings,
so that everywhere it appeared to me
agaynst even there came a grete multi- that earth and heaven burst.
tude of fendes blastyng and rorynge, and
badde saynt Brandon go thens, that they
The
I saw sun's hart the south,
go from
myght have theyr servaunt Judas, " for him led two together :
we dare not come in the presence of our
his feet
mayster, but yf we brynge hym to hell stood on the ground,
with us." And saynt Brandon sayd, "I and his horns touched heaven.
lette not you do your maysters com-
maundement, but by the power of our From the north saw I ride
Lorde Jesu Chryst I charge you to leve the people's
and they Weresons,
seven together ;
with full horns
hym this
darest thounyght
helpetyllhym
to morow." "How
that so solde his they drunk the pure mead
mayster for xxx. pens to the Jewes, and from the fountam of heaven's lord.
caused hym also to dye the moost shame- The wind became quiet,
full deth upon the crosse ? " And than the waters ceased to flow ;
saynt Brandon charged the fendes by his then heard I a fearful sound :
passyon that they sholde not noy hym for their husbands
shameless women
that nyght. And than the fendes went
ground earth to food.
theyr way rorynge and cryenge towarde
hell to theyr mayster, the grete devyll. Bloody stones
And than Judas thanked saynt Brandon those dark women
80 rewfully that it was pite to se, and on dragged sorrowfully ;
their bleeding hearts hung
the morowe the fendes came with an out of their breasts,
honyble noyse, sayenge that they had weary with rauchgrieC
2|4
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Many men saw I Those men saw I

wounded go who much had
in the ways strewed with hot cinders ;
their faces given according to God's laws ;
clear candles
seemed to me all to be were over their heads
red with smoking blood. burning brightly.

Many men saw I Those men saw I,

go on the ground who magnanimously
who meal
had been unable to obtain the Lord's improved the condition of the poor
;
angels read
heathen stars the holy books
stood over their heads, over their heads.
painted with fearful characters.
Those men saw I,
Those men saw I, who had much
who cherish much their body lean with fasting ;
God's angels
envy at other's fortune ; bowed before all these ;
bloody runes
were on their breasts that is the greatest pleasure.
marked painfully.
Those men saw I,
Men saw I there who to their mother had
many, without joy, put food in the mouth ;
who all wandered pathless ; their resting-places were
that he purchases for himself, in the beams of heaven
who of this world placed agreeably.
is infatuated with the vices.
Holy purely
had virgins
Those men saw I,
who in many ways washed the soul of sins,
of those men
laid their hands on other's property ; who many a day
they went in flocks
to punish themselves.
andFegiarn's (Satan's)
had burthens city,
of lead.
Lofty cars
Those men saw I, I saw go midst heaven,
who many had which had the roads to God ;
deprived of money and life ; men guide them
through their breasts who were slain
suddenly pierced entirely without fault.
strong venomous dragon
0 mighty Father,
Those men saw I, most great Son,
who would not Holy Ghost of heaven,
keep holy days ; 1 pray thee to save
their hands (who didst create)
were on hot stones us all from miseries !
nailed tight.

Those men saw I,

who in much pride
magnified themselves too much ; ANGLO-SAXON DESCRIPTION
their garments OF PARADISE.
were m derision
with fire surrounded. From "The Phoenix," a Paraphrase of the Car-
men de Phoenice, ascribed to Lactantius.
Codex Exoniensis. Tr. by B. Thorpe, p. iq7
Those men saw I,
who had many I have heard tell,
words against another lied : that there is far hence
hell's ravens in eastern parts
out of their heads a land most noble,
cruelly tore their eyes. amongst men renowned.
That tract of earth is not
All the horrors over mid-earth
you cannot know fellow to many
which the hell-goers have.
Sweet sins peopled lands ;
But it is withdrawn
go to cruel recompenses ;
rver cometh moan after pleasure. through
from the Creator's
wicked doers. might
 ANGLO-SAXON DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE.

Beauteous is all the plain, the earth's circumference,

with delights blessed, then the noble plain
with the sweetest in all ways secure
of earth's odours : against the billowy course
unique is that island, stood preserved,
noble the Maker, of the rough waves,
lofty, in powers abounding, happy, inviolate,
who the land founded.
through God's favour :
There is oft open it shall abide thus blooming
towards the happy, until the coming of the fire
unclosed, (delight of sounds !) of the Lord's doom ;
heaven-kingdom's door. when the death-houses,
That is a pleasant plain, men's dark chambers,
green wolds, shall be opened.
spacious under heaven ; There is not in that land
hateful enmity,
there may not rain nor snow,
nor rage of frost, nor wail nor vengeance,
evil-token none,
nor fire's blast, old age nor misery,
nor fall of hail,
nor descent of rime, nor the narrow death,
nor heat of sun, nor loss of life,
nor perpetual cold, nor coming of enemy,
nor warm weather, nor sin nor strife,
nor winter shower, nor painful exile,
aught injure ; *
but the plain rests nor poor one's
nor desire toil,
of wealth,
nor care nor sleep,
happy and healthful.
That noble land is nor grievous sickness,
with blossoms flowered : nor winter's darts,
nor hills nor mountains there nor dread of tempests
stand steep, rough under heaven,
nor stony cliffs nor the hard frost
tower high, 'vif.h cold chill icicles
as here with us ; stniteth any.
nor dells nor dales, There nor nail nor rime
nor mountain-caves, on the land descend,
risings nor hilly chains ; uo. wmdy cloud,
nor thereon rests nor there water falls
aught unsmouth, agitated in air,
but the noble field but there liquid streams
flourishes under the skies wonderously curious,
with delights blooming. wells spring forth
That glorious land is with fair bubblings from earth
higher by twelve o'er the soil glide
fold of fathom measure, pleasant waters
(as us the skilful have informed, from
sages through wisdom there the
eachwood's
month midst ;
in writings show,) from the turf of earth
than any of those hills sea-cold they burst,
that brightly here with us all the grove pervade
tower high, at times abundantly.
under the stars of heaven. It is God's behest,
Serene is the glorious plain, that twelve times
the sunny bower glitters, the glorious land
the woody holt, joyously ; sports over
the fruits fall not, the joy of water-floods.
the bright products, The groves are
but the trees ever with produce hung,
stand green, with beauteous fruits ;
as them God hath commanded : ■ there wane not
in winter and in summer holy under heaven
the forest is alike the holt's decorations,
hung with fruits, nor fall there on earth
never fade the fallow blossoms,
the leaves in air, beauty of forest-trees,
nor will flame them injure, but there wonderously
ever throughout ages, on the trees ever
ere that an end the laden branches,
to the world shall be. the renovated fruit,
What time of old the water's mass at all times
all mid -earth, on the grassy plain
the sea 'flood decked stand green.
246 ILL USTRA T/ONS.

gloriously adorned rests o'er the pleasant lana.

That shall not be changed
through the Holy's might, forever throughout ages,
brightest of groves !
Not broken is untH shall end
the wood in aspect : his wise work of yore
here a holy fragrance he who at first created it
 PURGATORIO.

»
 I ENTER, and I see thee in the gloom
Of the long aisles, O poet saturnine !
And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine.
The air is filled with some unknown perfume ;
The congregation of the dead make room
For thee to pass ; the votive tapers shine ;
Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine,
The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb.
From the confessionals I hear arise
Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies,
And lamentations from the crypts below •
And then a voice celestial that begins
With the pathetic words, " Although y:;ur sins
As scarlet be," and ends with " as the snow."

With snow-white veil, and garments as of flame,

She stands before thee, who so long ago
Filled thy young heart with passion and the woe
From which thy song in all its splendors came ;
And while with stern rebuke she speaks thy name.
The ice about thy heart melts as the snow
On mountain heights, and in swift overflow
Comes gushing from thy lips in sobs of shame.
Thou makest full confession ; and a gleam
As of the dawn on some dark forest cast.
Seems on thy lifted forehead to increase ;
Lethe and Eunoe — the remembered dream
And the forgotten sorrow — bring at last
That perfect pardon which is perfect peace.
 PURGATORIO.
a&gge^a

CANTO I.

To run o'er better waters hoists its sail

The Httle vessel of my genius now,
That leaves behind itself a sea so cruel ;
And of that second kingdom will I sing
Wherein the human spirit doth purge itself, S
And to ascend to heaven becometh worthy.
let dead Poesy here rise again,
O holy Muses, since that I am yours,
And here Calliope somewhat ascend,
My song accompanying with that sound, »
Of which the miserable magpies felt
The blow so great, that they despaired of pardon.
Sweet colour of the oriental sapphire.
That was upgathered in the cloudless aspect
Of the pure air, as far as the first circle, 15
Unto mine eyes did recommence delight
Soon as I issued forth from the dead air.
Which had with sadness filled mine eyes and breast.
The beauteous planet, that to love incites,
^ Was making all the orient to laugh, »
Veiling the Fishes that were in her escort.
To the right hand I turned, and fixed my mind
Upon the other pole, and saw four stars
Ne'er seen before save by the primal people.
Rejoicing in their flamelets seemed the heaven. ,-, n
O thou septentrional and widowed site, — ">"v^f^AX-A^^y^ .
Because thou art deprived of seeing these !
When from regarding them I had withdrawn.
Turning a little to the other pole,
There where the Wain had disappeared already, ao

k
250 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I saw beside me an old man alone, O.-^V/O

Worthy of so much reverence in his look,
That more owes not to father any son.
A long beard and with white hair intenningled
He wore, in semblance like unto the tresses, as
Of which a double list fell on his breast.
The rays of the four consecrated stars
Did so adorn his countenance with light,
That him I saw as were the sun before him.
" Who are you ? ye who, counter the blind river, 4°
Have fled away from the eternal prison ? "
Moving those venerable plumes, he said :
" Who guided you ? or who has been your lamp
In issuing forth out of-the night profound.
That ever black makes the infernal valley? -is
The laws of the abyss, are they thus broken ?
Or is there changed in heaven some council new,
That being damned ye come unto my crags ? "
Then did my Leader lay his grasp upon me.
And with his words, and with his hands and signs, s»
Reverent he made in me my knees and brow ;
Then answered him : " I came not of myself ;
A Lady from Heaven descended, at whose prayers
I aided this one with my company.
But since it is thy will more be unfolded 55
Of our condition, how it truly is.
Mine cannot be that this should be denied thee.
This one has never his last evening seen,
But by his folly was so near to it
That very little time was there to turn. 60
As 1 have said, I unto him was sent
To rescue him, and other way was none
Than this to which I have myself betaken.
I've shown him all the people of perdition,
And now those spirits I intend to shiw 65
Who purge themselves beneath thy guardianship.
How I have brought him would be long to tell thee.
Virtue descendeth from on high that aids me
To lead him to behold thee and to hear thee.
Now may it please thee to vouchsafe his coming ; yo
He seeketh Liberty, which is so dear,
As knoweth he who life for her refuses.
Thou know'st it ; since, for her, to thee not bitter
Was death in Utica, where thou didst leave
The vesture, that will shine so, the great day. 75
 PVRGATORIOy I. 251

By us the eternal edicts are not broken ; ji .. v..

Since this one lives, and Minos binds not me ;
But of that circle I, where are the chaste ^ ^ .1
Eyes of thy Marcia, who in looks still prays thee, -^ ,>\j^ vv^^A--
0 holy breast, to hold her as thine own ; 80
For her love, then, incline thyself to us. \
Permit us through thy sevenfold realm to go ;
1 will take back this grace from thee to her.
If to be mentioned there below thou deignest."
" Marcia so pleasing was unto mine eyes 85
While I was on the other side," then said he,
" That every grace she wished of me I granted ;
Now that she dwells beyond the evil river.
She can no longer move me, by that law
Which, when I issued forth from there, was made. 90
But if a Lady of Heaven do move and rule thee,
As thou dost say, no flattery is needful ;
Let it suffice thee that for her thou ask me.
Go, then, and see thou gird this one about
With a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face, 95
So that thou cleanse away all stain therefrom,
For 'tw^ere not fitting that the eye o'ercast
By any mist should go before the first
Angel, who is of those of Paradise.
This little island round about its base 100
Below there, yonder, where the billow beats it,
Doth rushes bear upon its washy ooze ;
No other plant that putteth forth the leaf,
Or that doth indurate, can there have life,
Because it yieldeth not unto the shocks. 105
Thereafter be not this way your return ;
The sun, which now is rising, will direct you
To take the mount by easier ascent"
^Vith this he vanished ; and I raised me up
Without a word, and wholly drew myself no
Unto mv Guide, and turned mine eyes to him.
And he began : " Son, follow thou my steps ;
Let us turn back, for on this side declines
The plain unto its lower boundaries."
The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour ns
Which fled before it, so that from afar
I recognised the trembling of the sea.
Along the solitary plain we went
As one who unto the lost road returns,
And till he finds it seems to go in vain. mo
252 THE DIVINE COMEDY.
As soon as we were come to where the dew
Fights with the sun, and, being in a part
Where shadow falls, little evaporates,
Both of his hands upon the grass outspread
In gentle manner did my Master place ; "S
Whence I, who of his action was aware,
Extended unto him my tearful cheeks ;
There did he make in me uncovered wholly
That hue which Hell had covered up in me.
Then came we down upon the desert shore 130
Which never yet saw navigate its waters
Any that afterward had known return.
There he begirt me as the other pleased ;
O marvellous ! for even as he culled
The humble plant, such it sprang up again 135
Suddenly there where he uprooted it.

CANTO 11.

Already had the sun the horizon reached

Whose circle of meridian covers o'er
Jerusalem with its most lofty point,
And night that opposite to him revolves
Was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales
That fall from out her hand when she exceedeth ;
So that the white and the vermilion cheeks
Of beautiful Aurora, where I was.
By too great age were changing into orange.
We still were on the border of the sea.
Like people who are thinking of their road,
Who go in heart, and with the body stay ;
And lo ! as when, upon the approach of morning,
Through the gross vapours Mars grows fiery red
Down in ihe West upon the ocean floor,
Appeared to me — may 1 again behold it !—
A light along the sea so swiftly coming,
Its motion by no flight of wing is equalled ;
From which when I a little had withdrawn
Mine eyes, that I might question my Conductor,
Again I saw it brighter grown and larger.
Then on each side of it appeared to me
I knew not what of white, and underneath it
Little by little there came forth another.
 PURGATORIO, n. 253

My Master yet had uttered not a word as

While the first whiteness into wings unfolded ;
But when he clearly recognised the pilot,
He cried : " Make haste, make haste to bow the knee .
Behold the Angel of God ! fold thou thy hands !
Henceforward shalt thou see such officers ! 30
See how he scorneth human arguments.
So that nor oar he wants, nor other sail
Than his own wings, between so distant shores.
See how he holds them pointed up to heaven.
Fanning the air with the eternal pinions, 3s
That do not mxjult themselves like mortal hair ! "
Then as still nearer and more near us came
The Bird Divine, more radiant he appeared,
So that near by the eye could not endure him,
But down I cast it ; and he came to shore <o
With a small vessel, very swift and light.
So that the water swallowed naught thereof.
Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot ;
Beatitude seemed written in his face,
And more than a hundred spirits sat within. 45
" In exitu Israel de Aigypto /"
They chanted all together in one voice,
With whatso in that psalm is after written.
Then made he sign of holy rood upon them,
Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore, so
And he departed swiftly as he came.
The throng which still remained there unfamiliar
Seemed with the place, all round about them gazing,
As one who in new matters makes essay.
On every side was darting forth the day ss
The sun, who had with his resplendent shafts
From the mid-heaven chased forth the Capricorn,
When the new people lifted up their faces
Towards us, saying to us : " If ye know,
Show us the way to go unto the mountain." f»
And answer made Virgilius : '* Ye believe
Perchance that we have knowledge of this place,
But we are strangers even as yourselves.
Just now we came, a little while before you,
Another way, which was so rough and steep, 6f
That mounting will henceforth seem sport to us,"
The souls who had, from seeing me draw breath,
Become aware that I was still alive,
Pallid in their astonishment became ;
254 '^^HE DIVINE COMEDY.
And as to messenger who bears the oHve 7c
The people throng to hsten to the news,
And no one shows himself afraid of crowding,
So at the sight of me stood motionless
Those fortunate spirits, all of them, as if
Oblivious to go and make them fair. ys
One from among them saw I coming forward,
As to embrace me, with such great affection,
That it incited me to do the like.
0 empty shadows, save in aspect only !
Three times behind it did I clasp my hands, 80
As oft returned with them to my own breast !
1 think with wonder I depicted me ;
Whereat the shadow smiled and backward drew ;
And I, pursuing it, pressed farther forward.
Gently it said that I should stay my steps ; 85
Then knew I who it was, and I entreated
That it would stop awhile to speak with me.
It made reply to me : " Even as I loved thee
In mortal body, so I love thee free ;
Therefore I stop ; but wherefore goest thou ? " 90
" My own Casella ! to return once more
There where I am, I make this journey," said I ;
" But how from thee has so much time be taken ? "
And he to me : " No outrage has been done me,
If he who takes both when and whom he pleases 95
Has many -times denied to me this passage,
For of a righteous will his own is made.
He, sooth to say, for three months past has taken
Whoever wished to enter with all peace ;
Whence I, who now had turned unto that shore 100
Where salt the waters of the Tiber grow,
Benignantly by him have been received.
Unto that outlet now his wing is pointed,
Because for evermore assemble there
Those who tow'rds Acheron do not descend." 105
And I : "If some new law take not from thee
Memory or practice of the song of love,
AVhich used to quiet in me all my longings,
Thee may it please to comfort therewithal
Somewhat this soul of mine, that with its body no
Hitherward coming is so much distressed."
" Love, that within my mind discourses 7c>ith tne,'^
Forthwith began he so melodiously.
The melody within me still is sounding.
 PURGATORIO, III. *»

My Master, and myself, and all that people "S

Which with him were, appeared as satisfied
As if naught else might touch the mind of any.
We all of us were moveless and a:tentive
Unto his notes ; and lo ! the grave old man,
Exclaiminj; : " What is this, ye laggard spirits? ««»
What negligence, what standing still is this ?
Run to the mountain to strip oti' the slough,
That lets not God be manifest to you."
Even as when, collecting grain or tares.
The doves, together at their pasture met, >2S
Quiet, nor showing their accustomed pride,
If aught appear of which they are afraid,
Upon a sudden leave their food alone.
Because they are assailed by greater care ;
So that fresh company did I behold ^30
The song relinquish, and go tow'rds the hill.
As one who goes, and knows not whitherward ;
Nor was our own departure less in haste.

CANTO III.

Inasmuch as the instantaneous flight

Had scattered them asunder o'er the plain.
Turned to the mountain whither reason spurs us,
I pressed me close unto my faithful comrade.
And how without him had I ke])t my course ?
Who would have led me up along the mountain?
He seemed to me within himself remorseful ;
O noble conscience, and without a stain.
How sharp a sting is trivial fault to thee !
After his feet had laid aside the haste
W^hich
My mind,marsthat
thehitherto
dignity had
of every
been act.
restrained,
Let loose its faculties as if delighted.
And I my sight directed to the hill
That highest tow'rds the heaven uplifts itself.
The sun, that in our rear was flaming red.
Was broken in front of me into the figure
Which had in me tiie stoppage of its rays ;
Unto one side I turned me, with the fear
Of being left alone, when I beheld
Only in front of me the ground obscured.
256 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" Why dost thou still mistrust ?" my Comforter

Began to say to me turned wholly round ;
" Dost thou not think me with thee, and that I guide thee ?
'Tis evening there already where is buried 25
The body within which I cast a shadow ;
'Tis from Brundusium ta'en, and Naples has it.
Now if in front of me no shadow fall,
Marvel not at it more than at the heavens,
Because one ray impedeth not another :•:■
To suffer torments, both of cold and heat,
Bodies like this that Power provides, which wills
That how it works be not unveiled to us.
Insane is he who hopeth that our reason
Can traverse the illimitable way, ?5
Which the one Substance in three Persons follows I
Mortals, remain contented at the Quia ;
For if ye had been able to see all,
No need there were for Mary to give birth ;
And ye have seen desiring without fruit, 40
Those whose desire would have been quieted,
Which evermore is given them for a grief.
I speak of Aristotle and of Plato,
And many others" ;— and here bowed his head,
And more he said not, and remained disturbed. 45
We came meanwhile unto the mountain's foot ;
There so precipitate we found the rock,
That nimble legs would there have been in vain.
'Twixt Lerici and Turbia, the most desert,
The most secluded pathway is a stair 50
Easy and open, if compared with that.
" Who knoweth now upon which hand the hill
Slopes down," my Master said, his footsteps staying,
" So that who goeth without wings may mount ?"
And while he held his eyes upon the ground ss
Examining the nature of the path.
And I was looking up around the rock,
On the left hand appeared to me a throng
Of souls, that moved their feet in our direction,
And did not seem to move, they came so slowly. 60
" Lift up thine eyes," I to the Master said ;
" Behold, on this side, who will give us counsel,
If thou of thme own self can have it not."
Then he looked at me, and with frank expression
Replied : " Let us go there, for they come slowly, 65
And thou be steadfast in thy hope, sweet son."
 PURGATORIO, III. ' 257
Still was that people as far off from us,
After a thousand steps of ours I say,
As a good thrower with his hand would reach,
When they all crowded unto the hard masses 70
Of the high bank, and motionless stood and close,
As he stands still to look who goes in doubt
" O happy dead ! O spirits elect already !"
Virgilius made beginning, " by that peace
Which I believe is waiting for you all, 75
Tell us upon what side the mountain slopes.
So that the going up be possible,
For to lose time irks him most who most knows."
As sheep come issuing forth from out the fold
By ones and twos and threes, and the others stand 80
Timidly, holding down their eyes and nostrils.
And what the foremost does the others do,
Huddling themselves against her, if she stop.
Simple and quiet and the wherefore know not ;
So moving to approach us thereupon 85
I saw the leader of that fortunate flock,
Modest in face and dignified in gait.
As soon as those in the advance saw broken
The light upon the ground at my right side.
So that from me the shadow reached the rock, 9°
They stopped, and backward drew themselves somewhat ;
And all the others, who came after them,
Not knowing why nor wherefore, did the same.
" Without your asking, I confess to you
This is a human body which you see, 95
Whereby the sunshine on the ground is cleft.
Marvel ye not thereat, but be persuaded
That not without a power which comes from Heaven
Doth he endeavour to surmount this wall."
The Master thus ; and said those worthy people : 100
" Return ye then, and enter in before us,"
Making a signal with the back o' the hand
And one of them began : " Whoe'er thou art,
Thus going turn thine eyes, consider well
If e'er thou saw me in the other world." it^
I turned me tow'rds him, and looked at him closely;
Blond was he, beautiful, and of noble aspect.
But one of his eyebrows had a blow divided.
When with humility I had disclaimed
E'er having seen him, " Now behold ! " he said, uo
And showed me high upon his breast a wound.
258 ' THE DIVINE COMEDY.
Then said he with a smile : " I am Manfredi,
The grandson of the Empress Costanza ;
Therefore, when thou returnest, I beseech thee
Go to my daughter beautiful, the mother »s
Of Sicily's honour and of Aragon's,
And the truth tell her, if aught else be told.
After I had my body lacerated
By these two mortal stabs, I gave myself
Weeping to Him, who willingly doth pardon. no
Horrible my iniquities had been ;
But Infinite Goodness hath such ample arms,
That it receives whatever turns to it.
Had but Cosenza's pastor, who in chase
Of me was sent by Clement at that time, 125
In God read understandingly this page,
The bones of my dead body still would be
At the bridge-head, near unto Benevento,
Under the safeguard of the heavy cairn.
Now the rain bathes and moveth them the wind, 130
Beyond the realm, almost beside the. Verde,
Where he transported them with tapers quenched.
By malison of theirs is not so lost
Eternal Love, that it cannot return.
So long as hope has anything ot green. 135
True is it, who in contumacy dies
Of Holy Church, though penitent at last,
Must wait upon the outside this bank
Thirty times told the time that he has been
In his presumption, unless such decree 140
Shorter by means of righteous prayers become.
See now if thou hast power to make me happy,
By making known imto my good Costanza
How thou hast seen me, and this ban beside,
For those on earth can much advance us here." '+5

CANTO IV.

Whenever by delight or else by pain,

That seizes any faculty of ours,
Wholly to that the soul collects itself,
It seemeth that no other power it heeds ;
And this against that error is which thinks
One soul above another kindles in us.
 PURGATOR/0, IV. 259

And hence, whenever aught is heard or seen

Which keeps the soul intently bent upon it,
Time passes on, and we perceive it not,
Because one faculty is that which listens, »
And other that which the soul keeps entire ;
This is as if in bonds, and that is free.
Of this I had experience positive
In hearing and in gazing at that spirit ;
For fifty full degrees uprisen was 15
The sun, and I had not perceived it, when
We came to where those souls with one accord
Cried out unto us : " Here is what you ask."
A greater opening ofttimes hedges up
With but a little forkful of his thorns w
The villager, what time the grape imbrowns,
Than was the i)assage\vay through which ascended
Only my Leader and myself behind him,
After that company departed from us.
One climbs Sanleo and descends in Noli, 25
And mounts the summit of Bismantova,
With feet alone ; but here one needs must fly ;
With the swift pinions and the plumes I say
Of great desire, conducted after him
Who gave me hope, and made a light for me. 30
We mounted upward through the rifted rock.
And on each side the border pressed upon us.
And feet and hands the ground beneath required.
When we were come upon the upper rim
Of the high bank, out on the open slope, «
" My Master," said I, " what way shall we take ? "
And he to me : " No step of thine descend ;
Still up the mount behind me win thy way,
Till some sage escort shall appear to us."
The summit was so high it vanquished sight, 40
And the hillside precipitous far more
Than line from middle quadrant to the centre.
Spent with fatigue was I, when I began :
" O my sweet Father ! turn thee and behold
How I remain alone, unless thou stay ! " 4s
" O son," he said, " up yonder drag thyself,"
Pointing me to a terrace somewhat higher.
Which on that side encircles all the hill.
These words of his so spurred me on, that I
Strained every nerve, behind him scrambling up, v>
Until the circle was beneath my feet.
a6o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thereon ourselves we seated both of us

Turned to the East, from which we had ascended,
For all men are delighted to look back.
To the low shores mine eyes I first directed, ss
Then to the sun uplifted them, and wondered
That on the left hand we were smitten by it.
The Poet well perceived that I was wholly
Bewildered at the chariot of the light,
Where 'twixt us and the Aquilon it entered, fa
Whereon he said to me : " If Castor and Pollux
Were in the company of yonder mirror.
That up and down conducteth with its light,
Thou wouldst behold the zodiac's jagged wheel
Revolving still more near unto the Bears, 65
Unless it swerved aside from its old track.
How that may be wouldst thou have power to think,
Collected in thyself, imagine Zion
Together with this mount on earth to stand,
So that they both one sole horizon have, 70
And hemispheres diverse ; whereby the road
Which Phaeton, alas ! knew not to drive,
Thou'lt see how of necessity must pass
This on one side, when that upon the other,
If thine intelligence right clearly heed." 75
" Truly, my Master," said 1, " never yet
Saw^ I so clearly as I now discern.
There where my wit appeared incompetent.
That tlie mid-circle of supernal motion.
Which in some art is the Equator called, . 80
And aye remains between the Sun and Winter,
For reason which thou sayest, departeth hence
Tow'rds the Septentrion, what time the Hebrews
Beheld it tow'rds the region of the heat.
But, if it pleaseth thee, I fain would learn 85
How far we have to go ; for the hill rises
Higher than eyes of mine have power to rise.
And he to me : " This mount is such, that ever
At the beginning down below 'tis tiresome.
And aye the more one climbs, the less it hurts. 90
Therefore, when it shall seem so pleasant to thee,
That going, up shall be to thee as easy
As going down the current in a boat.
Then at this pathway's ending thou wilt be ;
There to repose thy panting breath expect ; 9s
No more I answer ; and this I know for true."

i
 PURGATORIO, IV. 2b i

And as he finished uttering these words,

A voice close by us sounded : " Peradventure
Thou wilt have need of sitting down ere that."
At sound thereof each one of us turned round,
And saw upon the left hand a great rock.
Which neither I nor he before had noticed.
Thither we drew ; and there were persons there
Who in the shadow stood behind the rock,
As one thi'ough indolence is wont to stand.
And one of them, who seemed to me fatigued,
Was sitting down, and both his knees embraced,
Holding his fg,ce low down between them bowed.
*' O my sweet Lord," I said, " do turn thine eye
On him who shows himself more negligent
Then even Sloth herself his sister were."
Then he turned round to us, and he gave heed,
Just lifting up his eyes above his thigh,
And said : " Now go thou up, for thou art valiant."
Then knew I who he was ; and the distress.
That still a little did my breathing quicken,
My going to him hindered not ; and after
I came to him he hardly raised his head.
Saying : " Hast thou seen clearly how the sun
O'er thy left shoulder drives his chariot ? "
His sluggish attitude and his curt words
A little unto laughter moved my lips ;
Then I began : " Belacqua, I grieve not
For thee henceforth ; but tell me, wherefore seated
In this place art thou ? Waitest thou an escort ?
Or has thy usual habit seized upon thee ? "
And he : " O brother, what's the use of climbing?
Since to my torment would not let me go
The Angel of God, who sitteth at the gate.
First heaven must needs so long revolve me round
Outside thereof, as in my life it did.
Since the good sighs I to the end p)ostponed,
Unless, e'er that, some prayer may bring me aid
Which rises from a heart that lives in grace ;
What profit others that in heaven are heard not ? ''
Meanwhile the Poet was before me mounting.
And saying : " Come now ; see the sun has touched
Meridian, and from the shore the night
Covers already with her foot Morocco."
2tz THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO V.

I HAD alreaay from those shades departed,

And followed in the footsteps of my Guide,
When from behind, pointing his finger at me,
One shouted : " See, it seems as if shone not
The sunshine on the left of him below.
And like one living seems he to conduct him
Mine eyes I turned at utterance of these words,
And saw them watching with astonishment
But me, but me. and the light which was broken !
" Why doth thy mind so occupy itself,"
The Master said, " that thou thy pace dost slacken ?
What matters it to thee what here is whispered ?
Come after me, and let the people talk ;
Stand like a steadfast tower, that never wags
Its top for all the blowing of the winds ;
For evermore the man in whom is springing
Thought upon thought, removes from him the mark.
Because the force of one the other weakens."
What could I say in answer but " I come " ?
I said it somewhat with that colour tinged
Which makes a man of pardon sometimes worthy.
Meanwhile along the mountain-side across
Came people in advance of us a little,
Singing the Miserere verse by verse.
When they became aware I gave no place
For passage of the sunshine through my body,
They changed their song into a long, hoarse " Oh ! "
And two of them, in form of messengers,
Ran forth to meet us, and demanded of us, .^.J^/
" Of your condition make us cognisant." '■ '" "
And said my Master : " Ye can go your way
And carry back again to those who sent you,
That this one's body is of very flesh.
If they stood still because they saw his shadow,
As I suppose, enough is answered them ;
Him let them honour, it may profit them."
Vapours enkindled saw I ne'er so swiftly
At early nightfall cleave the air serene.
Nor, at the set of sun, the clouds of August,
 PURGATORIO, V. ^\

But upward they returned in briefer time, 40

And, on arriving, with the others wheeled
Tow'rds us, like troops that run without a rein.
" This folk that presses unto us is great,
And Cometh to implore thee," said the Poet ;
" So still go onward, and in going listen." 45
" O soul that goest to beatitude
With the same members wherewith thou wast bom,"
Shouting they came, " a little stay thy steps.
Look, if thou e'er hast any of us seen,
So that o'er yonder thou bear news of him ; 50
Ah, why dost .thou go on ? Ah, why not stay ?
Long since we all were slain by violence,
And sinners even to the latest hour ;
Then did a light from heaven admonish us.
So that, both penitent and pardoning, forth SS
From life we issued reconciled to God,
Who with desire to see Him stirs our hearts."
And I : " Although I gaze into your faces,
No one I recognize ; but if may please you
Aught I have power to do, ye well-born spirits, &>
Speak ye, and I will do it, by that peace
Which, following the feet of such a Guide,
From w'orld to world makes itself sought by me."
And one began : " Each one has confidence
In thy good offices without an oath, 65
Unless the I cannot cut off the I will ;
Whence I, who speak alone before the others.
Pray thee, if ever thou dost see the land
That 'twixt Romagna lies and that of Charles,
Thou be so courteous to me of thy prayers 70
In Fano, that they pray for me devoutly.
That I may purge away my grave offences.
From thence was I ; but the deep wounds, through which
Issued the blood wherein I had my seat.
Were dealt me in bosom of the Antenori, i%
There where I thought to be the most secure ;
'Twas he of Este had it done, who held me
In hatred far beyond what justice willed.
But if towards the Mira I had fled.
When I was overtaken at Oriaco, «o
I still should be o'er yonder where men breathe.
I ran to the lagoon, and reeds and mire
Did so entangle me I fell, and saw there
A lake made from ray veins upon the grouncj," T
 264 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Then said another : " Ah, be that desire 85

Fulfilled that draws thee to the lofty mountain,
As thou with pious pity aidest mine.
I was of Montefeltro, and am Buonconte ;
Giovanna, nor none other cares for me ;
Hence among these I go with downcast front." 90
I And I to him : " What violence or what chance
Led thee astray so far from Campaldino,
That never has thy sepulture been known ?"
" Oh," he replied, " at Casentino's foot
A river crosses named Archiano, bom 95
Above the Hermitage in Apennine.
There where the name thereof becometh void
Did I arrive, pierced through and through the throat,
Fleeing on foot, and bloodying the plain ;
There my sight lost I, and my utterance «»
Ceased in the name of Mary, and thereat
I fell, and tenantless my flesh remained.
Truth will I speak, repeat it to the living ;
God's Angel took me up, and he of hell
Sho Jted : ' O thou from heaven, why dost thou rob me ? 105
Thou bearest away the eternal part of him.
For one poor little tear, that takes him from me ;
But with the rest I'll deal in other fashion ! *
Well knowest thou how in the air is gathered
That humid vapour which to water turns, no
Soon as it rises where the cold doth grasp it.
He joined that evil will, which aye seeks evil,
To intellect, and moved the mist and wind
By means of power, which his own nature gave ;
Thereafter, when the day was spent, the valley "5
From Pratomagno to the great yoke covered
With fog, and made the heaven above intent,
So that the pregnant air to water changed ;
Down fell the rain, and to the gullies came
Whate'er of it earth tolerated not ; 120
And as it mingled with the mighty torrents.
Towards the royal river with such speed
It headlong rushed, that nothing held it back.
My frozen body near unto its outlet
The robust Archian found, and into Arno iss
Thrust it, and loosened from my breast the cross
I made of me, when agony o'ercame me ;
It rolled me on the banks and on the bottom ;
Then with its booty covered and begirt me."
 PURGATORIO, VI. 265

" Ah, when thou hast returned unto the world,

And rested thee from thy long journeying,"
After the second followed the third spirit,
" Do thou remember me who am the Pia ;
Siena made me, unmade me Maremma ;
He knoweth it, who had encircled first.
Espousing me, my finger with his gem."

CANTO VI.

Whene'er is broken up the game of Zara,

He who has lost remains behind despondent,
The throws repeating, and in sadness learns ;
The people with the other all depart ;
One goes in front, and one behind doth pluck him,
And at his side one brings himself to mind ;
He pauses not, and this and that one hears ;
They crowd no more to whom his hand he stretches,
And from the throng he thus defends himself.
Even such was I in that dense multitude,
Turning to them this way and that my face,
And, promising, I freed myself therefrom.
There was the Aretine, who from the arms
Untamed of Ghin di Tacco had his death,
And he who fleeing from pursuit was drowned.
There was imploring with his hands outstretched
Frederick Novello, and that one of Pisa
Who made the good Marzucco seem so strong.
I saw Count Orso ; and the soul divided
By hatred and by envy from its body,
As it declared, and not for crime committed,
Pierre de la Brosse I say ; and here provide
While still on earth the Lady of Brabant,
So that for this she be of no worse flock !
As soon as I was free from all those shades
Who only prayed that some one else may pray.
So as to hasten their becoming holy,
Began I : "It appears that thou deniest,
O light of mine, expressly m some text.
That orison can bend decree of Heaven ;
And ne'ertheless these people pray for this.
Might then their expectation bootless be ?
Or is to me thy saying not quite clear ?" T a
a66 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And he to me : " My writing is explicit,

And not fallacious is the hope o£ these, 3s
If with sane intellect 'tis well regarded ;
For top of judgment doth not vail itself,
Because the fire of love fulfils at once
What he must satisfy who here installs him.
And there, where I affirmed that proposition, 40
Defect was not amended by a prayer,
Because the prayer from God was separate.
Verily, in so deep a questioning
Do not decide, unless she tell it thee,
Who light 'twixt truth and intellect shall be. 4S
I know not if thou understand ; I speak
Of Beatrice ; her shalt thou see above.
Smiling and happy, on this mountain's top."
And I : " Good Leader, let us make more haste.
For I no longer tire me as before ; ,50
And see, e'en now the hill a shadow casts."
" We will go forward with this day," he answered,
" As far as now is possible for us ;
But otherwise the fact is than thou thinkest.
Ere thou art up there, thou shalt see return 55
Him, who now hides himself behind the hill.
So that thou dost not interrupt his rays.
But yonder there behold ! a soul that stationed
All, all alone is looking hitherward ;
It will point out to us the quickest way." 60
We came up unto it ; O Lombard soul.
How lofty and disdainful thou didst bear thee.
And grand and slow in moving of thine eyes !
Nothing whatever did it say to us,
But let us go our way, eying us only 6s
After the manner of a couchant lion ;
Still near to it Virgilius drew, entreating
That it would point us out the best ascent ;
And it replied not unto his demand.
But of our native land and of our life 70
It questioned us ; and the sweet Guide began :
" Mantua," — and the shade, all in itself recluse,
Rose tow'rds him from the place where first it was.
Saying : " O Mantuan, I am Sordello
Of thine own land !" and one embraced the other. 7S
Ah ! servile Italy, griefs hostelry !
A ship without a pilot in great tempest !
No Lady thou of Provinces, but brothel !
 PURGATORIO, VI. 267

That noble soul was so impatient, only

At the sweet sound of his own native land, So
To make its citizen glad welcome there ;
And now within thee are not without war
Thy living ones, and one doth gnaw the other
Of those whom one wall and one fosse shut in !
Search, wretched one, all round about the shores 85
Thy seaboard, and then look within thy bosom,
If any part of thee enjoyeth peace !
What boots it, that for thee Justinian
The bridle mend, if empty be the saddle ?
Withouten this the shame would be the less. 90
Ah ! people, thou that oughtest to be devout.
And to let Caesar sit upon the saddle,
If well thou hearest what God teacheth thee,
Behold how fell this wild beast has become.
Being no longer by the spur corrected, 9S
Since thou hast laid thy hand upon the bridle.
O German Albert ! who abandonest
Her that has grown recalcitrant and savage.
And oughtest to bestride her saddle-bow.
May a just judgment from the stars down fall «»
Upon thy blood, and be it new and open,
That thy successor may have fear thereof ;
Because thy fether and thyself have suffered,
By greed of those transalpine lands distrained,
The garden of the empire to be waste. 105
Come and behold Montecchi and Cappelletti,
Monaldi and Fillippeschi, careless man !
Those sad already, and these doubt-dejiressed !
Come, cruel one ! come and behold the oppression
Of thy nobility, and cure their wounds, no
And thou shalt see how safe is Santafiore !
Come and behold thy Rome, that is lamenting,
Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims,
" My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Come and behold how loving are the people ; "5
And if for us no pity moveth thee,
Come and be made ashamed of thy renown !
And if it lawful be, O Jove Supreme !
Who upon earth for us wast crucified,
Are thy just eyes averted otherwhere? i*>
Or preparation is 't, that, in the abyss
Of thine own counsel, for some good thou makest
From our perception utterly cut off?
268 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

For all the towns of Italy are full

Of tyrants, and becometh a Marcellus
Each peasant churl who plays the partisan !
My Florence ! well mayst thou contented be
With this digression, which concerns thee not,
Thanks to thy people who such forethought take !
Many at heart have justice, but shoot slowly,
That unadvised they come not to the bow.
But on their very lips thy people have it !
Many refuse to bear the common burden ;
But thy solicitous people answereth
Without being asked, and crieth : " I submit."
Now be thou joyful, for thou hast good reason ;
Thou affluent, thou in peace, thou full of wisdom !
If I speak true, the event conceals it not.
Athens and Lacedaemon, they who made
The ancient laws, and were so civilized.
Made towards living well a little sign
Compared with thee, who makest such fine-spun
Provisions, that to middle of November
Reaches not what thou in October spinnest.
How oft, within the time of thy remembrance,
Laws, money, offices, and usages
Hast thou remodelled, and renewed thy members ?
And if thou mind thee well, and see the light.
Thou shalt behold thyself like a sick woman,
Who cannot find repose upon her down,
But by her tossing wardeth off her pain.

CANTO VII.

After the gracious and glad salutations

Had three and four times been reiterated,
Sordello backward drew and said, " Who are you?"
" Or ever to this mountain were directed
The souls deserving to ascend to God,
My bones were buried by Octavian.
I am Virgilius ; and for no crime else
Did I lose heaven, than for not having faith ;"
In this wise then my Leader made reply.
As one who suddenly before him sees
Something whereat he marvels, who believes
And yet does not, saying, " It is ! it is not ! "
 PURGATORIO, Vri. 269

So he appeared ; and then bowed down his brow,

And with humility returned towards him,
And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him.
" O glory of the Latians, thou," he said,
" Through whom our language showed what it could do
O pride eternal of the place I came from.
What merit or what grace to me reveals thee ?
If I to hear thy words be worthy, tell me
If thou dost come from Hell, and from what cloister."
" Through all the circles of the doleful realm,"
Responded he, " have I come hitherward ;
Heaven's power impelled me, and with that I come.
I by not doing, not by doing, lost
The sight of that high sun which thou desirest,
And which too late by me was recognized.
A place there is below not sad with torments.
But darkness only, where the lamentations
Have not the sound of wailing, but are sighs.
There dwell I with the little innocents
Snatched by the teeth of Death, or ever they
Were from our human sinfulness exempt.
There dwell I among those who the three saintly
Virtues did not put on, and without vice
The others knew and followed all of them.
But if thou know and can, some indication
Give us by which we may tlie sooner come
Where Purgatory has its right beginning."
He answered : " No fixed place has been assigned us ;
'Tis lawful for me to go up and round ;
So far as I can go, as guide I join thee.
But see already how the day declines,
And to go up by night we are not able ;
Therefore 'tis well to think of some fair sojourn.
Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn ;
If thou permit me I will lead thee to them.
And thou shalt know them not without delight."
" How is this?" was the answer; "should one wish
To mount by night would he prevented be
By others ? or mayhap would not have power ? "
And on the ground the good Sordello drew
His finger, saying, " See, this line alone
Thou couldst not pass after the sun is gone ;
Not that aught else would hindrance give, however.
To going up, save the nocturnal darkness ;
This with the want of power the will perplexes.
270 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

We might indeed therewith return below,

And, wandering, walk the hill-side round about,
While the horizon holds the day imprisoned." 60
Thereon my Lord, as if in wonder, said :
" Do thou conduct us thither, where thou sayest
That we can take delight in tarrying."
Little had we withdrawn us from that place.
When I perceived the mount was hollowed out 65
In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed.
" Thitherward," said that shade, " will we repair,
Where of itself the hill-side makes a lap.
And there for the new day will we await."
'Twixt hill and plain there was a winding path 70
Which led us to the margin of that dell.
Where dies the border more than half awa)
Gold and tine silver, and scarlet and pearl-white,
The Indian wood resplendent and serene.
Fresh emerald the moment it is broken, 7S
By herbage and by flowers within that hollow
Planted, each one in colour would be vanquished,
As by its greater vanquished is the less.
Nor in that place had nature painted only,
But of the sweetness of a thousand odours 80
Made there a mingled fragrance and unknown,
" Salve Hegina" on the green and flowers
There seated, singing, spirits I beheld.
Which were not visible outside the valley.
" Before the scanty sun now seeks his nest," 85
Began the Mantuan who had led us thither,
" Among them do not wish me to conduct you.
Better from off this ledge the acts and faces
Of all of them will you discriminate.
Than in the plain below received among them. 9°
He who sits highest, and the semblance bears
Of having what he should have done neglected,
And to the others' song moves not his lips,
Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power
To heal the wounds that Italy have slain, 95
So that through others slowly she revives.
The other, who in look doth comfort him,
Governed the region where the water springs.
The Moldau bears the Elbe, and Elbe the sea.
His name was Ottocar ; and in swaddling-clothes 100
Far better he than bearded Winceslaus
His son, who feeds in luxury and ease.
 PURGATORIO, VI TT: rjx

And the small-nosed, who close in council seems

With him that has an aspect so benign,
Died fleeing and disflowering the lily ; k»s
Look there, how he is beating at his breast !
Behold the other one, who for his cheek
Sighing has made of his own palm a bed;
Father and father-in-law of France's Pest
Are they, and know his vicious life and lewd, "o
And hence proceeds the grief that so doth pierce them.
He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in.
Singing, with that one of the manly nose,
The cord of every valour wore begirt ;
And if as King had after him remained ««s
The stripling who in rear of him is sitting.
Well had the valour passed from vase to vase.
Which cannot of the other heirs be said.
Frederick and Jacomo possess the realms.
But none the better heritage possesses. v»
Not oftentimes upriseth through the branches
The probity of man ; and this He wills
Who gives it, so that we may ask of Him.
Eke to the large-nosed reach my words, no less
Than to the other. Pier, who with him sings; ws
Whence Provence and Apulia grieve already
The plant is as inferior to its seed,
As more than Beatrice and Margaret
Costanza boasteth of her husband still.
Behold the monarch of the simple life, »3o
Harry of England, sitting there alone ;
He in his branches has a better issue.
He who the lowest on the ground among them
Sits looking upward, is the Man^uis William,
For whose sake Alessandria and her war 13s
Make Monferrat and Canavese weep."

CANTO VIII.

'TwAS now the hour that turneth back desire

In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart,
The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell,
And the new pilgrim penetrates with love.
If -he doth hear from far away a bell
That seemeth to deplore the dying day,
272 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

When I began to make of no avail

My hearing, and to watch one of the souls
Uprisen, that begged attention with its hand.
It joined and lifted upward both its palms,
Fixing its eyes upon the orient,
As if it said to God, " Naught else I care for."
" Te lucis ante " so devoutly issued
Forth from its mouth, and with such dulcet notes,
It made me issue forth from my own mind.
And then the others, sweetly and devoutly.
Accompanied it through all the hymn entire,
Having their eyes on the supernal wheels.
Here, Reader, fix thine eyes well on the truth,
For now indeed so subtile is the veil,
Surely to penetrate within is easy.
I saw that army of the gentle-born
Thereafterward in silence upward gaze,
As if in expectation, pale and humble ;
And from on high come forth and down descend,
I saw two Angels with two flaming swords,
Truncated and deprived of their points.
Green as the little leaflets just now born
Their garments were, which, by their verdant pinions
Beaten and blown abroad, they trailed behind.
One just above us came to take his station.
And one descended to the opposite bank,
So that the people were contained between them.
Clearly in them discerned I the blond head ;
But in their faces was the eye bewildered,
As faculty confounded by excess.
" From Mary's bosom both of them have come,"
Sordello said, " as guardians of the valley
Against the serpent, that will come anon."
Whereupon I, who knew not by what road.
Turned round about, and closely drew myself,
Utterly frozen, to the faithful shoulders.
And once again Sordello : " Now descend we
'Mid the grand shades, and we will speak to them ;
Right pleasant will it be for them to see you."
Only three steps I think that I descended,
And was below, and saw one who was looking
Only at me, as if he fain would know me.
Already now the air was growing dark,
But not so that between his eyes and mine
It did not show what it before locked up.
 PURGATORIO, VIII. ajj^

Tow'rds me he moved, and I tow'rds him did move ;

Noble Judge Nino ! how it me delighted,
When I beheld thee not among the damned !
No greeting fair was left unsaid between us ; 55
Then asked he : " How long is it since thou camest
O'er the far waters to the mountain's foot?"
" Oh ! " said I to him, " through the dismal places
I came this morn ; and am in the first life.
Albeit the other, going thus, I gain." 60
And on the instant my reply was heard,
He and Sordello both shrank back from me.
Like people who are suddenly bewildered.
One to Virgilius, and the other turned
To one who sat there, crying, '' Up, Currado ! 6$
Come and behold what God in grace has willed !"
Then, turned to me : " By that especial grace
Thou owest unto Him, who so conceals
His own first wherefore, that it has no ford.
When thou shalt be beyond the waters wide, 70
Tell my Giovanna that she pray for me.
Where answer to the innocent is made.
I do not think her mother loves me more.
Since she has laid aside her wimple white.
Which she, unhappy, needs must wish again. n
Through her full easily is comprehended
How long in woman lasts the fire of love,
If eye or touch do not relight it often.
So fair a hatchment will not make for her
The Viper marshalling the Milanese 80
A-field, as would have made Gallura's Cock."
In this wise spake he, with the stamp impressed
Upon his aspect of that righteous zeal
Which measurably bumeth in the heart.
My greedy eyes still wandered up to heaven, 85
Still to that point where slowest are the stars.
Even as a wheel the nearest to its axle.
And my Conductor : " Son, what dost thou gaze at
Up there ?" And I to him : " At those three torches
• With which this hither pole is all on fire." 90
And he to me : " The four resplendent stars
Thou sawest this morning are down yonder low,
And these have mounted up to where those were."
As he was speaking, to himself Sordello
Drew him, and said, " Lo there oui Aoversary ! " 95
And pointed with his finger to Iook thither.
274 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Upon the side on which the httle valley

No barrier hath, a serpent was ; perchance
The same which gave to Eve the bitter food.
'Twixt grass and flowers came on the evil streak,
Turning at times its head about, and licking
Its back like to a beast that smoothes itself.
I did not see, and therefore cannot say
How the celestial falcons 'gan to move,
But well I saw that they were both in motion.
Hearing the air cleft by their verdant wings.
The serpent fled, and round the Angels wheeled,
Up to their stations flying back alike.
The shade that to the Judge had near approached
When he had called, throughout that whole assault
Had not a moment loosed its gaze on me.
" So may the light that leadeth thee on high
Find in thine own free-will as much of wax
As needful is up to the highest azure,"
Began it, " if some true intelligence
Of Valdimagra or its neighbourhood
Thou knowest, tell it me, who once was great there.
Currado Malaspina was I called ;
I'm not the elder, but from him descended ;
To mine I bore the love which here refineth."
" O," said I unto him, " through your domains
I never passed, but where is there a dwelling
Throughout all Europe, where they are not known ?
That fame, which doeth honour to your house.
Proclaims its Signors and proclaims its land.
So that he knows of them who ne'er was there.
And, as I hope for heaven, I swear to you
Your honoured family in naught abates
The glory of the purse and of the sword.
It is so privileged by use and nature.
That though a guilty head misguide the world,
Sole it goes right, and scorns the evil way."
And he : " Now go ; for the sun shall not lie
Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram
With aH his four feet covers and bestrides, •
Before that such a courteous opinion
Shall in the middle of thy head be nailed
With greater nails than of another's speech,
Unless the course of justice standeth still."
 PURGATORIO, IX. 275

CANTO IX.
The concubine of old Tithonus now
Gleamed white upon the eastern balcony,
Forth from the arms of her sweet paramour ;
With gems her forehead all relucent was,
• Set in the shape of that cold animal s
Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations,
And of the steps, with which she mounts, the Night
Had taken two in that place where we were,
And now the third was bending down its wings ;
When I, who something had of Adam in me, «o
Vanquished by sleep, upon the grass reclined,
There were all five of us already sat.
Just at the hour when her sad lay begins
The little swallow, near unto the morning,
Perchance in memory of her former woes, is
And when the mind of man, a wanderer
More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned,
Almost prophetic in its visions is.
In dreams it seemed to me I saw suspended
An eagle in the sky, with plumes of gold, to
With wings wide open, and intent to stooj^,
And this, it seemed to me, was where had been „ . , -> i
By Ganymede his kith and kin abandoned, ^ Vt'-^J-t^./^^'V v*J '-.v-o',*'
When to the high consistory he was rapt. \
I thought within myself, perchance he strikes ^s
From habit only here, and from elsewhere
Disdains to bear up any in his feet.
Then wheeling somewhat more, it seemed to me.
Terrible as the lightning he descended.
And snatched me upward even to the fire. 30
Therein it seemed that he and I were burning.
And the imagmed fire did scorch me so.
That of necessity my sleep was broken.
Not otherwise Achilles started up.
Around him turning his awakened eyes, 35
And knowing not the place in which he was,
What time from Chiron stealthily his mother
Carried him sleeping in her arms to Scyros,
Wherefrom the Greeks withdrew him afterwards.
276 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Than I upstarted, when from off my face 40

Sleep fled away ; and pallid I became,
As doth the man who freezes with affright
Only my Comforter was at my side,
And now the sun was more than two hours high,
And turned towards the sea-shore was my face. 43
" Be not intimidated," said my Lord,
" Be reassured, for all is well with us ;
Do not restrain, but put forth all thy strength.
Thou hast at length arrived at Purgatory ;
See there the cliff that closes it around ; ■ 5°
See there the entrance, where it seems disjoined.
Whilom at dawn, which doth precede the day,
When inwardly thy spirit was asleep
Upon the flowers that deck the land below,
There came a Lady and said : " I am Lucia ; sh
Let me take this one up, who is asleep ;
So will I make his journey easier for him.'
Sordello and the other noble shapes
Remained ; she took thee, and, as day grew bright,
Upward she came, and I upon her footsteps. 60
• She laid thee here ; and first her beauteous eyes
That open entrance pointed out to me ;
Then she and sleep together went away."
In guise of one whose doubts are reassured,
And who to confidence his fear doth change, 6s
After the truth has been discovered to him,
So did I change ; and when without disquiet
My Leader saw me, up along the cliff
He moved, and I behind hirn, tow'rd the height.
Reader, thou seest well how I exalt 70
My theme, and therefore if with greater art
I fortify it, marvel not thereat.
Nearer approached we, and were in such place.
That there, where first appeared to me a rift
Like to a crevice that disparts a wall, 7S
I saw a portal, and three stairs beneath,
Diverse in colour, to go up to it,
And a gate-keeper, who yet spake no word.
And as I opened more and more mine eyes,
I saw him seated on the highest stair, 8«
Such in the face that I endured it not.
And in his hand he had a naked sword.
Which so reflected back the sunbeams tow'rds us,
That oft in vain I lifted up mine eyes.
 PURGATORIO, IX. 277

" Tell it from where you are, what is't you wish ? " ss
Began he to exclaim ; " where is the escort ?
Take heed your coming hither harm you not ! "
" A Lady of Heaven, with these things conversant,"
My Master answered him, " but even now
Said fo us, ' Thither go ; there is the portal.' " 90
•' And may she speed your footsteps in all good,"
Again began the courteous janitor ;
" Come forward then unto these stairs of ours."
Thither did we approach ; and the first stair
Was marble white, so polished and so smooth, 9S
I mirrored myself therein as I appear.
The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse,
Was of a calcined and uneven stone.
Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across.
The third, that uppermost rests massively, 100
Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red
As blood that from a vein is spirtmg forth.
Both of his feet was holding upon this
The Angel of God, upon the threshold seated. •
Which seemed to me a stone of diamond. los
Along the three stairs upward with good will
Did my Conductor draw me, saying : " Ask
Humbly that he the fastening may undo."
Devoutly at the holy feet I cast me.
For mercy's sake besought that he would open, "o
But first upon my breast three times I smote.
Seven P's upon my forehead he described
With the sword's point, and, " Take heed that thou wash
These wounds, when thou shalt be within," he said.
Ashes, or earth that dry is excavated, "s
Of the same colour were with his attire.
And from beneath it he drew forth two keys.
One was of gold, and the other was of silver ;
First with the white, and after with the yellow,
Plied he the door, so that I was content. mo
" Whenever faileth either of these keys
So that it turn not rightly in the lock,"
He said to us, " this entrance doth not open.
More precious one is, but the other needs
More art and intellect ere it unlock, »s
For it is that which doth the knot unloose.
From Peter I have them ; and he bade me err
Rather in opening than in keeping shut.
If people but fall down before my feet"
278 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Then pushed the portals of the sacred door,

Exclaiming : " Enter ; but I give you warning
That forth returns whoever looks behind."
And when upon their hinges were turned round
The swivels of that consecrated gate,
Which are of metal, massive and sonorous,
Roared not so loud, nor so discordant seemed
Tarpeia, when was ta'en from it the good
Metellus, wherefore meagre it remained.
At the first thunder-peal I turned attentive,
And " Te Deum latidamus" seemed to hear
In voices mingled with sweet melody.
Exactly such an image rendered me
That which I heard, as we are wont to catch,
When people singing with the organ stand ;
For now we hear, and now hear not, the words.

CANTO X.
When we had crossed the threshold of the door
Which the perverted love of souls disuses,
Because it makes the crooked way seem straight,
Re-echoing I heard it closed again ;
And if I had turned back mine eyes upon it,
What for my failing had been fit excuse ?
We mounted upward through a rifted rock,
Which undulated to this side and that,
Even as a wave receding and advancing.
" Here it behoves us use a little art,"
Began my Leader, " to adapt ourselves
Now here, now there, to the receding side."
And this our footsteps so infrequent made.
That sooner had the moon's decreasing disk
Regained its bed to sink again to rest,
Than we were forth from out that needle's eye ;
But when we free and in the open were,
There where the mountain backward piles itself,
I wearied out, and both of us uncertain
About our way, we stopped upon a plain
More desolate than roads across the deserts.
From where its margin borders on the void,
To foot of the high bank that ever rises,
A human body three times told would measure ;
 PURGATORIO, X. 479

And far as eye of mine could wing its flight, as

Now on the left, and on the right flank now,
The same this cornice did appear to me.
Thereon our feet had not been moved as yet,
When I perceived the embankment round about,
Which all right of ascent had interdicted, - 30
To be of marble white, and so adorned Ci ''i- "'''^
With sculptures, that not only Polycletus, - ':;e>(jLA(-,y^ . j ft j \
But Nature's
The Angel, who came had there
self, down been with
to earth to shame.
put tidi ^'^^'•^^A fi/CvAA/^^V
ngs I,
Of peace, that had been wept for many a year, 35
And opened Heaven from its long interdict.
In front of us appeared so truthfully
There sculptured in a gracious attitude, -j-
• He did not seem an image that is silent. r ^ ^.
One would have sworn that he was saying, " Ave^^ ;\jh\j.' \) aju^,. ^^^
For she was there in efligy portrayed ^\ >-. f\
the key to ope the exalted love, cn/va^/^ Vi
in herturned
And Who mien this language had impressed, ^s.
'■'■Ecce atuilla Dei," as distinctly
As any figure stamps itself in wax. 45
" Keep not thy mind upon one place alone,"
The gentle Master said, who had me standing
Upon that side where people have their hearts ;
Whereat I moved mine eyes, and I beheld
In rear of Mary, and upon that side so
Where he was standing who conducted me,
Another story on the rock imposed ;
Wherefore I passed Virgilius and drew near.
So that before mine eyes it might be set.
There sculptured in the self-same marble were 5S
The cart and oxen, drawing the holy ark.
Wherefore one dreads an oflice not appointed.
People appeared in front, and all of them
In seven choirs divided, of two senses
Made one say " No," the other, " Yes, they sing." 60
Likewise unto the smoke of the frankincense.
Which there was imaged forth, the eyes and nose
Were in the yes and no discordant made.
Preceded there the vessel benedight, V^'.;^' • _ s
Dancing with girded loins, the humble Psalmist, 0<^-y'-^^4i
And more and less than King was he in this.
Opposite, represented at the window
Of a great palace, Michal looked upon him,
Even as a woman scornful and afflicted.
V
•iSo THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I moved my feet from where I had been standing, 70

To examine near at hand another story,
Which after Michal ghmmered white upon me.
There the high glory of the Roman Prince '\jo^ o^v/i
Was chronicled, whose great beneficence V
Moved Gregory to his great victory ; I 75
'Tis of the Emperor Trajan I am speaking ;
And a poor widow at his bridle stood,
In attitude of weeping and of grief.
Around about him seemed it thronged and full
Of cavaliers, and the eagles in the gold 80
Above them visibly in the wind were moving.
The wretched woman in the midst of these
Seemed to be saying : " Give me vengeance, Lord,
For my dead son, for whom my heart is breaking." *
And he to answer her : " Now wait until 85
I shall return." And she : " My Lord," like one
In whom grief is impatient, " shouldst thou not
Return ? " And he : " Who shall be where I am
Will give it thee." And she : " Good deed of others
What boots it thee, if thou neglect thine own ? " 9°
Whence he : " Now comfort thee, for it behoves me
That I discharge my duty ere I move ;
Justice so wills, and pity doth retain me."
He who on no new thing has ever looked
Was the creator of this visible language, 95
Novel to us, for here it is not found.
While I delighted me in contemplating
The images of such humility,
And dear to look on for their Maker's sake,
" Behold, upon this side, but rare they make ^°^
Their steps," the Poet murmured, " many people;
These will direct us to the lofty stairs."
Mine eyes, that in beholding were intent
To see new things, of which they curious are,
In turning round towards him were not slow. 105
But still I wish not, Reader, thou shouldst swerve
From thy good purposes, because thou hearest
How God ordaineth that the debt be paid ;
Attend not to the fashion of the torment.
Think of what follows ; think that at the worst »»
It cannot reach beyond the mighty sentence.
" Master," began I, " that which I behold
Moving towards us seems to me not persons,
And what I know not, so in sight I waver."
 PUR GAT OP TO, XL 281

And he to me : " The grievous quality ns

Of this their torment bows them so to ear.h,
That my own eyes at first contended with it ;
But look there fixedly, and disentangle
By sight what cometh underneath those stones ;
Already canst thou see how each is stricken." tx>
O ye proud Christians ! wretched, weary ones !
Who, in the vision of the mind infirm
Confidence have in your backsliding steps,
Do ye not comprehend that we are worms.
Bom to bring forth the angelic butterfly 125
That flieth unto judgment without screen ?
Why floats aloft your spirit high in air ?
I>ike are ye unto insects undeveloped.
Even as the worm in whom formation fails !
As to sustain a ceiling or a roof, 130
In place of corbel, oftentimes a figure
Is seen to join its knees unto its breast,
Which makes of the unreal real anguish
Arise in him who sees it ; fashioned thus
Beheld I those, when I had ta'en good heed. 13$
True is it, they were more or less bent down.
According as they more or less were laden ;
And he who had most patience in his looks
Weeping did seem to say, " I can no more ! "

CANTO XI.

" Our Father, thou who dwellest in the heavens,

Not circumscribed, but from the greater love
Thou bearest to the first effects on high,
Praised be thy name and thine omnipotence
By every creature, as befitting is
To render thanks to thy sweet eflfluence.
Come unto us the peace of thy dominion,
For unto it we cannot of ourselves,
If it corhe not, with all our intellect
Even as thine own Angels of their will
Make sacrifice to thee, Hosanna singing,
So may all men make sacrifice of theirs.
Give unto us this day our daily manna,
Withouten which in this rough wilderness
Backward goes he who toils most to advance-
28a THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And even as we the trespass we have suffered

Pardon in one another, pardon thou
Benignly, and regard not our desert.
Our virtue, which is easily o'ercome.
Put not to proof with the old Adversary, ao
But thou from him who spurs it so, deliver.
This last petition verily, dear Lord,
Not for ourselves is made, who need it not.
But for their sake who have remained behind us."
Thus for themselves and us good furtherance 25
Those shades imploding, went beneath a weight
Like unto that of which we sometimes dream,
Unequally in anguish round and round
\nd weary all, upon that foremost cornice,
Purging away the smoke-stains of the world. 30
If there good words are always said for us,
What may not here be said and done for them,
By those who have a good root to their will ?
Well may we help them wash away the marks
That hence they carried, so that clean and light 35
They may ascend unto the starry wheels !
" Ah ! so may pity and justice you disburden
Soon, that ye may have power to move the wing,
That shall uplift you after your desire,
Show us on which hand tow'rd the stairs the way 40
Is shortest, and if more than one the passes,
Point us out that which least abruptly falls ;
For he who cometh with me, through the burden
Of Adam's flesh wherewith he is invested,
Against his will is chary of his climbing." 45
The words of theirs which they returned to those
That he whom I was following had spoken.
It was not manifest from whom they came.
But it was said : " To the right hand come with us
Along the bank, and ye shall find a pass 50
Possible for living person to ascend.
And were I not impeded by the stone.
Which this proud neck of mine doth subjugate,
Whence I am forced to hold my visage down,
Him, who still lives and does not name himself, ss
Would I regard, to see if I may know him
And make him piteous unto this burden.
A Latian was I, and born of a great Tuscan ;
Guglielmo Aldobrandeschi was my father ;
I know not if his name were ever with you. 6«
 PURGATORIO, XI. 183

The ancient blood and deeds of gallantry

Of my progenitors so arrogant made me
That, thinking not upon the common mother,
All men I held in scorn to such extent
I died therefor, as know the Sienese, «5
And every child in Campagnatico.
I am Omberto ; and not to me alone
Has pride done harm, but all my kith and kin
Has with it dragged into adversity.
And here must I this burden bear for it yo
■^ill God be satisfied, since I did not
Among the living, here among the dead."
Listening I downward bent my countenance ;
And one of them, not this one who was speaking.
Twisted himself beneath the weight that cramps him, n
And looked at me, and knew me, and called out,
Keeping his eyes laboriously fixed
On me, who all bowed down, was going with them.
** O," asked I him, " art-thou not Oderisi,
Agobbio's honour, and honour of that art 80
Which is in Paris called illuminating?"
" Brother," said he, " more laughing are the leaves
Touched by the brush of Franco Bolognese ;
All his the honour now, and mine in part
In sooth I had not been so courteous <5
While I was living, for the great desire
Of excellence, on which my heart was bent.
Here of such pride is paid the forfeiture ;
And yet I should not be here, were it not
That, having power to sin, I turned to God. 9»
O thou vain glory of the human powers.
How little green upon thy summit lingers,
If 't be not followed by an age of grossness !
In painting Cimabue thought that he
Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry, «s
So hasSo one
that Guido
the other's fameother
from the is growing
taken dim.
The glory of our tongue, and he perchance
Is bom, who from the nest shall chase them both.
Naught is this mundane rumour but a breath 100
Of wind, that comes now this way and now that.
And changes name, because it changes side.
What fame shalt thou have more, if old peel off
From thee thy flesh, than if thou hadst been dead
Before thou left the pappo and the dindi^ 105
284 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Ere pass a thousand years ? which is a shorter

Space to the eterne, than twinkling of an eye
Unto the circle that in heaven wheels slowest
With him, who takes so little of the road
In front of me, all Tuscany resounded ; iw
And now he scarce is lisped of in Siena,
Where he was lord, what time was overthrown «
The Florentine delirium, that superb
Was at that day as now 'tis prostitute.
Your reputation is the colour of grass "s
Which comes and goes, and that discolours it
By which it issues green from out the earth."
And I : " Thy true speech fills my heart with good
Humility, and great tumour thou assuagest ;
But who is he, of whom just now thou spakest ? " "o
" That," he replied, "is Provenzan Salvani,
And he is here because he had presumed
To bring Siena all into his hands.
He has gone thus, and goeth without rest
E'er since he died; such money renders back 12s
In payment he who is on earth too daring."
And I : "If every spirit who awaits
The verge of life before that he repent.
Remains below there and ascends not hither,
Unless good orison shall him bestead,) 130
Until as much time as he lived be passed,
How was the coming granted him in largess ? "
" When he in greatest splendour lived," said he,
" Freely upon the Campo of Siena,
All shame being laid aside, he placed himself; us
And there to draw his friend from the duress
Which in the prison-house of Charles he suffered,
He brought himself to tremble in each vein.
I say no more, and know that I speak darkly ;
Yet little time shall pass before thy neighbours ho
Will so demean themselves that thou canst gloss it
This action has released him from those confines."

CANTO XII.
Abreast, like oxen going in a yoke,
I with that heavy-laden soul went on,
As long as the sweet pedagogue permitted ;
 PURGATORIO, XII. 285

But when he said, " Leave him, and onward pass.

For here 'tis good that with the sail and oars, 5
As much as may be, each push on his barque ; "
Upright, as walking wills it, I redressed
My person, notwithstanding that my thoughts
Remained within me downcast and abashed,
I had moved on, and followed willingly w
The footsteps of my Master, and we both
Already showed how light of foot we were,
When unto me he said : " Cast down thine eyes ;
'Twere well for thee, to alleviate the way.
To look upon the bed beneath thy feet." if
As, that some memory may exist of them.
Above the buried dead their tombs in earth
Bear sculptured on them what they were before ;
Whence often there we weep for them afresh,
From pricking of remembrance, which alone «»
To the compassionate doth set its spur ;
So saw I there, but of a better semblance
In point of artifice, with figures covered
Whate'er as pathway from the mount projects.
I saw that one who was created noble af
More than all other creatures, down from heaven
Flaming with lightnings fall upon one side.
I saw Briareus smitten by the dart
Celestial, lying on the other side.
Heavy upon the earth by mortal frost. 30
I saw Thymbrseus, Pallas saw, and Mars,
Still clad in armour round about their father,
Gaze at the scattered members of the giants. « -; j
I saw, at foot of his great labour, Nimrod, - - ' -^ -v-v* 't* * -^^^^
As if bewildered, looking at the people \ as
Who had been proud with him in Sennaar.
O Niobe ! with what afflicted eyes . \■i^„^^^._^ J J. ■ ^ '\ . » J^ 1
1 hee I beheld upon the pathway traced.
Between thy seven and seven children slain !
O Saul ! how fallen upon thy proper sword 40
Didst thou appear there lifeless in Gilboa,
That felt thereafter neither rain nor dew !
O mad Arachne ! so I thee beheld 0 / . , \ ^\ ^ fJ^l^J^• V
E'en then wrought
Of fabric half spider, sad hour
in evil upon forthethee
shreds
! ^"^ 4S
O Rehoboam ! no more seems to threaten
Thine image there ; but full of consternation
A chariot bears it ofl, when none pursues !
286 THE DIVINE COMED Y.

Displayed moreo'er the adamantine pavement

How unto his own mother made Alcmaeon 50
Costly appear the luckless ornament ;
Displayed how his own sons did throw themselves
Upon Sennacherib within the temple,
And how, he being dead, they left him there ;
Displayed the ruin and the cruel carnage ss
That Tomyris wrought, when she to Cyrus said,
" Blood didst thou thirst for, and with blood I glut thee !"
Displayed how routed fled the Assyrians
After that Holofernes had been slain.
And likewise the remainder of that slaughter. 60
I saw there Troy in ashes and in caverns ;
O Ilion ! thee, how abject and debased,
Displayed the image that is there discerned !
Whoe'er of pencil master was or stile,
That could portray the shades and traits which there 65
Would cause each subtile genius to admire ?
Dead seemed the dead, the living seemed alive ;
Better than I saw not who saw the truth.
All that I trod upon while bowed I went.
Now wax ye proud, and on with looks uplifted, 70
Ye sons of Eve, and bow not down your faces
So that ye may behold your evil ways !
More of the mount by us was now encompassed,
And far more spent the circuit of the sun.
Than had the mind preoccupied imagined, 75
When he, who ever watchful in advance
Was going on, began : " Lift up thy head,
'Tis no more time to go thus meditating.
Lo there an Angel who is making haste
To come towards us ; lo, returning is 80
From service of the day the sixth handmaiden.
With reverence thine acts and looks adorn,
So that he may delight to speed us upward ;
Think that this day will never dawn again."
I was familiar with his admonition 8s
Ever to lose no time ; so on this theme
He could not unto me speak covertly.
Towards us came the being beautiful
Vested in white, and in his countenance
Such as appears the tremulous morning star. 90
His arms he opened, and opened then his wings ;
" Come," said he, " near at hand here are the steps.
And easy from henceforth is the ascent."
 PURGATORIO, XII. 287

At this announcement few are they who come !

0 human creatures, born to soar aloft, 9S
Why fall ye thus before a little wind ?
He led us on to where the rock was cleft ;
There smote upon my forehead with his wings,
Then a safe passage promised unto me.
As on the right hand, to ascend the mount »oc
Where seated is the church that lordeth it
O'er the well-guided, above Rubaconte,
The bold abruptness of the ascent is broken
By stairways that were made there in the age
When still wefe safe the ledger and the stave, 105
E'en thus attempered is the bank which falls
. Sheer downward from the second circle there ;
But on this side and that the high rock grazes.
As we were turning thitherward our persons,
^^ Beati pauperes spiritu" voices mo
Sang in such wise that speech could tell it not.
Ah me ! how different are these entrances
From the Infernal ! for with anthems here
One enters, and below with wild laments.
We now were mounting up the sacred stairs, m5
And it appeared to me by far more easy
Than on the plain it had appeared before.
Whence I : " My Master, say, what heavy thing
Has been uplifted from me, so that hardly
Aught of fatigue is felt by me in walking ? " lao
He answered : " When the P's which have remained
Still on thy face almost obliterate
Shall wholly, as the first is, be erased.
Thy feet will be so vanquished by good will.
That not alone they shall not feel fatigue, i«
But urging up will be to them delight"
Then did I even as they do who are going
With something on the head to them unknown.
Unless the signs of others make them doubt,
Wherefore the hand to ascertain is helpful, 130
And seeks and finds, and doth fulfil the office
Which cannot be accomplished by the sight ;
And with the fingers of the right hand spread
1 found but six the letters, that had carved
Upon my temples he who bore the keys; 13s
Upon beholding which my Leader smiled.
288 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO XIII.
We were upon the summit of the stairs.
Where for the second time is cut away
The mountain, which ascending shriveth alL
There in hke manner doth a cornice bind
The hill all round about, as does the first.
Save that its arc more suddenly is curved.
Shade is there none, nor sculpture that appears ;
So seems the bank, and so the road seems smooth,
With but the livid colour of the stone.
" If to inquire we wait for people here,"
The Poet said, " I fear that peradventure
Too much delay will our election have."
Then steadfast on the sun his eyes he fixed,
Made his right side the centre of his motion.
And turned the left part of himself about.
" O thou sweet light ! with trust in whom I enter
Upon this novel journey, do thou lead us,"
Said he, " as one within here should be led.
Thou warmest the world, thou shinest over it ;
If other reason prompt not otherwise,
Thy rays should evermore our leaders be !"
As much as here is counted for a mile,
So much already there had we advanced
In little time, by dint of ready will ;
And tow'rds us there were heard to fly, albeit
They were not visible, spirits uttering
Unto Love's table courteous invitations,
The first voice that passed onward in its flight,
" Vimtm non habent" said in accents loud,
And went reiterating it behind us.
And ere it wholly grew inaudible
Because of distance, passed another, crying,
" I am Orestes ! " and it also stayed not.
" O," said I, " Father, these, what voices are they ? "
And even as I asked, behold the third,
Saying : " Love those from whom ye have had evil ! "
And the good Master said : " This circle scourges
The sin of envy, and on that account
Are drawn from love the lashes of the scourge.
 PURGA TOR 10, XIIT. 289

The bridle of another sound shall be ; ♦»

I think that thou wilt hear it, as I judge,
Before thou comest to the Pass of Pardon.
But fix thine eyes athwart the air right steadfast,
And people thou wilt see before us sitting.
And each one close against the cliff is seated." 45
Then wider than at first mine eyes I opened ;
I looked before me, and saw shades with mantles
Not from the colour of the stone diverse.
And when we were a little farther onward,
I heard a cry of, " Mary, pray for us ! " 50
I do notcrythink
A of, "there
Michael, Peter,
walketh stilland
on all Saints ! "
earth
A man so hard, that he would not be pierced
With pity at what afterward I saw.
For when I had approached so near to them ss
That manifest to me their acts became,
Drained was I at the eyes by heavy grief.
Covered with sackcloth vile they seemed to me,
And one sustained the other with his shoulder,
And all of them were by the bank sustained. 60
Thus do the blind, in want of livelihood.
Stand at the doors of churches asking alms,
And one upon another leans his head.
So that in others pity soon may rise.
Not only at the accent of their words, «5
But at their aspect, which no less implores.
And as unto the blind the sun comes not.
So to the shades, of whom just now I spake,
Heaven's light will not be bounteous of itself;
For all their lids an iron wire transpierces, 70
And sews them up, as to a sparhawk wild
Is done, because it will not quiet stay.
To me it seemed, in passing, to do outrage,
Seeing the others without being seen ;
Wherefore I turned me to my counsel sage. w
Well knew he what the mute one wished to say.
And therefore waited not for my demand,
But said : " Speak, and be brief, and to the point."
I had Virgilius upon that side
Of the embankment from which one may fall, 80
Since by no border 'tis engarlanded ;
Upon the other side of me I had
The shades devout, who through the horrible seam
Pressed out the tears so that they bathed their cheeks.
2go THE DIVINE COMEDY.

To them I turned me, and, " O people, certain," 8s

Began I, " of beholding the high light,
Which your desire has solely in its care,
So may grace speedily dissolve the scum
Upon your consciences, that limpidly
Through them descend the river of the mind, 90
Tell me, for dear 'twill be to me and gracious.
If any soul among you here is Latian,
And 'twill perchance be good for him I learn it."
" O brother mine, each one is citizen
Of one true city ; but thy meaning is, 9S
Who may have lived in Italy a pilgrim."
By way of answer this I seemed to hear
A little farther on than where I stood,
Whereat I made myself still nearer heard.
Among the rest I saw a shade that waited 100
In aspect, and should any one ask how,
Its chin it lifted upward like a blind man.
" Spirit," I said, " who stoopest to ascend.
If thou art he who did reply to me,
Make thyself known to me by place or name." ips
" Sienese was I," it replied, " and with
The others here recleanse my guilty life,
Weeping to Him to lend himself to us.
Sapient I was not, although I Sapia
Was called, and I was at another's harm no
More happy far than at my own good fortune.
And that thou mayst not think that I deceive thee,
Hear if I was as foolish as I tell thee.
The arc already of my years descending,
My fellow-citizens near unto Colle "5
Were joined in battle with their adversaries,
And I was praying God for what he willed.
Routed were they, and turned into the bitter
Passes of flight ; and I, the chase beholding,
A joy received unequalled by all others ; ho
So that I lifted upward my bold face
Crying
As did to
the God, ' Henceforth
blackbird I fearsunshine.
at the little thee not,'
Peace I desired with God at the extreme
Of my existence, and as yet would not 125
My debt have been by penitence discharged,
Had it not been that in remembrance held me
Pier Pettignano in his holy prayers,
Who out of charity was grieved for me.
 PURGATORIO, XIV. 291

But who art thou, that into our conditions 130

Questioning goest, and hast thine eyes unbound
As I believe, and breathing dost discourse?" * .. "•(
" Mine eyes," I said, " will yet be here ta'en from me, \j'>^^^
But for short space ; for small is the offence ^ \, .j^
Committed by their being turned with envy. ^ >-^'^ X3s.
the fear, wherein suspended a^^^'
My soulis is, of the torment underneath.
Far greater
For even now the load down there weighs on me."
And she to me : " Who led thee, then, among us
Up here, if to return below thou thinkest ? " X4«
And I : " He who is with me, and speaks not ;
And living am 1 ; therefore ask of me.
Spirit elect, if thou wouldst have me move
O'er yonder yet my mortal feet for thee."
" O, this is such a novel thing to hear, 145
She answered, " that great sign it is God loves thee ;
Therefore with prayer of thine sometimes assist me.
And I implore, by what thou most desirest,
If e'er thou treadest the soil of Tuscany,
Well with my kindred reinstate my fame. 150
Them wilt thou see among that people vain
Who hope in Talamone, and will lose there
More hope than in discovering the Diana >
But - there
\ still more the admirals will lose."

' CAN XIV

^ TO
^
" Who is" this one that goes about our mountain,
Or ever Death has given him power of flight.
And opes his eyes and shuts them at his will ? * "
" I know not who, but know he's not alone ;
Ask him thyself, for thou art nearer to him.
And gently, so that he may speak, accost him."
Thus did two spirits, leaning tow'rds each other,
Discourse about me there on the right hand ;
Then held supine their faces to address me.
And said the one : " O soul, that, fastened still
Within the body, tow'rds the heaven art going,
For charity console us, and declare
Whence comest and who art thou ; for thou mak'st us
As much to marvel at this grace of thine
As must a thing that never yet has been."
202 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And I : " Through midst of Tuscany there wanders

A streamlet that is born in Falterona,
And not a hundred miles of course suffice it ;
From thereupon do I this body bring.
To tell you who I am were speech in vain, «=
Because my name as yet makes no great noise."
" If well thy meaning I can penetrate
With intellect of mine," then answered me
He who first spake, " thou speakest of the Amo."
And said the other to him : "Why concealed ag
This one the appellation of that river.
Even as a man doth of things horrible ? "
And thus the shade that questioned was of this
Himself acquitted : *' I know not ; but truly
'Tis fit the name of such a valley perish ; ■y-
For from its fountain head (where is so pregnant
The Alpine mountain whence is cleft Peloro
That in few places it that mark surpasses)
To where it yields itself in restoration
Of what the heaven doth of the sea dry up, 3;
Whence have the rivers that which goes with them,
Virtue is like an enemy avoided
By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune
Of place, or through bad habit that impels them ;
On which account have so transfonned their nature 4=
The dwellers in that miserable valley.
It seems that Circe had them in her pasture.
'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier
Than other food for human use created.
It first directeth its impoverished way. 4S
Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward,
More snarling than their puissance demands,
And turns from them disdainfully its muzzle.
It goes on falling, and the more it grows,
The more it finds the dogs becoming wolves, 50
This maledict and misadventurous ditch.
Descended then through many a hollow gulf.
It finds the foxes so replete with fraud,
They fear no cunning that may master them.
Nor will I cease because another hears me ; 55
And well 'twill be for him, if still he mind him
Of what a truthful spirit to me unravels.
Thy grandson I behold, who doth become
A hunter of those wolves upon the bank
Of the wild stream, and terrifies them alL ««
 PURGA70RI0, XIV. 293

He sells their flesh, it being yet alive ;

Thereafter slaughters them like ancient beeves :
Many of life, himself of praise, deprives.
Blood stained he issues from the dismal forest;
He leaves it such, a thousand years from now 65
In its primeval state 'tis not re-wooded."
As at the announcement of impending ills
The face of him who listens is disturbed,
From whate'er side the peril seize upon him ;
So I beheld that other soul, which stood 70
Turned round to listen, grow disturbed and sad,
When it had gathered to itself the word.
The speech of one and aspect of the other
Had me desirous made to know their names,
And question mixed with prayers I made thereof, 75
Whereat the spirit which first spake to me
Began again : " Thou wishest I should bring me
To doGod
But since for willeth
thee what
thatthou'lt
in theenotshine
do for
forthme ;
Such grace of his, I'll not be chary with thee ; So
Know, then, that I Guido del Duca am.
My blood was so with envy set on fire,
That if I had beheld a man make merry,
Thou wouldst havp seen me sprinkled o'er with pallor.
From my own sowing such the straw I reap ! »5
O human race ! why dost thou set thy heart
Where interdict of partnership must be ?
This is Renier ; this is the boast and honour
Of the house of Calboli, where no one since
Has made himself the heir of his desert. 90
And not alone his blood is made devoid,
'Twixt Po and mount, and sea-shore and the Reno,
Of good required for truth and for diversion ;
For all within these boundaries is full
Of venomous roots, so that too tardily 9S
By cultivation now would they diminish.
Where is good Lizio, and Arrigo Manardi,
Pier Traversaro, and Guido di Carpigna,
O Romagnuoli into bastards turned ?
When in Bologna will a Fabbro rise ? 100
When in Faenza a Bemardin di Fosco,
The noble scion of ignoble seed ?
Be not astonished, Tuscan, if I weep,
When I remember, with Guido da Prata,
Ugolin d' Azzo, who was living with us, ws
294 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Frederick Tignoso and his company,

The house
And one race of Traversara, andis th'
and the other Anastagi,
extinct ;
The dames and cavaliers, the toils and ease
That filled our souls with love and courtesy, «o
There where the hearts have so malicious grown !
O Brettinoro ! why dost thou not flee,
Seeing that all thy family is gone.
And many people, not to be corrupted ?
Bagnacaval does well in not begetting us
And ill does Castrocaro, and Conio worse,
In taking trouble to beget such Counts.
Will do well the Pagani, when their Devil
' Shall have departed ; but not therefore pure
Will testimony of them e'er remain. wo
O Ugolin de' Fantoli. secure
Thy name is, since no longer is awaited
One who, degenerating, can obscure it .'
But go now, Tuscan, for it now delights me
To weep far better than it does to speak, 12s
So much has our discourse my mind distressed."
We were aware that those beloved souls
Heard us depart ; therefore, by keeping silent,
They made us of our pathway cpnfident.
When we became alone by going onward, 130
Thunder, when it doth cleave the air, appeared
A voice, that counter to us came, exclaiming :
" Shall
Andslayfledme as whosoever findeth me
the reverberation dies !"
If suddenly the cloud asunder bursts. 13S
As soon as hearing had a truce from this,
Behold another, with so great a crash,
That it resembled thunderings following fast :
"I am Aglaurus, who became a stone !"
And then, to press myself close to the Poet, 140
I backward, and not forward, took a step.
Already on all sides the air was quiet ;
And said he to me : " That was the hard curb
That ought to hold a man within his bounds ;
But you take in the bait so that the hook i-is
Of the old Adversary draws you to him,
And hence availeth little curb or call.
The heavens are calling you, and wheel around you.
Displaying to you their eternal beauties.
And still your eye is looking on the ground ; is*
Whence He, who all discerns, chastises you."
 PURGATORIO, XV. 295

CANTO XV.

As much as 'twixt the close of the third hour

And dawn of day appeareth of that sphere
Which aye in fashion of a child is playing,
So much it now appeared, towards the night,
Was of his course remaining to the sun ;
There it was isvening, and 'twas midnight here ;
And the rays smote the middle of our faces,
Because by us the mount was so encircled,
That straight towards the west we now were going
When I perceived my forehead overpowered
Beneath the splendour far more than at first,
And stupor were to me the things unknown ,
Whereat towards the summit of my brow
I raised my hands, and made myself the visor
Which the excessive glare diminishes.
As when from off the water, or a mirror.
The sunbeam leaps unto the opposite side,
Ascending upward in the selfsame measure
That it descends, and deviates as far
From falling of a stone in line direct,
(As demonstrate experiment and art,)
So it appeared to me that by a light
Refracted there before me I was smitten ;
On which account my sight was swift to flee.
" What is that. Father sweet, from which I cannot
So fully screen my sight that it avail me,"
Said I, " and seems towards us to be moving?"
" Marvel thou not, if dazzle thee as yet
The family of heaven," he answered me ;
" An angel 'tis, who comes to invite us upward.
Soon will it be, that to behold these things
Shall not be grievous, but delightful to thee
As much as nature fashioned thee to feel."
When we had reached the Angel benedight,
With joyful voice he said : " Here enter in
To stairway far less steep than are the others."
We mounting were, already thence departed,
And " Bea/i misericordes " was
Behind us sung, " Rejoice, thou that o'ercomest I"
296 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

My Master and myself, we two alone 40

Were going upward, and I thought, in going,
Some profit to acquire from words of his ;
And I to him directed me, thus asking :
"What did the spirit of Romagna mean,
Mentioning interdict and partnership?" 4S
Whence he to me : " Of his own greatest failing
He knows the harm ; and therefore wonder not
If he reprove us, that we less may rue it
Because are thither pointed your desires
Where by companionship each share is lessened, so
Envy doth ply the bellows to your sighs.
But if the love of the supernal sphere
Should upwardly direct your aspiration,
There would not be that fear within your breast ;
For there, as much the more as one says Our, ss
So much the more of good each one possesses,
And more of charity in that cloister burns."
" I am more hungering to be satisfied,"
I said, " than if I had before been silent,
And more of doubt within my mind I gather. 60
How can it be, that boon distributed
The more possessors can more wealthy make
Therein, than if by it^ it be possessed?"
And he to me : " Because thou fixest still
Thy mind entirely upon earthly things, 65
Thou pluckest darkness from the very light.
That goodness infinite and ineffable
Which is above there, runneth unto love.
As to a lucid body comes the sunbeam.
So much it gives itself as it finds ardour, 70
So that as far as charity extends,
O'er it increases the eternal valour.
And the more people thitherward aspire,
More are there to love well, and more they love there,
And, as a mirror, one reflects the other. 7s
And if my reasoning appease thee not.
Thou shalt see Beatrice ; and she will fully
Take from thee this and every other longing.
Endeavour, then, that soon may be extinct,
As are the two already, the five wounds 8«
That close themselves agam by being painful."
Even as I wished to say, " Thou dost appease me,"
I saw that I had reached another circle,
So that my eager eyes made me keep silence.
 PURGATORIO, XV. 297

There it appeared to me that in a vision

Ecstatic on a sudden I was rapt,
And in a temple many persons saw ;
And at the door a woman, with the sweet
Behaviour of a mother, saying : " Son,
Why in this manner hast thou dealt with us ?
Lo, sorrowing, thy father and myself
Were seeking for thee f — and as here she ceased,
That which appeared at first had disappeared.
Then I beheld another with those waters
Adown her cheeks which grief distils whenever
From great disdain of others it is born,
And saying : " If of that city thou art lord.
For whose name was such strife among the godt",
And whence doth every science scintillate.
Avenge thyself on those audacious arms «
That clasped our daughter, O Pisistratus ;"
And the lord seemed to me benign and mild
To answer her with aspect temperate :
" What shall we do to those who wish us ill,
If he who loves us be by us condemned?" >
Then saw I people hot in fire of wrath.
With stones a young man slaying, clamorously
Still crying to each other, " Kill him ! kill him !"
And him I saw bow down, b:cause of death
That weighed already on him, to the earth, 1
But of his eyes made ever gates io heaven,
Imploring the high Lord, in so great strife.
That he would pardon those his persecutors.
With such an aspect as unlocks compassion.
Soon as my soul had outwardly returned 1
To things external to it which are true,
Did I my not false errors recognize.
My Leader, who could see me bear myself
Like to a man that rouses him from sleep,
Exclaimed : " What ails thee, that thou canst not stand ?
But hast been coming more than half a league '
Veiling thine eyes, and with thy legs entangled,
In guise of one whom wine or sleep subdues ? "
" O my sweet Father, if thou listen to me,
I'll tell thee," said I, " what appeared to me, 1
When thus from me my legs were ta'en away."
And he : "If thou shouldst have a hundred masks
Upon thy face, from me would not be shut
Thy cogitations, howsoever small.
X a
298 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

What thou hast seen was that thou mayst not fail 130
• To ope thy heart unto the waters of peace,
Which from the eternal fountain are diffused.
I did not ask, ' What ails thee ?' as he does
Who only looketh with the eyes that see not
When of the soul bereft the body lies, »35
But asked it to give vigour to thy feet ;
Thus must we needs urge on the sluggards, slow
To use their wakefulness when it returns."
We passed along, athwart the twilight peering
Forward as far as ever eye could stretch *4o
Against the sunbeams serotine and lucent;
And lo ! by slow degrees a smoke approached
In our direction, sombre as the night.
Nor was there place to hide one's self therefrom.
This of our eyes and the pure air bereft us. 145

CANTO XVI.

Darkness of hell, and of a night deprived

Of every planet under a poor sky,
As much as may be tenebrous with cloud,
Ne'er made unto my sight so thick a veil.
As did that smoke which there enveloped us,
Nor to the feeling of so rough a texture ;
For not an eye it suffered to stay open ;
Whereat mine escort, faithful and sagacious,
Drew near to me and offered me his shoulder.
E'en as a blind man goes behind his guide,
Lest he should wander, or should strike against
Aught that may harm or peradventure kill him,
So went I through the bitter and foul air.
Listening unto my Leader, who said only,
" Look that from me thou be not separated."
Voices I heard, and every one appeared /
To supplicate for peace and misericord - ^'
The Lamb of God who takes away our sins.
N \ Still " Agnus Dei " their exordium was ;
V^ One word there was in all, and metre one,
^ So that all harmony appeared among them.
" Master," I said, " are spirits those I hear ? "
And he to ijtie : " Thou apprehendest truly,
And they the knot of anger go unloosing."
 PURGATORIO, XVI. 299

" Now who art thou, that cleavest through our smoke as
And art discoursing of us even as though
Thou didst by calends still divide the time ? "
After this manner by a voice was spoken ;
Whereon my Master said : " Do thou reply,
And ask if on this side the way go upward." 30
And I : " O creature that dost cleanse thyself
To return beautiful to Him who made thee,
Thou shalt hear marvels if thou follow me."
" Thee will I follow far as is allowed me,"
He answered ; " and if smoke prevent our seeing, 35
Hearing shall keep us joined instead thereof."
Thereon began I : " With that swathing band
Which death unwindeth am I going upward,
And hither came I through the infernal anguish.
And if God in his grace has me infolded, 40
So that he wills that I behold his court
By method wholly out of modern usage,
Conceal not from me who ere death thou wast.
But tell it me, and tell me if I go
Right for the pass, and be thy words our escort." 45
" Lombard was I, and I was Marco called :
The world I knew, and loved that excellence,
At which has each one now unbent his bow.
For mounting upward, thou art going right."
Thus he made answer, and subjoined : " I pray thee 50
To pray for me when thou shalt be above."
And I to him : " My faith I pledge to thee
To do what thou dost ask me ; but am bursting
Inly with doubt, unless I rid me of it.
First it was simple, and is now made double ss
By thy opinion, which makes certain to me.
Here and elsewhere, that which I couple with it.
The world forsooth is utterly deserted
By every virtue, as thou tellest me.
And with iniquity is big and covered ; 60
But I beseech thee point me out the cause.
That I may see it, and to others show it ;
For one in the heavens, and here below one puts it"
A sigh profound, that grief forced into Ai !
He first sent forth, and then began he : " Brother, 65
The world is blind, and sooth thou comest from it !
Ye who are living every cause refer
Still upward to the heavens, as if all things
They of necessity moved with themselves.
^oo THE DIVINE COMEDY.

If this were so, in you would be destroyed 7°

Free will, nor any justice would there be
In having joy for good, or grief for evil.
The heavens your movements do initiate,
I say not all ; but granting that I say it.
Light has been given you for good and evil, 75
And free volition ; which, if some fatigue
In the first battles with the heavens it suffers,
Afterwards conquers all, if well 'tis nurtured.
To greater force and to a better nature.
Though free, ye subject are, and that creates .80
The mind in you the heavens have not in charge.
Hence, if the present world doth go astray,
In you the cause is, be it sought in you ;
And I therein will now be thy true spy.
Forth from the hand of Him, who fondles it «s
Before it is, like to a little girl
Weeping and laughing in her childish sport,
Issues the simple soul, that nothing knows.
Save that, proceeding from a joyous Maker,
Gladly it turns to that which gives it pleasure. 90
Of trivial good at first it tastes the savour ;
Is cheated by it, and runs after it,
If guide or rein turn not aside its love.
Hence it behoved laws for a rein to place.
Behoved a king to have, who at the least 95
Of the true city should discern the tower.
The laws exist, but who sets hand to them ?
No one ; because the shepherd who precedes
Can ruminate, but cleaveth not the hoof;
Wherefore the people that perceives its guide »oo
Strike only at the good for which it hankers,
• Feeds upon that, and farther seeketh not.
Clearly canst thou perceive that evil guidance
The cause is that has made the world depraved,
And not that nature is corrupt in you. 105
Rome, that reformed the world, accustomed was
Two suns to have, which one road and the other,
Of God and of the world, made manifest.
One has the other quenched, and to the crosier
The sword is joined, and ill beseemeth it "o
That by main force one with the other go,
Because, being joined, one feareth not the other;
If thou believe not, think upon the grain,
For by its seed each herb is recognized.
 PURGATORIO, XV H. Jflx

In the land laved by Po and Adige, "s

Valour and courtesy used to be found,
Before that Frederick had his controversy ;
Now in security can pass that way
Whoever will abstain, through sense of shame,
From speaking with the good, or drawing near them, tso
True, three old men are left, in whom upbraids
,The ancient age the new, and late they deem it
That God restore them to the better life :
Currado da Palazzo, and good Gherardo,
And Guido da Castel, who better named is, «s
In fashion of "the French, the simple Lombard :
Say thou henceforward that the Church of Rome,
Confounding in itself two governments.
Falls in the mire, and soils itself and burden."
** O Marco mine," I said, " thou reasonest well ; 130
And now discern I why the sons of Levi
Have been excluded from the heritage.
But what Gherardo is it, who, as sample
Of a lost race, thou sayest has remained
In reprobation of the barbarous age?" »3S
" Either thy speech deceives me, or it tempts me,"
He answered me ; " for speaking Tuscan to me,
It seems of good Gherardo naught thou knowest
By other surname do I know him not,
Unless I take it from his daughter Gaia. »4»
May God be with you, for I come no farther.
Behold the dawn, that through the smoke rays out,
Already whitening ; and I must depart —
Yonder the Angel is— ere he appear."
Thus did he speak, and would no farther hear me. ms

C'^A^,'-

CANTO XVII.

Remember, Reader, if e'er in the Alps

A mist o'ertook thee, through which thou couldst see
Not otherwise than through its membrane mole,
How, when the vapours humid and condensed
Begin to dissipate themselves, the sphere
Of the sun feebly enters in among them.
And thy imagination will be swift
In coming to perceive how I re*saw
The sun at first, that was already setting.
302 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thus, to the faithful footsteps of my Master lo

Mating mine own, I issued from that cloud
To rays already dead on the low shores.
0 thou, Imagination, that dost steal us
So from without sometimes, that man perceives not,
Although around may sound a thousand trumpets, is
Who moveth thee, if sense impel thee not?
Moves thee a light, which in the heaven takes form.
By self, or by a will that downward guides it.
Of her impiety, who changed her form
Into the bird that most delights in singing, «
In my imagining appeared the trace ;
And hereupon my mind was so withdrawn
Within itselfj that from without there came
Nothing that then might be received by it.
Then reigned within my lofty fantasy 25
One crucified, disdainful and ferocious \

In countenance,
Around greateven
him were the and thus was dying. ^ ^"^^^ -
Ahasuerus,
Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai,
Who was in word and action so entire. w
And even as this image burst asunder
Of its own self, in fashion of a bubble
In which the water it was made of fails,
There rose up in my vision a young maiden
Bitterly weeping, and she said : " O queen, is
Why hast thou wished in anger to be naught ?
Thou'st slain thyself, Lavinia not to lose ;
Now hast thou lost me ; I am she who mourns,
Mother, at thine ere at another's ruin."
As sleep is broken, when upon a sudden 40
New light strikes in upon the eyelids closed,
And broken quivers ere it dieth wholly,
So this imagining of mine fell down
As soon as the effulgence smote my face.
Greater by far than what is in our wont. 45
1 turned me round to see where I might be,
. When said a voice, " Here is the passage up ; "
Which from all other purposes removed me.
And made my wish so full of eagerness
To look and see who was it that was speaking, so
It never rests till meeting face to face ;
But as before the sun, which quells the sight,
And in its own excess its figure veils.
Even so my power was insufficient here.
 PURGATORIO, XVII. 303

" This is a spirit divine, who in the way ss

Of going up directs us without asking,
And who with his own hght himself conceals.
He does with us as man doth with himself;
For he who sees the need, and waits the asking,
Malignly leans already tow'rds denial. 6c
Accord we now our feet to such inviting.
Let us make haste to mount ere it grow dark ; ^
For then we could not till the day return."
Thus my Conductor said ; and I and he
Together turned our footsteps to a stairway ; «5
And I, as soon as the first step I reached,
Near me perceived a motion as of wings, - ,
And fanning in the face, and saying, '•'■Beati - ^'^Ajtjcu.cr - .
Pacifici^
Already over who are without
us were ill anger."
so uplifted \j^v^%J^ -^^^'.^
r> ;t/^^
The latest sunbeams, which the night pursues.
That upon many sides the stars appeared.
" O manhood mine, why dost thou vanish so ? "
I said within myself; for I perceived
The vigour of my legs was put in truce. 75
We at the point were where no more ascends
The stairway upward, and were motionless,
Even as a ship, which at the shore arrives ;
And I gave heed a little, if I might hear
Aught whatsoever in the circle new ; sc
Then to my Master turned me roimd and said :
" Say, my sweet Father, what delinquency
Is purged here in the circle where we are 1
Although our feet may pause, pause not thy speech."
And he to me : " The love of good, remiss 85
In what it should have done, is here restored ;
Here plied again the ill-belated oar ;
But still more openly to understand,
Turn unto me thy mind, and thou shalt gather
Some profitable fruit from our delay. 90
Neither Creator nor a creature ever.
Son," he began, " was destitute of love
Natural or spiritual ; and thou knowest it.
The natural was ever without error ;
But err the other may by evil object, «
Or by too much, or by too little vigour.
While in the first it well directed is.
And in the second moderates itself.
It cannot be the cause of sinful pleasure ;
J04 THE DIVINE COMEDY,

But when to ill it turns, and, with more care too

Or lesser than it ought, runs after good,
'Gainst the Creator works his own creation.
Hence thou mayst comprehend that love must be
The seed within yourselves of every virtue,
And every act that merits punishment. 105
Now inasmuch as never from the welfare
Of its own subject can love turn its sight.
From their own hatred all things are secure ;
And since we cannot think of any being
Standing alone, nor from the First divided, "o
Of hating Him is all desire cut off.
Hence if, discriminating, I judge well,
The evil that one loves is of one's neighbour.
And this is bom in three modes in your clay.
There are, who, by abasement of their neighbour, "s
Hope to excel, and therefore only long
That from his greatness he may be cast down ;
There are, who power, grace, honour, and renown
Fear they may lose because another rises.
Thence are so sad that the reverse they love ; ao
And there are those whom injury seems to chafe.
So that it makes them greedy for revenge.
And such must needs shape out another's harm.
This threefold love is wept for down below ;
Now of the other will I have thee hear, as
That runneth after good with measure faulty.
Each one confusedly a good conceives
Wherein the mind may rest, and longeth for it ;
Therefore to overtake it each one strives.
If languid love to look on this attract you, 130
Or in attaining unto it, this cornice,
After just penitence, torments you for it.
There's other good that does not make man happy ;
'Tis not felicity, 'tis not the good
Essence, of every good the fruit and root 135
The love that yields itself too much to this
Above us is lamented in three circles ;
But how tripartite it may be described,
I say not, that thou seek it for thyself."
 PURGA70RI0, XVIII. yas

CANTO XVIII.

An end had put unto his reasoning

The lofty Teacher, and attent was looking
Into my face, if I appeared content ;
And I, whom a new thirst still goaded on,
Without was mute, and said within : " Perchance
The too much* questioning I make annoys him."
But that true Father, who had comprehended
The timid wish, that opened not itself,
By speaking gave me hardihood to speak.
Whence I : " My sight is, Master, vivified
So in thy light, that clearly I discern
Whate'er
Therefore thy entreat,
I thee speech importeth or describes.
sweet Father dear.
To teach me love, to which thou dost refer
Every good action and its contrary."
** Direct," he said, " towards me the keen eyes
Of intellect, and clear will be to thee
The error of the blind, who would be leaders.
The soul, which is created apt to love.
Is mobile unto everything that pleases,
Soon as by pleasure she is waked to action.
Your apprehension from some real thing
An image draws, and in yourselves displays it
So that it makes the soul turn unto it.
And ii(^when turned, towards it she incline,
Love is that inclination ; it is nature,
Which is by pleasure bound in you anew
Then even as the fire doth upward move
By its own form, which to ascend is born,
Where longest in its matter it endures.
So comes the captive soul into desire.
Which is a motion spiritual, and ne'er rests
Until she doth enjoy the thing beloved.
Now may apparent be to thee how hidden
The truth is from those people, who aver
All love is in itself a laudable thing ;
Because its matter may perchance appear
Aye to be good ; but yet not each impression
Is good, albeit good may be the wax."
306 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" Thy words, and my sequacious intellect," 40

I answered him, " have love revealed to me ;
But that has made me more impregned with doubt ;
For if love from without be offered us,
And with another foot the soul go not,
If right or wrong she go, 'tis not her merit." 4;
And he to me : " What reason seeth here,
Myself can tell thee ; beyond that await
For Beatrice, since 'tis a work of faith.
Every substantial form, that segregate
From matter is, and with it is united, 5°
Specific power has in itself collected,
Which without act is not perceptible, '
Nor shows itself except by its effect,
As life does in a plant by the green leaves.
But still, whence cometh the intelligence S5
Of the first notions, man is ignorant.
And the affection for the first allurements,
Which are in you as instinct in the bee
To make its honey ; and this first desire
Merit of praise or blame containeth not. 60
Now, that to this all others may be gathered,
Innate within you is the power that counsels,
And it should keep the threshold of assent.
This is the principle, from which is taken
Occasion of desert in you, according 65
As good and guilty loves it takes and winnows.
Those who, in reasoning, to the bottom went.
Were of this innate liberty aware,
Therefore bequeathed they Ethics to the world.
Supposing, then, that from necessity ^ 70
Springs every love that is within you kindled.
Within yourselves the power is to restrain it.
The noble virtue Beatrice understands
By the free will ; and therefore see that thou
Bear it in mind, if she should speak of it." 75
The moon, belated almost unto midnight.
Now made the stars appear to us more rare,
Formed like a bucket, that is all ablaze,
And counter to the heavens ran through those paths
Which the sun sets aflame, when he of Rome io
Sees it 'twixt Sardes and Corsicans go down ;
And that ])atrician shade, for whom is named
Pietola more than any Mantuan town,
Had laid aside the burden of my lading ;
 PURGATORIO, XVIII. 307

Whence I, who reason manifest and plain 8s

In answer to my questions had received,
Stood hke a man in drowsy reverie.
But taken from me was this drowsiness
Suddenly by a people, that behind
Our backs already had come round to us. 90
And as, of old, Ismenus and Asopus
Beside them saw at night the rush and throng,
If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus,
So they along that circle curve their step,
From what I saw of those approaching us, 9s
Who by good-will and righteous love are ridden.
Full soon they were upon us, because running
Moved onward all that mighty multitude.
And two in the advance cried out, lamenting,
" Mary in haste unto the mountain ran, no
And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."
" Quick ! quick ! so that the time may not be lost
By little love !" forthwith the others cried,
" For ardour in well-doing freshens grace !" to%
" O folk, in whom an eager fervour now
Supplies perhaps delay and negligence.
Put by you in well-doing, through lukewarmness.
This one who lives, and truly I lie not,
Would fain go up, if but the sun relight us ; no
So tell us where the passage nearest is."
These were the words of him who was my Guide ;
And some one of those spirits said : " Come on
Behind us, and the opening shalt thou find ;
So full of longing are we to move onward, us
That stay we cannot ; therefore pardon us,
If thou for churlishness our justice take.
I was San Zeno's Abbot at Verona,
Under the empire of good Barbarossa,
Of whom still sorrowing Milan holds discourse 3 w)
And he has one foot in the grave already,
Who shall erelong lament that monastery.
And sorry be of having there had power.
Because his son, in his whole body sick,
And worse in mind, and who was evil-bom, vm
He put into the place of its true pastor."
If more he said, or silent was, I know not.
He had already passed so far beyond us ;
But this I heard, and to retain it pleased me.
3o8 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And he who was in every need my succour 130

Said : " Turn thee hitherward ; see two of them
Come fastening upon slothfulness their teeth."
In rear of all they shouted : " Sooner were
The people dead to whom the sea was opened,
Than their inheritors the Jordan saw ; «35
And those who the fatigue did not endure
Unto the issue, with Anchises' son,
Themselves to life withouten glory offered."
Then when from us so separated were
Those shades, that they no longer could be seen, h*
Within me a new thought did entrance find,
Whence others many and diverse were born ;
And so I lapsed from one into another,
That in a reverie mine eyes I closed,
And meditation into dream transmuted. ms

CANTO XIX.

It was the hour when the diurnal heat

No more can warm the coldness of the moon,
Vanquished by earth, or peradventure Saturn,
When geomancers their Fortuna Major
See in the orient before the dawn
Rise by a path that long remains not dim,
There came to me in dreams a stammering woman,
Squint in her eyes, and in her feet distorted.
With hands dissevered, and of sallow hue.
I looked at her ; and as the sun restores
The frigid members, which the night benumbs.
Even thus my gaze did render voluble
Her tongue, and made her all erect thereafter
In little while, and the lost countenance
As love desires it so in her did colour.
When in this wise she had her speech unloosed,
She 'gan to sing so, that with difficulty
Could I have turned my thoughts away from her.
" I am,"
Who she sang, "amid
mariners I am the
the main
Siren unman
sweet
So full am I of pleasantness to hear.
I drew Ulysses from his wandering way
Unto my song, and he who dwells with me
Seldom departs, so wholly I content him."
 PURGATORIO, XIX. 309

Her mouth was not yet dosed again, before »5

Appeared a Lady saintly and alert
Close at my side to put her to confusion.
" Virgilius, O Virgilius ! who is this?"
Sternly she said ; and he was drawing near
With eyes still fixed upon that modest one. v
She seized the other and in front laid open,
Rending her garments, and her belly showed me ;
This waked me with the stench that issued from it.
1 turned mine eyes, and good Virgilius said :
" At least thrice have I called thee ; rise and come ; 35
Find we the opening by which thou mayst enter."
I rose ; and full already of high day
Were all the circles of the Sacred Mountain,
And with the new sun at our back we went.
Following behind him, I my forehead bore 40
Like unto one who has it laden with thought,
Who makes himself the half arch of a bridge,
When I heard say, " Come, here the passage is,"
Spoken in a manner gentle and benign.
Such as we hear not in this mortal region. 45
With open wings, which of a swan appeared,
Upward he turned us who thus spake to us,
Between the two walls of the solid granite.
He moved his pinions afterwards and fanned us,
Affirming those qui lugent to be blessed, so
For they shall have their souls with comfort filled.
" What aileth thee, that aye to earth thou gazest ?"
To me my Guide began to say, we both
Somewhat beyond the Angel having mounted.
And I : " With such misgiving makes me go 55
A vision new, which bends me to itself.
So that I cannot from the thought withdraw me."
" Didst thou behold," he said, " that old enchantress.
Who sole above us henceforth is lamented ?
Didst thou behold how man is freed from her? 6«
Sufllice it thee, and smite earth with thy heels,
Thine eyes lift upward to the lure, that whirls
The Eternal King with revolutions vast."
Even as the hawk, that first his feet surveys,
Then turns him to the call and stretches forward, es
Through the desire of food that draws him thither,
Such I became, and such, as far as cleaves
The rock to give a way to him who mounts.
Went on to where the circling doth begin.
3IO THE DIVINE COMEDY.

On the fifth circle when I had come forth, 70

People I saw upon it who were weeping,
Stretched prone upon the ground, all downward turned.
"• Adhcesit pavimefito anima mea"
I heard them say with sighings so profound,
That hardly could the words be understood. 75
" O ye elect of God, whose sufferings
Justice and Hope both render less severe,
Direct ye us towards the high ascents."
" If ye are come secure from this prostration,
And vvish to find the way most speedily, 80
Let your right hands be evermore outside."
Thus did the Poet ask, and thus was answered
By them somewhat in front of us ; whence I
In what was spoken divined the rest concealed,
And unto my Lord's eyes mine eyes I turned ; ss
Whence he assented with a cheerful sign
To what the sight of my desire implored.
When of myself I could dispose at will,
Above that creature did I draw myself.
Whose words before had caused me to take note, 9°
Saying : " O Spirit, in whom weeping ripens
That without which to God we cannot turn,
Suspend awhile for me thy greater care.
Who wast thou, and why are your backs turned upwards.
Tell me, and if thou wouldst that I procure thee 9s
Anything there whence living I departed."
And he to me : " Wherefore our backs the heaven
Turns to itself, know shalt thou ; but beforehand
Scias quod ego fui successor Petri.
Between Siestri and Chiaveri descends joo
A river beautiful, and of its name
The title of my blood its summit makes.
A month and little more essayed I how
Weighs the great cloak on him from mire who keeps it;
For all the other burdens seem a feather. 10s
Tardy, ah woe is me ! was my conversion ;
But when the Roman Shepherd I was made,
Then I discovered life to be a lie.
I saw that there the heart was not at rest.
Nor farther in that life could one ascend ; "o
Whereby the love of this was kindled in me.
Until that time a wretched soul and parted
From God was I, and wholly avaricious ;
Now, as thou seest, I here am punished for it
 PURGATORIO, XX. 311

What avarice does is here made manifest

In the purgation of these souls converted,
And no more bitter pain the Mountain has.
Even as our eye did not upHft itself
Aloft, being fastened upon earthly things.
So justice here has merged it in the earth.
As avarice had extinguished our affection
For every good, whereby was action lost,
So justice here doth hold us in restraint.
Bound and imprisoned by the feet and hands ;
And so long as it pleases the just Lord
Shall we remain immovable and prostrate."
I on my knees had fallen, and wished to speak ;
But even as I began, and he was 'ware.
Only by listening, of my reverence,
" What cause," he said, " has downward bent thee thus ? "
And I to him : " For your own dignity.
Standing, my conscience stung me with remorse."
*' Straighten thy legs, and upward raise thee, brother,"
He answered : " Err not, fellow-servant am I
With thee and with the others to one power.
If e'er that holy, evangelic sound,
Which sayeth neque niibent, thou hast heard,
Well canst thou see why in this wise I speak.
Now go ; no longer will I have thee linger,
Because thy stay doth incommode my weeping,
With which I ripen that which thou hast said.
On earth I have a grandchild named Alagia,
Good in herself, unless indeed our house
Malevolent may make her by example,
And she alone remains to me on earth."

CANTO XX.

Ill strives the will against a better will ;

Therefore, to pleasure him, against my pleasure
I drew the sponge not saturate from the water.
Onward I moved, an:" onward moved my Leader,
Through vacant places, skirting still the rock,
As on a wall close to the battlements ;
For they that through their eyes pour drop by drop
The malady which all the world pervades,
On the other side too near the verge approach.
312 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Accursed mayst thou be, thou old she-wolf, «>

That more than all the other beasts hast prey,
Because of hunger infinitely hollow I
0 heaven, in whose gyrations some appear
To think conditions here below are changed,
When will he come through whom she shall depart ? 15
Onward we went with footsteps slow and scarce.
And I attentive to the shades I heard
Piteously weeping and bemoaning them ;
And I by peradventure heard " Sweet Mary ! "
Uttered in front of us amid the weeping ••
Even as a woman does who is in child-birth ;
And in continuance : " How poor thou wast
Is manifested by that hostelry
Where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down."
Thereafterward I heard : " O good Fabricius, «5
Virtue with poverty didst thou prefer
To the possession of great wealth with vice."
So pleasurable were these words to me ,
That I drew farther onward to have knowledge
Touching that spirit whence they seemed to come. 30
He furthermore was speaking of the largess
Which Nicholas unto the maidens gave.
In order to conduct their youth to honour.
" O soul that dost so excellently speak,
Tell me who wast thou," said I, " and why only 3S
Thou dost renew these praises well deserved ?
Not without recompense shall be thy word.
If I return to finish the short journey
Of that life' which is flying to its end."
And he : " I'll tell thee, not for any comfort 40
I may expect from earth, but that so much
Grace shines in thee or ever thou art dead.
1 was the root of that malignant plant
Which overshadows all the Christian world,
So that good fruit is seldom gathered from it ; 4S
But if Douay and Ghent, and Lille and Bruges
Had power, soon vengeance would be taken on it ;
And this I pray of Him who judges all.
Hugh Capet was I called upon the earth ;
From me were bom the Louises and Philips, j»
By whom in later days has France been governed.
I was the son of a Parisian butcher.
What time the ancient kings had perished all,
Excepting one, contrite in cloth of gray.
 PURGATORIO, XX. 313

I found me grasping in my hands the rein 5S

Of the realm's government, and so great power
Of new acquest, and so with friends abounding,
That to the widowed diadem promoted
The head of mine own offspring was, from whom
The consecrated bones of these began. 60
So long as the great dowry of Provence
Out of my blood took not the sense of shame,
'Twas little worth, but still it did no harm, •
Then it began with falsehood and with force
Its rapine ; and thereafter, for amends, 65
Took Ponthieu, Normandy, and Gascony.
Charles came to Ital)', and for amends
A victim made of Conradin, and then
Thrust Thomas back to heaven, for amends.
A time I see, not very distant now, 7°
Which draweth forth another Charles from France,
The better to make known both him and his.
Unarmed he goes, and only with the lance
That Judas jousted with ; and that he thrusts
So that he makes the paunch of Florence burst. 75
He thence not land, but sin and infamy.
Shall gain, so much more grievous to himself
As the more light such damage he accounts.
The other, now gone forth, ta'en in his ship.
See I his daughter sell, and chaffer for her «o
As corsairs do with other ffemale slaves.
What more, O Avarice, canst thou do to us,
Since thou my blood so to thyself hast drawn,
It careth not for its own proper flesh ?
That less may seem the future ill and past, 85
I see the flower-de-luce Alagna enter.
And Christ in his own Vicar captive made.
I see him yet another time derided ;
I see renewed the vinegar and gall,
And between living thieves I see him slain. 90
I see the modern Pilate so relentless.
This does not sate him, but without decretal
He to the temple bears his sordid sails 1
When, O my Lord ! shall I be joyful made
By looking on the vengeance which, concealed, gs
Makes sweet thine anger in thy secrecy ?
What I was saying of that only bride
Of the Holy Ghost, and which occasioned thee
To turn towards me for some commentary.
114 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

So long has been ordained to all our prayers

As the day lasts ; but when the night comes on,
Contrary sound we take instead thereof.
At that time we repeat Pygmalion,
Of whom a traitor, thief, and parricide
Made his insatiable desire of gold ;
And the misery of avaricious Midas,
That followed his inordinate demand,
At which forevermore one needs but laugh.
The foolish Achan each one then records,
And how he stole the spoils ; so that the wrath
Of Joshua still appears to sting him here.
Then we accuse Sapphira with her husband.
We laud the hoof-beats Heliodorus had.
And the whole mount in infamy encircles
Polymnestor who murdered Polydorus.
Here finally is cried : ' O Crassus, tell us,
For thou dost know, what is the taste of gold ? '
Sometimes we speak, one loud, another low,
According to desire of speech, that spurs us
To greater now and now to lesser pace.
But in the good that here by day is talked of,
Erewhile alone I was not ; yet near by
No other person lifted up his voice."
From him already we departed were.
And made endeavour to o'ercome the road
As much as was permitted to our power,
TW'henTheI perceived,
mountain like something
tremble, whencethat is falling,
a chill seized on me,
As seizes him who to his death is going.
Certes so violently shook not Delos,
Before Latona made her nest therein
To give birth to the two eyes of the heaven.
Then upon all sides there began a cry,
Such that the Master drew himself towards me.
Saying, " Fear not, while I am guiding thee."
*' Gloria in excchis Deo" all
Were saying, from what near I comprehended,
Where it was possible to hear the cry.
We paused immovable and in suspense,
• Even as the shepherds who first heard that song,
■Until the trembling ceased, and it was finished.
Then we resumed again our holy path.
Watching the shades that lay upon the ground.
Already turned to their accustomed plaint.
 PURGATORIO, XXL 315

No ignorance ever with so great a strife hs

Had rendered me importunate to know,
If erreth not in this my memory,
As meditating then I seemed to have ;
Nor out of haste to question did I dare,
Nor of myself I there could aught perceive ; 150
So I went onward timorous and thoughtful.

CANTO XXL

The natural thirst, that ne'er is satisfied

Excepting with the water for whose grace
The woman of Samaria besought.
Put me in travail, and haste goaded me
Along the encumbered path behind my Leader
And I was pitying that righteous vengeance ;
And lo ! in the same manner as Luke writeth
That Christ appeared to two upon the way
From the sepulchral cave already risen,
A shade appeared to us, and came behind us,
Down gazing on the prostrate multitude.
Nor were we ware of it, until it spake.
Saying, " My brothers, n;ay God give you peace ! "
We turned us suddenly, and Virgilius rendered
To him the countersign thereto conforming.
Thereon began he : " In the blessed council,
Thee may the court veracious place in peace,
That me doth banish in eternal exile ! "
" How," said he, and the while we went with speed,
" If ye are shades whom God deigns not on high.
Who up his stairs so far has guided you ? "
And said my Teacher : " If thou note the marks
Which this one bears, and which the Angel traces
Well shalt thou see he with the good must reign.
But because she who spinneth day and night
For him had not yet drawn the distaff off,
Which Clotho lays for each one and compacts.
His soul, which is thy sister and my own,
In coming upwards could not come alone.
By reason that it sees not in our fashion.
Whence I was drawn from out the ample throat
Of Hell to be his guide, and I shall guide him
As far on as my school has power to lead.
?i6 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But tell us, if thou knowest, why such a shudder

Erewhile the mountain gave, and why together as
All seemed to cry, as far as its moist feet ? "
In asking he so hit the very eye
Of my desire, that merely with the hope
My thirst became the less unsatisfied.
" Naught is there," he began, " that without order 4c
May the religion of the mountain feel,
Nor aught that may be foreign to its custom.
Free is it here from every permutation ;
What from itself heaven in itself receiveth
Can be of this the cause, and naught beside ; 45
Because that neither rain, nor hail, nor snow,
Nor dew, nor hoar-frost any higher falls
Than the short, little stairway of three steps.
Dense clouds do not appear, nor rarefied,
Nor coruscation, nor the daughter of Thaumas, 50
That often upon earth her region shifts ;
No arid vapour any farther rises
Than to the top of the three steps I spake of,
Whereon the Vicar of Peter has his feet.
Lower down perchance it trembles less or more, ss
But, for the wind that in the earth is hidden
I know not how, up here it never trembled.
It trembles here, whenever any soul
Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves
To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it. 6«
Of purity the will alone gives proof.
Which, being wholly free to change its convent,
Takes by surprise the soul, and helps it fly.
First it wills well ; but the desire permits not.
Which divine justice with the self-same will 65
There was to sin, ui)on the torment sets. ,
And I, who have been lying in this pain
Five hundred years and more, but just now felt
A free volition for a better seat.
Therefore thou heardst the earthquake, and the pious 70
Spirits along the mountain rendering praise
Unto the 1 .ord, that soon he speed them upwards."
So said he to him ; and since we enjoy
As much in drinking as the thirst is great,
I could not say how much it did me good. 7S
And the wise Leader : " Now I see the net
That snares you here, and how ye are set free,
Why the earth quakes, and wherefore ye rejoice.
 PURGATORIO, XXI. 317

Now who thou wast be pleased that I may know ;

And why so many centuries thou hast here 80
Been lying, let me gather from thy words."
" In days when the good Titus, with the aid
Of the supremest King, avenged the wounds
Whence issued forth the blood by Judas sold,
Under the name that most endures and honours, 8s
Was I on earth," that spirit made reply,
" Greatly renowned, but not with faith as yet.
My vocal spirit was so sweet, that Rome
Me, a Thoulousian, drew unto herself,
Where I deserved to deck my brows with myrtle. 90
Statins the people name me still on earth ;
I sang of Thebes, and then of great Achilles ;
But on the way fell with my second burden.
The seeds unto my ardour were the sparks
Of that celestial flame which heated me, k
Whereby more than a thousand have been fired ;
Of the ^neid speak I, which to me
A mother was, and was my nurse in song ;
Without this weighed I not a drachma's weight
And to have lived upon the earth what time leo
Virgilius lived, I would accept one sun
More than I must ere issuing from my ban."
These words towards me made Virgilius turn
With looks that in their silence said, '• Be silent ! "
But yet the power that wills cannot do all things ; i<^
For tears and laughter are such pursuivants
Unto the passion from which each springs forth,
In the most tnithful least the will they follow.
I only smiled, as one who gives the wink ;
Whereat the shade was silent, and it gazed us
Into mine eyes, where most expression dwells ;
And, "As thou well mayst consummate a labour
So great," it said, " why did thy face just now
Display to me the lightning of a smile ? "
Now am I caught on this side and on that ; ns
One keeps me silent, one to speak conjures me,
Wherefore I sigh, and I am understood.
" Speak," said my Master, " and be not afraid
Of speaking, but speak out, and say to him
What he demands with such solicitude." «»
Whence I : " Thou peradventure marvellest,
O antique spirit, at the smile I gave ;
But I will have more wonder seize upon thee.
31 8 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

This one, who guides on high these eyes of mine,

Is that VirgiHus, from whom thou didst learn "s
To sing aloud of men and of the Gods.
If other cause thou to my smile imputedst,
Abandon it as false, and trust it was
Those words which thou hast spoken concerning him."
Already he was stooping to embrace 130
My Teacher's feet ; but he said to him : " Brother,
Do not ; for shade thou art, and shade beholdest."
And he uprising : " Now canst thou the sum
Of love which warms me to thee comprehend,
When this our vanity I disremember, 135
Treating a shadow as substantial thing."

CANTO XXII.

Already was the Angel left behind us,

The Angel who to the sixth round had turned us,
Having erased one mark from off my face ;
And those who have in justice their desire
Had said to us, ^^Beati,'" in their voices.
With " sitio" and without more ended it
And I, more light than through the other passes,
Went onward so, that without any labour
I followed upward the swift-footed spirits ;
When thus Virgilius began : " The love
Kindled by virtue aye another kindles.
Provided outwardly its flame appear.
Hence from the hour that Juvenal descended
Among us into the infernal Limbo,
Who made apparent to me thy affection,
My kindliness towards thee was as great
As ever bound one to an unseen person,
So that these stairs will now seem short to me.
But tell me, and forgive me as a friend,
If too great confidence let loose the rein,
And as a friend now hold discourse with me ;
How was it possible within thy breast
For avarice to find place, 'mid so much wisdom
As thou excited
These words wast filled with atbyfirst
Statius thy diligence?"
Somewhat to laughter ; afterward he answered :
*' Each word of thine is love's dear sign to me.
 PURGATORIO, XXII. ^^

Verily oftentimes do things appear

Which give fallacious matter to our doubts,
Instead of the true causes which are hidden ! 30
Thy question shows me thy belief to be
That I was niggard in the other life,
It may be from the circle where I was ;
Therefore know thou, that avarice was removed
Too far from me ; and this extravagance 35
Thousands of lunar periods have punished.
And were it not that I my thoughts uplifted.
When I the passage heard where thou exclaimest,
As if indignant, unto human nature,
*To what impellest thou not, O cursed hunger 40
Of gold, the appetite of mortal men ?' ^
Revolving I should feel the dismal joustings.
Then I perceived the hands could spread too wide
Their wings in spending, and repented me
As well of that as of my other sins ; 4S
How many with shorn hair shall rise again
Because of ignorance, which from this sin
Cuts off repentance living and in death !
And know that the transgression which rebuts
* By direct opposition any sin so
Together with it here its verdure dries.
Therefore if I have been among that folk
Which mourns its avarice, to purify me,
For its opposite has this befallen me."
" Now when thou sangest the relentless weapons ss
Of the twofold affliction of Jocasta,"
The singer of the Songs Bucolic said,
" From that which Clio there with thee preludes,
It does not seem that yet had made thee faithful
That faith without which no good works suffice. '60
If this be so, what candles or what sun
Scattered thy darkness so that thou didst trim
Thy sails behind the Fisherman thereafter .^ "
And he to him : " Thou first directedst me
Towards Parnassus, in its grots to drink, «s
And first concerning God didst me enlighten.
Thou didst as he who vvalketh in the night.
Who bears his light behind, which helps him not,
But wary makes the persons after him.
When thou didst say : ' The age renews itself, 70
Justice returns, and man's primeval lime.
And a new progeny descends from heaven,'
320 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Through thee I Poet was, thro.ugh thee a Christian ;

But that thou better see what I design,
To colour it will I extend my hand. 7S
Already was the world in every part
Pregnant with the true creed, disseminated
By messengers of the eternal kingdom ;
And thy assertion, spoken of above,
With the new preachers was in unison ; «o
Whence I to visit them the custom took.
Then they became so holy in my sight, -^\
That, when Domitian persecuted them, /
Not without tears of mine were their laments ;
And all the while that I on earth remained, 85
Them I befriended, and their upright customs
Made me disparage all the other sects.
And ere I led the Greeks unto the rivers
Of Thebes, in poetry, I was baptized,
But out of fear was covertly a Christian, 90
For a long time professing paganism ;
And this lukewarmness caused me the fourth circle
To circuit round more than four centuries.
Thou, therefore, who hast raised the covering
That hid from me whatever good I speak of, % 95
While in ascending we have time to spare,
Tell me, in what place is our friend Terentius,
Caecilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou knowest ;
Tell me if they are damned, and in what alley."
" These, Persius and myself, and others many," 100
Replied my Leader, " with that Grecian are
Whom more than all the rest the Muses suckled,
In the first circle of the prison blind ;
Ofttimes we of the mountain hold discourse
Which has our nurses ever with itself. 105
Euripides is with us, Antiphon,
Simonides, Agatho, and many other
Greeks who of old their brows with laurel decked.
There some of thine own people may be seen,
Antigone, Deiphile and Argia, no
And there Ismene mournful as of old.
There she is seen who pointed out Lang^a ;
There is Tire.sias' daughter, and there Thetis,
And there Deidamia with her sisters."
Silent already were the poets both, "5
Attent once more in looking round about.
From the ascent and from the walls released ;
 PURGATORIO, XXIII. 321

And four handmaidens of the day already

Were left behind, and at the pole the fifth
Was pointing upward still its" burning horn,
What time my Guide : "I think that tow'rds the edge
Our dexter shoulders it behoves us turn.
Circling the mount as we are wont to do."
Thus in that region custom was our ensign ;
And we resumed our way with less suspicion
For the assenting of that worthy soul
They in advance went on, and I alone
Behind them, and I listened to their speech,
Which gave me lessons in the art of song.
But soon their sweet discourses interrupted
A tree which midway in the road we found,
With apples sweet and grateful to the smell.
And even as a fir-tree tapers upward
From bough to bough, so downwardly did that ;
I think in order that no one might climb it
On that side where our pathway was enclosed
Fell from the lofty rock a limpid water,
And spread itself abroad upon the leaves.
The Poets twain unto the tree drew near.
And from among the foliage a voice
Cried : " Of this food ye shall have scarcity."
Then said : " More thoughtful Mary was of making
The marriage feast complete and honourable,
Than of her mouth which now for you responds ;
And for their drink the ancient Roman women
With water were content ; and Daniel
Disparaged food, and understanding won.
The primal age was beautiful as gold ;
Acorns it made with hunger savorous,
And nectar every rivulet with thirst.
Honey and locusts were the aliments
That fed the Baptist in the wilderness ;
Whence he is glorious, and so magnified
As by the Evangel is revealed to you."

CANTO XXIII.
The while among the verdant leaves mine eyes
I riveted, as he is wont to do
Who wastes his life pursuing little birds,
322 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

My more than Father said unto me : " Son,

Come now ; because the time that is ordained us 5
More usefully should be apportioned out."
I turned my face and no less soon my steps
Unto the Sages, who were speaking so
They made the going of no cost to me ;
And lo ! were heard a song and a lament, »
'■'■Labia niea, Domine,''' in fashion
Such that delight and dolence it brought forth.
" O my sweet Father, what is this I hear ?"
Began I ; and he answered : " Shades that go
Perhaps the knot unloosing of their debt." 15
In the same way that thoughtful pilgrims do.
Who, unknown people on the road o'ertaking,
Turn themselves round to them, and do not stop,
Even thus, behind us with a swifter motion-
* Coming and passing onward, gazed upon us ao
A crowd of spirits silent and devout.
Each in his eyes was dark and cavernous,
Pallid in face, and so emaciate
That from the bones the skin did shape itself.
I do not think that so to merest rind as
Could Erisichthon have been withered up
By famine, when most fear he had of it.
Thinking within myself I said : " Behold,
This is the folk who lost Jerusalem,
When Mary made a prey of her own son.'' 30
Their sockets were like rings without the gems ;
Whoever in the face of men reads omo
Might well in these have recognised the m.
Who would believe the odour of an apple.
Begetting longing, could consume them so, as
And that of water, without knowing how ?
I still was wondering what so famished them,
For the oc<.:asion not yet manifest
Of their emaciation and sad squalor ;
And lo ! from out the hollow of his head 40
His eyes a shade turned on me, and looked keenly;
Then cried aloud : " What grace to me is this?"'
Never should I have known him by his look ;
But in his voice was evident to me
That which his aspect had suppressed within it. 4S
This spark within me wholly re-enkindled
My recognition of his altered face.
And I recalled the features of Forese.
 PURGATORIO, XXIIh ^3

" Ah, do not look at this dry leprosy,"

Entreated he, " which doth my skin discdour, 3«
Nor at default of flesh that I may have ;
But tell me truth of thee, and who are those
Two souls, that yonder make for thee an escort ;
Uo not delay in speaking unto me."
*' That face of thine, which dead I once bewept, ss
Gives me for weeping now no lesser grief,"
I answered him, " beholding it so changed !
But tell me, for God's sake, what thus denudes you?
Make me not speak while I am marvelling.
For ill speaks he who's full of other longings." 6e
And he to me : " From the eternal council
Falls power into the water and the tree
Behind us left, whereby I grow so thin.
All of this people who lamenting sing,
For following beyond measure appetite 65
In hunger and thirst are here re-sanctified.
Desire to eat and drink enkindles in us
The scent that issues from the apple-tree.
And from the spray that sprinkles o'er the verdure ;
And not a single time alone, this ground 70
Encompassing, is refreshed our pain, —
I say our pain, and ought to say our solace, —
For the same wish doth lead us to the tree
Which led the Christ rejoicing to say Eli,
When with his veins he liberated us." 75
And I to him : " Forese, from that day
When for a better life thou changedst worlds.
Up to this time five years have not rolled round.
If sooner were the power exhausted in thee
Of sinning more, than thee the hour surprised 80
Of that good sorrow which to God reweds us.
How hast thou come up hitherward already ?
I thought to find thee down there underneath.
Where time for time doth restitution make."
A.nd he to me : " Thus speedily has led me 85
To drink of the sweet wormwood of these torments,
My Nella with her overflowing tears ;
She with her prayers devout and with her sighs
Has drawn me from the coast where one awaits,
And from the other circles set me free. 90
So much more dear and pleasing is to God
My little widow, whom so much I loved,
As in good works she is the more aione ;
324 THE DIVINE COMEDY-

For the Barbagia of Sardinia

By far more modest in its women is
Than the Barbagia I have left her in.
O brother sweet, what wilt thou have me say ?
A future time is in my sight already,
To which this hour will not be very old,
When from the pulpit shall be interdicted i
To the unblushing womankind of Florence
To go about displaying breast and paps.
What savages were e'er, what Saracens,
Who stood in need, to make them covered gO;,
Of spiritual or other discipline ? i
But if the shameless women were assured
Of what swift Heaven prepares for them, already
Wide open would they have their mouths to howl ;
For if my foresight here deceive me not,
They shall be sad ere he has bearded cheeks i
Who now is hushed to sleep with lullaby.
O brother, now no longer hide thee from me ;
See that not only I, but all these people
Are gazing there, where thou dost veil the sun.''
Whence I to him : " If thou bring back to mind i
What thou with me hast been and I with thee.
The present memory will be grievous still.
Out of that life he turned me back who goes
In front of me, two days agone when round
The sister of him yonder showed herself," i
And to the sun I pointed. " Through the deep
Night of the truly dead has this one led me,
With this true flesh, that follows after him.
Thence his encouragements have led me up,
Ascending and still circling round the mount i
That you doth straighten, whom the world made crooked.
He says that he will bear me company,
Till I shall be where Beatrice will be ;
There it behoves me to remain without him.
This is Virgilius, who thus says to me," i
And him I pointed at ; " the other is
That shade for whom just now shook every slope
Your realm, that from itself discharges him."
 PURGATORIO, XXIV. 325

CANTO XXIV
Nor speech the going, nor the going that
Slackened ; but talking we went bravely on,
Even as a vessel urged by a good wind.
And shadows, that appeared things doubly dead.
From out the sepulchres of their eyes betrayed j:
Wonder at me, aware that I was living.
And I, continuing my colloquy,
Said : *' Peradventure he goes up more slowly
Than he would do, for other people's sake.
But tell me, if thou knowest, where is Piccarda ; »
Tell me if any one of note I see
Among this folk that gazes at me so."
" My sister, who, 'twixt beautiful and good,
I know not which was more, triumphs rejoicing
Already in her crown on high Olympus." aj
So said he first, and then : " 'Tis not forbidden
To name each other here, so milked away
Is our resemblance by our dieting.
This," pointing with his finger, " is Buonagiunta,
Buonagiunta, of Lucca ; and that face ^
Beyond him there, more peaked than the others,
Has held the holy Church within his arms ;
From Tours was he, and purges by his fasting
Bolsena's eels and the Vernaccia wine."
He named me many others one by one ; n
And all contented seemed at being named,
So that for this I saw not one dark look.
I saw for hunger bite the empty air
Ubaldin dalla Pila, and Boniface,
Who with his crook had pastured many people. 30
I saw Messer Marchese, who had leisure
Once at Forli for drinking with less dryness.
And he was one who ne'er felt satisfied.
But as he does who scans, and then doth prize
One more than others, did I him of Lucca, 35
Who seemed to take most cognizance of me.
He murmured, and I know not what Gentucca
From that place heard I, where he felt the wound /
Of justice, that doth macerate them so.
32b THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" O soul," I said, " that seemest so desirous 40

To speak with me, do so that I may hear thee.
And with thy speech appease thyself and me."
" A maid is born, and wears not yet the veil,"
Began he, " who to thee shall pleasant make
My city, howsoever men may blame it. 4S
Thou shalt go on thy way with this prevision ;
If by my murmuring thou hast been deceived,
True things hereafter will declare it to thee.
But say if him I here behold, who forth
Evoked the new-invented rhymes, beginning, 5°
Ladies, that have intei/igefice of love V
And I to him : " One am I, who, whenever
Love doth inspire me, note, and in that m^^asure
Which he within me dictates, singing go."
" O brother, now I see," he said, " the knot 55
Which me, the Notary, and Guittone held
Short of the sweet new style that now I hear.
I do perceive full clearly how your pens
Go closely following after him who dictates.
Which with our own forsooth came not to pass ; 60
And he who sets himself to go beyond,
No difference sees from one style to another ;"
And as if satisfied, he held his peace.
Everi as the birds, that winter tow'rds the Nile,
Sometimes into a phalanx form themselves, 65
Then fly in greater haste, and go in file ;
In such wise all the people who were there,
Turning their faces, hurried on their steps,
Both by their leanness and their wishes light.
And as a man, who weary is with trotting, 7<>
Lets his companions onward go, and walks.
Until he vents the panting of his chest ;
So did Forese let the holy flock
Pass by, and came with me behind it, saying,
" When will it be that I again shall see thee?" 7s
" How long," I answered, " I may live, I know not \
Yet my return will not so speedy be.
But I shall sooner in desire arrive ;
Because the place where I was set to live
From day to day of good is more depleted, Sc
And unto dismal ruin seems ordained."
** Now go," he said, " for him most guilty of it
At a beast's tail behold I dragged along
Towards the valley where is no repentance.
 PURGATORIO, XXIV. 327

Faster at every step the beast is going, Ss

Increasing evermore until it smites him,
And leaves the body vilely mutilated.
Not long those wheels shall turn," and he uplifted
His eyes to heaven, " ere shall be clear to thee
That which my speech no farther can declare. 90
Now stay behind ; because the time so precious
Is in this kingdom, that I lose too much
By coming onward thus abreast with thee."
As sometimes issues forth upon a gallop
A cavalier from out a troop that ride, 9S
And seeks the honour of the first encounter,
So he with greater strides departed from us ;
And on the road remained I with those two.
Who were such mighty marshals of the world.
And when before us he had gone so far 100
Mine eyes became to him such pursuivants
As was my understanding to his words,
Appeared to me with laden and living boughs
Another apple-tree, and not far distant.
From having but just then turned thitherward. «cs
People I saw beneath it lift their hands.
And cry I know not what towards the leaves,
. Like little children eager and deluded,
Who pray, and he they pray to doth not answer,
But, to make very keen their appetite, no
Holds their desire aloft, and hides it not.
Then they departed as if undeceived ;
And now we came unto the mighty tree
Which prayers and tears so manifold refuses.
" Pass farther onward without drawing near ; ^15
The tree of which Eve ate is higher up.
And out of that one has this tree been raised."
Thus said I know not who among the branches ;
Whereat Virgilius, Statius, and myself
Went crowding forward on the side that rises. ia>
" Be mindful," said he, " of the accursed ones
Formed of the cloud-rack, who inebriate
Combated Theseus with their double breasts ;
And of the Jews who showed them soft in drinking.
Whence Gideon would not have them for companions 125
When he tow'rds Midian the hills descended."
Thus, closely pressed to one of the two borders,
On passed we, hearing sins of gluttony,
Followed forsooth by miserable gains ;
z
338 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Then set at large upon the lonely road, 13a

A thousand steps and more we onward went,
In contemplation, each without a word.
" What go ye thinking thus, ye three alone ? "
Said suddenly a voice, whereat I started
As terrified and timid beasts are wont. las
I raised my head to see who this might be,
And never in a furnace was there seen
Metals or glass so lucent and so red
As one I saw who said : " If it may please you
To mount aloft, here it behoves you turn ; 140
This way goes he who goeth after peace."
His aspect had bereft me of my sight,
So that I turned me back unto my Teachers,
Like one who goeth as his hearing guides him.
And as, the harbinger of early dawn, 14s
The air of May doth move and breathe out fragrance,
Impregnate all with herbage and with flowers,
So did I feel a breeze strike in the midst
My front, and felt the moving of the plumes
That breathed around an odour of ambrosia ; 150
And heard it said : " Blessed are they whom grace
So much illumines, that the love of taste
Excites not in their breasts too great desire,
Hungering at all times so far as is just."

CANTO XXV.

Now was it the ascent no hindrance brooked,

Because the sun had his meridian circle
To Taurus left, and night to Scorpio ;
Wherefore as doth a man who tarries not,
But
If of goes his way,
necessity the whate'er to himhim,
sting transfix appear,
In this wise did we enter through the gap,
Taking the stairway, one before the other.
Which by its narrowness divides the climbers.
And as the little stork that lifts its wing
With a desire to fly, and does not venture
To leave the nest, and lets it downward droop.
Even such was I, with the desire of asking
Kindled and quenched, unto the motion coming
He makes who doth address himself to speak.
 PURGATORIO, XXV. 329

Not for our pace, though rapid it might be,

My father sweet forbore, but said : " Let fly
The bow of speech thou to the barb hast drawn."
With confidence I opened then my mouth,
And I began : " How can one meagre groAV 20
There where the need of nutriment appHes not ? "
'* If thou wouldst call to mind how Meleager
Was wasted by the wasting of a brand.
This would not," said he, " be to thee so sour ;
And wouldst thou think how at each tremulous motion n
Trembles within a mirror your own image ;
That which seems hard would mellow seem to thee.
But that thou mayst content thee in thy wish
Lo Statins here ; and him I call and pray
He now will be the healer of thy wounds." 30
" If I unfold to him the eternal vengeance,"
Responded Statins, " where thou present art,
Be my excuse that I can naught deny thee."
Then he began : " Son, if these words of mine
Thy mind doth contemplate and doth receive, 35
They'll be thy light unto the How thou sayest.
The perfect blood, which never is drunk up
Into the thirsty veins, and which remaineth
Like food that from the table thou removest,
Takes in the heart for all the human members 40
Virtue informative, as being that
Which to be changed to them goes through the veins
Again digest, descends it where 'tis better
Silent to be than say ; and then drops thence
Upon another's blood in natural vase. 45
There one together with the other mingles.
One to be passive meant, the other active
By reason of the perfect place it springs from ;
And being conjoined, begins to operate,
Coagulating first, then vivifying 5°
What for its matter it had made consistent.
The active virtue, being made a soul
As of a plant, (in so far different.
This on the way is, that aiTived already,)
Then works so much, that now it moves and feels ss
Like a sea-fungus, and then undertakes
To organize the powers whose seed it is.
Now, Son, dilates and now distends itself
The virtue from the generator's heart.
Where nature is intent on all the members. 60
330 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But how from animal it man becomes

Thou dost not see as yet ; this is a point
Which made a wiser man than thou once err
So far, that in his doctrine separate
He made the soul from possible intellect.
For he no organ saw by this assumed.
Open thy breast unto the truth that's coming.
And know that, just as soon as in the foetus
The articulation of the brain is perfect,
The primal Motor turns to it well pleased
At so great art of nature, and inspires
A spirit new with virtue all replete,
Whicii what it finds there active doth attract
Into its substance, and becomes one soul.
Which lives, and feels, and on itself revolves.
And that thou less may wonder at my word.
Behold the sun's heat, which becometh wine,
Joined to the juice that from the vine distils.
Whenever Lachesis has no more thread.
It separates from the flesh, and virtually
Bears with itself the human and divine ;
The other faculties are voiceless all ;
The memory, the intelligence, and the wiil
In action far more vigorous than before.
Without a pause it falleth of itself
In marvellous way on one shore or the other ;
There of its roads it first is cognizant.
Soon as the place there circumscribeth it,
The virtue informative rays round about,
As, and as much as, in the living members.
And even as the air, when full of rain.
By alien rays that are therein reflected,
With divers colours shows itself adorned,
So there the neighboiuing air doth shape itself
Into that form which doth imjjress upon it
Virtually the soul that has stood still.
And then in manner of the little flame.
Which follovveth the fire where'er it shifts,
After the spirit followeth its new form.
Since afterwards it takes from this its semblance,
It is called shade ; and thence it organizes
Thereafter every senoe, even to the sight.
Thence is it that we speak, and thence we laugh ;
Thence is it that we form the tears and sighs,
That on the mountain thou mayhap hast heard.
 PURGATORIO, XXVI. 3i'

According as impress us our desires

And other affections, so the shade is shaped,
And this is cause of what thou wonderest at."
And now unto the last of all the circles
Had we arrived, and to the right hand turned, "»
And were attentive to another care.
There the embankment shoots forth flames of fire,
And upward doth the cornice breathe a blast
That drives them back, and from itself sequesters.
Hence we must needs go on the open side, "s
And one by one ; and I did fear the fire
On this side, and on that the falling down.
My Leader said: "Along this place one ought
To keep upon the eyes a tightened rein,
Seeing that one so easily might err." "o
" Sumfnce Dens dementicB" in the bosom
Of the great burning chanted then I heard.
Which made me no less eager to turn round ;
And spirits saw I walking through the flame ;
Wherefore I looked, to my own steps and theirs 12s
Apportioning my sight from time to time.
After the close which to that hymn is made.
Aloud they shouted, " Viriim non cognosco :"
Then recommenced the hymn with voices low.
This also ended, cried they : " To the wood no
Diana ran, and drove forth Helice
Therefrom, who had of Venus felt the poison."
Then to their song returned they ; then the wives
They shouted, and the husbands who were chaste-
As virtue and the marriage vow imposes. '3s
And I believe that them this mode suffices.
For all the time the fire is burning them ;
With such care is it needful, and such food,
That the last wound of all should be closed up.

CANTO XXVI.
While on the brink thus one before the other
We went upon our way, oft the good Master
Said : " Take thou heed ! suffice it that I warn thee."
On the right shoulder smote me now the sun,
That, raying out, already the whole west
Changed from its azure aspect into white.
532 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And with my shadow did I make the flame

Appear more red ; and even to such a sign
Shades saw I many, as they went, give heed.
This was the cause that gave them a beginning »
To speak of me ; and to themselves began they
To say : "That seems not a factitious body !"
Then towards me, as far as they could come,
Came certain of them, always with regard
Not to step forth where they would not be burned. is
*' O thou who goest, not from being slower
But reverent perhaps, behind the others.
Answer me, who in thirst and fire am burning.
Nor to me only is thine answer needful ;
For all of these have greater thirst for it «
Than for cold water Ethiop or Indian.
Tell us how is it that thou makest thyself
A wall unto the sun, as if thou hadst not
Entered as yet into the net of death."
Thus one of them addressed me, and I straight ^
Should have revealed myself, were I not bent
On other novelty that then appeared.
For through the middle of the burning road
I'here came a people face to face with these,
Which held me in suspense with gazing at them. 3°
There see I hastening upon either side
Each of the shades, and kissing one another
Without a pause, content with brief salute.
Thus in the middle of their brown battalions
Muzzle to muzzle one ant meets another 3S
Perchance to spy their journey or their fortune.
No sooner is the friendly greeting ended,
Or ever the first footstep passes onward,
Each one endeavours to outcry the other ;
The new-come people : "Sodom and Oomorrah !" 40
The rest : " Into the cow Pasiphae enters,
So that the bull unto her lust may run !"
Then as the cranes, that to Riphaean mountains
Might fly in part, and part towards the sands,
These of the frost, those of the sun avoidant, ts
One folk is going, and the other coming,
And weeping they return to their first songs,
And to the cry that most befitteth them ;
And close to me approached, even as before,
The very same who had entreated me, 9
Attent to listen in their countenance.
 PURGATORIO, XXVI. 333
I, who their inclination twice had seen,
Began : "O souls secure in the possession,
Whene'er it may be, of a state of peace,
Neither unripe nor ripened have remained ss
My members upon earth, but here are with me
With their own blood and their articulations.
I go up here to be no longer blind ;
A Lady is above, who wins this grace.
Whereby the mortal through your world I bring. 60
But as your greatest longing satisfied
May soon become, so that the Heaven may house you
Which full of love is, and most amply spreads,
Tell me, that I again in books may write it,
Who are you, and what is that multitude 65
Not otherwisegoeswithupon
Which its way
wonder behind your backs ? "
is bewildered
The mountaineer, and staring round is dumb.
When rough and rustic to the town he goes,
Than every shade became in its appearance ; 70
But when they of their stupor were disburdened,
Which in high hearts is quickly quieted,
" Blessed be thou, who of our border-lands,"
He recommenced who first had questioned us,
" Experience freightest for a better life. 7S
The folk that comes not with us have offended
In that for which once Caesar, triumphing,
Heard himself called in contumely, ' Queen.'
Therefore they separate, exclaiming, ' Sodom ! '
Themselves reproving, even as thou hast heard, 80
And add unto their burning by their shame.
Our own transgression was hermaphrodite ;
But because we observed not human law,
Following like unto beasts our appetite,
In our opprobrium by us is read, 8s
When we part company, the name of her
Who bestialized herself in bestial wood.
Now knowest thou our acts, and what our crime was ;
Wouldst thou perchance by name know who we are,
There is not time to tell, nor could I do it. 90
Thy wish to know me shall in sooth be granted ;
I'm Guido Guinicelli, and now purge me,
Having repented ere the hour extreme."
The same that in the sadness of Lycurgus
Two sons became, their mother re-beholding, 9S
Such I became, but rise not to such height,
334 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

The moment I heard name himself the father

Of me and of my betters, who had ever
Practised the sweet and gracious rhymes of love ;
And without speech and hearing thoughtfully
For a long time I went, beholding him,
Nor for the fire did I approach him nearer.
When I was fed with looking, utterly
Myself I offered ready for his service,
With affirmation that compels belief
And he to me : " Thou leavest footprints such
In me, from what I hear, and so distinct,
Lethe cannot efface them, nor make dim.
But if thy words just now. the truth have sworn,
Tell me what is the cause why thou displayest
In word and look that dear thou holdest me ? "
And I to him: "Those dulcet lays of yours
Which, long as shall endure our modern fashion,
Shall make for ever dear their very ink ! "
" O brother," said he, " he whom I point out,
And here he pointed at a spirit in front,
" Was of the mother tongue a better smith.
Verses of love and proses of romance.
He mastered all ; and let the idiots talk.
Who think the Lemosin surpasses him.
To clamour more than truth they turn their faces,
And in this way establish their opinion,
Ere art or reason has by them been heard.
Thus many ancients with Guittone did.
From cry to cry still giving him applause,
Until the truth has conquered with most persons.
Now, if thou hast such ample privilege
'Tis granted thee to go unto the cloister
Wherein is Christ the abbot of the college,
To him repeat for me a Paternoster,
So far as needful to us of this world,
Where power of sinning is no longer ours."
Then, to give place perchance to one behind.
Whom he had near, he vanished in the fire
As fish in water going to the bottom.
I moved a little towrds him pointed out.
And said that to his name my own desire
An honourable place was making ready.
He of his own free will began to say :
Tan m' abcllis vostre cortes deman,
Que Jen notri puesc ni vueill a vos cobrire ;
 PURGATORIO, XXVII. 335
Jeu sui Arnaut, que plor e vai chantan ;
Consiros vei la passada folor,
E vei jatizeii lojorn gu' esper denan.
Ara viis prec per aquella valor, 145
Que vus condiis al som de la scalina,
Sovenga vus a temprar ma dolor*
Then hid him in the fire that purifies them.

CANTO XXVII
As when he vibrates forth his earUest rays,
In regions where his Maker shed his blood,
(The Ebro faUing under lofty Libra,
And waters in the Ganges burnt with noon,)
So stood the Sun ; hence was the day departing,
When the glad x\ngel of God appeared to us.
Outside the flame he stood upon the verge,
And chanted forth, " Beati tnundo corde,'"
In voice by far more living than our own.
Then : " No one farther goes, souls sanctified.
If first the fire bite not ; within it enter.
And be not deaf unto the song beyond."
When we were close beside him thus he said ;
Wherefore e'en such became I, when I heard him,
As he is who is put into the grave.
Upon my clasped hands I straightened me,
Scanning the fire, and vividly recalling
The human bodies I had once seen burned.
Towards me turned themselves my good Conductors,
And unto me Virgilius said : " My son,
Here may indeed be torment, but not death.
Remember thee, remember ! and if I
On Geryon have safely guided thee,
What shall I do now I am nearer God ?

* So pleases me your courteous demand,

I cannot and I will not hide me from you.
I am Aniaut, who weep and singing go ;
Contrite I see the folly of the past.
And joyous see the hoped-for day before me.
Therefore do I implore you, by that power
Which guides you to the summit of the stairs.
Be mindful to assuage my suffering !
336 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Believe for certain, shouldst thou stand a full 25

Millennium in the bosom of this flame,
It could not make thee bald a single hair.
And if perchance thou think that I deceive thee.
Draw near to it, and put it to the proof
With thine own hands upon thy garment's hem. 30
Now lay aside, now lay aside all fear,
Turn hitherward, and onward come securely ;"
And I still motionless, and 'gainst my conscience !
Seeing me stand still motionless and stubborn,
Somewhat disturbed he said : " Now look thou, Son, 35
'Twixt Beatrice and thee there is this wall."
As at the name of Thisbe oped his lids
The dying Pyramus, and gazed upon her.
What time the mulberry became vermilion,
Even thus, my obduracy being softened, 40
I turned to my wise Guide, hearing the name
That in my memory evermore is welling.
Whereat he wagged his head, and said : " How now ?
Shall we stay on this side ?"^ then smiled as one
Does at a child who 's vanquished by an apple. 45
Then into the fire in front of me he entered,
Beseeching Statius to come after me,
Who a long way before divided us.
When I was in it, into molten glass
I would have cast me to refresh myself, 50
So without measure was the burning there !
And my sweet Father, to encourage me.
Discoursing still of Beatrice went on.
Saying : " Her eyes I seem to see already !"
A voice, that on the other side was singing, ss
Directed us, and we, attent alone
On that, came forth where the ascent began.
" Venite, benedicti Fatris ?iiei,'^
Sounded within a splendour, which was there
Such it o'ercame me, and I could not look. 6«
" The sun departs," it added, " and night cometh ;
Tarry ye not, but onward urge your steps.
So long as yet the west becomes not dark."
Straight forward through the rock the path ascended
In such a way that I cut off the rays 6;
Before me of the sun, that now was low.
And of few stairs we yet had made assay,
Ere by the vanished shadow the sun's setting
Behind us we perceived, I and my Sages.
 PURGATORIO, XXVII. 337

And ere in all its parts immeasurable 7°

The horizon of one aspect had become,
And Night her boundless dispensation held,
Each of us of a stair had made his bed ;
Because the nature of the mount took from us
The power of climbing, more than the delight. 75
Ev^en as in ruminating passive grow
The goats, who have been swift and venturesome
Upon the mountain-tops ere they were fed,
Hushed in the shadow, while the sun is hot.
Watched by the herdsman, who upon his staff 80
Is leaning, and in leaning tendeth them ;
And as the shepherd, lodging out of doors,
Passes the night beside his quiet flock,
Watching that no wild beast may scatter it,
Such at that hour were we, all three of us, 85
I like the goat, and like the herdsmen they,
Begirt on this side and on that by rocks.
Little could there be seen of things without ;
But through that little I beheld the stars
More luminous and larger than their wont. 90
Thus ruminating, and beholding these,
Sleep seized upon me, — sleep, that oftentimes
Before a deed is done has tidings of it.
It was the hour, I think, when from the East
First on the mountain Citherea beamed, 95
Who with the fire of love seems always burning ;
Youthful and beautiful in dreams methought
I saw a lady walking in a meadow,
Gathering flowers ; and singing she w^as saying :
" Know whosoever may my name demand 100
That I am Leah, and go moving round
My beauteous hands to make myself a garland.
To please me at the mirror, here I deck me,
But never does my sister Rachel leave
Her looking-glass, and sitteth all day long. 105
To see her beauteous eyes as eager is she.
As I am to adorn me with my hands ;
Her, seeing, and me, doing satisfies."
And now before the antelucan splendours
That unto pilgrims the more grateful rise, "c
As, home-returning, less remote they lodge,
The darkness fled away on every side.
And slumber with it ; whereupon I rose,
Seeing already the great Masters risen.
338 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" That apple sweet, which through so many branches

The care of mortals goeth in pursuit of,
To-day shall put in peace thy hungerings."
Speaking to me, Virgilius of such words
As these made use ; and never were there guerdons
That could in pleasantness compare with these.
Such longing upon longing came upon me
To be above, that at each step thereafter
For flight I felt in me the pinions growing.
When underneath us was the stairway all
Run o'er, and we were on the highest step,
Virgihus fastened upon me his eyes.
And said : " The temporal fire and the eternal.
Son, thou hast seen, and to a place art come
Where of myself no farther I discern.
By intellect and art I here have brought thee ;
Take thine own pleasure for thy guide henceforth ;
Beyond the steep ways and the narrow art thou.
Behold the sun, that shines upon thy forehead ;
Behold the grass, the flowerets, and the shrubs
Which of itself alone this land produces.
Until rejoicing come the beauteous eyes
Which weeping caused me to come unto thee.
Thou canst sit down, and thou canst walk among them.
Expect no more or word or sign from me ;
Free and upright and sound is thy free-will,
And error were it not to do its bidding ;
Thee o'er thyself I therefore crown and mitre !"

CANTO XXVIII.
Eager already to search in and round
The heavenly forest, dense and living-green,
Which tempered to the eyes the new-born day,
Withouten more delay I left the bank.
Taking the level country slowly, slowly
Over the soil that everywhere breathes fragrance.
A softly-breathing air, that no mutation
Had in itself, upon the forehead smote me
No heavier blow than of a gentle wind.
Whereat the branches, lightly tremulous.
Did all of them bow downward toward that side
Where its first shadow casts the Holy Mountain ;
 PURGATORIO, XXVIII. S3fi

Yet not from their upright direction swayed,

So that the little birds upon their tops
Should leave the practice of each art of theirs ; 's
But with full ravishment the hours of prime,
Singing, received they in the midst of leaves,
That ever bore a burden to their rhymes,
Such as from branch to branch goes gathering on
Through the pine forest on the shore of Chiassi, «>
When Eolus unlooses the Sirocco.
Already my slow steps- had carried me
Into the ancient wood so far, that I
Could not perceive where I had entered it.
And lo ! my further course a stream cut off, 25
Which tow'rd the left hand with its little waves
Bent down the grass that on its margin sprang.
All waters that on earth most limpid are
Would seem to have within themselves some mixture
Compared with that which nothing doth conceal, 30
Although it moves on with a brown, brown current
Under the shade perpetual, that never
Ray of the sun lets in, nor of the moon.
With feet I stayed, and with mine eyes I passed
Beyond the rivulet, to look upon 3S
The great variety of the fresh may.
And there appeared to me (even as appears
Suddenly something that doth turn aside
Through very wonder every other thought)
A lady all alone, who went along 40
Singing and culling floweret after floweret,
With which her pathway was all painted over.
" Ah, beauteous lady, who in rays of love
Dost warm thyself, if I may trust to looks.
Which the heart's witnesses are wont to be, 4S
May the desire come unto thee to draw
Near to this river's bank," I said to her.
So much that I may hear what thou art singing.
Thou makest me remember where and what
Proserpina that moment was when lost so
Her mother her, and she herself the Spring."
As turns herself, with feet together pressed
And to the ground, a lady who is dancing.
And hardly puts one foot before the other,
On the vermilion and the yellow flowerets ss
She turned towards me, not in other wise
Than maiden who her modest eyes casts down ;
S40 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And my entreaties made to be content,

So near approaching, that the dulcet sound
Came unto me together with its meaning. oo
As soon as she was where the grasses are
Bathed by the waters of the beauteous river,
To Hft her eyes she granted me the boon.
I do not think there shone so great a hght
Under the Uds of Venus, when transfixed cs
By her own son, beyond his usual custom !
Erect upon the other bank she smiled,
Bearing full many colours in her hands,
Which that high land produces without seed.
Apart three paces did the river make us ; 70
But Hellespont, where Xerxes passed across,
(A curb still to all human arrogance,)
More hatred from Leander did not suffer
For rolling between Sestos and Abydos,
Than that from me, because it oped not then. 75
" Ye are new-comers ; and because I smile,"
Began she, " peradventure, in this place
Elect to human nature for its nest,
Some apprehension keeps you marvelling ;
But the psalm Deledasti giveth light 80
Which has the power to uncloud your intellect.
And thou who foremost art, and didst entreat me,
Speak, if thou wouldst hear more ; for I came ready
To all thy questionings, as far as needful."
" The water,'' said I, "and the forest's sound, ss
Are combating within mc my new faith
In something which I heard opposed to this."
Whence she : " I will relate how from its cause
Proceedeth that which maketh thee to wonder.
And purge away the cloud that smites upon thee. 90
The (}ood Supreme, sole in itself delighting.
Created man good, and this goodly place
Gave him as hansel of eternal peace.
By his default short while he sojourned here ;
By his default to weeping and to toil 9s
He changed his innocent laughter and sweet play.
That the disturbance which below is made
By exhalations of the land and water,
(Which far as may be follow after heat,)
Might not upon mankind wage any war, io«
This mount ascended tow'rds the heaven so high,
And is exempt, from there wliere it is locked.
 PURGATORIO, XXVIII. '\^\
Now since the universal atmosphere
Turns in a circuit with the primal motion
Unless the circle is broken on some side, »<«
Upon this height, that all is disengaged
In living ether, doth this motion strike
And make the forest sound, for it is dense ;
And so much power the stricken plant possesses
That with its virtue it impregns the air, ««
And this, revolving, scatters it around ;
And yonder earth, according as 'tis worthy
In self or in its clime, conceives and bears
Of divers qualities the divers trees ; '
It should not seem a marvel then on earth, "s
This being heard, whenever any plant
Without seed manifest there taketh root.
And thou must know, this holy table-land
In which thou art is full of every seed.
And fruit has in it never gathered there. im
The water which thou seest springs not from vein
Restored by vapour that the cold condenses,
Like to a stream that gains or loses breath ;
But issues from a fountain safe and certain,
Which by the will of God as much regains 12s
As it discharges, open on two sides.
Upon this side with virtue it descends.
Which takes away all memory of sin ;
On that, of every good deed done restores it. •
Here Lethe, as upon the other side 130
Eunoe, it is called ; and worketh not
If first on either side it be not tasted.
This every other savour doth transcend ;
And notwithstanding slaked so far may be
Thy thirst, that I reveal to thee no more, *3S
I'll give thee a corollary still in grace,
Nor think my speech will be to thee less dear
If it spread out beyond my promise to thee.
Those who in ancient times have feigned in song
The Age of Gold and its felicity, «4o
Dreamed of this place perhaps upon Parnassus.
Here was the human race in innocence ;
Here evermore was Spring, and every fruit ;
This is the nectar of which each one speaks."
Then backward did I turn me wholly round 14$
Unto my Poets, and saw that with a smile
They had been listening to these closing words ;
Then to the beautiful lady turned mine eyes.
342 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO XXIX.
Singing like unto an enamoured lady
She, with the ending of her words, continued :
" Beati quoritm tecta sunt peccata."
And even as Nymphs, that wandered all alone
Among the sylvan shadows, sedulous
One to avoid and one to see the sun,
She then against the stream moved onward, going
Along the bank, and I abreast of her,
Her little steps with httle steps attending.
Between her steps and mine were not a hundred,
When equally the margins gave a turn,
In such a way, that to the East I faced.
Nor even thus our way continued far
Before the lady wholly turned herself
And Unto
lo ! a me, saying,
sudden lustre" Brother,
ran acrosslook and listen !"
On every side athwart the spacious forest.
Such that it made me doubt if it were lightning.
But since the lightning ceases as it comes.
And that continuing brightened more and more,
Within my thought I said, " What thing is this ?"
And a delicious melody there ran
Along the luminous air, whence holy zeal
Made me rebuke the hardihood of Eve ;
For there where earth and heaven obedient were,
The woman only, and but just created.
Could not endure to stay 'neath any veil ; ^
Underneath which had she devoutly stayed,
I sooner should have tasted those delights
Ineffable, and for a longer time.
While 'mid such manifold first-fruits I walked
Of the eternal pleasure all enrapt,
And still solicitous of more delights,
In front of us like an enkindled fire
Became the air beneath the verdant boughs,
And the sweet sound as singing now was heard.
G Virgins sacrosanct ! if ever hunger,
Vigils, or cold for you I have endured,
The occasion spurs me their reward to claim I
 PURGATORIO, XXIX. 34^1

Now Helicon must needs pour forth for me, 40

And with her choir Urania must assist me,
To put in verse things difficult to think.
A little farther on, seven trees of gold
In semblance the long space still intervening
Between ourselves and them did counterfeit ; 45
But when I had approached so near to them
The common object, which the sense deceives,
Lost not by distance any of its marks.
The faculty that lends discou;'se to reason
Did apprehend that they were candlesticks, so
And in the voices of the song " Hosanna !"
Above them- flamed the harness beautiful.
Far brighter than the moon in the serene
Of midnight, at the middle of her month.
I turned me round, with admiration filled, ttS
To good Virgilius, and he answered me
With visage no kss full of wonderment.
Then back I turned my face to those high things.
Which moved themselves towards us so sedately,
They had been distanced by new-wedded brides. 60
The lady chid me : " Why dost thou burn only
So with affection (or the living lights,
And dost not look at what comes after them?"
Then saw I people, as behind their leaders.
Coming behind them, garmented in white, 65
And such a whiteness never was on earth.
The water on my left flank was resplendent,
And back to me reflected my left side.
E'en as a mirroi, if I looked therein.
When I upon my margin had such post 70
That nothing but the stream divided us,
Better to see I gave my steps repose ;
And I beheld the flamelets onward go,
Leaving behind themselves the air depicted,
And they of trailing pennons had the semblance, 75
So that it overhead remained distinct
With sevenfold lists, all of them of the colours
Whence the sun's bow is made, and Delia's girdle.
These standards to the rearward longer were
Than was my sight ; and, as it seemed to me, 80
Ten paces were the outermost apart.
Under so fair a heaven as I describe
The four and twenty Elders, two by two.
Came on incoronate with flower-de-luce.
344 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

They all of them were singing : " Blessed thou 85

Among the daughters of Adam art, and blessed
For evermore shall be thy loveliness."
After the flowers and other tender grasses
In front of me upon the other margin
Were disencumbered of that race elect, 9»
Even as in heaven star followeth after star,
There came close after them four animals,
Incoronate each one with verdant leaf
Plumed with six wings was every one of them,
The plumage full of eyes ; the eyes of Argus 9s
If they were living would be such as these.
Reader ! to trace their forms no more I waste
My rhymes ; for other spcndings press me so,
That I in this cannot be prodigal.
But read Ezekiel, who depicteth them ' too
As he beheld them from the region cold
Coming with cloud, with whirlwind, and with fire ;
And such as thou shalt find them in his pages.
Such were they here ; saving that in their plumage
John is with me, and differeth from him, 105
The interval between these four contained
A chariot triumphal on two wheels.
Which by a Grifiin's neck came drawn along ;
And upward he extended both his wings
Between the middle list and three and three, "o
So that he injured none by cleaving it.
So high they rose that they were lost to sight ;
'His limbs were gold, so far as he was bird,
And white the others with vermilion mingled.
Not only Rome with no such splendid car ns
E'er glaildened Africanus, or Augustus,
But poor to it that of the Sun would be, —
That of the Sun, which swerving was burnt up
At the importunate orison of Earth,
When Jove was so mysteriously just. »»
Three maidens at tlie right wheel in a circle
Came onward dancing ; one so very red
That in the fire she hardly had been noted.
The second was as if her flesh and bones
Had all been fashioned out of emerald ; »S
The third appeared as snow but newly fallen.
And now they seemed conducted by the white,
Now by the red, and from the song of her
The others took their step, or slow or swift.
 PURGATORIO, XXX. t45

Upon the left hand four made holiday

Vested in purple, following the measure
Of one of them with three eyes in her head.
In rear of all the group here treated of
Two old men I beheld, unlike in habit,
But like in gait, each dignified and grave.
One showed himself as one of the disciples
Of that supreme Hippocrates, whom nature
Made for the animals she holds most dear ;
Contrary care the other manifested,
With sword so shining and so sharp, it caused
Terror to me on this side of the river.
Thereafter four I saw of humble aspect,
And behind all an aged man alone
Walking in sleep with countenance acute.
And like the foremost company these seven
Were habited ; yet of the flower-de-luce
No garland round about the head they wore.
But of the rose, and other flowers vermilion ;
At little distance would the sight have sworn
That all were in a flame above their brows.
And when the car was opposite to me
Thunder was heard ; and all that folk august
Seemed to have further progress interdicted,
There with the vanward ensigns standing still.

CANTO XXX.

When the Septentrion of the highest heaven

(Which never either setting knew or rising,
Nor veil of other cloud than that of sin,
And which made every one therein aware
Of his own duty, as the lower makes
Whoever turns the helm to come to port)
Motionless halted., the veracious people,
That came at first between it and the Grifiin,
Turned themselves to the car, as to their peace.
And one of them, as if by Heaven commissioned,
Singing, three
Shouted anddeallLiham''
sponsa,
" Vent,times, the others after.
Even as the Blessed at the final summons
Shall rise up quickened each one from his cavern,
Uplifting light the reinvested flesh,
346 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

So upon that celestial chariot

A hundred rose ad vocem tanti senis,
Ministers and messengers of life eternal.
They all were saying, '•^ Benedidus qui venis"
And, scattering flowers above and round about, ao
" Manibus o date lilia plenis."
Ere now have I beheld, as day began,
The eastern hemisphere all tinged with rose,
And the other heaven with fair serene adorned ;
And the sun's face, uprising, overshadowed »5
So that by tempering influence of vapours
For a long interval the eye sustained it ;
Thus in the bosom of a cloud of flowers
Which from those hands angelical ascended,
And downward fell again inside and out, 30
Over her snow-white veil with olive cinct
Appeared a lady under a green mantle,
Vested in colour of the living flame.
And my own spirit, that already now
So long a time had been, that in her presence 35
Trembling with awe it had not stood abashed,
Without more knowledge having by mine eyes.
Through occult virtue that from her proceeded
Of ancient love the mighty influence felt.
As soon as on my vision smote the power 40
Sublime, that had already pierced me through
Ere from my boyhood I had yet come forth.
To the left hand I turned with that reliance
VV^ith which the litde child runs to his mother.
When he has fear, or when he is afflicted, 4s
To sav unto Virgilius : " Not a drachm
Of blood remains in me, that does not tremble ;
I know the traces of the ancient flame."
But us Virgilius of himself deprived
Had left, Virgilius, sweetest of all fathers, so
Virgilius, to whom I for safety gave me :
Nor whatsoever lost the ancient mother
Availed my cheeks now purified from dew,
That weeping they should not again be darkened.
" Dante, because Virgilius has departed ss
Do not weep yet, do not weep yet awhile ;
For by another sword thou need'st must weep."
E'en as an admiral, who on poop and prow
Comes to behold the people that are working
In other ships, and cheers them to well-doing, 60
 PURGATORIO, XXX. 347

Upon the left hand border of the car,

When at the sound I turned of my own name,
Which of necessity is here recorded,
I saw the Lady, who erewhile appeared
Veiled underneath the angelic festival, 65
Direct her eyes to me across the river.
Although the veil, that from her head descended,
Encircled with the foliage of Minerva,
Did not permit her to appear distinctly.
In attitude still royally majestic t
■ Continued she, like unto one who speaks,
And keeps his warmest utterance in reserve :
" Look at me well ; in sooth I'm Beatrice !
How didst thou deign to come unto the Mountain ?
Didst thou not know that man is happy here ? " 75
Mine eyes fell downward into the clear fountain.
But, seeing myself therein, I sought the grass.
So great a shame did weigh my forehead down.
As to the son the mother seems superb.
So she appeared to me ; for somewhat bitter 80
Tasteth the savour of severe compassion.
Silent became she, and the Angels sang
Suddenly, "/« /<?, Domine, speravi : "
But beyond pedes nieos did not pass.
Even as the snow among the living rafters 85
Upon the back of Italy congeals,
Blown on and drifted by Sclavonian winds.
And then, dissolving, trickles through itself
Whene'er the land that loses shadow breathes,
So that it seems a fire that melts a taper ; 90
E'en thus was I without a tear or sigh.
Before the song of those who sing for ever
After the music of the eternal spheres.
But when I heard in their sweet melodies
Compassion for me, more than had they said, 95
" O wherefore, lady, dost thou thus upbraid him?"
The ice, that was about my heart congealed,
To air and water changed, and in my anguish
Through mouth and eyes came gushing from my breast.
She, on the right-hand border of the car 100
Still firmly standing, to those holy beings
Thus her discourse directed afterwards :
" Ye keep your watch in the eternal day,
So that nor night nor sleep can steal from you
One step the ages make upon their path ; xa|t
34? THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Therefore my answer is with greater care,

That he may hear me who is weeping yonder,
So that the sin and dole be of one measure.
Not only by the work of those great wheels,
That destine every seed unto some end, iw
According as the stars are in conjunction,
But by the largess of celestial graces,
Which have such lofty vapours for their rain
That near to them our sight approaches not,
Such had this man become in his new life • «s
Potentially, that every righteous habit
Would have made admirable proof in him ;
But so much more malignant and more savage
Becomes the land untilled and with bad seed,
The more good earthly vigour it possesses. 120
Some time did T sustain him with my look ;
Revealing unto him my youthful eyes,
I led him with me turned in the right way.
As soon as ever of my second age
I was upon the threshold and changed life, 125
Himself from me he took and gave to others.
When from the flesh to spirit I ascended,
And beauty and virtue were in me increased,
I was to him less dear and less delightful ;
And into ways untrue he turned his steps, xk
Pursuing the false images of good,
That never any promises fulfil ;
Nor prayer for inspiration me availed,
By means of which in dreams and otherwise
I called him back, so little did he heed them. 135
So low he fell, that all appliances
For his salvation were already short,
Save showing him the people of perdition.
For this I visited the gntes of death,
And unto him, who so far up has led him, mc
My intercessions were with weeping borne.
God's lofty fiat would be violated.
If Lethe should be passed, and if such viands
Should tasted be, withouten any scot
Of penitence, that gushes forth in tears." m
 PURGATORIOy XXXI. 349

CANTO XXXI.

" O THOU who art Deyond the sacred river,"

Turning to me the point of her discourse,
That edgewise even had seemed to me so keen,
She recommenced, continuing without pause,
" Say, say if this be true ; to such a charge, 5
Thy own confession needs must be conjoined."
My faculties were in so great confusion,
That the voice moved, but sooner was extinct
Than by its organs it was set at large.
Awhile she waited ; then she said : " What thinkest ? 10
Answer me ; for the mournful memories
In thee not yet are by the waters injured."
Confusion and dismay together mingled
Forced such a Yes ! from out my mouth, that sight
Was needful to the understanding of it. is
Even as a cross-bow breaks, when 'tis discharged
Too tensely drawn the bowstring and the bow.
And with less force the arrow hits the mark,
So I gave way beneath that heavy burden.
Outpouring in a torrent tears and sighs, ao
And the voice flagged upon its passage forth.
Whence she to me : " In those desires of mine
Which led thee to the loving of that good,
Beyond which there is nothing to aspire to,
What trenches lying traverse or what chains h
Didst thou discover, that of passing onward
Thou shouldst have thus despoiled thee of the hope ?
And what allurements or what vantages
Upon the forehead of the others showed.
That thou shouldst turn thy footsteps unto them ?" 30
After the heaving of a bitter sigh.
Hardly had I the voice to make response.
And with fatigue my lips did fashion it.
Weeping I said : " The things that present were
With their false pleasure turned aside my steps, 3S
Soon as your countenance concealed itself."
And she : " Shouldst thou be silent, or deny
What thou confessest, not less manifest
Would be thy fault, by such a Judge 'tis known.
350 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But when from one's own cheeks comes bursting forth 40

The accusal of the sin, in our tribunal
Against the edge the wheel doth turn itself.
But still, that thou mayst feel a greater shame
For thy transgression, and another time
Hearing the Sirens thou mayst^be more strong, 4S
Cast down the seed of weeping and attend ;
So shalt thou hear, how in an opposite way
My buried flesh should have directed thee.
Never to thee presented art or nature
Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein 50
I was enclosed, which scattered are in earth.
And if the highest pleasure thus did fail thee
By reason of my death, what mortal thing
Should then have dr&wn thee into its desire ?
Thou oughtest verily at the first shaft 55
Of things fallacious to have risen up
To follow me, who was no longer such.
Thou oughtest not to have stooped thy pinions downward
To wait for further blows, or little girl,
Or other vanity of such brief use." 60
The callow birdlet waits for two or three,
But to the eyes of those already fledged.
Even Inas vain the net
children is spread
silent in theirorshame
shaft is shot."
Stand listening with their eyes upon the ground, 65
And conscious of their fault, and penitent ;
So was I standing ; and she said : " If thou
In hearing sufferest pain, lift up thy beard
And thou shalt feel a greater pain in seeing."
■ With less resistance is a robust holm 70
Uprooted, either by a native wind
Or else by that from regions of larbas,
Than I upraised at her command my chin ;
And when she by the beard the face demanded,
Well I perceived the venom of her meaning. 75
And as my countenance was lifted up.
Mine eye perceived those creatures beautiful
Had rested from the strewing of the flowers;
And, still but little reassured, mine eyes
Saw Beatrice turned round towards the monster, 8«
That is one person only in two natures.
Beneath her veil, beyond the margent green,
She seemed to me far more her ancient self
To excel, than others here, when she was here.
 PURGATORIO, XX XL 35'

So pricked me then the thorn of penitence, 8s

That of all other things the one which turned me
Most to its love became the most my foe.
Such self-conviction stung me at the heart
O'erpowered I fell, and what I then became
She knoweth who had furnished me the cause. 90
Then, when the heart restored my outward sense.
The lady I had found alone, above me
I saw, and she was saying, " Hold me, hold me."
Up to my throat she in the stream had drawn me,
And, dragging me behind her, she was moving 95
Upon the water lightly as a shuttle.
When I was near unto the blessed shore,
" Asperges me" I heard so sweetly sung.
Remember it I cannot, much less write it.
The beautiful lady opened wide her arms, •<»
Embraced my head, and plunged me underneatli.
Where I was forced to swallow of the water.
Then forth she drew me, and all dripping brought
Into the dance of the four beautiful.
And each one with her arm did cover me. 105
' We here are Nymphs, and in the Heaven are stars ;
Ere Beatrice descended to the world,
We as her handmaids were appointed her.
We'll lead thee to her eyes ; but for the ])leasant
Light that within them is, shall sharpen thine «o
The three beyond, who more profoundly look.'*
Thus singing they began ; and afterwards
Unto the Griffin's breast they led me with them.
Where Beatrice was standing, turned towards us.
" See that thou dost not spare thine eyes," they said ; ns
" Before the emeralds have we stationed thee.
Whence Love aforetime drew for thee his weapons."
A thousand longings, hotter than the flame.
Fastened mine eyes upon those eyes relucent.
That still upon the Griffin steadfast stayed. 17-.
As in a glass the sun, not otherwise
Within them was the twofold monster shining,
Now with the one, now with the other nature.
Think, Reader, if within myself I marvelled,
When I beheld the thing itself stand still, ia$
And in its image it transformed itself.
While with amazement filled and jubilant.
My soul was tasting of the food, that while
It satisfies us makes us hunger for it.
J52 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Themselves revealing of the highest rank

In bearing, did the other three advance,
Singing to their angelic saraband.
" Turn, Beatrice, O turn thy holy eyes,"
Such was their song, " unto thy faithful one,
Who has to see thee ta'en so many steps.
In grace do us the grace that thou unveil
Thy face to him, so that he may discern
The second beauty which thou dost conceal."
O splendour of the living light eternal !
Who underneath the shadow of Parnassus
Has grown so pale, or drunk so at its cistern,
He would not seem to have his mind encumbered
Striving to paint thee as thou didst appear,
Where the harmonious heaven o'ershadowed thee,
When in the open air thou didst unveil ?

CANTO XXXII.

So steadfast and attentive were mine eyes

In satisfying their decennial thirst.
That all my other senses were extinct,
And upon this side and on that they had
Walls of indifference, so the holy smile
Drew them unto itself with the old net
When forcibly my sight was turned away
Towards my left hand by those goddesses,
Because I heard from them a " Too intently ! "
And that condition of the sight which is
In eyes but lately smitten by the sun
Bereft me of my vision some short while ;
But to the less when sight re-shaped itself,
I say the less in reference to the greater
Splendour from which perforce I had withdrawn,
I saw upon its riglit wing wheeled about
The glorious host, returning with the sun
And with the sevenfold flames upon their faces.
As underneath its shields, to save itself,
A squadron turns, and with its banner wheels,
Before the whole thereof can change its front.
That soldiery of the celestial kingdom
Which marched in the advance had wholly parsed us
Before the chariot had turned its pole.
 PURGATORIO, XXXII. 353

Then to the wheels the maidens turned themselves, ^s

And the Griffin moved his burden benedight,
But so that not a feather of him fluttered.
The lady fair who drew me through the ford
Followed with Statius and myself the wheel
Which made its orbit with the lesser arc. a*
So passing through the lofty forest, vacant
By fault of her who in the serpent trusted,
Angelic music made our steps keep time.
Perchance as great a space had in three flights
An we
As arrow
had loosened from Beatrice
moved when the stringdescended.
o'erpassed, 3S

I heard them murmur altogether, " Adam ! "

Then circled they about a tree despoiled
Of blooms and other leafage on each bough.
Its tresses, which so much the more dilate 40
As higher they ascend, had been by Indians
Among their forests marvelled at for height.
" Blessed art thou, O Griffin, who dost not
Pluck with thy beak these branches sweet to taste.
Since appetiteround
After this fashion by this
the was
tree turned
robust to evil." 45
The others shouted ; and the twofold creature :
" Thus is preserved the seed of all the just."
And turning to the pole which he had dragged,
He drew it close beneath the widowed bough, s*
And what was of it unto it left bound.
In the same manner as our trees (when downward
Falls the great light, with that together mingled
Which after the celestial Lasca shines)
Begin to swell, and then renew themselves, ti
Each one with its own colour, ere the Sun
Harness his steeds beneath another star :
Less than of rose and more than violet
A hue disclosing, was renewed the tree
That had erewhile its boughs so desolate. «o
I never heard, nor here below is sung,
The hymn which afterward that people sang,
Nor did I bear the melody throughout.
Had I the power to paint how fell asleep
Those eyes compassionless, of Syrinx hearing, 65
Those eyes to which more watching cost so dear,
Even as a painter who from model paints
I would portray how I was lulled asleep ;
He may, who well can picture drowsihood.
354 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Therefore I pass to what time I awoke, 70

And say a splendour rent from me the veil
Of slumber, and a calling : " Rise, what dost thou ? '
As to behold the apple-tree in blossom
Which makes the Angels greedy for its fruit,
And keeps perpetual bridals in the Heaven, 75
Peter and John and James conducted were.
And, overcome, recovered at the word
By which still greater slumbers have been broken,
And saw their school diminished by the loss
Not only of Elias, but of Moses, 80
And the apparel of their Master changed ;
So I revived, and saw that piteous one
Above me standing, who had been conductress
Aforetime of my steps beside the river,
And all in doubt I said, " Where's Beatrice?" 8s
And she : " Behold her seated underneath
The leafage new, upon the root of it.
Behold the company that circles her ;
The rest behind the Griffin are ascending
With more melodious song, and more profound." go
And if her speech were more diffiase I know not,
Because already in my sight was she
Who from the hearing of aught else had shut me.
Alone she sat upon the very earth.
Left there as guardian of the chariot 96
Which I had seen the biform monster fasten.
Encircling her, a cloister made themselves
The seven Nymphs, vv'ith those lights in their hands
Which are secure from Aquilon and Auster.
"Short while shalt thou be here a forester, «»
And thou shalt be with me for evermore
A citizen of that Rome where Christ is Roman.
Therefore, for that world's good which liveth ill,
Fix on the car thine eyes, and what thou seest.
Having returned to earth, take heed thou write." »o5
Thus Beatrice ; and I, who at the feet
Of her commandments all devoted was,
My mind and eyes directed where she willed.
Never descended with so swift a motion
Fire from a heavy cloud, when it is raining no
From out the region which is most remote,
As I beheld the bird of Jove descend
Down through the tree, rending away the bark.
As well as blossoms and the foliage new,
 PURGATOEIO, XXXH. 355

And he with all his might the chariot smote, "s

Whereat it reeled, like vessel in a tempest
Tossed by the waves, now starboard and now larboard.
Theieafter saw I leap into the body
Of the triumphal vehicle a Fox,
That seemed unfed with any wholesome food. «9o
''•it for his hideous sins upbraiding him.
My Lady put him to as swift a flight
As such a fieshless skeleton could bear.
Then by the way that it before had come,
Into the chariot's chest I saw the Eagle »5
Descend, and leave it feathered with his plumes.
And such as issues from a heart that mourns,
A voice from Heaven there issued, and it said :
" My little bark, how badly art thou freighted !"
Methought, then, that the earth did yawn between 130
Both wheels, and I saw rise from it a Dragon,
Who through the chariot upward fixed his tail.
And as a wasp that draweth back its sting.
Drawing unto himself his tail malign,
Drew out the floor, and went his way rejoicing. 13s
That which remained behind, even as with grass
A fertile region, with the feathers, offered
Perhaps with pure intention and benign,
Reclothed itself, and with them were reclothed
The pole and both the wheels feo speedily, x#«
A sigh doth longer keep the lips apart.
Transfigured thus the holy edifice
Thrust forward heads upon the parts of it.
Three on the pole and one at either corner.
The first were horned like oxen ; but the four ^45
Had but a single horn upon the forehead ;
A monster such had never yet been seen !
Firm as a rock upon a mountain high.
Seated upon it, there appeared to me
A shameless whore, with eyes swift glancing round, 150
And, as if not to have her taken from him,
Upright beside her I beheld a giant ;
And ever and anon they kissed each other.
But because she her wanton, roving eye
Turned upon me, her angry paramour W

I
Did scourge her from her head unto her feet.
Then full of jealousy, and fierce with wrath,
He loosed the monster, and across the forest
Dragged it so far, he mide of that alone
A shield unto the whore and the strange beast. *>
356 THE D.l'hVE COMEDY.

CANTO XXXIII.

'■'■Deus, vencnmt getites^' alternating

Now t^ree, now four, melodious psalmody
The maidens in the midst of tears began ;
And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing,
Listened to them with such a countenance,
That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.
But when the other virgins place had given
For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
With colour as of fire, she made response :
" Modicum^ et /ion videbiiis jne;
Et itennn, my sisters predilect,
Modicujn, ct vos videbiiis mey
Then all the seven in front of her she placed ;
And after her, by beckoning only, moved
Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.
So she moved onward ; and I do not think
That her tenth step was placed upon the ground,
When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote,
And with a tranquil aspect, " Come more quickly,"
To me she said, " that, if I speak with thee,
To listen to me thou mayst be well placed."
As soon as I was with her as I should be.
She said to me : " Why, brother, dost thou not
Venture to question now, in coming with me?"
As unto those who are too reverential,
Speaking in presence of superiors.
Who drag no living utterance to their teeth.
It me befell, that without perfect sound
Began I : " My necessity. Madonna,
You know, and that which thereunto is good."
And she to me : "Of fear and bashfulness
Henceforward I will have thee stri]) thyself,
So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.
Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
Was, and is not ; but let him who is guilty
Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.
Without an heir shall not for ever be
The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car.
Whence it became a monster, then a prey ;
 PURGATORIO, XXXIII. 357

For verily I see, and hence narrate it, 40

The stars already near to bring the time,
From every hindrance safe, and every bar,
Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five,
One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman
And that same giant who is sinning with her. 45
And peradventure my dark utterance.
Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade thee.
Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect ;
But soon the facts shall be the Naiades
Who shall this difficult enigma solve, s«
Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.
Note thou ; and even as by me are uttered
These words, so teach them unto those who live
That life which is a running unto death ;
And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them, :5
Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
That twice already has been pillaged here.
Whoever pillages or shatters it.
With blasphemy of deed ofifendeth God,
Who made it holy for his use alone. 60
For biting that, in pain and in desire
Five thousand years and more the first-born soul
Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite.
Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not
For special reason so pre-eminent «5
In height, and so inverted in its summit.
And if thy vain imaginings had not been
Water of Elsa round about thy mind.
And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,
Thou by so many circumstances only 90
The justice of the interdict of God
Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.
But since I see thee in thine intellect
Converted into stone and stained with sin,
So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee, n
I will too, if not written, at least painted.
Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason
That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne."
And I : " As by a signet is the wax
Which does not change the figure stamped upon it, 80
My brain is now imprinted by yourself. , . ,,
But wherefore so beyond my power of sight
Soars your desirable discourse, that aye
The more I strive, so much the more I lose it ?"
358 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" That thou mayst recognize," she said, " the school is
Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far
Its doctrine follows after my discourse,
And mayst behold your path from the divine
Distant as far as separated is
From earth the heaven that highest hastens on." 9»
Whence her I answered : " I do not remember
That ever I estranged myself from you,
Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me."
" And if thou art not able to remember,"
Smiling she answered, " recollect thee now 9s
That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe ;
And if from smoke a fire may be inferred.
Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
Some error in thy will elsewhere intent
Truly from this time forward shall my words xoo
Be naked, so far as it is befitting
To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."
And more coruscant and with slower steps
The sun was holding the meridian circle,
Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there 105
When halted (as he cometh to a halt.
Who goes before a squadron as its escort,
If something new he find upon his way)
The ladies seven at a dark shadow's edge,
Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black, «»
The Alp upon its frigid border wears.
In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates
Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain.
And slowly part, like friends, from one another.
" O light,
What Ostream
glory is
of this
the which
human here
race unfolds
! itself ■■

From out one source, and from itself withdraws ?"

For such a prayer, 'twas said unto me, " Pray
Matilda that she tell thee ;" and here answered.
As one does who doth free himself from blame, >«>
The beautiful lady : " This and other things
Were told to him by me ; and sure I am
The water of Lethe has not hid them from him."'
\nd Beatrice : " Perhaps a greater care.
Which oftentimes our memory takes away, »n
Has made the vision of his mind obscure.
But Eunoe behold, that yonder rises ;
Lead him to it. and, as thou art accustomed,
Revive again the half dead virtue in him."
 PURGATORIO, XX XI J I. 359

Like gentle soul, that maketh no excuse, 130

But makes its own will of another's will
As soon as by a sign it is disclosed,
Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statins
Said, in her womanly manner, " Come with him." 135
If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
For writing it, I yet would sing in part
Of the sweet
But inasmuch draught
as full are allthat
the ne'er
leaveswould satiate me ;
Made ready for this second canticle, ho
The curb of art no farther lets me go.
From the most holy water I returned
Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
That are renewed with a new foliage.
Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars. Ha
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
CANTO I. ichaeans imagined that all souls, before
I. The Mountain of Purgatory is a returning to their native heaven, must
vast conical mountain, rising steep and be borne first to the moon, where with
high from the waters of the Southern good waters they would be washed pure
Ocean, at a point antipodal to Mount from outward filth, and then to the sun,
Sion in Jerusalem. In Canto III. 14, where they would be purged by good
Dante speaks of it as fires from every inward stain. After
"The hill these lunar and solar lustrations, they
were fit for the eternal world of light.
That highest tow'rds the heaven uplifts itself";
But the conception of Purgatory as it
and in Paradiso, XXVI. 139, as was held by the early Christians, whether
orthodox Fathers or heretical sects, was
" The mount that rises highest o'er the wave. "
merely the just and necessary result of
Around it run seven terraces, on which
applying to the subject of future punish-
are punished severally the Seven Deadly ment the two ethical ideas that punish-
Sins. Rough stairways, cut in the rock, ment should partake of d^rees pro-
lead up from terrace to terrace, and on portioned to guilt, and that it should be
the summit is the garden of the Ter- restorative. ....
restrial Paradise.
" Pope Gregory the Great, in the
The Seven Sins punished in the Seven sixth century, — either borrowing some
Circles are, — I. Pride ; 2. Envy ; 3. Anger; of the more objectionable features of the
4. Sloth ; 5. Avarice and Prodigality ; Purgatory-doctrine previously held by
6. Gluttony ; 7. Lust. the heathen, or else devising the same
The threefold division of the Purga- things himself from a perception of the
torio, marked only by more elaborate striking adaptedness of such notions
preludes, or by a natural pause in the to secure an enviable power to the
action of the poem, is, — i. From Canto Church, — constructed, established, and
I. to Canto IX. ; 2. From Canto IX. gave working efficiency to the dogmatic
to Canto XXVIII. ; 3, From Canto scheme of Purgatory ever since firmly
XXVIII. to the end. The first of defended by the Papal adherents as an
these divisions describes the region integral part of the Roman Catholic
lying outside the gate of Purgatory ; sy.stem. The doctrine as matured and
the second, the Seven Circles of the promulgated by Gregory, giving to
mountain ; and the third, the Terres- the representatives of the Church an
trial Paradise on its summit. almost unlimited power over Purgatory,
" Traces of belief in a Pulsatory," rapidly grew into favour with the clergy,
says Mr. Alger, Doctrine of a Future and sank with general conviction into
Life, p. 410, "early appear among the the hopes and fears of the laity."
Christians. Many of the gravest Fathers
of the first five centuries naturally con- who9. presided The Museover"ofeloquence the beautiful
and voice,''
heroic
ceived and taught, — as is indeed intrin- verse.
sically reasonable, — that after death n. The nine daughters of Pierus,
some sou'is will be punished for their king of Macedonia, called the Pierides.
sins until they are cleansed, and then They challenged the Muses to a trial
will be released from pain. The Man- of skill in singing, and being vanquished
364 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

were changed by Apollo into magpies. piece that advances very regularly near
Ovid, Met. V., Maynwaring's Tr. : — four minutes a day, and no other group
' Beneath their nails
of stars exhibits, to the naked eye, an
Feathers they feel, and on their faces scales ; observation of time so easily made. How
Their homy beaks at once each other scare, often have we heard our guides exclaim
Their arms
bear are plumed, and on their backs they in the savannahs of Venezuela, or in the
desert extending from Lima to Truxillo,
Pied wings, and flutter in the fleeting air.
Chatt'ring, the scandal of the woods, they fly. ' Midnight is past, the Cress begins Ut
And there continue still their clam'rous cry : bend ! ' How often those words re-
The same their eloquence, as maids or birds. minded us of that affecting scene, where
Now only noise, and nothing then but words." Paul and Virginia, seated near the source
15. The highest heaven. of the river of Lataniers, conversed toge-
ther for the last time, and where the old
19. The planet V'enus. man, at the sight of the Southern Cross,
20. Chaucer, Kiiightes Tale: —
warns them that it is time to separate."
" The besy in
Saleweth larke,
hire the
songmessager of day,
the morwe gray, 24. By the "primal people" Dante
And firy Phebus riseth up so bright. does not mean our first jiarents, but
That all the orient laugheth of the sight " "the early races which inhabited Europe
and Asia," says Dr. Barlow, Study of
23. The stars of the Southern Cross. Dante, and quotes in confirmation of his
Figuratively the four cardinal virtues, view the following passage from Hum-
Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, and Tem- boldt's Cosmos, II.:
perance. See Canto XXXI. 106: — " In consequence of the precession of
the equinoxes, the starry heavens are
" We here are Nymphs, and in the Heaven are continually changing their aspect from
stars. " every portion of the earth's surface. The
The next line may be interpreted in the early races of mankind beheld in the far
same figurative sense. north the glorious constellations of the
soutiiern hemisphere rise before them,
Humboldt, Personal N'arrative, II. 21, which, after remaining long invisible,
Miss Williams's Tr., thus describes his
first glimpse of the Southern Cross. will again appear in those latitudes after
"The pleasure we felt on discovering a lapse of thousands of years
the Southern Cross was warmly shared The Southern Cross began to become
by such of the crew as had lived in the invisible in 52" 30' north latitude 2900
colonies. In the solitude of the seas, years before our era, since, according to
we hail a star as a friend from whom Galle, this constellation might previously
we have long been separated. Among have reached an altitude of more than
the Portuguese and Spaniards ))eculiar 10°. When it disappeared from the
motives seem to increase this feeling ; horizon of the countries of the Baltic,
a religious sentiment attaches them to a the great Pyramid of Cheops had
constellation, the form of which recalls already been erected more than 500
the sign of the faith planted by their
ancestors in the deserts of the New
World. 30. Ilia J, XVIII.: "The Pleiades,
and the Hyades, and the strength of
" The two great stars which mark Orion, and the Bear, which likewise
the summit and the foot of the Cross they call" by the appellation of the Wain,
years.
which there turns round and watches
having nearly the same right ascen-
sion, it follows hence, that the constel- Orion ; and it alone is deprived of the
lation is almost perjiendicular at the
baths of O.eanus."
moment when it passes the meridian. 31. Cato of Utica. "Pythagoras
This circumstance is known to every
escapes, in the fabulous hell of Dante,"
nation that lives l>eyond the tropics, or says Sir Thomas Browne, Urn Purial,
in the Southern hemisphere. It has IV., "among. that swarm of philoso-
been observed at what hour of the night, ?hers, wherein, whilst we meet with
in different seaw^ns, the Cross of the lato and .Socrates, Cato is found in no
South is erect or inclined. It is a time-
lower place than Purgatory."
 ^rOTES TO PURGATORIO.
36s
In the description of the shield of marks :" The eighth book of the Te-
y^neas, ALneid, VIII., Cato is repre- soro of Brunetto Latini is headed Qiii
sented as presiding over the good in comincia la Reitorica che c' insegna a ben
the Tartarean realms : '* And the good parlare, e di governare citta e popoli . In
apart, Cato dispensing laws to them." this art Dante was duly instructed by his
This line of Virgil may have suggested loving master, and became the most able
to Dante the idea of making Cato the orator of his era in Italy. Giov. Villani
warden of Purgatory. speaks of him as retorico perfetto tanto in
In the Convito, IV. 28, he expresses dittare e versificare come in aringhiei-a
the greatest reverence for him. Marcia parlare. But without this record and
returning to him in her widowhood, he without acquaintance with the poet's
says, "symbolizes the noble soul return- political history, knowing nothing of his
influence in debates and councils, nor of
ing to God in old age." And continues:
" What man on earth was more worthy his credit at foreign courts, we might,
lo symbolize God, than Cato? Surely from the occasional speeches in the
none"; — ending the chapter with these Divina Com media, be fully assured of
words: "In his name it is beautiful to the truth of what Villani has said, and
close what I have had to say of the signs that Dante's words and manner were
of nobility, because in him this nobility always skilfully adapted to the purpose
displays them all through all ages." he had in view, and to the persons whom
Here, on the shores of Purgatory, his he addressed.
countenance is adorned with the light of " Virgil's speech to the venerable
the four stars, which are the four virtues. Cato is a perfect specimen of persuasive
Justice, Pnidence, Fortitude, and Tem- eloquence. The sense of personal dig-
|ierance, and it is foretold of him, that nity is here combined with extreme
his garments will shine brightly on the courtesy and respect, and the most flat-
last day. And here he is the symbol of tering appeals to the old man's well-
Liberty, since, for her sake, to him "not known sentiments, his love of liberty,
bitter was death in Utica"; and the his love of rectitude, and his devoted
meaning of Purgatory is spiritual Liberty, attachment to Marcia, are interwoven
or freedom from sin through purification, with irresistible art ; but though the
" the glorious liberty of the children of resentment of Cato at the approach of
God." Therefore in thus selecting the the strangers is thus appeased, and he
" Divine Cato " for the guardian of this is persuaded to regard them with as
realm, Dante shows himself to have much favour as the severity of his char-
greater freedom then the critics, who acter permits, yet he will not have
them think that his consent to their
accuse him of "a perverse theology in
saving the soul of an idolater and proceeding has been obtained by adu-
suicide. " lation, but simply by the assertion of
40. The "blind river" is Lethe, power vouchsafed to them from on
which by sound and not by sight had
guided them through the winding cavern high,— Ma se donna del Ciel ti muove e regge,
from the centre of the earth to the sur- Come tu di', non c' fe mestier lusinga :
Bastiti ben, che per lei mi richegge.
face. /;// XXXIV. 130.
42. His beard. Ford, Lady's TiHal : In this also the consistency of Cato's
"Now the down character is maintained ; he is sensible
Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age." of the flattery, but disowns its influence."
Dante uses the same expression, Inf. 77. .See Inf. V. 4.
78. See Inf. IV. 128. Also Convito,
XX. 45, and Petrarca, who became gray
at an early period, says : IV. 28 : " This the great poet Lucan
shadows forth in the second book of his
" In such a tenebrous and narrow cage Pharsalia, when he says that Marcia
Were we shut up, and the accustomed plumes returned to Cato, and besought him and
I changed betimes, and my first countenance." entreated him to take her back in his old
52. Upon this speech of Virgil to age. And by this Marcia is understood
Cato, Dr. Barlow, Study of Dante, re- the noble soul."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
366
Lucan, Phars., II., Rowe's Tr. :— glory was to be begun in suffering, and

" When turn,

lo ! the sounding doors are heard to
all 1power in humility."
15. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III. 248 :
Chaste urn.
Martia comes from dead Hortensius' " There is only one more point to be
noticed in the Dantesque landscape ;
namely, the feeling entertained by the
Forth from the monument the mournful poet towards the sky. And the love of
dame
With beaten breasts and locks dishevelled mountains is so closely connected with
came ; the love of clouds, the sublimity of both
Then with a pale, dejected, rueful look, depending much on their association,
Thus pleasing to her former lord she spoke. that, having found Dante regardless of
the Carrara mountains as seen from
' At length a barren wedlock let me prove. San Miniato, we may well expect to find
Give me the name without the joys of love ;
No more to be abandoned let me come. him equally regardless of the clouds in
That Cato's wife may live upon my tomb.' " which the sun sank behind them. Ac-
cordingly, we find that his only pleasure
95. A symbol of humility. Ruskin, in the sky depends on its ' wliite clear-
Alod. Painters, III. 232, says: "There ness,'— that turning into bianco aspetto di
is a still deeper significance in the pas- celestro, which is so peculiarly character-
sage quoted, a little while ago, from istic of fine days in Italy. His pieces of
Homer, describing Ulysses casting him- pure pale light are always exquisite. In
self down on the rushes and the corn- the dawn on the purgatorial mountain,
giving land at the river shore, — the first, in its pale white, he sees the tre-
rushes and corn being to him only good inolar delta marina, trembling of the
for rest and sustenance, — when we com- sea ; then it becomes vermilion ; and at
pare itwith that in which Dante tells us last, near sunrise, orange. These are
he was ordered to descend to the shore
precisely the changes of a calm and per-
of the lake as he entered Purgatory, to fect dawn. The scenery of Paradise
gather a rush, and gird himself with it, begins with 'day added to day,' the
it being to him the emblem not only of light of the sun so flooding the heavens,
rest, but of humility under chastisement, that ' never rain nor river made lake so
the rush (or reed) being the only plant wide' ; and throughout the Paradise all
which can grow there ; — ' no plant the beauty depends on spheres of light,
which bears leaves, or hardens its bark, or stars, never on clouds. But the pit
can live on that shore, because it does of the Inferno is at first sight obscure,
not yield to the chastisement of its deep, and so cloudy that at its bottom
waves.' It cannot but strike the reader nothing coiild be seen. When Dante and
singularly how deep and harmonious a Virgil reach the marsh in which the souls
significance runs through all these words of those who have been angry and sad in
of Dante, — how every syllable of them, their lives are forever plunged, they find
the more we penetrate it, becomes a seed it covered with thick fog ; and the con-
of farther thought ! For follow up this demned souls say to them,
image of the girding with the reed, under ' We once were sad,
trial, and see to wliose feet it will lead In the srtveet air, made glndsome by the sun.
us. As the grass of the earth, thought
Now in these murky settlings are we sad'
of as the herb yielding seed, leads us to
the place where our Lord commanded Even the angel crossing the marsh to
the multitude to sit down by companies help them is annoyed by this bitter
upon the green grass ; so the grass of the marsh smoke, fummo acerbo, and conti-
waters, thought of as sustaining itself nually sweeps it with his hand from
tmong tiie waters of affliction, leads us Ijefore
.0 the place wliere a stem of it was put 123.hisSome
face." commentators interpret
into our lord's hand for his sceptre ; Ove adornza, by "where the wind
and in the crown of thorns, and the rod l)lows." But the blowing of the wind
uf reed, was foreshown the everlasting would produce an effect exactly opposite
to that here described.
truth of the Christian ages, — that all.]
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
3'>7
135. Aineid, VI. : " When the first " Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
is torn off, a second of gold succeeds ; Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing
and a twig shoots forth leaves of the Met in the milder shades of Purgatory."
same metal. " 98. The first three months of the year
of Jubilee, 1300. Milman, Hist. Latin
Christ., VI. 285, thus describes it :
CANTO II. " All Europe was in a frenzy of reli-
gious zeal. Throughout the year the
I, It was sunset at Jerusalem, night roads in the remotest parts of Germany,
on the Ganges, and morning at the Hungary, Britain, were crowded with
Mountain of Purgatory. pilgrims of all ages, of both sexes, dm
The sun being in Aries, the night Savoyard above one hundred years old
would "come forth with the scales," determined to see the tombs of the Apos-
or the sign of Libra, which is opposite tles before he died. There were at times
Aries. These scales fall from the hand two hundred thousand strangers at Rome.
of night, or are not above the horizon During the year (no doubt the calcula-
by night, when the night exceeds, or is tions were loose and vague) the city was
longer than the day. visited by millions of pilgrims. At one
7. Boccaccio, Decamerone, Prologue time, so vast was the press both within
to the Third Day, imitates this passage : and without the walls, that openings
"The Aurora, as the sun drew nigh, were broken for ingress and egress.
was already beginning to change from Many people were trampled down, and
vermilion to orange." perished by suffocation Lodgings
31. Argument used in the sense of were exorbitantly dear, forage scarce ;
means, or appliances, as in Inf. XXXI. but the ordinary food of man, bread,
55- meat, wine, and fish, was sold in great
44. Cervantes says in Don Quixote, plenty and at moderate prices. The ob-
Pt. I. ch. 12, that the student Crisos- lations were beyond calculation. It is
tomo "had a face like a benediction." reported by an eyewitness that two
57. Sackville, in his Induction to the priests stood with rakes in their hands
Mirror for Magistrates, says : sweeping the uncounted gold and silver
from the altars. Nor was this tribute,
" Whiles Scorpio dreading Sagittarius' dart
Whose bow prest bent in fight the string had
like offerings or subsidies for Crusades,
slipped, to be devoted to special uses, the accou-
Down sHd into the ocean flood apart." trements, provisions, freight of armies.
It was entirely at the free and irrespon-
80. Odyssey, XL, Buckley's Tr, : sible disposal of the Pope. Christendom
" But I, meditating in my mind, wished of its own accord was heaping at the
to lay hold of the soul of my departed Pope's feet this extraordinary custom ;
mother. Thrice indeed I essayed it, and receiving back the gift of pardon
and my mind urged me to lay hold of it, and everlasting life."
but thrice it flew from my hands, like See also Inf XVI II., Note 29.
unto a shadov/, or even to a dream." 100. The sea-shore of Ostia at the
And ALneid, VI., Davidson's Tr. : mouth of the Tiber, where the souls of
" There thrice he attempted to throw those who were saved assembled, and
his arms around his neck ; thrice the were received by the Celestial Pilot, who
phantom, grasped in vain, escaped his transported them to the island of Pur-
hold, like the fleet gales, or resembling gatory. Minutius Felix, a Roman law-
most a fugitive dream." yer of the third centuiy, makes it the
91. Casella was a Florentine musi- scene of his Octavius, and draws this
cian and friend of Dante, who here pleasant picture of the sands and the sea
speaks to him with so much tenderness Reeves's Tr., p. 37 : —
and affection as to make us regret that " It was vacation-time, and that gave
nothing more is known of him. Milton me aloose from my business at the bar ;
alludes to him in his Sonnet to Mr. H for it was the season after the summer's
l^awes :— heat, when autumn promised fair, an^
^ NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

put on the face of temperate. We set sical Tour, T. 499, "which, though not
out, therefore, in the morning early, genuine, is yet ancient, was inscribed
and as we were walking upon the sea- by order of the Duke of Pescolangiano,
shore, and a kindly breeze fanned and
then proprietor of the place, on a
refreshed our limbs, and the yielding marVile slab placed in the side of the
-sand softly submitted to our feet and rock opposite the entrance of the tomb,
made it delicious travelling, Caecilius
where it still remains. "
on a sudden espied the statue of Serapis,
and, according to the vulgar mode of Forsyth, Italy, p. 378, says : " Vir-
gits tomb is so called, I believe, on the
superstition, raised his hand to his single authority of Donatus. Donatus
Ihouth, and paid his adoration in kisses. places it at the right distance from
Upon which Octavius, addressing him- Naples, but on the wrong side of the
self to me, said : ' It is not well done, city ; and even there he omits the
my brother Marcus, thus to leave your grotto of Posilipo, which not being so
inseparable companion in the depth of deep in his time as the two last excava-
vulgar darkness, and to suffer him, in tions have left it, must have opened
so clear a day, to stumble upon stones ; precisely at his tomb. Donatus, too,
stones, indeed, of figure, and anointed
gives, for Virgil's own composition, an
with oil, and crowned ; but stones, how- epitaph on the cliff now rejected as a
ever, still they are ; — for you cannot but
forgery. And who is this Donatus?
be sensible that your peiTnitting so foul — an obscure grammarian, or rather his
an error in your friend redounds no less counterfeit. The structure itself re-
to your disgrace than his.' This dis- sembles a ruined pigeon-house, where
course of his held us through half the the numerous columbaria would indicate
city ; and now we began to find ourselves a family-sepulchre : but who should
upon the free and open shore. There repose in the tomb of Virgil, but Vir-
the gently washing waves had spread gil alone? Visitors of every nation,
the extremest' sands into the order of an kings and princes, have scratched their
artificial walk ; and as the sea always names on the stucco of this apocryphal
expresses some roughness in his looks,
ruin, but the poet's awful name seems
even when the winds are still, although to have deterred them from versifying
he did not roll in foam and angry surges
to the shore, yet were we much delighted, 37. Be satisfied with knowing that
as we walked upon the edges of the a thing is, without asking why it is.
water, to see the crisping, frizzly waves These here." were distinguished in scholastic
glide in snaky folds, one while playing language as the Demonsl ratio quia, and
against our feet, and then again retiring the Demon stratio propter quid.
and lost in the devouring ocean. Softly, 49. Places on the mountainous sea-
then, and calmly as the sea about us, we side road from Genoa to Pisa, known
travelled on, and kept upon the brim of as the Riviera di I^iante. Of this,
the gently declining shore, beguiling the Mr. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III. 243,
way1 12.
withThis
our isstories."
the first line of the second
canzone of the Cottvito. says"The similes by which he illus-
:—trates the steepness of that ascent are all
taken from the Riviera of Genoa, now
CANTO III. traversed by a good carriage road under
15. So in Paradiso, XXVI. 139 :— the name of the Cornice ; but as this
" The mount that rises highest o'er the sea." road did not exist in Dante's time, and
the steep precipices and promontories
27. The tomb of Virgil is on the pro- were then probably traversed by foot-
montory of Pausilippo, overlooking the
paths, which, as they necessarily passed
Bay of Naples. The inscription upon it m many places over crumbling and
is : — slippery limestone, were doubtless not
Mantua me genuit : Calabri rapuere : tenet nunc a little dangerous, and as in the manner
Parthenope : cecini pascua, rura, duces.
they commanded the bays of sea below,
"The epitaph," says Eustace, Clas- and lay exposed to the full blaze of the
 NOTES TO PURGA TORIO
365
south-eastern sun, they corresponded stories of enchantment and romance
precisely to the situation of the path by belong to a ruin that appears as if made
which he ascends above the purgatorial for their dwelling-place. It is a scene
sea, the image could not possibly have out of that Italy which is the home of
been taken from a better source for the the imagination, and which becomes the
fully conveying his idea to the reader : Italy of memory.
nor, by the way, is there reason to dis- "As the road winds down to the sea,
credit, in this place, his powers of it passes under a high isolated peak, on
climbing ; for, with his usual accuracy, which stands Esa, built as a city of
he has taken the angle of the path refuge against pirates and Moors. A
for us, saying it was considerably more little farther on,
than forty-five. Now a continuous
' Its Roman strength Turbia showed
mountain-slope of forty-five degrees is
already quite unsafe either for ascent or In ruins by the mountain road,' —
descent, except by zigzag paths ; and not only recalling the ancient times,
a greater slope than this could not be when it was the boundary city of Italy
climbed, straightforward, but by help and Gaul, and when Augustus erected
of crevices or jags in the rock, and great his triumphal arch within it, but as-
physical exertion besides." sociated also with Dante and the steep
Mr. Norton, Travel and Study, p. I, of Purgatory. Beneath lies Monaco,
thus describes the Riviera : " The Var glowing ' like a gem ' on its oval rock,
forms the geographical boundary be- the sea sparkling around it, and the
tween France and Italy; but it is not long western rays of the sinking sun
till Nice is left behind, and the first lingering on its little palace, clinging
height of the Riviera is sunnounted, to its church belfry and its gray wall,
that the real Italy begins. Here the as if loath to leave them. "
hills close round at the north, and sud- In the Casa Magni, on the sea-shore
denly, as the road turns at the top of a near Lerici, Shelley once lived. He
long ascent, the Mediterranean appears was returning thither from Leghorn,
far below, washing the feet of the when he perished in a sudden storm at
mountains that form the coast, and sea.
stretching away to the Southern hori- 67. After they had gone a mile, they
zon. The line of the shore is of ex- were still a stone's throw distant.
traordinary beauty. Here an abrupt 82. See Convito, I. 10.
cliff rises from the sea ; here bold and 112. Manfredi, king of Apulia and
broken masses of rock jut out into it ; Sicily, was a natural son of the Em-
here the hills, their gray sides terraced peror Frederick the Second. He was
for vineyards, slope gently down to the slain at the battle of Benevento, in
water's edge ; here they stretch into little 1265 ; one of the great and decisive
promontories covered with orange and battles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines,
olive-trees. the Guelph or Papal forces being com-
"One of the first of these promon- manded by Charles of Anjou, and the
tories is that of Capo Sant' Ospizio. Ghiliellines or Imperialists by Man-
A close grove of olives half conceals fredi.
the old castle on its extreme point. Malispini, Storia, ch. 187, thus de-
With the afternoon sun full upon it, scribes his death and burial: "Man-
the trees palely glimmering as their fredi, being left with few followers,
leaves move in the light air, the sea so behaved like a valiant gentleman who
blue and smooth as to be like a darker preferred to die in battle rather thar
sky, and not even a ripple upon the to escape with shame. And puttin;
beach, it seems as if this were the very on his helmet, which had on it a silver
home of summer and of repose. It is eagle for a crest, this eagle fell on th«
remote and secluded from the stir and saddle-bow before him ; and seeing thi
noise of the world. No road is seen he was greatly disturbed, and said ii
leading to it, and one looks down upon Latin to the barons who were neai
the solitary castle and wonders what him, ' Hoc est signuin Dei ; for this cresi
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
37°
I fastened on with my own hands in threw a stone upon his grave, so that a
such a way that it could not fall.' But great pile was made. But afterwards,
he was not discouraged, and took heart, it is said, by command of the Pope, the
and went into battle like any other Bishop of Cosenza took him from that
l)aron, without the royal insignia, in grave, and sent him out of the king-
order not to be recognized. But short dom, because it was Church land.
wliile it lasted, for his forces were al- And he was buried by the rivet Verde,
ready in flight ; and tliey were routed at the confines of the kingdom and the
and Manfredi slain in the middle of the Campagna. This battle was on a Fri-
enemy ; and they were driven into the day, the last day of February, in the
town by the soldiers of King Charles, year one thousand two hundred and
for it was jiow night, and they lost
the city of Benevento. And many of Villani, who in his account of the
sixty-five."
battle copies Malispini almost literally,
Manfredi's
ners, among barons
whom were
were made priso-
the Count gives in another chapter, VI. 46, the
(iiordano, Messer Piero Asino degli following portrait of Manfredi ; but it
Uberti, and many others, whom King must be remembered that Villani was
Charles sent captive into Provence, and a
line.Guelph, and Manfredi a Ghibel-
there had them put to death in prison ;
and he imprisoned many other Ger- " King Manfredi had for his mother
mans in different parts of the kingdom. a beautiful lady of the family of the
And a few days afterwards the wife of Marquises of Lancia in Lombardy,
Manfredi and his children and his sis- with whom the Emperor had an in-
ter, who were in Nocera de' Sardini trigue, and was beautiful in person, and
in Apulia, were taken prisoners by like his father and more than his father
Charles ; these died in prison. And was given to dissipation of all kinds.
for more than three days they made He was a musician and singer, delight-
search after Manfredi ; for he could ed in the company of buffoons and
not be found, nor was it known if lie courtiers and beautiful concubines, and
were dead, or a prisoner, or had es- was always clad in green ; he was
caped ;because he liad not worn his generous and courteous, and of good
royal robes in tlie battle. And after- demeanour, so that he was much be-
wards he was recognized by one of loved and gracious ; but his life was
his own camp-followers, from certain wholly epicurean, hardly caiing for
marks upon his i)erson, in the middle of God or the saints, but for the delights
the battle-field ; and he threw him across of the body. He was an enemy of
an ass, and came shouting, ' Who will holy Church, and of priests and monks,
confiscating churches as his father had
buy Manfredi ? ' for which a baron of
the king beat him with a cane. And done ; and a wealthy gentleman was he,
the body of Manfredi being brought to both from the treasure which he in-
King Charles, he assembled all the herited from the Emperor, and from
barons who were prisoners, and asked King Conrad, his brother, and from his
each one if tliat was Manfredi ; and own kingdom, which was ample and
timidly they answered yes. Count fruitful, and which, so long as he lived,
Giordano smote himself in the face notwithstanding all the wars he had with
with his hands, weeping and crying, the Church, he kept in good condition, sd
;* O my lord ! ' whereupon he was niucli that it rose greatly in wealth and power,
commended by the French, and certaiti bothThis
by sea and of
bv land."
Bretons besought that he inigiit have battle Benevento followed
honourable burial. Answered tlie king close upon that mentioned Inf. XXVIII
and said, ' I would do it willingly, if
he were not excommunicated ' ; and " At Cepcrano, where a renegade
on that account he would not have 16:—Was each Apulian."
him laid m consecrated ground, but he 113. Constance, wife of the Em-
was buried at the foot of the bridge of peror Henry the Sixth.
Benevento, and each one of the army 115 His daughter Constance, who
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

was married to Peter of Aragon, and 71. 107.

Note The Ecliptic. See Inf. XVII.,
was the motlier of Frederic of Sicily and
of James of Aragon. 73. This, the Mountain of Purgatory ;
124. The Bishop of Cosenza and and that. Mount Zion.
Pope Clement the Fourth. 83. The Seven Stars of Ursa Major,
131. The name of the river Verde the North Star.
371
reminds one of the old Spanish ballad, 109. Compare Thomson's description
particularly when one recalls the fact of the "pleasing land of drowsy-head,"
that Manfredi had in his army a band of in the Castle of Indolence: —
Saracens :—
" And there a season atween June and May,
" Rio Verde, Rio Verde, Half prankt with spring, with summer half
imbrowned,
Many a corpse is bathed in thee,
Both of Moors and eke of Christians, A listless climate made, where, sooth to say,
Slain with swords most cruelly." No living wight could work, ne cared even for

132. Those who died "in contumely

of holy Church," or under excommuni- 123. " He loved also in life," says Ar-
cation, were buried with extinguished rivabene, Comme/ito Sturico, 584, "a
and inverted torches. certain Belacqua, an excellent maker of
play."
musical instruments."
Benvenuto da Imola says of him :
CANTO IV. " He was a Florentine who made gui-
tars and other musical instruments. He
6. Plato's doctrine of three souls : the carved and ornamented the necks and
Vegetative in the liver ; the Sensative heads of the guitars with great care, and
in the heart ; and the Intellectual in the sometimes also played. Hence Dante,
brain. See Convito, IV. 7. who delighted in music, knew him inti-
15. See Convito, II. 14, quoted Far, mately." This seems to be all that is
XIV. Note 86. known of Belacqua.
25. Sanleo, a fortress on a mountain 133. Aieasurefor Measure, II. 2 :—
in the duchy of Urbino ; Noli, a town " True prayers
in the Genoese territory, by the sea-side ; That shall be up at heaven, and enter there
Bismantova, a mountain in the duchy of Ere sunrise ; prayers from preserved souls.
Modena. From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate
36. Like Christian going up the hill To nothing temporal."
Difficulty in Bunyan, Pilgrim^s Pro-
Stress: " I looked then after Christian CANTO V.
to see him go up the hill, where I per-
ceived he fell from running to going, I. There is an air of reality about this
and from going to clamliering upon his passage, like some personal reininiscence
hands and knees, because of the steep- of street gossip, which gives perhaps a
ness of the place." little credibility to the otherwise incre-
43. More than forty- five degrees. dible anecdotes of Dante told by Sac-
61. If the sun were in CJemini, or chetti and others ;— such as those of the
if Vie were in the month of May, you ass-driver whom he beat, and the black-
would see the sun still farther to the smith whose tools he threw into the
norlii. street for singing his verses amiss, and
64. Riihecchio is generally rendered the woman who pointed him out to her
red or ruddy. But Jacopo dalla Lana companions as the man who had been in
says: '■' Ruheechio in the Tuscan tongue Hell and brought back tidings of it.
signifies an indented mill-wheel." This 38. Some editions read in this line
interpretation certainly rendere the image mezza notte, midnight, instead oi prima
more distinct. The several signs of the nolle, early nightfall.
Zodiac are so many cogs in the great Of meteors Brunetto Latini, Iresor, I.
wheel ; and the wheel is an image which pt. 3, ch. 107, writes : " Likewise it
Dante more than once applies to the often comes to pass that a dry vapour,
celestioi bodies. when it has mounted so high that il
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
372
takes fire from the heat which is above, Nothing can be truer to the action of a
falls, when thus kindled, towards the stream in fury than these lines. And
earth, until it is spent and extinguished, how desolate is it all ! The lonely flight,
whence some people think it is a dragon — the grisly wound, " pierced in the
or a star which falls." throat," - the death, without help or pity,
Milton, Tarad. Lost, IV. 556, de- — only the name of Mary on the hps, —
scribing the flight of Uriel, says : — and the cross folded over the heart.
" Swift as a shooting star
Then the rage of the demon and the
In Autumn thwarts the night, when vapours river, — the noteless grave, — and, at last,
fired even she who had been most trusted for-
Impress the air, and show the mariner
From what point of his compass to beware getting him, —
Impetuous winds." ' Giovanna nor none else have care for me.'

66. Shakespeare's "war 'twixt will and There is, I feel assured, nothing else
will not," and " letting I dare not wait like it in all the range of poetry ; a faint
and harsh echo of it, only, exists in one
67. IThis
upon would." is Jacopo del Cassero of
Fano, in the region between Romagna Scottish ballad, 'The Twa Corbies.' "
89. The wife of Buonconte.
and the kingdom of Naples, then ruled 92. Ampere, Voyage Daiitesque, p.
by Charles de Valois (Charles Lack- 241, thus speaks of the battle of Cam-
land). He was waylaid and murdered
paldino :" In this plain of Campaldino,
at Oriago, between Venice and Padua,
now so pleasant and covered with vine-
by Azzone the Third of Este. yards, took place, on the lith of June,
74. Lciitiius, xvii. 2 : " The life of 1289, a rude combat between theGuelphs
the flesh is in the blood." of Florence and the fuontsciti Ghibel-
75. Among the Paduans, who are lines, aided by the Aretines. Dante
called Antcnori, because their city was
fought in the front rank of the Floren-
founded by Antenor of Troy. Brunetto tine cavalry ; for it must needs l)e that
Latini, Trcsor, I. ch. 39, sayv "Then this man, whose life was so compkte,
Antenor and Priam departed thence, should have been a soldier, before being
with a great company of people, and a theologian, a diplomatist, and poet.
went to the Marca Trevisana, not far He was then twenty-four years of age.
from Venice, and there they built an- He himself described this battle in a
other city whicii is called Padua, where letter, of which only a few lines remain.
lies the body of Antenor, and his se- ' At the battle of Campaldino,' he says,
pulchre isstill there." 'the fihibelline party was routed and
79. La Mira is on the Brenta, or one almost wholly slain. I was there, a
of its caiinls, in the fen-lands between novice in arms ; I had great fear, and
Padua and Venice.
88. Buonconte was a son of Guido di at last great joy, on account of the divers
Montefeltro, and lost his life in the battle chances of the fight.' One must not see
in this phrase the confession of cow-
of Campaldino in the Val d'Amo. His ardice, which could have no place in a
body was never found ; Dante imagines soul tempered like that of Alighieri.
its fate.
The only fear he had was lest the Imttle
Kuskin, Mod. Painters, \\\. 252, re- should be lost. In fact, the Florentines
marks —: at first seemed beaten ; their infantry fell
" Observe, Buonconte, as he dies, back before the Aretine cavalry ; but
crosses his arms over his breast, press- this first advantage of the enemy was its
ing tliem together, partly in his i)ain, destruction, by dividing its forces. These
partly in prayer. His body thus lies by were the vicissitudes of the battle to
the river shore, as on a sepulchral monu- which Dante alludes, and which at first
ment, the arms folded into a cross. The excited his fears, and then caused his
rage of the river, under the influence of
the evil demon, unlooses this cross, dash- 96. The Convent of Camaldoli, thus
i ig the ixKly supinely away, and rolling described by Foreyth, Italy, p. II7 : —
ii over and over by bank and bottom. I " Wc now crossed the beautiful valo

joy."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
373
of Prato Vecchio, rode round the modest him a railing accusation, but said, Th
arcades of the town, and arrived at the Lord rebuke thee."
lower convent of Cainaldoli, just at shut- And Jeremy Taylor, speaking of tlie
ting of the gates. The sun was set and pardon of sin, says: ' And while it is
every object sinking into repose, except disputed between Christ and Christ's
the stream which roared among the enemy who shall be Lord, the pardon
rocks, and the convent-bells which were fluctuates like the wave, striving to
then ringing the Angelus. climb the rock, and is washed off like
" This monaster)' is sechided from the its own retinue, and it gets possession
approach of woman in a deep, narrow, by time and uncertainty, by difiiculty
woody dell. Its circuit of dead walls, and the degrees of a hard progression."
built on the conventual plan, gives it an 109. Bnmetto Latini, Tresot; L ch,
aspect of confinement and defence ; yet 107 : " Then arise vapours like unto
this is considered as a privileged retreat, smoke, and mount aloft in air, where
where the rule of the order relaxes its little by little they gather and grow,
rigour, and no monks can reside but the until they become dark and dense, so
sick or the superannuated, the dignitary that they take away the sight of the
or the steward, the apothecary or the sun ; and these are the clouds ; but
bead-turner. Here we passed the night, they never are so dark as to take away
and next morning rode up by the steep tra- the light of day ; for the sun shines
verses to the Santo Erenio, where Saint through them, as if it were a candle
Romualdo lived and established in a lantern, which shines outwardly,
though it cannot itself be seen. And
de* tacenti cenobiti il coto, when the cloud has waxed great, so that
L' arcane
Al penitenze,
Camaldoli suo. ed i digiuni it can no longer support the abundance
of water, which is there as vapour, it
" The Eremo is a city of hermits, must needs fall to earth, and that is the
walled round, and divided into streets
of low, detached cells. Each cell con- 112. In Ephesians ii. 2, the evil spirit
sists of two or three naked rooms, built israin."
called " the prince of the ])ower of th*
exactly on the plan of the Saint's own
tenement, which remains just as Ro- Compare also Inf. XXIII. 16,
mualdo left it eight hundred years ago :
now too sacred and too damp for a " If anger upon evil will be grafted " ;
mortal tenant. and Ivf. XXXL 55,
air."
" The unfeeling Saint has here es- " Foi where the argument of intellect
tablished a nile which anticipates the Is added unto evil will and power,
pains of Purgatory. No stranger can
behold without emotion a number of No rampart can the people make against it.'
noble, interesting young men bound to 116. This Pratomagno is the same as
stand erect chanting at choir for eight the Prato Vecchio mentioned in Note 96.
hours a day ; their faces pale, their The " great yoke" is the ridge of the
heads shaven, their beards shaggy, their Apennines.
backs raw, their legs swollen, and their Dr. Barlow, Study of Dante, p. 1 99,
feet bare. With this horrible institute has this note on the passage : —
the climate conspires in severity, and "When rain falls from the upper
selects from society the best constitu- region of the air, we observe at a con-
tions. The sickly novice is cut off in siderable altitude a thin light veil, or a
one or two winters, the rest are subject hazy turbidness ; as this increases, the
lower clouds become diffused in it, and
to dropsy, and few arrive at old age."
97. Where the Archiano ioses its form a uniform sheet. Such is the stra-
name by flowing into the Amo. tus cloud described by Dante (v. 115)
104. Epistle of Jiide, 9: "Yet Mi- as covering the valley from Pratomagno
chael the archangel, when contending to the ridge on the opposite side above
with the devil he disputed about the Camaldoli. This cloud is a widely
body of Moses, durst not bring against extended horizontal sheet of vapour, in
 NOTES TO rURGATORIO.
374

creasing from below, and lying on or lovers, with such embellishments as his
near the earth's surface. It is properly imagination suggested.
the cloud of niglit, and first nppears Ugo Foscolo, Edi/tb. Revieiv, XXIX.
about sunset, usually in autumn ; it com-
prehends creeping mists and fogs which 458, speaks thus : —unfolds the character
" Shakespeare
ascend from the bottom of valleys, and of his persons, and presents them undei
from the surface of lakes and rivers, in all the variety of forms which they can
consequence of air colder than that of naturally assume. He surrounds them
the surface descending and mingling with all the splendour of his imagina-
with it, and from the air over the ad- tion, and bestows on them that full and
jacent land cooling down more rapidly minute reality which his creative genius
than that over the water, from which could alone confer. Of all tragic poets,
increased evaporation is taking place." he most amply developes character. On
1 1 8. Milton, Farad. Lost, IV. 500 : the other hand, Dante, if compared not
" As Jupiter only to Virgil, the most sober of poets,
but even to Tacitus, will be found never
On Juno smiles, when he impregns the clouds
to employ more than a stroke or two of
That bring May-flowers."
his pencil, which he aims at imprinting
126. His arms crossed upon his almost insensibly on the hearts of his
breast. readers. Virgil has related the story of
134. Ampere, Voyage Dantesque, 255 : Eurydice in two hundred verses ; Dante,
" Who was tliis unhappy and perhaps in sixty verses, has finished his master-
guilty woman ? The commentators piece,— the tale of Francesca da Rimini.
say that she was of the family of Tolo- The history of Desdemona has a parallel
mei, illustrious at Siena. Among the in the following passage of Dante. Nello
different versions of her story there is della Pietra had espoused a lady of noble
one truly terrible. The outraged hus- family at Siena, named Madonna Pia.
band led his wife to an isolated castle Her be.auty was the admiration of Tus-
in the Maremma of Siena, and there cany, and excited in the lieart of her
shut himself up with his victim, wait- husband a jealousy, which, exasperated
ing his vengeance from the poisoned by false reports and groundless suspi-
atmospliere of this solitude. Breathing cions, at length drove him to the des-
with her the air which was killing her, perate resolution of Othello. It is
he saw her slowly perish. This fu- difficult to decide whether the lady was
neral tete-a-tete found him always im- quite innocent ; but so Dante represents
passive, until, according to the ex- her. Her husband brought her into the
pression of Dante, the Maremma had Maremma, which, tlien as now, was a
unmade what he had once loved. This district destructive to health. He never
melancholy story might well have no told his unfortunate wife the reason of
other foundation tlian the enigma of her banishment to so dangerous a
Dante's lines, and the terror with which country. He did not deign to utter
this enigma may have struck the imagi- complaint or accusation. He lived with
nations ofhis contemporaries. her alone, in cold silence, witJiout an-
" However this may be, one cannot swering her questions, or listening to her
prevent an involuntary shudder, when, remonstrances. He patiently waited till
showing you a pretty little brick palace the pestilential air should destroy the
[at Siena], they say, ' That is the house health of this young lady. In a few
months she died. Some chroniclers,
the Pia.'"
of Henvenuto da Imola gives a different indeed, tell us, that Nello used the
version of the story, and says that by dagger to hasten her death. It is
command of the husband she was thrown certain that he survived her, plunged in
from tile window of her palace into the sadness and perpetual silence. Dante
street, and died of the fall. had, in this incident, all the materials ol
Bandello, the Italian Novelist, Pt. I. an ample and very poetical narra-
Nov. 12, says that the narrative is true, verses. tive. But he bestows on it only four
and gives minutely the story of the
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 375

For a description of the Maremma, Papirius Cursor. He was of the no-

see Inf. XIII. Note 9. bles of La Fratta, in the county of
Alio Rogers, Italy, near the end :— Siena ; who being forcibly banished be
" Where the path the Counts of Santafiore, held the nobly
Is lost in rank luxuriance, and to breathe castle of Radicofani against the Pope.
Is to inhale distemper, if not death ; With his marauders he made many and
Where the wild-boar retreats, when hunters
chafe, great prizes, .so that no one could go
And, when the day-star flames, the buffalo- safely to Rome or elsewhere through
herd
those regions Yet hardly any one fell
Afflicted plunge into the stagnant pool,
Nothing discerned amid the water-leaves,
into his hands, who did not go away
Save here and there the likeness of a head. contented, and love and praise him. . . .
Savage, uncouth ; where none in human shape If a merchant were taken prisoner,
Come, save the herdsman, levelling his length Ghino asked him kindly how much he
Of lance with many a cry, or Tartar-like
Urging his steed along the distant hill was able to give him ; and if he said five
As from a danger." hundred pieces of gold, he kept three
hundretl for himself, and gave back two
CANTO VI. hundred, saying, ' I wish you to go on
with your business and to thrive.' If
I. Zara was a game of chance, played it were a rich and fat priest, he kept
with three dice. his handsome mule, and gave him a
13. Messer Benincasa of Arezzo, who, wretched horse. And if it were a poor
while Vicario del Podesta, or Judge, in scholar, going to study, he gave him
Siena, sentenced to death a brother and some money, and exhorted him to good
a nephew of Ghino di Tacco for highway conduct and proficiency in learning."
robbery. He was afterwards an Auditor Boccaccio, Decameron, X. 2, relates
of the Riiota in Rome, where, says the following adventure of Ghino di
Benvenuto, "one day as he sat in the Tacco and the Ablx>t of Cligni.
tribunal, in the midst of a thousand "Ghino di 'I'acco was a man fomous
people, Ghino di Tacco appeared like for his bold and insolent robberies, who
Scpevola, terrible and nothing daunted ; being banished from Siena, and at utter
and having seized Benincasa, he plunged enmity with the Counts di Santa Fiore,
his dagger into his heart, leaped from caused the town of Radicofani to rebel
the balcony, and disappeared in the against the Church, and lived there
midst of the crowd stupefied with terror." whilst his gang robbed all who passed
14. This terrible (ihino di Tacco was that way. , Now when Boniface the
a nobleman of Asinalunga in the terri- Eighth was Pojie, there came to court
tory of Siena ; one of those splendid the Abbot of Cligni, reputed to be one
fellows, who, from some real or imaginary of the richest prelates in the world, and
wrong done ihem, take to the mountains having debauched his stomach with high
and highways to avenge themselves on living, he was advised by his physicians
society. He is tie tine type of the to go to the baths of Siena, as a certain
traditionary stage bandit, the magnani- cure. And, having leave from the Pope,
mous melodramatic hero, who utters he set out with a goodly train of coaches,
such noble sentiments and commits such carriages, horses, and servants, paying
atrocious deeds. no respect to the nimours concerning
Benvenuto is evidently dazzled and fas- this robber. Ghino was apprised of his
cinated by him, and has to throw two coming, and took his measures accord-
Romans into the scale to do him justice. ingly ;when, without the loss of a man,
His account is as follows : — he enclosed the Abbot and his whole
" Reader, I would have thee know retinue in a narrow defile, where it was
that Ghino was not, as some write, so impossible for them to escape. This being
infamous as to be a great assassin and done, he sent one of his principal
highway robber. For this Ghino di fellows to the Abbot with his service,
Tacco was a wonderful man, tall, mus- requesting the favour of him to alight
cula-, black-haired, and strong ; as agile and visit him at his castle. Upon which
as Scavi^la, as prudent and liberal as the Abbot replied, with a great deal of
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
376
passion, that he had nothing to do with ing, when he brought him as mu:h
Ghino, but that his resolution was to go bread and wine as before, and in the
on, and he would see who dared to stop same manner. And thus he continued
him. ' My Lord,' quoth the man, with a during many days, till he found the Ab-
bot had eaten some dried beans, which
great deal of humility, ' you are now in
a place where all excommunications are he had left purposely in the chamber,
kicked out of doors ; then please to when he inquired of him, as from
oblige my master in this thing ; it will Ghino, how he found his stomach ?
be your best ^\•ay.' Whilst they were The Abbot replied, ' I should be well
talking together, the place was sur- enough were I out of this man's clutches.
rounded with highwaymen, and the There is nothing I want now so much
Abbot, seeing himself a prisoner, went as to eat, for his medicines have had
with a great deal of ill-will with the such an effect upon me, that I am fit
fellow to the castle, followed by his to die with hunger.' Ghino, then,
whole retinue, where he dismounted, having furnished a room with the Ab-
and was lodged, by Ghino's appoint- bot's own goods, and provided an ele-
ment, in a poor, dark little room, whilst gant entertainment, to which many
every other person was well accom- people of the town were invited, as
modated according to his respective well as the Abbot's own domestics,
station, and the carriages and all the went the next morning to him, and
horses taken exact care of. This being said, ' My Lord, now you find yourself
done, Ghino went to the Abbot, and recovered, it is time for you to quit
said, ' My Lord, Ghino, whose guest you this infirmary.' So he took him by
are, requests the favour of you to let him the hand, and led him into the cham-
know whither you are going, and upon ber, leaving him there with his own
what account ? ' The Abbot was wise people ; and as he went out to give
enough to lay all his haughtmess aside orders about the feast, the Abbot was
for the present, and satisfied him with giving an account how he had led his
regard to both. Ghino went away at life in that place, whilst they declared
hearing this, and, resolving to cure him that they had been used by Ghino with
without a bath, he ordered a great fire all possible respect. When the time
to be kept constantly in his room, came, they sat down and were nobly
coming to him no more till next morn- entertained, but still without Ghino's
ing, when he brought him two slices of making himself known. But after tlie
toasted bread, in a fine napkin, and a Abbot had continued some days in that
large glass of his own rich white wine, manner, Ghino had all the goods and
saying to him, ' My Lord, when Ghino and furniture brought into a large room,
was young, he studied physic, and he the horses were likewise led into
declares that tiie very best medicine for a the court-yard which was under it,
pain in the stomach is what he has now when he inquired how his Lordship
provided for you, of which these things now found himself, or whether he was
are to be the beginning. Then take yet able to ride. The Abbot made an-
them, and have a good heart.' The swer that he was strong enough, and
Abbot, whose hunger was much greater his stomach perfectly well, and that he
than was his will to joke, ate the bread, only wanted to quit this man. tJhiiio
though with a great deal of indignation, then brought him into the room where
and drank the glass of wine ; after all his goods were, showing him also
which he began to talk a little arro- to the window, that he might take a
gantly, asking many questions, and view of his hoi"ses, when he said, ' My
demanding more particularly to sec Lord, you nuist understand it was no
this Ghino. But (Jhino passed over ^vil disposition, but his being driven
part of what he said as vain, and the a poor exile from his own house, and
rest he answered very courteously, de- persecuted with many enemies, that
claring that Ghino meant to make him forced Ghino tli Tacco, whom I am, to
a visit very soon, and then left him. be a robber upon the highways, and an
He saw him no more till next morn- enemy to the court of Rome, You
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
377
seem, however, to be a person of honour ; to do so, if he was such a person as he
as, therefore, I have cured you of your leported, and, in the mean time, gave
pain in your stomach, I do not mean to letters of safe-conduct for his coming
treat you as I would do another person thither. Upon that assurance, Ghino
that should fall into my hands, that is, came to court, when the Pope was soon
to take what I please, but I would have convinced of his worth, and reconciled
you consider my necessity, and then give to him, giving him the priory of an hos-
n>e what you will yourself. Here is all pital, and creating him a knight. And
that belongs to you ; the horses you may there he continued as a friend and loyal
see out of the w indow : take either part servant to the Holy Church, and to the
or the whole, just as you are disposed,
and go or stay, as is most agreeable to Abbot of Cligni, as long as he lived.''
15. Clone de' Tarlati of Pictramala,
you.' The Abbot was surprised to hear who, according to the Ottimo, after the
a highwayman talk in so courteous a fight at Bibbiena, being pursued by the
manner, which did not a little please enemy, endeavoured to ford the Arno,
him ; so, turning all his former passion and was drowned. Others interpret the
ind resentment into kindness and good- line differently, making him the pursuing
will, he ran with a heart full of friend- party. But as he was an Aretine, and
ship to embrace him : ' I protest sol- the Aretines were routed in this battle,
emnly, that to procure the friendship of the
one. other rendering is doubtless the tnie
such an one as I take you to be, I would
undergo more than what you have 17. Federigo Novello, son of Ser
already made me suffer. Cursed be Guido Novello of Casentino, slain by
that evil fortune which has thrown you one of the Bostoli. "A good youth,"
into this way of life ! ' So, taking only says Benvenuto, "and therefore Dante
a few of his most necessary things, and makes mention of him."
also of his horses, and leaving all the The Pisan who gave occasion to Mar-
rest, he came back to Rome. The zucco to show his fortitude was Mar-
Pope had heard of the Abbot's being a zucco's own son, Farinata degli Scorin-
prisoner, and though he was much con- giani. He was slain by Beccio da
cerned at it, yet, upon seeing him, he Caproni, or, as Benvenuto asserts, de-
inquired what benefit he had received claring that Boccaccio told him so, by
from the baths ? The Abbot replied, Count Ugolino. His father, Marzucco,
with a smile, ' Holy Father, I found a who had become a Franciscan friar,
physician much nearer, who has cured showed no resentment at the murder,
me excellently well ;' and he told him but vi'ent with the other friars to his
the manner of it, which made the Pope son's funeral, and in humility kissed the
laugh heartily, when, going on with his hand of the murderer, extorting from
story, and moved with a truly generous him the exclamation, "Thy patience
spirit, he requested of his Holiness one overcomes my obduracy." This was an
favour. The Pope, imagining he would example of Christian forgiveness which
ask something else, freely consented to even that vindictive age applauded.
grant it. Then said the Abbot, ' Holy 19. Count Orso was a son of Napo-
Father, what I mean to require is, that leone d'Acerbaja, and was slain by his
you would bestow a free pardon on brother-in-law (or uncle) Alberto.
Ghino di Tacco, my doctor, because, 22. Pierre de la Brosse was the secre-
of all people of worth that I ever met tary of Philip le Bel of France, and
vitli, he certainly is most to be esteemed, suffered at his hands a fate similar to
and the damage he does is more the fault that which befell Pier de la Vigna at the
of fortune than himself. Change but court ot Frederick the .Second. See
his condition, and give him something Inf. XHI. Note 58. Being accused by
to live upon, according to his rank and Marie de Brabant, the wife of Philip, of
station, and 1 dare say you will have having written love-letters to her, he
the same opinion of him that I have.' was condemned to death by the king in
The Pope, being of a noble spirit, and 1276. Benvenuto thinks that during his
a great encourager of merit, promised residence in. Paris Dante learned the
C C 2
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
378
truth of the innocence of Pierre de la
lirosse. V. 444, Sordello's biography is thus
30. In ^neid, VI. : " Cease to hope " Sordello was a Mantuan of Sirier,
that the decrees of the gods are to be son of : —
a poor knight, whose name was
given
changed by prayers." Sir El Cort. And he delighted in
37. The apex Juris, or top of judg- learning songs and in making them,
ment ; the supreme decree of God. and rivalled the good men of the court
Measttre for Measure, II. 2 :— as far as possible, and wrote love-songs
and satires. And he came to the court
" How would you be,
If He who is the top ot judgment should of the Count of Saint Boniface, and the
Count honoured him greatly, and by way
But judge you as you are ?"
of pastime {a forma de solaiz) he fell in
51. Virgil's Bucolics, Eclogue I. : love with the wife of the Count, and she
"And now the high tops of the villages with him. And it happened that the
smoke afar, and larger shadows fall from Count quarrelled with her brothers, and
the lofty mountains." became estranged from her. And her
74. This has generally been supposed brothers. Sir Icellis and Sir Albrics,
to be Sordello the Troubadour. But is persuaded Sir Sordello to nm away with
it he ? Is it Sordello the Troubadour, or her ; and he came to live with them in
Sordello the Podesta of Verona ? or are great content. And afterwards he went
they one and the same pc-son ? After into Provence, and received great honour
much research, it is not easy to decide from all good men, and from the Count
the question, and to and Countess, who gave him a good
" Single out
Sordello, compassed murkily about
castle and a gentlewoman for his wife." »
Citing this passage, Millot, Hist. Litt.
With ravage of six long sad hundred years." des Troub., II. 80, goes on to say :—
Yet as far as it is possible to learn it from "This is all that our manuscripts tell
us of Sordello. According to Agnelli
various conflicting authorities, and Platina, historians of Mantua, he
was of the house of the Visconti of
" Who will may hear Sordello's story told."
that city ; valiant in deeds of arms,
Dante, in his treatise De Volgart famous in jousts and tournaments, he
Eloqitio, L 15, speaks of Sordello of won the love of Beatrice, daughter of
Mantua as "a man so choice in his Ezzelin da Romano, Lord of the Marca
language, ^lat not only in his poems, Trevigiana, and married her ; he gover-
buf in whatever way he spoke, he aban- ned Mantua as Podest^ and Captain-
doned the dialect of his province. " But General ; and though son-in-law of the
here there is mo question of the Proven9al tyrant Ezzelin, he always opposed him,
in which Sordello the Troubadour wrote, being a great lover of justice.
but only of ItaHan dialects in comparison " We find these facts cited by Cres-
with the universal and cultivated Italian, cimbeni, who says that Sordello was
which Dante says "belongs to all the the lord of (Joito ; but as they are not
Italian catiefi, and seems to belong exclu- apj)licable to our poet, we presume they
sively to none." in the same treatise, refer to a warrior of the same name, and
II. 13, he mentions a tcertain Gotto of perhaps of a different family.
Mantim as the author of many good "Among the pieces of Sordello,
songs ; and this Gotto is supposed to be thirty-four in numl)er, there are some
Sortlello, as Sordello was bom at Goi'to fifteen songs of gallantry, though Nos-
in the province of Mantua. But would trodamus says that all his pieces turn
Dante in the same treatise allude to the
same person under diderent names ? Is only upon philosophic subjects."
Nostrodamus's account, as given by
not this rather the Sordel de Goi, men- Crcscimbeni, Volgar Poesia, II. 105, is
tioned liyRaynouard, IWsusdct Troub., as follows :—
V. 445 ? " Sordello was a Mantuan poet, who
In the old Proven9al manuscript surjwssed in Provencal song, Calvo,
quoted by Raynouard, Potsies dcs Troub., Foichetto of Marseilles, Laniranco Ci-
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
379
cala, Percival Doria, and all the other pleasures of love, concerning whom
Genoese and Tuscan poets, who took much is said in the ninth Canto of
far greater delight in our Provencal Paradise. She, being enamoured of
tongue, on account of its sweetness, Sordello, had cautiously contrived that
than in their own maternal language. he should visit her at night by a back
This poet was very studious, and ex- door near the kitchen of her palace at
ceeding eager to know all things, and Verona. And as there was in the street
as much as any one of his nation ex- a dirty slough in which the swine wal-
cellent in learning as well as in under- lowed, and puddles of filthy water, so
standing and in prudence. He wrote that the place would seem in no way
several beautiful songs, not indeed of suspicious, he caused himself to be car-
love, for not one of that kind is found ried by her servant to the door where
among his works, but on philosophic Cunizza stood ready to receive him.
subjects. Raymond Belinghieri, the last Ezzelino having heard of this, one even-
Count of Provence of that name, in ing, disguised as a servant, carried Sor-
the last days of his life, (the poet being dello, and brought him back. Which
then but fifteen years of age,) on ac- done, he discovered himself to Sordello,
count of the excellence of his poetry and said, ' Enough ; abstain in future
and the rare invention shown in his from doing so foul a deed in so foul a
productions, took him into his service, place.' Sordello, terrified, humbly be-
as Pietro di Castelnuovo, himself a Pro- sought pardon ; promising never more
ven9al poet, informs us. He also wrote to return to his sister. But the accursed
various satires in the same language, and Cunizza again enticed him into his former
among others one in which he reproves error. Wherefore, fearing Ezzelino, the
all the Christian princes ; and it is com- most formidable man of his time, he
posed in the form of a funeral song on left the city. But Ezzelino, as some
the death of Blancasso." say, afterwards had him put to death."
In the Hist. Litt. de la France, XIX. He says, moreover, that Dante places
452, Emeric-David, after discussing the Sordello alone and separate from the
subject at length, says :— others, like Saladin in Inf. IV. 129, on
" Who then is this Sordello, haughty account of his superiority, or because
and superb, like a lion in repose, — this he wrote a book entitled "The Treasure
Sordello, who, in embracing Virgil, of Treasures"; and that Sordello was
gives rise to this sudden explosion of a Mantuan of the village of Goito, —
the patriotic sentiments of Dante? Is ' ' beautiful of person, valiant of spirit, ■
it a singer of love and gallantry ? Im-
possible. This Sordello is the old gentle of manner."
Finally, Quadrio, Storia d'ogni Poesia,
Podesta of Mantua, as decided a Ghi- II. 130, easily cuts the knot which no one
belline as Dante himself; and Dante can untie ; but unfortunately he does not
utters before him sentiments which he give his authorities. He writes :—
well knows the zealous Ghibelline will "Sordello, native of Goiio, (Sordel
share. And what still more confirms
de Goi,) a village in the Mantuan ter-
our judgment is, that Sordello embraces ritory, was born in 1 1 84, and was the
the knees of Virgil, exclaiming, ' O son of a poor knight named Elcort."
glory of the Latians,' &c. In this ad- He then repeats the story of Count Saint
miration, in this love of the Latin Boniface, and of Sordello's reception by
tongue, we still see the Podesta, the Count Raymond in Provence, and
writer of Latin ; we do not see the adds : " Having afterwards returned to
Troubadour." Italy he governed Mantua with the
Benvenuto calls Sordello a *' noble title of Regent and Captain-General ;
and prudent knight," and "a man of and was opposed to the tyrant Ezzelino,
singular virtue in the world, though of being a great lover of justice, as Ag-
impenitent life," and tells a story he has nelli writes. Finally he died, very old
heard of him and Cunizza, but does not and full of honour, about 138Q. He
vouch for it. "Ezzelino," he says, wrote not only in Provencal, but also in
our own common Italian tongue ; and
"had a sister greatly addicted to the^
 N07'ES TO PURGATORIO.
386
he was one of those poets who avoided Nor should I see thee girded with a sword
contending,
the dialect of his own province, and used Not thine, and with the stranger's arm
the good, choice language, as Dante af- Victor or vanquished, slave forevermore."
firms in his book of Vulgar Eloqicenza."
If the reader is not already sufficiently 89. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, Ch.
confused, he can easily become so by XLIV., says : —
turning to Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. "The vain titles of the victories of
Ital., IV. 360, where he will find the Justinian are crumbled into dust ; but
matter thoroughly discussed, in sixteen the name of the legislator is inscribed
solid pages, by the patient librarian of on a fair and everlasting monument.
Modena, who finally gives up in despair Under his reign, and by his care, the
and calls on the Royal Academy for
help civil jurisprudence was digested in the
; immortal works of the Code, the Pan-
dects, and the Institutes; the public
" But that were overbold ;—
reason of the Romans has been silently
Who would has heard Sordello's story told."
or studiously transfused into the do-
76. Before Dante's time Fra Guittone mestic institutions of Europe, and the
had said, in his famous Letter to the laws of Justinian still command the
Floreiitiites : " O queen of cities, court respect or obedience of independent
of justice, school of wisdom, mirror of nations. Wise or fortunate is the prince
life, and mould of manners, whose sons who connects his own reputation with
were kings, reigning in every land, or the honour and interest of a perpetual
were above all others, who art no longer order of men. "
«[ueen but servant, oppressed and subject 92. Luke xii. 17 : "Render to Caesar
to tribute ! no longer court of justice, the things that are Caesar's, and to God
but cave of robbers, and school of all
theAndthings
in the that Vision
are God's."
of Pters Ploughman,
folly and madness, mirror of death and
mould of felony, whose great strength is
stripped and broken, whose beautiful " ReiMite Ccesari, quod God,
That Ctesnri bifalleth,
face is covered with foulness and shame ; F.t quie sunt Dei Deo,
whose sons are no longer kings but vile
and wretched servants, held, wherever they 563:— Or ellis ye don ille."

go, in opprobrium and derision by others." 97. Albert, son of the Emperor Ru-
See also Petrarca, Canzone XVI., dolph, was the second of the house of
Lady Dacre's Tr., beginning : — Hapsburg who bore the title of King of
the Romans. He was elected in 1298,
" O my own Italy ! though words are vain
The mortal wounds to close,
but never went to Italy to be crowned.
Unnumbered, that thy beauteous bosom stain. He came to an untimely and violent
Yet may it soothe my pain death, by the hand of his nephew Jolin,
To sigh for the 'fiber's woes, in 1308. This is the judgment of Heaven
And Amo's wrongs, as on Po's saddened shore to which Danle alludes.
Sorrowing I wander and my numbers pour."
His successor was Henry of Luxem-
And Filicaja's sonnet :— bourg, Dante's "divine and triumphant
Henry," who, in 1311, wa.s crowned at
•* Italy ! Italy 1 thou who'rt doomed to wear Milan with the Iron Crown of Lombardy,
The fatal gift of beauty, and possess // Sacro Chiodo, as it is sometimes called,
The dower funest of mfinite wretchedness, from the plate of iron with which the
Written upon thy forehead by despair ;
Ah ! wouldfair, that thou wcrt stronger, or less crown is lined, being, according to tra-
dition, made from a nail of the Cross.
That they might fear thee more, or love In 1312, he was again crowned whh the
thee less,
Who in the splendour of thy loveliness Golden Crown at Rome, and died in the
Seem wasting, yet to mortal combat dare ! following year. " I5ut the end of his
Then from the Alps I should not see descending
Such horde,
torrents of armed men, nor Gallic career drew on," says Mil man, Latin
Christ., VI. 520. " He had now ad-
Drinking the wave of Po, distained with vanced, at the head of an army which
gore, his enemies dared not meet in the field,
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

towards Siena. He rode still, seemingly the nations, all the free Italian cities, in
in full vigour and activity. But the fatal possession of their lights and old muni-
air of Rome had smitten his strength.
A carbuncle had formed under his knee ; 106.cipalTheinstitutions."
two noble families of Ve-
injudicious remedies inflamed his vitiated rona, the Montagues and Capulets, 383
blood. He died at Buonconvento, in whose quarrels have been made familiar
the midst of his awe-struck ai^my, on the to the English-speaking world by Romeo.
festival of St. Bartholomew. Rumours
atid Juliet: —
of foul practice, of course, spread abroad;
a Dominican monk was said to have " Three civil brawls, bred of an airj' word.
By thee, old Capulet and Montague,
administered poison in the Sacrament, Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets,
which he received with profound devo- And made Verona's ancient citizens
tion. His body was carried in sad state, Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments.
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
and splendidly interred at Pisa. Cankered with peace, to part your cankered
"So closed that empire, in which, if
the more factious and vulgar Ghibellines
beheld their restoration to their native 107. Families of Orvieto.
city, their triumph, their revenge, their 111, Santafiore
hate. " is in the neighbour-
sole administration of public affairs, the hood of Siena, and much infested with
nobler Ghibellinism of Dante foresaw the banditti.
establishment of a great universal mo- 112. The state of Rome in Dante's
narchy necessary to the peace and civili- time is thus described by Mr. Norton,
zation of mankind. The ideal sovereign Travel and Study, pp. 246 — 248 : —
of Dante's famous treatise on Monarchy "On the slope of the Quirinal Hill, in
was Henry of Luxembourg. Neither the quiet enclosure of the convent of St.
Dante nor his time can be understood Catherine of Siena, stands a square,
but through tliis treatise. The attempt brick tower, seven stories high. It is a
of the Pope to raise himself to a great conspicuous object in any general view
pontifical monarchy had manifestly ig- of Rome ; for there are few other towers
nominiously failed : the Ghibelline is so tall, and there is not a single spire or
neither amazed nor distressed at this steeple in the city. It is the Torre delle
event. It is now the turn of the Impe- Milizie. It was begun by Pope Gregory
rialist to unfold his noble vision. ' An the Ninth, and finished near the end of
universal monarchy is absolutely neces- the thirteenth century by his vigorous
and warlike successor, Boniface the
sary for the welfare of the world;' and
this is part of his singular reasoning : Eighth. Many such towers were built
'Peace,' (says the weary exile, the man for the purposes of private warfare, in
worn out in cruel strife, the wanderer those times when the streets of Rome
from city to city, each of those cities were the fighting-places of its noble
more fiercely torn by faction than the families ; but this is, perhaps, the only
one that now remains undiminished in
last,) 'universal Peace is the first blessing
of mankind. The angels sang, not riches height and unaltered in appearance. It
or pleasures, but peace on earth : peace was a new building when Dante visited
the Lord bequeathed to his disciples. Rome ; and it is one of the very iew
For peace One must rule. Mankind is edifices that still preserve the aspect they
most like God when at unity, for God then presented. The older ruins have
is One ; therefore under a monarchy. been greatly changed in appearance, and
Where there is parity there must be most of the structures of the Middle
strife ; where strife, judgment ; the judge Ages have disappeared, in the vicissi-
must be a third party intervening with tudes of the last few centuries. The
Forum was then filled with a confused
supreme authority.' Without monarchy
can be no justice, nor even liberty ; for mass of ruins and miserable dwellings,
Dante's monarch is no arbitrary despot, with no street nmning through their
but a constitutional sovereign ; he is the intricacies. The Capitol was surrounded
Roman law impersonated in the Em- with uneven battlement ed walls, and
peror ;a monarch who should leave all bore the character and look of an irre-
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
3S2
was building her Cathedral and her
gular citadel. St. Peter's was a low
basilica ; the Colosseum had suffered Campanile, and Orvieto her matchless
little from the attacks of Popes or princes, Duomo, — while Pisa was showing her
neither the Venetian nor the Farnese piety and her wealth in her Cathedral,
palace having as yet been built with her Camposanto, her Baptistery, and
stones from its walls ; and centuries were her Tower, — while Siena was beginning
still to pass before Michael Angelo, a church greater and more magnificent
Bernini, and Borromini were to stamp its in design than her shifting fortune would
present character upon the face of the permit her to complete, — Rome was
modern city. The siege and burning of building neither cathedral nor campanile,
Rome by Robert Guiscard, in 1084, may but was selling the marbles of her ancient
be taken as the dividing-line between temples and tombs to the builders of
the city of the Emperors and the city of other cities, or quarrying them for her
the Popes, between ancient and modern own mean uses."
Rome Rome was in a state of
118. This recalls Pope's Universal
too deep depression, its people were too
turbulent and unsettled, to have either Prayer, —
" Father of all ! in every age,
the spirit or the opportunity for great In every clime, adored,
works. There was no established and By saint, by savage, and by sage,
recognized authority, no regular course
of justice. There was not even any Jehovah, Jove, or Lord ! "
strong force, rarely any overwhelming 125. Not the great Roman general
violence, which for a time at least could who took Syracuse, after Archimedes
subdue opposition, and organize a steady, had defended it so long with his engines
and consequently a beneficent tyranny. and burning-glasses, but a descendant of
The city was continually distracted by his, who in the civil wars took part with
petty personal quarrels, and by bitter Pompey and was banished by Caesar.
family feuds. Its obscure annals are full Pope's Essay on Man, Ep. IV. 257 :—
of bloody civil victories and defeats,—
" And more true joy Marcellus exiled feels,
victories which brought no gain to those Than Caesar with a senate at his heels."
who won them, defeats which taught no
lesson to those who lost them. The 127. Of the State of Florence, Napier
breath of liberty never inspired with life writes, Flor. Hist., I. 122 : —
the dead clay of Rome ; and though for "It was not the simple movement
a time it might seem to kindle some vital of one great body against another ; not
heat, the glow soon grew cold, and the force of a government in opposition
speedily disappeared. The records of to the people ; not the struggle of
Florence, Siena, Bologna, and Perugia privilege and democracy, of poverty
are as full of fighting and bloodshed as and riches, or starvation and repletion ;
those of Rome ; but their fights were bu? one universal burst of unmitigated
not mere brawls, nor were their triumphs anarchy. In the streets, lanes, and
always barren. Even the twelfth and squares, in the courts of palaces and
thirteenth centuries, which were like the humbler dwellings, were heard the
coming of the spring after a long winter, clang of arms, the screams of victims,
making the earth to blossom, and glad- and the gush of blood : the bow of
dening the hearts of men,- the centuries the bridegroom launclied its arrows
which elsewhere in Italy, and over the into the very chambers of his young
rest of Europe, gave birth to the noblest bride's jiarents and relations, and the
media-val Art, when every great city was bleeding son, the murdered brother, or
adorning itself with the beautiful works the dymg husband were the evening
of the new architecture, sculpture, and visitors of Florentine maids and ma-
painting, — even these centuries left trons, and aged citizens. Every art
scarcely any token of their passage over was practisetl to seduce and deceive,
Rome. The sun, breaking through the and none felt secure even of their
clouds that h.nd long hidden it, shone nearest and dearest relatives. In the
everywhere but here. While Florence morning a son left his paternal roof
 NOTES TO PVRGATORIO.
383
with undiminished love, and returned their statutes and ordinances, a weed-
at evening a corpse, or the most bitter ing out, as it were, of the obsolete and
enemy ! Terror and death were tri- contradictory, and a substitution of
umphant there
; was no relaxation, no those which were better adapted to
peace by day or night : the crash of existing circumstances and the forward
the stone, the twang of the bow, the movement of iifan. There are certain
whizzing shaft, the jar of the trembling fundamental laws necessarily permanent
mangonel from tower and turret, were and admitted by all communities, as
the dismal music of Florence, not only there are certain moral and theological .
for hours and days, but months and truths acknowledged by all religions ;
years. Doors, windows, the jutting but these broad frames or outlines are
galleries and roofs, were all defended, commonly filled up with a thick net-
and yet all unsafe : no spot was sacred, work of subordinate regulations, that
no tenement secure : in the dead of cover them like cobwebs, and often
night, the most secret chambers, the very impede the march of improvement.
hangings, even the nuptial bed itself, The Florentines were early aware of
were often known to conceal an enemy. this, and therefore revised their laws
" Florence in those days was studded and institutions more or less frequently
with lofty towers ; most of the noble and sometimes factiously, according to
families possessed one or more, at least the turbulent or tranquil condition of
two hundred feet in height, and many the times ; but in 1394, after forty years'
of them far above that altitude. These omission, an officer was nominated for
were their pride, their family citadels ; that purpose, but whether permanently
and jealously guarded ; glittering with or not is doubtful."
arms and men, and instruments of war.
Every connecting balcony was alive
with soldiers ; the battle raged above CANTO VII.
and below, within and without ; stones
rained in showers, arrows flew thick 6. See Canto III. Note 7.
and fast on every side ; the seraglj, or 28. I.imbo, Inf. IV. 25, the " fore-
barricades, were attacked and defended most circle that surrounds the abyss."
by chosen bands armed with lances
and boar-spears; foes were in ambush " There, in so far as I had power to hear,
Were lamentations none, but only sighs,
at every corner, watching the bold or Which tremulous made the everlasting air.
heedless enemy ; confusion was every- And this was caused by soriow without toi ■
ment
where triumphant, a demon seemed to Which andthe great,
crowds had, that many were
possess the community, and the public
mind, reeling with hatred, was steady Of infants and of women and of men."
only in the pursuit of blood. Yet so
accustomed did they at last become to 34. The three Theological Virtues of
this fiendish life, that one day they Faith, Hope, and Charity.
fought, the next caroused together in 36. The four Cardinal Virtues, Pru-
drunken gambols, foe with foe, boast-
rance. dence, Justice, Fortitude, and Tempe-
ing of their mutual prowess ; nor was
it until after nearly five years of re- 44. John xii. 35 : " Then Jesus said
ciprocal destruction, that, from mere unto them, Yet a little while is the
lassitude, they finally ceased thus to light with you. Walk while ye have
mangle each other, and, as it were for the light, lest darkness come upon you ;
relaxation, turned their fury on the for he tliat walketh in darkness knoweth
neighbouring states." not whither he goeth."
147. Upon this subject Napier, Flor. 70 In the Middle .Ages the longing
Hist., II. 626, remarks : — for rest and escape from danger, which
"A characteristic, and, if discreetly found its expression in cloisters, is ex-
handled, a wise regulation of the Flo- pressed in poetry by descriptions of
rentines, notwithstanding Dante's sar- flowery, secluded meadows, suggesting
casms, was the periodical revision of the classic meadows of Asphodel. Dante
■s^
NOTES TO PUR GAT OR 10.

has given one already in the Inferno, " Now, almost in the opening ol
and gives another here. the Purgatory, as at the entrance
Compare with these the following of the Inferno, we find a company
from The Miracles of Our Lady, by of great ones resting in a grassy
Cionzalo de Herceo, a monk of Cala- place. But the idea of the grass now
horra, who lived in the thirteenth cen- is very different. The word now used
tury, and is the oldest of the Castilian is not ' anamel,' but 'herb,' and in-
poets whose name has come down to stead of being merely green, it is
covered with flowers of many colours.
us :— With the usual mediaeval accuracy,
tide,
" I, Gonzalo di Berc^o, in the gentle summer-
Dante insists on telling us precisely
Wending side upon; a pilgrimage, came to a meadow's what these colours were, and how bright ;
All green was it and beautiful, with flowers far which he does by naming the actual
and wide,
A pleasant spot. I ween, wherein the traveller
pigments
and fine used in illumination,
silver, — ' Gold,
and cochineal, and
might abide. white lead, and Indian wood, serene
Flowers with the sweetest odours filled all the and lucid, and fresh emeralil, just bro-
sunnj' air. ken, would have been excelled, as less
And not alone refreshed the sense, but stole the
mind from care ; is by greater, by the flowers and grass
On every side a fountain gushed, whose waters of the place.' It is evident that the
pure and fair ' emerald ' here means the emerald
Ice-cold beneath the summer sun, but warm in green of the illuminators ; for a fresh
winter were.
emerald is no brighter that one which
There on the thiclc and shadowy trees, amid is not fresh, and Dante was not one to
the foliage green. throw away his words thus. Observe,
Were the fig and the pomegranate, the pear and then, we have here the idea of the
apple seen,
And other fruits of various kinds, the tufted growth, life, and variegation of the
leaves between ;
'green herb,' as opposed to the smallo
None were unpleasant to the taste and none of the Inferno ; but the colours of the
decayed, I woen.
variegation are illustrated and defined
The verdure of the meadow green, the odour by the reference to actual pigments ;
of the (lowers. and, observe, because the other colours
The grateful shadows of the trees, tempered with
Iragrant showers, are rather bright, the blue ground (In-
Refreshed me ni the burning heat of the sultrj' dian wood, indigo ?) is sober ; lucid,
noontide hours ; but serene ; and presently two angels
O, one might live upon the balm and fragrance enter, who are dressed in the green
ol those bowers.
drapery, but of a paler green than the
Ne'er had I found on earth a spot that had grass, which Dante marks, by telling
such power to please.
Such shadows from the sunuuet sun, such odours us that it was ' the green of leaves just
on the breeze ;
I threw my mantle on the ground, that I might " In all this, I wish the reader to ob-
rest at ca.se, budded. serve
' two things : first, the general
And stretched upon the greensward lay in the carefulness of the poet in defining colour,
shadow of the trees.
distinguishing it jirecisely as a painter
I'here,beside me flimg, in the shade, all cares would (opposed to the (ireek careless-
soft reclining
I heard ttic solt and mellow notes that through ness about it) ; and, secondly, his re-
the woodland rung. garding the grass for its greenness and
Ear never listened to a strain, from Instrument variegation, rather than, as a (Jreek
or tongue. would have done, for its depth and
So mellow and harmonious as the songs above
freshness. This greenness or Jjriglit-
me sung." ness, and variegation, are taken up by
See also Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, later and modern poets, as the things
XIX. ; the Vision of Pieis J'/oughman ; intended to be chiefly expressed by
Gower's Confessio A mantis, VI ll., <S:c. the word ' enamelled ; ' and, gradually,
73. Of this description \KwiXJ\\\, Modern the term is taken to indicate any kind
tainUr^ ill. 228. remarks: — of bright and interchangeable colouring/
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

there being always this much of pro- of Kamberg in the middle of the Danube,
under a tent whose curtains should be
priety about it, when used of green-
sward, that such sward is indeed, Hke
closed to spare him public mortification.
enamel, a coat of briglit colour on a Ottocar presented himself covered with
comparatively dark ground ; and is gold and jewels ; Rudolph, by way of
thus a sort of natural jewelry and superior pomp, received him in his
painter's work, different from loose simplest dress ; and in the middle
and large vegetation. The word is of the ceremony the curtains of the
often awkwardly and falsely used, by tent fell, and revealed to the eyes of
the later poets, of all kinds of growth the people and of the armies, that lined
and colour ; as by Milton of the flowers the Danube, the proud Ottocar on his
of Paradise showing themselves over knees, with his hands clasped in the
its wall ; but it retains, nevertheless, hands of his conqueror, whom he had
through all its jaded inanity, some half- often called his maXtre d^ko.'el, and
unconscious vestige of the old sense, whose Grand-Seneschal he now became.
even to the present day." This story is accredited, and it is of
82. The old church hymn attributed little importance whether it be true or
to Arminius or Hermann, Count of
Vehringen, in the eleventh century, be- But the wife was not quiet under this
ginning :— humiliation, and excited him to revolt
against
not." come,Rudolph. He was again over-
" Salve Regina, mater misericordise , and killed in battle in 1278.
Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve."
loi. This Winceslaus, says the Ot-
94. Rudolph of Hapsburg, first Em- timo, was "most beautiful among all
peror of the house of Austria, was men ; but was not a man of arms ;
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1273. he was a meek and humble ecclesiastic,
" It is related," says Voltaire, Annales and did not li»e long." Why Dante
de r Empire, I. 303, "that, as the im- accuses him of living in luxury and ease
perial sword, which they pretended was does not appear.
that of Charlemagne, could not be 103. Philip the Third of France, sur-
found, several lords made this defect named the Bold (1270-1285). Having
in the formalities a pretext for not invaded Catalonia, in a war with Peter
taking the oath of allegiance. He the Third of Aragon, both by land and
seized a crucifix ; This is my sceptre, sea, he .was driven, back, and died at
he said, and all paid homage to Perpignan during the retreat.
him. This single act of firmness made 104. He with the benign aspect, who
him respected, and the rest of his rests his cheek upon his hand, is Heniy
conduct showed him to be worthy of the of Navarre, surnamed the Fat, and
Empire." brother of " Good King Thibault," Inf.
He would not go to Rome to be XXII. 52. An old French chronicle
<;rowned, and took so little interest in quoted by Philalethes says, that, "though
Italian affairs, that Italy became almost it is a general opinion that fat men are of
independent of the Empire, which seems a gentle and benign nature, nevertheie-ss
greatly to disturb the mind of Dante. this one was very harsh. "
He died in 1291. 109. Philip the Fourth of France,
100. Ottocar the Second, king of surnamed the Fair, son of Philip the
Bohemia, who is said to have refused Third, and son-in-law of Henry of
the imperial crown. He likewise re- Navarre (1285-13 14).
fused to pay homage to Rudolph, whom 112. Peter the Third of Aragon (1276-
he used to call his nial/re d'hilel. de- 128 ), the enemy of Charles of Anjou
claring he had paid his wages and owed and competitor with him for the king-
him nothing. Whereupon Rudolph at- dom of Sicily. He is counted among
tacked and subdued him. According to the Troubadours, and when Philip the
Voltaire, Annales de i' Empire, I. 306, Bold invaded his kingdom, Peter
" he consented to pay homage to the launched a song against him, com-
Emperor as his liege-iord, in the island plaining that the " Hower-de-luce kept
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
386
him thesorrowing on earth ; and one had challenged the
on Gascons inforhisaid.house," and calling other to determine their quarrel by single
113. Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily combat.
and Naples (1265). Villani, VII. 1, " The wager of battle between the
thus describes him : "This Charles was kings," says Milman, Latin Christianity,
wise and prudent, and valiant in arms, VI. 168, " which maintained its solemn
and rough, and much feared and re- dignity up almost to the appointed time,
doubted by all the kings of the world ; ended in a pitiful comedy, in which
magnanimous and of a high spirit ; stead- Charles of Anjou had the ignominy of
fast in carrying on every great enter- practising base and disloyal designs
prise, firm in every adversity, and true against his adversary ; Peter, that of
to every promise, speaking little and eluding the contest by craft, justifiable
doing much. He laughed but little ; only as his mistrust of his adversary was
was chaste as a monk, catholic, harsh in well or ill grounded, but much too cun-
judgment, and of a fierce countenance ; ning for a frank and generous knight.
large and muscular in person, with an He had embarked with his knights for
olive complexion and a large nose, and the South of ^"rance ; he was cast back
looked the king more than any other by tempests on the shores of Spain. He
lord. He Sat up late at night, and slept set off with some of his armed com-
little, and was in the habit of sayini? panions, crossed the Pyrenees undis-
that a great deal of time was lost in covered, appeared before the gates of
sleeping. He was generous to his Bordeaux, and summoned the English
knights, but eager to acquire land, lord- Seneschal. To him he proclaimed him-
ship, and money wherever he could, to self to be the king of Aragon, demanded
furnish means for his enterprises and to see the lists, rode down them in slow
wars. In courtiers, minstrels, and play- state, obtained an attestation that he
ers he never took delight*" had made his appearance within the
Vet this is the monarch whose tyrrany covenanted time, and affixed his solemn
in Sicily brought about the bloody re- protest against the palpable premedi-
venge <*f the Sicilian Vespers ; which in tated treachery of his rival, which made
turn so roused the wrath of Charles, it unsafe for him to remain longer at
that he swore that, "if he could live a Bordeaux. Charles, on his part, was
thousand years, he would go on razing furious that Peter had thus broken
the cities, burning the lands, torturing through the spider's web of his policy.
the rebellious slaves. He would leave He was in Bordeaux when Peter ap-
.Sicily a blasted, barren, uninhabited f)eared under the walls, and had chal-
rock, as a warning to the present age, enged him in vain. Charles presented
an example to the future." himself in full armour on the appointed
116. Philip the Third of Aragon left day, summoned Peter to appear, and pro-
four sons, Alfonso, James, Frederick, claimed him a recreant and a dastardly
and Peter. Whethesr the stripling here craven, unworthy of the name of
spoken of is AtfoiH>o or Peter does not
appear. Charles of Anjou, Peter the Tiiird of
121. Chaucer, Wif of Bathes Tale: — Aragon,
knight." and Philip the Third of France,
all died in the same year, 1285.
" Wcl can the wise poet of Florence, 126. These kingdoms being badly
I'tu.t
Lo, inhightc
swicht Uaxit,
mancr spekeii
rime isofDantes
this xentence
lale. : governed by his son and successor,
Ful sclJe lip riseth by his branches smale Charles the Second, called the Lame.
Prowesse of man, lor Ood of his go xlncssc 128. Daughters of Raymond Beren-
Wol that we clainic of him our geiitillesse : ger the Fifth, Count of Provence ; the
For of our elders may we n6thing claimc
But tempore! thing, that man may hurt and first married to St. Louis of F'rance,
and the second to his brother, Charles
maime." of Anjou.
124. It must be remembered that 129. Constance, daughter of Man-
these two who are singing together in fredi of Apulia, and wife of Peter the
\his Valley of Princes were deadly foes Third of Aragon.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. m
131. Henry the Third (1216-1272,) Alessandria della Paglia (of the Straw) ;
either from the straw used in the bricks,
of whom Hume says : " This prince
was noted for his piety and devotion, or more probably from the supposed in-
and his regular attendance on public security ofa city built in so short a space
worship ; and a saying of his on that of time.
head is much celebrated by ancient
writers. He was engaged in a dispute CANTO vin.
with Louis the Ninth of France, con-
cerning the preference between sermons I. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica,
and masses ; he maintained the supe- III. 302 :—
riority ofthe latter, and affirmed that he
" It was the hour when every traveller
would rather have one hour's conversa- And every watchman at the gate of towns
tion with a friend, than hear twenty of Begins to long for sleep, and drowsiness
the most elaborate discourses pronounced Is falling even on the mother's eyes
Whose child is dead."
in his praise."
Dickens, Child^s History of England, Also Byron, Don Jnan, HI. 108 :—
Ch. XV., says of him: "He was as
much of a king in death as he had ever " Soft hour ! which wakes the wish and melts
been in life. He was the mere pale the heart
Of those who sail the seas, on the first day
shadow of a king at all times." When they from their sweet friends are torn
His "better issue" was Edward the
First, called, on account of his amend- Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way.
ment and establishment of the laws, As the apart : of vesper makes him start,
far bell

the English Justinian, and less respect- Is Seeming to weep

this a fancy whichtheourdying day's
reason decay.
scorns?
fully Longshanks, on account of the Ah ! surely nothing dies but something
length of his legs. " His legs had
need to be strong," says the authority mourns !"
just quoted, "however long, and this 4. The word "pilgrim" is here used
by Dante in a general sense, meaning
they were ; for they had to support him
through many difficulties on the fiery any traveller.
sands of Syria, where his small force of 6. Gray, Elegy: —
soldiers fainted, died, deserted, and " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."
seemed to melt away. But his prowess
13. An evening hymn of the Church,
made light of it, and he said, ' I will go
on, if I go on with no other follower than sung at Complines, or the latest service
'" of the day :—
groom.
my 134. The Marquis of Monferrato, a " Te lucis ante terminum,
Ghibelline, was taken prisoner by the Rerum creator, poscimus
people of Alessandria in Piedmont, in Ut pro tua dementia
Sis presul ad custodiam.
1290, and, being shut up in a wooden
cage, was exhibited to the public like a Procul recedant somnia
Et noxium phantasmata,
wild beast. This he endured for eighteen Hostemque nostrum comprime,
months, till death released him. A Ne polluantur corpora.
bloody war was the consequence be-
Presta, Pater piissime,
tween Alessandria and the Marquis's Patrique compar Unice,
provinces of Monferrato and Canavese. Cum Spiritu Paraclito
135. The city of Alessandria is in
Regans per omne sacculum." ,, ,
Piedmont, between the Tanaro and the
Bormida, and not far from their junc- This hymn would seem to have no
tion. It was built by the Lombard
great applicability to disembodied spir-
League, to protect the country against its ;and perhaps may have the same
the Emperor Frederick, and named in reference as Jhe last petition in the
honour of Pope Alexander the Third, a Lord's Prayer, Canto XL 19 :—
protector of the Guelphs. It is said to
have been built in a single year, and was " Our virtue, which is easily o'ercome,
Put not to proof with the old Adversary,
called in derision, by the Ghibellines, But thou from him who spurs it so, dehver.
 jVotes to purgatorio.
388
This last petition verily, dear Lord,
Not for ourselves is made, who need it not. fying heavenly love and heavenly truth. *
The same colours were given to St. John
But for their sake who have remained be-
the Evangelist, with this difference, —
hind us." that he wore the blue tunic and the red
mantle ; in later pictures the colours are
Dante seems to think his meaning sometimes red and green.
very easy to penetrate. The commen- " Yellow, or gold, was the symbol
tators have found it uncommonly diffi- of the sun ; of the goodness of God ;
cult. initiation, or marriage ; faith, or fruit-
26. Genesis iii. 24 : "And he placed fulness. St. Joseph, the husband of the ■
at the east of the garden of Eden che- Virgin, wears yellow. In pictures of
rubims, and a flaming sword which the Apostles, St. Peter wears a yellow
turned every way, to keep the way of mantle over a blue tunic. In a bad
the tree of life." sense, yellow signifies inconstancy, jea-
27. Justice tempered with mercy, say lousy, deceit ; in this sense it is given
the commentators. to the traitor Judas, who is generally
28. Green, the colour of hope, which habited in dirty yellow.
is the distinguishing virtue of Purgatory. " Green, the emerald, is the colour of
On the symbolism of colours, Mrs. Jame- spring ; of hope, particularly hope in
son, Sacred and Legendary Art, Introd., immortality ; and of victory, as the colour
of the palm and the laurel.
says : —
" In very early Art we find colours " Violet, the amethyst, signified love
used in a symbolical or mystic sense, and truth ; or, passion and suffering.
and, until the ancient principles and Hence it is the colour often worn by the
traditions were wholly worn out of martyrs. In some instances our Saviour,
memory or set aside by the later paint- after his resurrection, is habited in a
ers, certain colours were appropriated violet, instead of a blue mantle. The
to certain subjects and personages, and Virgin also wears violet after the cruci-
could not arbitrarily be applied or mis- fixion. Mary Magdalene, who as patron
applied. In the old specimens of stained saint wears the red robe, as penitent
glass we find these significations scrupu- wears violet and blue, the colours of
lously attended to. Thus : — sorrow and of constancy. In the devo-
"White, represented by the dia- tional representation of her by Timoteo
mond or silver, was the emblem of light, della Vite, she weai-s red and green, the
religious purity, innocence, virginity, colours of love antl hope.
faith, joy, and life. Our Saviour wears " Gray, the colour of ashes, signified
white after his resurrection. In the judge mourning, humility, and innocence ac-
it indicated integrity ; in the rich man, cused hence
; adopted as the dress of
humility ; in the woman, chastity. It the Franciscans (the Gray Friars) ; but
was the colour consecrated to the Virgin, it has since been changed for a dark
who, however, never wears white except rusty brown.
in pictures of the Assumption, " Black expressed the earth, dark-
" Kkd, the ruby, signified fire, divine ness, mourning, wickedness, negation,
love, the Holy Spirit, heat, or the crea- death ; and wis appropriate to the
tive power, and royalty. White and red Prince of Darkness. In some old illu-
roses expressed love and innocence, or minated MS.S., Jesus, in the Tempta-
love and wisdom, as in the garland with tion, wears a black robe. White and
which the angel crowns St. Cecilia. In black together signified purity of life,
a bad sense, red signified blood, war, and mourning or humiliation ; hence
hatred, and punishment. Red and black adopted by the Dominicans and the Car-
combined were the colours of purgatory
and the Devil. 50. It was not so dark that on a near
"Blue, or the sapphire, expressed melites." he could not distinguish objects
approach
heaven, the firmament, truth, constancy, indistinctly visible at a greater distance.
fidelity. Christ and the Virgin wear the • In the Spanish schools the colour of out
red tunic and the blue inantle« as signi- Saviour's inantte is generally a deep rich violet
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. m
With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect
53. Nino de' Visconti of Pisa, nephew Amidst his circling spires, that oft the grass
of Count Ugolino, and Judge of Gallura Floated redundant : pleasing was his shape
in Sardinia. Dante had known him at
And lovely ; never since of serpent-kind
the siege of Caprona, in 1290, where he Lovelier, not those that in lUyria changed
saw the frightened garrison march out Hermione and Cadmus, or the god
In Epidaurus ; nor to which transformed
under safeguard. Inf. XXI. 95. It was Ammonian Jove or Capitoline was seen, —
tiiis "gentle Judge," who hanged Friar He with Olympias, this with her who bore
Gomita for peculation. Itif. XXII. 82. Scipio, oblique
the height of Rome. With track
71. His daughter, still young and in- At first, as one who sought access, but
nocent. feared
To interrupt, sidelong he works his way.
75. His widow married Galeazzo de' As when a ship, by skilful steersman wrought
Visconti of Milan, "and much discom-
fort did this woman suffer with her hus- Nigh wind
river's mouth or foreland, where the
band," says the Ottinto, "so that many Veers oft, as oft so steers, and shifts her sail ;
So varied he, and of his tortuous train
a time she wished herself a widow." Curled many a wanton wreath in sight of Eve.
79. Hamlet, IV. 5 : — Oft he bowed
His turret crest, and sleek enamelled neck,
" His obscure funeral, Fawning ; and licked the ground whereon she
No trophy, sword, or hatchment o'er his grave."
80. The Visconti of Milan had for
1 14. In the original al sommo smalto,
their coat of arms a viper ; and being on to the trod." highest enamel ; referring either
the banner, it led the Milanese to battle. to the Terrestrial Paradise, enamelled
81. The arms of Gallura. "Accord- with flowers, or to the highest heaven
ing to Fara, a writer of the sixteenth enamelled with stars. The azure-stone,
century," says Valery, Voyage en Corse et pierre d^azur, or lapis lazuli, is perhaps
en Sardaigne, II. 37, " the elegant but a fair equivalent for the smalto, particu-
somewhat chimerical historian of Sar- larly ifthe reference be to the sky.
dinia, Gallura is a Gallic colony ; its 1 16. The valley in Lunigiana, through
arms are a cock ; and one might find which runs the Magra, dividing the
some analogy between the natural viva- Genoese and Tuscan territories. Par.
city of its inhabitants and that of the
IX. 89 :—
P'rench." Nino thinks it would look
better on a tombstone than a viper. " The Magra, that with journey short
89. These three stars are the AlphtF Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese."
of Euridanus, of the Ship, and of the 118. Currado or Conrad Malaspina,
Golden Fish ; allegorically, if any alle- father of Marcello Malaspina, who six
goiy be wanted, the three Theological years later sheltered Dante in his exile,
Virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. The as foreshadowed in line 136, It was
four morning stars, the Cardinal Virtues
from the convent of the Corvo, over-
of active life, are already set ; these an-
looking the Gulf of Spezia, in Lunigi-
nounce the evening and the life contem- ana, that Frate Ilario wrote the letter
plative.
describing Dante's appearance in the
100. Compare this with Milton's de- cloister. See Illustrations at the end of
scription ofthe serpent, Farad. Lost, IX.
Inferno.
434-496 :— 131. Pope Boniface the Eighth.
134. Before the sun shall be seven
" Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed
• Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm ; times in Aries, or before seven years are
Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen,
Aniung thick-wovtn arborets, and flowers
Imburdtred on each bank. passed.
137. Ecclesiastes, xn. il: "The words
of the wise are as goads, and as nails
Not with indented wave, fastened by the masters of assemblies. "
Prone on the ground, as since ; but on his
rear,
139. With this canto ends the first
day in Purgatory, as indicated by the
Circular base of rismg folds, that towered
Fi'ld above fold, a surging maze ! his head description of evening at the beginning,
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes : and the rising of the stars in line 89.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
390
With it closes also the first subdivision Iliad, X. 250 : "Let us be going, then,
of this part of the poem, indicated, as for the night declines fast, and the
the reader will not fail to notice, by the morning is near. And the stars have
elaborate introduction of the next canto. already far advanced, and the greater
portion of the night, by two parts, has
CANTO IX. gone by, but the third portion still re-

1. " Dante begins this canto," says 10. Namely, his body.
■ Benvenuto da Imola, " by saying a 12. Virgil, Sordello, Dante, Nino,
thing that was never said or imagined mains."
and Conrad. And here Dante falls
by any other poet, which is, that the upon the grass and sleeps till dawn.
aurora of the moon is the concubine There is a long pause of rest and sleep
of Tithonus. Some maintain that he between this line and the next, which
means the aurora of the sun ; but this makes the whole passage doubly beauti-
cannot be, if we closely examine the ful. The narrative recommences like
text." This point is elaborately dis- the twitter of early birds just beginning
cussed by the commentators. I agree to .stir in the woods.
with those who interpret the passage 14. For the tragic story of Tereus,
as referring to a lunar aurora. It is still changed to a lapwing, Philomela to a
evening ; and the hour is indicated a few nightingale, and Procne to a swallow,
lines lower down.
see Ovid, Metamorph., VI. :—
To Tithonus was given the gift of
immortality, but not of perpetual youth. " Now, with drawn sabre and impetuous speed.
As Tennyson makes him say :— In close nimble
Whose pursuit feet
he drives Pandion's
spring with sobreed
swift; a
force
•■ The woods decay, the woods decay and fall, Across the fields, they seem to wing their
1 he vapours weep their burthen to the ground, course.
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath, And now, on real wings themselves they raise.
And after many a summer dies the swan. And steer their airy flight by different ways ;
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes : I wither slowly in thine arms, One to the woodland's shady covert hies,
Here, at the quiet limit of the world, Around the smoky roof the other flies ;
Whose stain,
feathers yet the marks of murder
A white-haired shadow roaming like a dream
The ever silent spaces of the East,
Where stamped upon her breast the crimson
Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of mom."
spots remain.
Tereus,venged.
through grief and haste to be re-
2. Don Quixote., I. 2: "Scarcely had Shares the like fate, and to a bird is changed ;
ruddy Phnebus spread the golden Fixed on his he.id the crested plumes appe.ir,
tresses of his Ijeauteous hair over the
Long is his beak, and sharpened like a spear ;
face of the wide and spacious earth, Thus armed, his looks his inward mind dis-
and scarcely had the paintea little birds,
with the sweet and mellifluous harmony And, to a lapwing turned, he fans his way.
of their serrated tongues, saluted the
approach of rosy Aurora, when, quitting See also Gower, Confes. AmanL, V. :—
the soft couch of her jealous husband, " And of her suster Progne I finde
she disclosed Iicrself to mortals through How she was torned out of kinde
the gates and balconies of the Manchegan Into a swalwe swift of wing,
Which eke in winter lith swouning
horizon. " There as she may no thing be sene.
5. As the sun was in Aries, and it was And whan th»^ worlde is woxe greno
now the fourth day after the full moon, the And comen is the somer tide.
Then fleeth she forth and ginneth to chid*
Scorpion would be rising in the dawn And rhitereth out in her langage
which precedes the moon. What falshede is in mariage,
8. 1 his indicates the time to be And telleth in a maner speche
two hours and a half after sunset, or Of Tereus the spouse brechc."
half past eight o'clock. Two hours of
the ascending night are passed, and the 18. Pope, Temple of Fame, 7 :—
third is half over.
" What time the mom mysterious visions brtnn
This circumstantial way of measur- While purer slumbers spread their gokiei
ing the flight of time is Homeric

wtngt,"
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

22. Mount Ida. 118. The golden key is the authority

30. To the region of fire. Bmnetto of the confessor ; the silver, his know-
ledge:
Latini,
ter TV^^cr, Ch. CXIII.,
the environment saysis: seated
of the air 'Sl.f-
the fourth element : this is an orb of 132. Luke ix. 62: "No man having
put his hand to the plough, and look- 1
fire, which extends to the moon and 99
surrounds this atmosphere in which we ing back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
are. And know that above the fire is And xvii. 32 : " Remember Lot's
in the first place the moon, and the IJcethius, Cons. Phil., Lib. III. Met.
other stars, which are all of the nature
of fire." 12wife."
:— " Heu ! noctis prope term:nos
37. To prevent Achilles from going Orpheus Eurydicen suani
to the siege of Troy, his mother Thetis Vidit, perdidit, occidit.
Vos haec fabula respicit,
took him from Chiion, the Centaur, and
concealed him in female attire in the Quicumque in snperum diem
Mentem ducere quser!tis,
court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros. Nam qui Tartareuin in specus
Victus lumina flexerit,
53. As Richter says: "Ihe hour Qui'-quid praecipuum trahit,
when sleep is nigh unto the soul." Perdit, dum videt inferos."
55. Lucia, the Enlightening Grace of
heaven. Inf. II. 97. 136. Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 879 :—
58. Nino and Conrad. " On a sudden open fly
63. Ovid uses a like expression : — With impetuous recoil and jarring sound
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
" Sleep and the god together went away."
Harsh thunder."
94. The first stair is Confession ;
138. When Caesar robbed the Ro-
the second, Contrition ; and the third. man treasury on the Tarpeian hill, the
Penance. tribune Metellus strove to defend it ; but
97. Purple and black. See btf. V. Caesar, drawing his sword, said to him,
Note 89. "It is easier to do this than to say
105. The gate of Paradise is thus
described by Milton, Parad. Lost, III.
Lucan, Phars., III. : —
501 :—
" The tribune with unwilling steps W'thdrew,
" Far distant he descries, While impious hands the rude assault renew :
Ascending hy degrees magnificent The brazen gates with thundering strokes r^
Up to the wall of heaven, a structure high ; sound.
At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared And the Tarpeian mountain rings around.
The work as of a kingly palace gate, At lengthit."
the sacred storehouse, open laid,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Imbellished ; thick with sparkling orient gems 'I'he hoarded
sent, wealth of ages past displayed ;
There might be seen the sums proud Carthage
'I'he portal shone, inimitable on earth
By model or by shading pencil drawn. Her long impending ruin to prevent.
The stairs were such as whereon J.icob saw There heaped the Macedonian treasures shone.
Angels, ascending and descending, bands What great Flaminiusand .(Emilius won
Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled From vanquished Philip and his hapless son.
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open sky, There lay, what flying Pyrrhus lost, the gold
And waking cried, ' This is the gate of Scorned by the patriot's honesty of old :
Whate'er our parsimonious sires could save.
heaven.' What tributary gifts rich Syria gave ;
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to heaven some- The hundro-J Cretan cities' ample spoil ;
times What Cato gathered from the Cyprian isle.
Riches of captive kings by Pompey borne.
Viewless ; and underneath a bright sea flowed
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon In happier days, his triumph to adorn.
From utmost India and the rising morn ;
Who after came from earth sailing arrived, Wealth infinite, in one rapacious day.
Wafted by angels ; or flew o'er the lake, Became the needy soldier's lawless prey :
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steed.s." And wretched Rome, by robbery laid low,

112. The Seven Sins, which are pu- Was poorer than the bankrupt Caesar now. "
nished in the seven circles of Purgatory ; 140. The hymn of St. Ambrose, uni-
Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth, Avarice, versally known in the churches as the Tt
Gluttony, LusL Deum.
D D
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
J92
144. 'i'homson, Hytnn :— contended for the ransom-money of a
slain man : the one affirmed that he had
" In swarming cities vast
Assembled men to the deep organ join paid all, appealing to the people ; but
The long-resoiuiding voice, oft breaking clear the other denied, averring that he had
At solenm pauses throngh the swelling bass,
And, as each mingling flame increases each, received naught : and both wished to
In one united ardour rise to heaven." find an end of the dispute before a judge.
The people were applauding both, sup-
CANTO X. porters of either party, and the heralds
were keeping back the people ; but the
T. In this canto is describeri the First elders sat upon polished stones, in a
Circle of Purgatory, wliere the sin of sacred circle, and the pleaders held in
Pride is punished. their hands the staves of the clear- voiced
14. It being now Easter Monday, and heralds ; with these then they arose, and
the fourth day after the full moon, the alternately pleaded their cause. More-
hour here indicated would be four hours over, in the midst lay two talents of gold,
after sunrise. And as the sun was more to give to him who should best establish
than two hours high when Dante found his claim among them. But round the
himself at the gate of Purgatory (Canto other city sat two armies of people glit-
IX. 44), he was an hour and a half in tering in arms ; and one of two plans
this needle's eye. was agreeable to them, either to waste
30. Which was so steep as to allow of it, or to divide all things into two parts,
no ascent ; dritto di salita being used in — the wealth, whatever the pleasant city
the sense of right of way. contained within it. They, however,
32. Polycletus, the celebrated Grecian had not yet complied, but were secretly
sculptor, among whose works one, re- arming themselves for an ambuscade.
presenting the body-guard of the king of Meanwhile, their beloved wives and
Persia, acquired such fame for excellence young children kept watch, standing
as to be called "the Rule." above, and among them the men whom
33. With this description of the sculp- old age possessed. But they (the younger
tures on the wall of Purgatory compare men) advanced; but Mars was theii
that of the shield which Vulcan made leader, and Pallas Minerva, both golden,
for Achilles, Iliad, XVIII. 484, Buck- and clad in golden dresses, beautiful and
large, along with their armour, radiant
ley's Tr. :—
" On it he wrought the earth, and the all round, and indeed like gods ; but the
heaven, and the sea, the unwearied sun, people were of humbler size. But when
and the full moon. On it also he rejire- they now had reached a place where it
sented all the constellations with which appeared fit to lay an ambuscade, by a
the heaven is crowned, the Pleiades, the river, where there was a watering-place
Hyades, and the strength of Orion, and for all sorts of cattle, there then they
the Bear, which they also call by the settled, clad in shining steel. There,
appellation of the Wain, which there re- apart from the people, sat two spies,
volves, and watches Orion ; but it alone watching when they might perceive the
is free from the baths of the ocean. sheep and crooked-horned oxen. These,
" In it likewise he wrought two fair however, soon advanced, and two shep-
cities of articulate speaking men. In herds accompanied them, amusing them-
the one, indeed, there were marriages selves with their pipes, for they had not
and feasts ; and they were conductmg yet perceived the stratagem. Then they,
the brides from their chambers through tiiscerning them, ran in upon them, and
the city with brilliant torches, and many immediately slaughtered on all sides the
a bridal song was raised,. The youthful herds of oxen, and the beautiful flocki
dancers were wheeling round, and among of snow-white sheep ; and slew the shep-
them pipes and lyres uttered a sound ; herds besides. But they, when they
and the women standing, each at her heard the great tumult among the oxen,
portals, admired. And people were l)reviously sitting in front of tlie assembly,
crowded together in an assembly, and mounting their nimble-footed steeds, pur-
there a contest had arisen ; for two men sued ; and soon came up with them.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 393

liien, having marshalled themselves, a shrill harp ; and with tender voice sang
they fought a battle on the banks of gracefully to the chord ; while they, beat-
the river, and wounded one another with ing the ground in unison with dancing
their brazen spears. Among them min- and shouts, followed, skipping with their
ified Discord and Tumult, and destruc- feet.
tive Fate, holding one alive recently "In it he also wrought a herd of oxen
wounded, another unwounded, but a with horns erect. But the kine were
third, slain, she drew by the feet through made of gold and of tin, and rushed out
the battle ; and had the garment around with a lowing from the stall to the pas-
her shoulders crimsoned with the gore ture, beside a murmuring stream, along
of men. But they turned about, like the breeze-waving reeds. Four golden
living mortals, and fouglit, and drew herdsmen accompanied the oxen, and
away the slaughtered bodies of each nine dogs, swift of foot, followed. But
other. two terrible lions detained the bull, roar-
"On it he also placed a soft fallow ing among the foremost o.xen, and he
field, rich glebe, wide, thrice-ploughed ; was . dragged away, loudly bellowing,
and in it many ]iloughmen drove hither and the dogs and youths followed for
and thither, turning round, their teams. a rescue. They indeed, having torn off
But wlien, returning, they reached the the skin of the great ox, lapped up his
end of the field, then a man, advancing, entrails and black blood ; and the shep-
gave into their hands a cup of very sweet herds vainly pressed upon them, urging
wine ; but they turned themselves in on their fleet dogs. These however re-
serie>, eager to reach the other end of fused to bite the lions, but, standing very
the deep fallow. But it was all black near, barked, and shunned them.
behind, similar to ploughed land, which *' On it illustrious Vidcan also formed
indeed was a marvel beyond all others. a pasture in a beautiful grove full of
' ' On it likewise he ])laced a field of white sheep, and folds, and covered huts
deeji corn, where reapers were cutting, and cottages.
having sliarp sickles in their hands. " Illustrious Vulcan likewise adorned
Some handfuls fell one after the other it with a dance, like unto that which,
upon the ground along the furrow, and in wide Gnossus, Dcedalus contrived
the binders of sheaves tied others with for fair-haired Ariadne. There danced
bands. Three binders followed the youths and alluring virgins, holding each
rea]»ers, while behind them boys gather- other's hands at the wrist. Tiiese wore
ing the handfuls, and bearing them in fine linen robes, but those were dressed
their arms, continually supplied them ; in well-woven tunics, shining as with
and among them the master stood by oil ; these also had beautiful garlands,
the swatli in silence, holding a sceptre, and those wore golden swords, hanging
delighted in heart. But apart, beneath from silver belts. Sometimes, with skil-
an oak, servants were preparing a ban- ful feet, they nimbly bounded round ;
quet, and, sacrificing a huge ox, they as when a ]iotter, sitting, shall make
ministered ; while women sprinkled much trial of a wheel fitted to his hands, whe-
white barley on the meat, as a supper for ther itwill run : and at other times again
the reapei-s. they ran back to their i^laces through one
" On it likewise he placed a vineyard, another. But a great crowd surrounded
heavily laden with graj^es, beautiful, the pleasing dance, amusing themselves;
golden ; init the clusters throughout were and among them two tumblers, begin-
black ; and it was supported throughout ning their songs, spun round through the
by silver poles. Round it he drew an midst.
azure trench, and about it a hedge of " But in it he also formed the vast
tin ; but there was only one path to it, strength of the river Oceanus, near the
by which the gatherers went when they last border of the well-formed shield."
collected the vintage. Young virgins See also Virgil's description of the
and youths, of tender minds, bore the Shield of /Eneas, yEtidif, VIII., and of
luscious fruit in woven baskets, in the the representations on the wafis of the
midst of whom a boy played sweetly on Temple of Juno at Carthage, yEneid, L
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
394
Also the description of the Temple of might ; and David was girded with a
Ma'-s, ill Statins, Thebaid, VII., and
that of the tomb of the Persian queen linen
68. ephod."
2 Samuel vi. 16: "And as the
in the Alexaudreis of Philip Gaultier, ark ot the Lord came into the city of
noticed in Mr. Sumner's article, Atlantic David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked
Monthly, XVI. 754. And finally "the through a window and saw King David
noble kerving and the portreitures" of leaping and dan;ing before the Lord;
the Temples of Venus, Mars, and Diana, and she despised him in her heart."
in Chaucer's Knightes Tale :— 73. This story of Trajan is told in
nearly the same words, though in ])rose,
" Why shulde I not as wel eke tell you all in the Fiore Ui Filosofi, a work attril>uted
The portreltiire that was upon the wall to Brunetto Latini. See Nannucci,
Within the temple of mighty Mars the Rede f
Manuale dclla Lefteratiira del I'rimo
" First on the wall was painted a forest, Secolo, III. 291. It may be found also
In which ther woiineth neyther man ne best ; in the L^egenda Aurea, in the Cento No-
With knotty, knarry, barrein trees old, , velle Antiche, Nov. 67, and in the Life of
Of stubbes sharpe, and h dous to behold ;
III which ther ran a romble and a swough. St. Gregory, by Paulus Diaconus.
As though a stornie shuld bresten every bough. As told by Ser Brunetto the story runs
And, dounward from an HMl, under a bent,
Ther stcxxl the temple of Mars Armipotent, thus : "Trajan was a very just Kniperor,
and one day, having mounted his horse
Wrought all of burned stele ; of which th' entree to go into battle with his cavalry, a
Was longe and streite, and gastly for to see ;
And therout came a rage and swiche a vise, woman came and seized him by the foot,
That it made all the gates for to rise.
The northern light in at the dore shone ; and, weeping bitterly, asked him and
For window, on the wall, ne was ther none, besought him to do justice ujion those
Thurgh which men mightcn any light disceme. who had without cause ])ut to death her
The dore was all of athamant etenie ; son, who was an upright young man.
Yclenched, overthwart and endelong.
With yreii tough. And, for to make it strong, And he answered antl said, ' I will give
Every piler the temple to sustene thee satisfaction when I return.' And
Was tonne-gret, of vren bright and shene. she said, ' And if thou dost not return?'
" Ther saw I, first, the derke imagining And he answered, ' If I do not return,
Of felonie, and alle the coinpa.ssing ;
The cruel ire, red as any glede ; my successor will give thee satisfaction.'
The pikepurse ; and eke the pale drede ; And she said, 'Iiow do I know that?
The smiler, with the knil under the cloke ;
The shepen brennlng, with the blake smoke ;
and suppose he do it, what is it to thee
The treson of the mordring in the bedde ; if another do good ? Thou art my
debtor, and according to thy deeds shalt
l"he open werre, with woimdes all beliledde
Conteke, with blody knif and sharp menace : ;
thou be judged ; it is a fraud for a man
All full of chirking wa.s that sory place.
not to pay what he owef^ ; the justice of
The sleer of himself, yet, saw I there. another will not liberate tliee, and it will
His herle-blood hath bathed all his here,
The naile ydriven in the shode anyght, be well for thy successor if he shall lilie-
The colde deth, with mouth gaping upright." rate himself.' Moved by these words the
Em])eror alighted, and did justice, and
40. Luke i. 28 : " And the angel came consoled the widow, and then mounted
in mUo her and said, Hail, thou that art his horse, and went to battle, an<l routed
highly favoured, the Lord is with thee." his enemies. A long time afterwards
44. Luke i. 38 : " .And Mary said, .St. Gregory, hearing of this justice, .saw
Behold tiie handmaid of the Lord." his statue, and had him disinterred, and
57. 2 Samuel vi. 6, 7 : " And when found that he was all turned to dust,
they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, exce|it his bones and his tf>ngue, which
Uz/ah put forth his hand to the ark of was like that of a living man. And by
(»o<l, and took ht)ld of it ; for the oxen this St. (jregory knew his justice, for
shook it. AntI the anger of the Lord this tongue had always spoken it ; so
was kindled against L'zzah, and God that when he wejit very i>iteously through
smote him there for his error ; and there
com)-assion,
take this soul prayingout of (Hell,
">o(l that he woidd
knowing that
he died by the ark of God."
65. 2 Snviucl vi. 14 : " And David he had been a Pagan. Then God, be-
danced before the Lord with all his cause of these prayers, drew that soul
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 395

from pain, and put it into glory. And to omit nothing relative to art that may
thereupon the angel spoke to St. Gre- be worthy of commemoration — a certain
gory, and told him never to make such Oderigi of Agobbio, an excellent minia-
a prayer again, and God laid upon him ture-painter ofthose times, with whom
as a penance either to be two days in Giotto lived on terms of close friendship;
Purgatory, or to be always ill with fever and who was therefore invited by the
and side-ache. St. Gregory as the lesser Pope to illuminate many books for tiie
punishment chose the fever and side-ache library of the palace : but these books
{male di fianco). " have in great part perished in tiie lapse
75. Gregory's "great victory" was of time. In my book of ancient draw-
saving the soul of Trajan by prayer. ings I have some few remains from the
1 24. Jeremy Taylor says : "As the hand of this artist, who was certainly a
silk-worm eateth itself out of a seed to clever man, although much surpassed by
l)ecome a little worm ; and there feeding Franco of Bologna, who executed many
on the leaves of mulberries, it grows till admirable works in the same manner,
its coat be off, and then works itself into for the same Pontiff (and which were also
a house of silk ; then, casting its pearly destined for the library of the palace),
seeds for the young to breed, it leaveth at the same time with those of Oderigi.
its silk for man, and dieth all white and From the hand of Franco also, I have
winged in the sliape of a flying creature : designs, both in painting and illumin-
so is the progress of souls." ating, which may be seen in my book
127. Gower, Confes. Amant., i. : — above cited ; among others are an eagle,
perfectly well done, and a lion tearing
" The proude vice of veingloire
Remembreth nought of purgatoire." up a tree, which is most beautiful."
81. The art of illuminating manu-
And Shakespeare, King Henry the scripts, which was called in Paris allu-
Eighth, III. 2. :— minare, was in Italy called tniniare.
" I have ventured, Hence Oderigi is called by Vasari a
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders. miniatore, or miniature-painter.
This many summers in a sea of glory." 83. Franco Bolognese was a pupil of
Oderigi, who perhaps alludes to this fact
CANTO XL in claiming a part of the honour paid to
the younger artist.
3. The angels, the first creation or 94. Of Cimabue, Vasari, Lives oj the
effects of the divine power. Painters, Mrs. Foster's Tr., I. 35, says: —
6. Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 25 : " For " The ovenvhelming flood of evils by
she is the breath of the power of God, which unhappy Italy has been submerged
and a pure inlluence flowing from the and devastated had not only destroyed
glory of the Almighty." In the Vul- whatever could properly be called build-
gate : Vapor est enim vij-tutis Dei, ings, but, a still more deplorable conse-
45. See Inf. XII. Note 2. quence, had totally exterminated theartists
58. Or Italian. The speaker is Om- themselves, when, by the will of God, in
berto Aldobraiuieschi, Count of Santa- the year 1240, Giovanni Cimabue, of the
fiore, in the Maremma of Siena. "The noble family of that name, was born, in
Counts of Santafiore were, and are, and the city of Florence, to give the first
almost always will be at war with the light to the art of painting. This youth,
Sienese," says the Oltiino. In one of as he grew up, being considered by his
these wars Omherto was slain, at the father and others to give proof of an
village of Campagnatico. "The author acute judgment and a clear understand-
means," continues the same commen- ing, was sent to Santa Maria Novella to
tator, "that he who cannot carry his study letters under a relation, who was
head high should bow it down like a then master in grammar to the novices
bulrush. ' of that coiTvent. But Cimabue, instead
79. \ asdiU, Lives of the Painters, Mrs. of devoting himself to letters, consumed
Foster's Tr. , I. 103, .says : — the whole day in drawing men, horses,
" At this time there lived la Rome^- houses, and other various fancies, on his
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
1S9^
books and different papers, — an occupa- And still it might, and yet it may again,
tion to which he felt himself impelled by If thou wouldbt not entomb thyself alive.
nature ; and this natural inclination was And case thy reputation ii thy tent."
favouretl by fortune, for the governors of Cimabue died in 1300. His epitaph is
the city had invited certain Greek painters
to Florence, for the purpose of restoring " Credidit ut Cimabos picturae castra tenere.
Sic tenuit vivens, nunc tenet astra poli."
the art of painting, which had not merely
degenerated, but was altogether lost. Vasari, Lives of the Painters, I. 93 :—
These artists, among other works, began " The gratitude which the masters in
to paint the Chapel of the Gondi, sit- painting owe to Nature, — who is ever
uate next the principal chapel, in Santa the truest model of him who, possessing
Maria Novella, the roof and walls of the power to select the brightest parts
which are now almost entirely destroyed from her best and loveliest features,
by time, — and Cimabue, often escaping employs himself unweariedly in the
from the school, and having already reproduction of these beauties, — this
made a commencement in the art he gratitude, I say, is due, in my judgment,
was so fond of, would stand watching to the Florentine painter Giotto, seeing
those masters at their work, the day that he alone, — although born amidst
through. Judging from these circum- incapable artists, and at a time when all
stances, his father, as well as the artists good methods in art had long been en-
themselves, concluded him to be well tombed beneath the ruins of war, — yet,
endowed for painting, and thought that by the favour of Heaven, he, I say, alone
much might be hoped from his future succeeded in resuscitating Art, and re-
efforts, if he were devoted to that art. storing her to a path that may be called
Giovanni was accordingly, to his no the true one. And it was in truth a
small satisfaction, placed with those great marvel, that from so rude and
masters. From this time he laboured inapt an age Giotto should have had
incessantly, and was so far aided by his strength to elicit so much, that the art of
natural ix)\vers that he soqu greatly sur- design, of which the men of those days
passed his teachers both in design and had little, if any knowledge, was by his
colouring. For these masters, caring means effectually recalled into life. The
liltle for the progress of art, had exe- birth of this great man took place in the
cuted their works as we now see them, hamlet of Vesjiignano, fourteen miles
not in the excellent manner of the ancient from the city of Florence, in the year
Greeks, but in the rude modem style
1276. His father's name was Bondone,
of their own day. Wherefore, though a simple husbandman, who reared the
Cimabue imitated his C^reek instructors, child, to whom he had given the name
he very much improved the art, relieving of Giotto, with such decency as his con-
it greatly from their uncouth manner, dition permitted. The lK>y was early
and doing honour to his country liy the remarked for extreme vivacity in all his
name he acquired, and by the works he childish proceedings, and for extraordi-
performed. Of this we have evidence in nary promptitude of intelligence ; so that
Florence from the pictures which he he became endeared, not only to his
painted there ; as, for example, the front father, but to all who knew him in the
of the altar of Santa Cecilia, and a pic- village and around it. When he was
ture of the Virgin, in Santa Croce, about ten years old, Bondone gave him
which was, and is still, attached to one a few shee]) to watch, and with these he
of the jiilasters on the right of the choir." wandered about the vicinity, — now here
95. Shakesj^eare, Troil. and Cres., and now there. But, induced by Nature
herself to the arts of design, he was
in. 3 :- periietually drawing on the stones, the
■' Then
TTie present
in:irvcleyenut,praises
thou thegreat
present
and object :
complete earth, or the sand, some natural object
man, that came before him, or some fantasy
Th.at all the Greeks hegin to worship Ajax ; that presented itself to his thoughts. It
Since things in motion sooner catch t!.c eye
Than what not stirs. The cry went once on chanced one day that the affairs of Ci-
thee; mabue took him from Florence to Ves-
 NOTES TO PURGATORTO. ^
pignano, when he perceived the young pose of the Pope, and the manner in
Giotto, who, while his sheep fed around which that Pontiff desired to avail him-
him, was occupied in drawing one of self of his assistance ; and, finally, re-
them from the life, with a stone slightly quested tohave a drawing, that he might
pointed, upon a smooth, clean piece of send it to his Holiness. Giotto, who
rock, — and that without any teaching was very courteous, took a sheet of paper
whatever but such as Nature herself had and a pencil dipped in a red colour, then,
imparted. Halting in astonishment, resting his elbow on his side, to form a
Cimabue inquired of the boy if he would sort of compass, with one turn of the
accompany him to his home, and the hand he drew a circle, so perfect and
child replied, he would go willingly, if exact that it was a marvel to behold.
his father were content to permit it. This done, he turned smiling to the
Cimabue therefore requesting the con- courtier, saying, 'Here is your drawing.'
sent of Bondone, the latter granted it *Am I to have nothing more than this?'
readily, and suffered the artist to conduct inquired the latter, conceiving himself to
his son to Florence, where, in a short be jested with. ' That is enough and to
time, instructed by Cimabue and aided
spare,' returned Giotto; 'send it with
by Nature, the boy not only equalled his the rest, and you will see if it will be
master in his own manner, but became recognised.' The messenger, unable to
so good an imitator of Nature that he obtain anything more, went away vei-y
totally banished the rude Greek manner, ill satisfied, and fearing that he had been
restoring art to the better path adhered fooled. Nevertheless, having despatched
to in modern times, and introducing the the other drawings to the Pope, with the
custom of accurately drawing living per- names of those who had done them, lie
sons from nature, which had not been sent that of Giotto also, relating the
used for more than two hundred years. mode in which he had made his circle,
Or, if some had attempted it, as said without moving his arm and without
above, it was not by any means with the compasses ; from which the Pope, and
success of Giotto. Among the portraits such of the courtiers as were well versed
by this artist, and which still remain, is in the subject, p)erceived how far Giotto
one of his contemporary and intimate surpassed all the other painters of his
friend, Dante Alighieri, who was no less time. This incident, becoming known,
famous as a poet than Giotto as a painter, gave rise to the proverb, still used in
and whom Messer Giovanni Boccaccio relation to people of dull wits, — Tii set
has lauded so highly in the introduction piutondo che VO di Giotto ; the signifi-
to his story of Messer Forese da Rabat- cance of which consists in the double
ta, and of Giotto the painter himself.
meaning of the word 'tondo,' which is
This portrait is in the chapel of the used in the Tuscan for slowness of in-
palace of the Podesta in Florence ; and tellect and heaviness of comprehension,
in the same chapel are the portraits of as well as for an exact circle. The pro-
Ser Bnmetto Latini, master of Dante, verb has besides an interest from the
and of Messer Corso Donati, an illustri- circumstance which gave it birth
ous citizen of that day." "It is said that Giotto, when he was
Pope Benedict the Ninth, hearing of still a boy, and studying with Cimabue,
Giotto's fame, sent one of his courtiers once painted a fly on the nose of a figure
to Tuscany, to propose to him certain on which Cimabue himself was employed,
paintings for the Church of St. Peter. and this so naturally, that, when the
" The messenger," continues Vasari, master returned to continue his work,
"when on his way to visit Cjiotto, and he believed it to be real, and lifted his
to inquire what other good masters there hand more than once to drive it away
were in Florence, spoke first with many before he should go on with the paint-
artists in Siena, — then, having received
designs from them, he proceeded to Flo- Boccaccio, Decameron, VI. 5, tells this
rence, and repaired one morning to the tale of Giotto :—
workshop where Giotto was occupied "Asing. " it often happens that fortune hides
with his labours. He declared the pur- under the meanest trades in life the.
 J\rOT£S TO PURGATORFO.
398
greatest virtues, which has been proved After they had gotten a good part of
by Pampinea ; so are the greatest ge- their way, thoroughly wet, and covered
niuses found frequently lodged by Nature with dirt and mire, which their two
in the most deformed and misshapen shuffling steeds had thrown upon them,
bodies, which was verified in two of our and which by no means improved their
own citizens, as I am now going to relate. looks, it liegan to clear up at last, and
For the one, who was called Forese da they, who had hitherto said but little to
Rabatta, being a little deformed mortal, each other, now turned to discourse to-
v/ith a flat Dutch face, worse than any gether ;whilst Forese, riding along and
of the family of the Baronci, yet was he listening to Giotto, who was excellent at
esteemed by most men a repository of telling a story, b^an at last to view him
the civil law. And the other, whose attentively from head to foot, and, seeing
name was tiiotto, had such a prodigious him in that wretched, dirty pickle, with-
fancy, that tiiere was nothing in Nature, out having any regard to himself he fell
the parent of all things, but he could a laughing, and said, ' Do you suppose,
imitate it with his pencil so well, and Giotto, if a stranger were to meet with
draw it so like, as to deceive our very you now, who had never seen you Ijefore,
senses, imagining that to be the very that he would imagine you to be the
thing itself which was only his painting : best painter in the world, as you really
therefore, having brought that art again are?' Giotto readily replied, * Yes, sir,
to light, which had lain buried for many I believe he might think so, if, looking
ages under the errors of such as aimed at you at the same time, he would ever
more to captivate the eyes of the ignorant, conclude that you had learned yoiir A,
than to please the understandings of B, C. ' At this Forese was sensible of .
those who were really judges, he may be his mistake, finding himself well paid in
deservedly called one of the lights and
hisAnother
own coin."
story of Giotto may be found
glories of our city, and the rather as
being master of his art, notwithstanding in Sacchetti, Nov. 75
his modesty would never suffer himself 97. Probably Dante's friend, Guido
to be so esteemed ; which honour, though ("avalcanti, Jnf. X. Note 63 ; and Guido
rejected by him, displayed itself in him Vf\xmK.^\\\, Piirg. XXVI. Note 92, whom
with the greater lustre, as it was so he calls
" The father
eagerly usurped by others less knowing
than himself, and by many also who had Of me and of my betters, who had ever
all their knowledge from him. But Practised the sweet and gracious rhymes o(
though his excellence in his profession
was so wonderful, yet as to his person 99. Some commentators suppose that
and as]5cct he had no way the advantage Dante here refers to himself. He more
of Signor Forese. To come then to my love." is speaking only in general
probably
story. These two worthies had each his terms, without particular reference to
country-seat at Mugello, and Forese any one.
being gone thither in the vacation time, 103. Ben Jonson, Ode on Uie Death
and riding upon an unsightly steed, 0/ Sir H. A/orison : —
chanced to meet there with Giotto; who " It is not growing like a tree
was no better equipped than himself, In bulk doth make men better be >
Or standing lone an oak, ttiree hundred year,
when they returned together to Florence. To fall a log al last, dry, bald, and scar :
Travelling slowly along, as they were A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
able to go no faster, they were overtaken
Although It fall and die tnat night ;
by a great showe» of rain, and forced to
It was the plant and flower of fight."
take shelter in a poor man's house, who
was well known to them both ; and, as 105. The babble of childhood ; pafipo
money.
there was no appearance of the weather's for pane, bread, and dindi for danari,
clearing up, and each being desirous of
getting home that night, they borrowed Halliwell, Die. of Arch, and Prov.
two old, rusty cloaks, and two rusty hats, Words: "DiNDERS, small coins of tiit
md they proceeded on their journey. Lower Empire, found at Wroxeter."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 3»

108. The revolution of the fixed stars, 138. Spenser, Faery Qtieene, VI. c. 7,
according to the Ptolemaic theory, which
St. 22 :—
was also Dante's, was thirty-six thousand " He, therewith much abashed and affrayd,
years. Began to tremble every limbe and vaine."
109. " Who goes so slowly," inter-
prets the Ottimo. 141.ment Aand poverty
prophecy
and ofhumiliation.
Dante's banish-
112. At the battle of Monte Aperto.
See Inf. X. Note 86. CANTO XII.
118. Henry Vaughan, Sacred Poems :
" O holy hope and high humility,
I. In the first part of this canto the
High as the heavens above ; same subject is continued, with examples
These are your walks, and you have showed of pride humbled, sculptured on the
them me
To kindle my cold love ! "
pavement, upon which the proud are
doomed to gaze as they go with their
And Milton, Sams. Agon., 185 : — heads
burdens,bent down beneath their heavy
"Apt words have power to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind."
" So that they may behold their evil ways,"
121. A haughty and ambitious noble- Jliad, XIII. 700: "And Ajax, the
man of Siena, who led the Sienese swift son of Oileus, never at all stood
troops at the battle of Monte Aperto. apart from the Telamonian Ajax ; but
Afterwards, when the Sienese were as in a fallow field two dark bullocks,
routed by the Florentines at the battle of possessed of equal spirit, drag the com-
Colle in the Val d' Elsa, {Purg. XIII. pacted plough, and much sweat breaks
Note 115,) he was taken prisoner "and out about the roots of their horns, and
his head was cut off," says Villani, VII. the well-polished yoke alone divides
31, "and carried through all the camp them, stepping along the furrow, and
fixed upon a lance. And well was ful- the plough cuts up the bottom of the
filled the prophecy and revelation which soil, so they, joined together, stood very
the devil had made to him, by means of
necromancy, but which he did not near to each other."
3. In Italy a pedagogue is not only a
understand ; for the devil, being con- teacher, but literally a leader of children,
strained to tell how he would succeed in and goes from house to house collecting
that battle, mendaciously answered, and his little flock, which he brings home
said : ' Thou shalt go forth and fight, again after school.
thou shalt conquer not die in the battle, Galatians iii. 24 : " The law was our
and thy head shall be highest in the schoolmaster (Paidagogos) to bring us
camp.' And he, believing from these unto
words that he should be victorious, and 1 7.Christ."
Tombs under the pavement in the
believing that he should be lord over all, aisles of churches, in contradistinction
did not put a stop after ' not ' (vincerai to those built aloft against the walls.
no, tiiorrai, thou shalt conquer not, thou 25. The reader will not fail to mark
snalt die). And therefore it is great the artistic structure of the passage from
folly to put faith in the devil's advice. this to the sixty-third line. First there
This Messer Provenzano was a great
man in Siena after his victory at Monte are four stanzas beginning, " I saw ; "
Aperto, and led the whole city, and all then four beginning, "O;" then four
the Ghibelline party of Tuscany made all. beginning,
stanza which"Displayed;"
resumes and and unitesthen
thema
him their chief, and he was very pre-
sumptuous inhis will.''' 27. Luke X. 18 : "I beheld Satan as
The humility which saved him was
his seating himself at a little table in the lightning
Milton, fall from Lost,
ParaJ. heaven."
I. 44 :—
public square of Siena, called theCampo, " Him the Almighty Power
and begging money of all passers to pay Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal skyv
the ransom of a friend who had been With hideous rum and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
taken prisoner by Charles of Anjou, as In adamantine chains and penal Are,
here narrated by Dante. . • Who durst defy the Omnipotent to anas."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
0»
28. Iliad, I. 403 : " Him of the 39. Homer, Iliad, XXIV. 604,
hundred hands, whom the gods call makes them but twelve. "Twelve chil-
Biiareus. and all men ^goeon." Inf. dren perished in her halls, six daughters
XXI. Note 98. and six blooming sons ; these Apollo
He was struck by the thunderbolt of slew from his silver bow, enraged with
Jove, or by a shaft of Apollo, at the Niobe ; and those Diana, delighting in
battle of Flegra. " Ugly medley of arrows, because she had deemed herself
sacred and profane, of revealed truth equal to the beautiful-cheeked Latona.
and fiction ! " exclaims Venturi. She said that Latona had borne only
31. Thymbrseus, a surname of Apollo, two, but she herself had borne many ;
from his temple in Thymbra. nevertheless those, though but two,
34. Nimrod, who "began to be a exterminated all these."
mighty one in the earth," and his But Ovid, Metainorph., VI., says: —
" tower whose top may reach unto " Seven are my daughters of a form divine,
heaven." With seven fair sons, an indefective line."
Genesis xi. 8 : "So the Lord scattered
them abroad from thence upon the face 40. I Samuel xx\\. 4, 5: "Then said
of all the earth ; and they left to build Saul luito his armour-bearer. Draw thy
sword and thrust me through therewith,
the city. Therefore is the name of it lest these imcircumcised come and thrust
called Babel ; because the Lord did
there confound the language of all the me through and abuse me. But his
earth, and from thence did the Lord armour-bearer would not, for he was
sore afraid ; therefore Saul took a sword,
scatter them abroad upon the face of all
and fell upon it. And when his armour-
the earth." bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell
See also luf. XXXL Note 77.
likewise upon his sword, and died with
36. Lombard! proposes in this line to
read "together" instead of "proud;"
which Biagioli thinks is "changing a 42. 2 Samuel i. 21 : "Ye mountains
of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither
beautiful diamond for a bit of lead ; and
stupid is he who accepts the change." let there be rain upon you."
him."
43. Arachne, daughter of Idmon the
37. Among the Greek epigrams is
dyer of Colophon. Ovid, Metamorph.,
one on Niobe, which runs as follows :—
"This sepulchre within it has no corse ; "VI.:-
One at the loom so excellently skilled.
1'his corse without here has no sepulchre, That to the goddess she refused to yield
But to itself is sepulchre and corse." Low was her birth, and small her native town.
She from her art alone obtained renown.
much.
Ovid, Mdamorph., VL, Croxall's Nor would the work, when finished, please so
Tr. : —
touchshe; wrought, to view each graceful
As, while
" Widowed and childless, lamentable state !
A ctulcful sight, among the dead she sate ; Whetherwound.
the shapeless wool in balls she
Hardened with woes, a statue of despair, round.
To every breath of wind unmoved her hair ; Or with quick motion turned the spindle
Her cheek still reddening, hut its colour dead,
Faded her eyes, and set within her head.
Or with her pencil drew the neat design,
Mo more her pliant tongue its motion keeps. Pallas her mistress shone in every line.
But .stands congealed within her frozen lips. This the proud maid with scornful air denies.
SLignate and dull, within her purple veins. And even the goddess at her work defies ;
Its current stopped, the lifeless blood remains. Disowns her heavenly mistress every hour,
Her feet their usual offices refuse, llor asks her aid, nor deprecates her power.
Her arms and neck their graceful gestures Let us, she cries, but to a trial come.
lose :
Action and life from every part are gone, And if she conquers, let her fix my doom."
And even her entrails turn to solid stone ;
Yet still she weeps, and whirled by stormy It was rather an unfair trial of skill,
win<ls, at the end of which Minerva, getting
Borne through the air, her native country angry, struck Arachne on the foreheaa
finds ;
There fixed, she stands upon a bleaky hill,
with her shuttle of box-wood.
There yet her marble checks eternal tears " The unhappy maid, impatient of the wrong,
Down from a beam her injured person hung;
«(wta."
 NOTES TO rURGATQRlO.

When Pallas, pitying her wretched state. advice, collected all the forces of her
At once prevented and pronounced her fate :
kingdom, and gave him battle. Of all
' Livecried,
; but depend, vile wretch ! ' the goddess the combats in which the barbarians have
' Doomed in suspense for ever to be tied ; engaged among themselves, I reckon 401 this
That all your race, to utmost date of time, to have been the fiercest The
May feel the vengeance and detest the crime.' greater part of the army of the Persians
Then, going off, she sprinkled her with juice
Which leaves of baneful aconite produce. was destroyed, and Cynis himself fell,
Touched with the poisonous drug, her flowing after reigning nine and twenty years.
hair
Search was made among the slain, by
Fell to the ground and left her temples bare ;
Her usual features vanished from their place, order of the queen, for the body of
Her body lessened all, but most her face. Cyrus, and when it was found, she took
Her slender fingers, hanging on each side a skin, and filling it full of human blood,
With many joints, the use of legs supplied ;
she dipped the head of Cyrus in the
A spider's bag the rest, from which she gives
A thread, and still by constant weaving lives." gore, saying, as she thus insulted the
corse, ' I live and have conquered thee
46. In the revolt of the Ten Tribes. in fight, and yet by thee am I ruined ;
I Kings xii. 18: "Then King Reho- for thou tookest my son with guile ; but
boam sent Adoram, who was over the thus I make good my threat, and give
tribute ; and all Israel stoned him with
stones, that he died ; therefore King thee thy fill of blood.' Of the many
different accounts which are given of the
Rehoboam made speed to get him up to death of Cyrus, this which I have
his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem." followed appears to be the most worthy
50. Amphiaratis, the soothsayer, fore-
seeing his own death if he went to the of 59.
credit."
After Judith had slain Holofernes.
Theban war, concealed himself, to avoid
yudith XV. I : " And when they that
going. His wife Eriphyle, bribed by a were in the tents heard, they were
"golden necklace set with diamonds," astonished at the thing that was done.
betrayed to her brother Adrastus his And fear and trembling fell upon them,
hiding-place, and Amphiaralis, depart- so that there was no man that durst
ing, charged his son Alcmeon to kill abide in the sight of his neighbour, but,
Eriphyle as soon as he heard of his rushing out altogether, they fled into
death.
every way of the plain and of the hill
Ovid, Metamorph., IX. :— ■ country Now when the children
of Israel heard it, they all fell upon
" The son shall bathe his hands
blood, in parent's them with one consent, and slew them
And in one act be both unjust and good."
unto Chobai."
61. This tercet unites the "I saw,"
Statius, Theb., II. 355, Lewis's Tr. :— " O," and " Displayed," of the preced-
" Fair Eriphyle the rich gift beheld. ing passage, and binds the whole as with
And her sick breast with secret envy swelled. a selvage.
Not the late omens and.the well-known tale
To cure her vain ambition aught avail. 67. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III. 19 :
O had the wretch by .self-experience known "There was probably never a period in
The future woes and sorrows not her own ! which the influence of art over the minds
But fate decrees her wretched spouse must of men seemed to depend less on its
. bleed.
merely imitative power, than the close of
And the son's frenzy clear the mother's deed ."
the thirteenth century. No painting or
53. Isaiah xxxvii. 38 : " And it came sculpture at that time reached more than
to pass, as he was worshipping in the a rude resemblance of reality. Its
house of Nisroch his god, that Adram- despised perspective, imperfect chiaros-
melech and Sharezer, his sons, smote curo, and unrestrained flights of fantastic
him with the sword ; and they escaped
imagination,
into the land of Armenia, and Esarhad- from nature by separated the artist's
an interval which work
there
don, his son, reigned in his stead." was no attempt to disguise, and little to
56. Herodotus, Book I. Ch. 214, diminish. And yet, at this very j eriotl,
Rawlinson's Tr. : " Tomyris, when she the greatest poet of that, or perhaps ot
found that Cyrus paid no heed to her any other age, and the attached friend o»
 NOTES ro PURGATORIO.
402
its greatest painter, who must over and Above it on the hill stands the church of
San Miniato. This is the hill which
over again have held full and free con-
Michael Angelo fortified in the siege of
versation with him respecting the ob-
jects of his art, speaks in the following Florence. In early times it was climbed
terms of painting, supposed to be carried by stairways.
to its highest perfection :— 105. In the good old days, before any
one had falsified the ledger of the public
' Qual di pennel fu maestro, e di stile accounts, or the standard of measure.
Che ritraesse 1' ombre, e i tratti, ch' ivi
Mirar farieno uno ingegno sottile. In Dante's time a certain Messer Niccola
Mori li morti, e i vivi parean vivi : tore out a leaf from the public records,
Non vide me' di me, chi vide il vero. to conceal some villany of his ; and a
Quant' io calcai, fin che chinato givi.'
certain Messer Durante, a custom-house
Dante has here clearly no other idea of officer, diminished the salt-measure by
the highest art than that it should bring one XVI. stave.
105. This is again alluded to, Par.
back, as in a mirror or vision, the aspect
of things passed or absent. The scenes no. Matthews. 3: "Blessed are the
of which he speaks are, on the pave- poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom
ment, for ever represented by angelic
power, so that the souls which traverse of Itheaven." must be observed that all the Latin
this circle of the rock may see them, as lines in Dante should be chanted with an
if the years of the world had been rolled equal stress on each syllable, in order to
back, and they again stood beside the make them rhythmical.
actors in the moment of action. Nor do
I think that Dante's authority is CANTO XIII.
absolutely necessary to compel us to
admit that such art as this might indeed I. The Second Circle, or Cornice,
be the higliest possible. Whatever where is punished the sin of Envy ; of
delight we may have been in the habit which St. Augustine says: "Envy is
of taking in pictures, if it were but truly the hatred of another's felicity ; in
offered to us to remove at our will the respect of superiors, because they are
canvas from the frame, and in lieu of it not equal to them ; in respect of inferiors,
to behold, fixed for ever, the image of lest they shf)uld be equal to them ; in
some of those mighty scenes which it respect of equals, because they are equal
has been our way to make mere themes to them. Thrcjugh envy proceeded the
for the artist's fancy, — if, for instance, fall of the world, and the death of
we could again behold the Magdalene
receiving her pardon at Christ's feet, or 9. The livid colour of Envy.
the disciples sitting with him at the table 14. The military precision with which
Christ."
of Emmaus, — and this not feebly nor Virgil faces to the right is Homeric.
fancifully, but as if some silver mirror, Biagioli says that Dante expresses it
that had leaned against the wall of the "after his own fashion, that is, entirely
chamber, had l)een miraculously com- new and different from mundane custom."
manded to retain for ever the colours 16. Hoethius, Cuiis. rhil.,y. Met. 2:
that had flashed u|Km it for an instant, — " Him the Sim, then, rightly call, —
would we not part with our picture,
God who sees and lightens all."
Titian's or Veronese's though it might
29. John ii. 3 : " And when they
8i. The sixth hour of the day, or wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith
be?"
noon of the second day.
unto him, They have no wine."
102. Florence is here callal ironically Examples are first given of the virtue
"the well guided" or well opposite the vice here punished. These
Kubaconte is the name of governed.
the most
are but "airy tongues that syllable men's
easterly of the bridges over the Arno, names ;" and it must not Ije supposed
and takes its name from Messer Kuba- that the persons alluded to are actually
conte, who was Fodesti of Florence in passing in the air.
1236, when this bridge was built. 33. The name of Orestes is hert
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 403

shouted on account of the proverbial it proceeds in the image of this arcli,

friendship between him and Pylades.
When Orestes was condemned to death, ascending and descending."
122. The warm days near the end of
Pylades tried to take his place, exclaim- January are still called in Lombardy /
ing, "I am Orestes." giorni della merla, the days of the black-
36. Matthew v. 44 : " But I say unto bird ;from an old legend, that once in
you, Love your enemies, bless them that the sunny weather a blackbird sang, "I
curse you, do good to them that hate you, fear thee no ni'ore, O Lord, for the winter
and pray for them which despitefully use
you and persecute you." 128. Peter Pettignano, or Pettinajo,
is over."
39. See Canto XIV. 147. was a holy hermit, who saw visions and
42. The next stairway leading from wrought miracles at Siena. Forsyth,
the second to the third circle. Italy, 149, describing the festival of the
51. The Litany of All Saints. Assumption in that city in 1802, says: —
92. Latian for Italian. " The Pope had reserved for this great
109. A Sienese lady living in banish- festival the Beatification of Peter, a
ment at Cclle, where from a tower she Sienese comb-maker, whom the Church
witnessed the battle between her towns- had neglected to canonize till now. Poor
men and the Florentines. " Sapia hated Peter was honoured with all the solem-
the Sienese," says Benvenuto, "and nity of music, high-mass, and officiating
placed herself at a window not far from cardinal, a florid panegyric, pictured
the field of battle, waiting the issue with angels bearing his tools to heaven, and
anxiety, and desiring the rout and ruin combing their own hair as they soared ;
of her own people. Her desires being but he received five hundred years ago a
verified by the entire discomfiture of the greater honour than all, a verse of praise
Sienese, and the death of their captain," from Dante."
(Provenzan Salvani, see Canto XL Note
138. Dante's besetting sin was not
121,) "exultant and almost beside her- envy, but pride.
self, she lifted her bold'face to heaven, 144. On the other side of the world.
and cried, ' Now, O God, do with me 153. The vanity of the Sienese is also
what thou wilt, do me all the harm thou spoken of/;// XXIX. 123.
canst ; now my prayers are answered, 152. Talamone is a seaport in the
and I die content.'" Maremma, " many times abandoned by
110. Gower, Confes. Amant., IL :— its inhabitants," says the The
Ottimo,
account of the malaria. town" onis
" Whan I have sene another blithe
Of love and hadde a goodly chere, Utterly in ruins ; but as the harbour is
Ethna, which brenneth yere by yere, deep, and would be of great utility if the
Was thaniie nought so bote as I place were inhabited, the Sienese have
Of thiike sore which prively
spent much money in repairing it many
Mine hertes thought withinne brenneth."
times, and bringing in inhabitants ; it is
114. tVwz'/^, IV. 23 : " Every effect, of little use, for the malaria prevents the
in so far as it is effect, receiveth the like-
ness of its cause, as far as it can retain it. increase of population.
Talamone "
is the ancient Telamon,
Therefore, inasmuch as our life, as has where Marius landed on his return from
Africa.
been said, and likewise that of every
living creature here below, is caused by 153. The Diana is a subterranean river,
the heavens, and the heavens reveal which the Sienese were in search of for
themselves to all these effects, not in many yeai"s to supply the city with water.
complete circle, but in part thereof, so "They never have been able to find it,"
must its movement needs be above ; and says the Ottimo, "and yet they still
as an arch retains all lives nearly, (and, hope." In Dante's time it was evidently
I say, retains those of men as well as of looked upon as an idle dream. To the
other living creatures,) ascending and credit of the .Sienese be it said, they per-
curving, they must be in the similitude severed, and finally succeeded in obtain-
of an arch. Returning then to our life, ing the water so patiently sought for.
of which it is now question, I say that The Pozzo Diana, or Diana's Well, is
404 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

still to be seen at the Convent of the has uttered against this whole valley.
Carmen. He follows the course of the river, and
154. The admirals who go to Tala- as he advances marks every place he
mone to superintend the works will lose comes to with fierce invective. The far-
there more than their hope, namely, their ther he goes, the more his hate redoubles
lives. in violence and bitterness. It is a piece
of topographical satire, of which I know
CANTO XIV. no other example."
32. The Apennines, whose long chain
I. The subject of the preceding canto ends in Calabria, opposite Cape Peloro
is here continued. Compare the intro- in Sicily, ^neid, III. 410, Davidson's
ductory lines with those of Canto V.
7. These two spirits prove to be Guido " But when, after setting out, the wind
del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli. Tr. :—waft you to the Sicilian coast, and
shall
17. A mountain in the Apennines, the straits of narrow Pelorus shall of)en
north-east of Florence, from which the wider to the eye, veer to the land on the
Arno takes its rise. Ampere, Voyage left, and to the sea on the left, by a long
Dantesque, p. 246, thus describes this circuit ; fly the right both sea and shore.
region of the Val d' Arno. ' ' Farther on These lands, they say, once with violence
is another tower, the tower of Porciauo, and vast desolation convulsed, (such revo-
which is said to have been inhabited by lutions along course of time is able to
Dante. From there I had still to climb
produce, ) slipped asunder ; when in con-
the summits of the Falterona. I started tinuity both lands were one, the sea
towards midnight in order to arrive be- rushed impetuously between, and by its
fore sunrise. I said to myself. How waves tore the Italian side from that of
many times the poet, whose footprints Sicily ; and with a narrow frith runs
I am following, has wandered in these between the fields and cities separated
mountains ! It was by these little alpine by the shores. Scylla guards the right
paths that he came and went, on his side, implacable Charybdis the left, and
way to friends in Romagr.a or friends in thrice with the deepest eddies of its gulf
Urbino, his heart agitated with a hope swallows up the vast billows, headlong
that was never to be fulfilled. I figured in, and again spouts them out by turns
to myself Dante walking with a guide high into the air, and lashes the stars
under the light of the stars, receiving all
with the waves."
the impressions produced by wild and And Lucan, Phars., II. :—
weather-beaten regions, steep roads, deep " And still we see on fair Sicilia's sands
valleys, and the accidents of a long and
Where part of Apennine Pelorus stands."
diflficult route, impressions which he
would transfer to his poem. It is enough And Shelley, Ode to Liberty : —
to have read this poem to be certain " O'er the lit waves every ^.olian isle
From Pithecusa to Pelorus
that its auilior has travelled much, has
wandered much. Dante really walks Howls, and leaps, and glares in chorus."
with Virgil. He fatigues himself with 40. When Dante wrote this invective
climbing, he stops to take breath, he
uses his hands when feet are insufficient. against the inhabitants
he probably of thethe
had in mind \'alfollowing
d' Arno,
He gets lost, and asks the way. He passage of Boethius, Co/ts. Phil., IV.
observes the height of the sun and
itars. In a word, one finds the habits Pros. 3, Ridpath's Tr. : —
" Hence it again follows, that every
ind souvenirs of the traveller in every thing which strays from what is good
terse, or rather at every step of his poetic ceases to be ; the wicked therefore must
pilgrimage. cease to be what they were ; but that
" Dante has certainly climbed the top they were formerly men, their human
of the Falterona. It is ujwn this sum- slmjie, which still remains, testifies. By
mit, from which all the Valley of the degenerating into wickedness, then, they
A mo is embraced, that one should read must cease to be men. But as virtue
the singular imprecation which the poet alunc can exalt a man above what ii
 405
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

human, so it is on the contrary evident, gentleman at whose house I slept here,

that vice, as it divests him of his nature, ascribed the superior flavour of their
must sink him below humanity ; you hams, which are esteemed the best in
ought therefore by no means to consider Italy and require no cooking, to the dry-
him as a man whom vice has rendered ness of the air, the absence of stagnant
vicious. Tell me, What difference is water, and the quantity of chestnuts
there betwixt a wolf who lives by rapine, given to their hogs. Bibbiena has been
and a robber wliom the desire of ano- long renowned for its chestnuts, which
ther's wealth stimulates to commit all the peasants dry in a kiln, grind into a
manner of violence ? Is there anything sweet flour, and then convert into bread,
that bears a stronger resemblance to a
cakes, zwA polenta."
wrathful dog who barks at passengers, 46. The people of Arezzb. Forsyth,
than a man whose dangerous tongue at- Itafy, p. 128 :—
tacks all the world ? What is liker to a " The Casentines were no favourites
fox than a cheat, who spreads his snares with Dante, who confounds the men with
in secret to undermine and ruin you ? to their hogs. Yet, following the divine
a lion, than a furious man who is always poet down the Arno, we came to a race
ready to devour you ? to a deer, than a still more forbidding. The Aretine pea-
coward who is afraid of his own shadow? sants seem to inherit the coarse, surly
to an ass, than a mortal who is slow, visages of their ancestors, whom he
dull, and indolent ? to the birds of the styles Bottoli. Meeting one girl, who
air, than a man volatile and inconstant ? appeared more cheerful than her neigh-
and what, in fine, is a debauchee who is bours, we asked her how far it was
immersed in the lowest sensual gratifi- from Arezzo, and received for answer,
cations, but a hog who wallows in the
''Qnanto c'e.'
mire? Upon the whole, it is an unques- " The valley widened as we advanced,
tionable truth that a man who forsakes
and when Arezzo appeared, the river left .
virtue ceases to be a man ; and, as it is us abruptly, wheeling off from its environs
impossible that he can ascend in the scale at a sharp angle, which Dante converts
of beings, he must of necessity degenerate into a snout, and points disdainfully
and sink into a beast." against the currish race
43. The people of Casentino. Forsyth, "On entering the Val di Chiana, we
Italy, p. 126: — passed through a peasantry more civil
" On returning down to the Casentine, and industrious than their Aretine neigh-
we could trace along the Arno the mis- bours. One poor girl, unlike the last
chief which followed a late attempt to whom we accosted, was driving a laden
clear some Apennines of their woods. ass, bearing a billet of wood on her head,
Most of the soil, which was then loosened spinning with the rocca, and singing as
from the roots and washed down by the she went on. Others were returning
torrents, lodged in this plain ; and left with their sickles from the fields which
immense beds of sand and large rolling they had reaped in the Maremma, to
stones on the very spot where Dante de- their own harvest on the hills. That
scribes contrast which struck me in the man-
' Li ruscel'.etti che de' verdi colli
ners of two cantons so near as Cortona
Del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno, to Arezzo, can only be a vestige of their
Facendo i lor canali e freddi e moUi.' ancient rivality while separate republics.
" I was surprised to find so large a Men naturally dislike the very virtues
town as Bibbiena in a country devoid of of their enemies, and affect qualities
manufactures, remote from public roads, as remote from theirs as they can well
and even deserted by its landholders ;
for the Niccolini and Vecchietti, who 50. The Florentines.
possess most of this district, prefer the defend." 53. The Fisans.
obscurer pleasures of Florence to their 57. At the close of these vitupera-
palaces and pre-eminence here. The tions, perhaps to soften the sarcasm by
only commodity which the Casentines making it more general, Benvenuto ap-
trade in is pork. Signore Baglione, a pends this uote : ' ' What Dante says of
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
406
the inhabitants of the Val d' Amo might was of Brettinoro ; he was a gentleman
he said of the greater part of the Ita- full of courtesy and honour, was fond
Hans, nay, of the world. Dante, being of entertaining guests, made presents of
<ince asked why he had put more Chris- robes and horses, loved honourable men,
tians than Gentiles into Hell, replied, and all his life was devoted to largess
' Because I have known the Christians
andThe
goodmarriage
living." of Riccardo Manardi
better.' "
58, MesserFulcieridaCalboliof Forli, with Lizio's daughter Caterina is the
nephew of Rinieri. He was Podesti of subject of one of the tales of the Deca-
Florence in 1302, and, being bribed by meron, V. 4. Pietro Dante says, that,
the Neri, had many of the Bianchi put to when Lizio was told of the death of his
death.
dissipated son, he replied, " It is no news
64. Florence, the habitation of these
to me, he never was alive."
wolves, left so stripped by Fulcieri, on 98. Of Pier Traversaro the Ottimo
his retiring from office, that it will be long says : " He was of Ravenna, a man of
in recovering its former prosperity. most gentle blood ;" and of Guido di
81. Guido del Duca of Brettinoro, near Ca/pigna Most
: " Heof was of Montefeltro.
Forli, in Romagna ; nothing remains the time he lived at
but the name. He and his companion Brettinoro, and surpassed all others in
Rinieri were "gentlemen of worth, if they generosity, loved for the sake of loving,
had not been burned up with envy." and lived handsomely."
87. On worldly goods, where selfish- ICO. " This Messer Fabbro," says the
ness excludes others ; in contrast with the Ottimo, " was born of low parents,
spiritual, which increase by being shared. and lived so generously that the author
See Canto XV. 45. (Dante) says there never was his like in
88. Rinieri da Calboli. " He was
•very famous," says the Ottinio, and his- loi. The
Bologna. " (?//'/>»<» again : "ThisMesser
tory says no more. In the Cento Novelle Bernardino, son of Fosco, a farmer, and
Antiche, Nov. 44, Roscoe's Tr., he figures of humble occupation, became so excel-
thus :— lent by his good works, that he was an
"A certain knight was one day en- honour to Faenza ; and he was named
treating alady whom he loved to smile with praise, and the old grandees were
upon his wishes, and among other deli- not ashamed to visit him, to see his mag-
cate arguments which he pi^essed upon nificence, and to hear his pleasant jests."
her was that of his own suixjrior wealth, 104. Guido da Prata, from the village
elegance, and accomplishments, espe- of that name, between Faenza and F"orli,
cially when compared with the merits and Ugolin d' Azzo of Faenza, according
of her own liege-lord, • whose extreme to the same authority, though "of humble
birth, rose to such great honour, that,
ugliness, madam,' he continued, ' I tliink
I need not insist upon.' Her husband, leaving their native places, they associated
who overheard this compliment from tiie with the noblemen before mentioned."
place of his concealment, immediale!y 106. Frederick Tignoso was a gentle-
replied, ' Pray, sir, mend your ow n man of Rimini, living in Brettinoro. "A
manners, and do not vilify other people.' man of great mark," says Buti, "with
The name of the plain gentleman was his band of friends." According to Ben-
Lizio di Vallnma, and Mcsser Rinieri da venuto, "he had beautiful blond hair,
Calvoli that of the other." and was called tignoso (the scurvy fel-
92. In Romagna, which is bounded by
low) by way of antiphrase." The Ottimo
the Po, the Apennines, the Adriatic, and speaks of him as follows : "He avoided
the river Reno, that passes near Bologna. the city as much as possible, as a place
93. For study and pleasure. hostile to gentlemen, but when he was
97. Of Lizio and Manardi the Ottimo
in 107.
it, he Ancient
kept open
andhouse."
honourable families
says: " Messer Lizio di Valbona, a
courteous gentleman, in order to give of Ravenna. There is a story of them in
a dinner at Forll, sold half his silken the Decameron, Gior. V. Nov. 8, which
bedquill for sixty florins. Arri jo Manardi is too long to 9^uote. Upon this tale i|
 407
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

founded Dryden's poem of Theodore and " Of calling .shapes and beckoning shadows dirlj
Honoria. And airy tongues that syllable men's names."
109. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, I. i :— These voices in the air proclaim ex-
amples of envy.
" The dames, the cavaliers, the arms, the loves,
The courtesies, the daring deeds I sing." 133. Genesis iv. 13, 14: "And Cain
said unto the Lord, Every one
112. Brettinoro, now Bertinoro, is a that findeth me shall slay me."
small town in Romagna, between Forli 139. Aijlauros through envy opposed
and Cesena, in which lived many of the the interview of Mercury with her sister
families that have just been mentioned. Herse, and was changed by the god into
The hills about it are still celebrated for
stone. OviA, Metamorph., L, Addison's
their wines, as its inhabitants were in
old times for their hospitality. The fol- Tr. :— keep thy seat for ever,' cries the god.
" ' Then
lowing anecdote is told of them by the And touched the door, wide opening to his rod.
Fain would
found she rise and stop him, but she
Ottimo, and also in nearly the same
words in the Cento Novelle Antichc, Her trunk too heavy to forsake the ground ;
Her joints are all benumbed, her nands are
"Nov. 89: —
the" Among other laudablewas
customs of pale. now appears in every nail.
And marble
nobles of Brettinoro that of As when a cancer in the body feeds,
hospitality, and their not permitting any And gradual death from limb to limb proceeds,
man in the town to keep an inn for So does the chill ness to each vital part
money. But there was a stone column Spread by degrees, and creeps into her heart ;
Till hardening everj-where, and speechless
in the middle of the town," (upon which grown,
were rings or knockers, as if all the She sits unmoved, and freezes to a stone.
But still her envious hue and sullen mien
front -doors were there represented),
Are in the sedentary figure seen. "
" and to this, as soon as a stranger
made his appearance, he was conducted,
and to one of the rings hitched his horse he 147.
whirlsTheround
falconer's
in the call
air orto lure, which
attract the
falcon on the wing.
"or hung decreed,
chance his hat upon it ; taken
he was and thus, as
to the
148. Ovid, Metamorpk., I., Dryden's
house of the gentleman to whom the
ring belonged, and honoured according Tr. :— while the mute creation downward bend
" Thus,
to his rank. This column and its rings Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
were invented to remove all cause of Man looks aloft ; and with erected eyes
quarrel among the noblemen, who used Beholds his own hereditary skies."
to run to get possession of a stranger, as 150. Beaumont and Fletcher, The
now-a-days they almost run away from Laws 0/ Candy, IV. i : —
him." " Seldom man.
despairing men look up to heaven,
115. Towns in Romagna. " Bagna- Although it still speaks to 'em in its glories ;
For when sad thoughts perplex the mind of
cavallo, and Castrocaro, and Conio,"
says the Oltttno, "were all habitations There is a plummet in the heart that weighs
of courtesy and honour. Now in Bag- And pulls us, living, to the dust we came
nacavallo the Counts are extinct ; and he
(Dante) says it does well to produce no
more of them because they had degener- from."
CANTO XV.
ated like those of Conio and Castrocaro.
1 1 8. The Pagani were Lords of Faenza I. In this canto is described the ascent
and Imola. The head of the family, to the Third Circle of the mountain.
Mainardo, was sumamed "the Devil." The hour indicated by the peculiarly
—See Inf. XX VII. Note 49. His bad Dantesque introduction is three hours
repute will always be a reproach to the before sunset, or the beginning of that
family. division of the canonical day called
121. A nobleman of Faenza, who Vespers. Dante states this simple fact
died without heu-s, and thus his name with curious circumlocution, as if he
was safe. would imitate the celestial sphere in this
132. Milton, Comus :— schetzoso movement. The Kbeginning
S of
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO
408
the day is sunrise ; consequently the end " To noble heart love doth for shelter fly.
of the third hour, three hours after sun- As seeks the bird the forest's leafy shade ;
Love was not felt till noble heart beat high.
rise, is represented by an arc of the celes- Nor before love the noble heart was made ;
tial sphere measuring forty-five degrees. Soon as the sun's broad flame
The sun had still an equal space to pass Was formed,
the air, so soon the clear light filled
over before his setting. This would make Yet was not till he came ;
it afternoon in Purgatory, and midnight So love springs up in noble breasts, and
there
in Tuscany, where Dante was writing the
Has its appointed space,
poem. As heat in the bright flame finds its allotted
20. From a perpendicular.
38. Matthnv v. 7 : " Blessed are the " Kindles in noble heart the fire of love,
place.
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy ;" As hidden virtue in the precious stone ;
— sung by the spirits that remained be- This virtue comes not from the stars above,
hind. See Canto XII. Note no. Till round it the ennobling sun has shone ;
But when his powerful blaze
39. Perhaps an allusion to "what the Has drawn forth what was vile, the stars
Spirit saith unto the churches," Revela-
tion ii. 7: "To him that overcometh Strangeimpart
virtue in their rays ;
will I give to eat of the tree of life, And thus when nature doth create the heart
Noble, and pure, and high.
which is in the midst of the paradise of Like virtue from the star, love comes fron»
God." And also the "hidden manna,"
and the " morning star," and the " white woman's eye."
raiment," and the name not blotted "out 70. Far. XIV. 40 :—
of ihe book of life." " Its brightness is proportioned to the ardour.
55. Milton, Par. Lost, V. 71 :— The ardour to the vision, and the vision
" Since good the more Equals what grace it has above its merit."
Communicated, more abundant grows."
89. Lt/ke ii. 48: "And his mothei
said unto him. Son, why hast thou thus
67. Coninto, IV. 20: "According to dealt with us ? behold, thy father and I
the Apostle, ' Every good gift and every
perfect gift is from above, and comet h have sought thee sorrowing."
97. The contest between Neptune
down from the Father of lights.' He and Minerva for the right of naming
says then that God only givetii this grace
to the soul of him whom he sees to be Athens, in which Minerva carried the
prepared and disposed in his person to day by the vote of the women. This is
receive this divine act Whence one of thesubjectswhich Minerva wrought
if the soul is imperfectly placed, it is in her trial of skill with Arachne. Ovid,
not disposed to receive this blessed and Metamorph.^ VI. :—
divine infusion ; as when a pearl is badly " Pallas in figures wrought the heavenly powers.
disposed, or is imperfect, it cannot re- And Mars's hill among the Athenian towers.
ceive the celestial virtue, as the noble On lofty thrones twice six celestials sate,
Jove in the midst, and held their warm debate;
Guido Guinizzelli says in an ode of his,
beginning, i'he subject weighty, and well known to fame,
From whom the city should receive its name.
Each god by proper features was expressed,
' To noble heart love doth for shelter fly.' Jove with majestic mien excelled the rest.
shook,
His three-forked mace the dewy sea-god
The soul, then, may be ill placed in the
person through defect of teni])erament, And, looking
steed, sternly, .smote the ragged rork ;
or of time ; and in such a soul this divine When from the stone leapt fortli a sprightly
radiance never shines. And of those And Neptune claims the city for the deed.
whose souls arc deprived of this light it Herself she blazons, with a glittering spear.
may be said that they are like valleys And crested helm that veiled her braided hair,
With shield, and scaly breastplate, implements
turned toward the north, or like sub- of war.
terranean caverns, where the light of the Struck earth
with her pointed lance, the teeming
sun never falls, unless reflected ffom some
Seemed to produce a new, surprising birth ;
other place illuminated by it." When sprung,
from the glebe the pledge of conqueaf
The following are the first two stanzas
of Guido's Ode:— A tree palc-greea with fairest olivet Lung."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
405
10 1. Pisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, of him in the Cento Novelle Antiche,
who use<l his power so nobly as to make Nov. 41, 52, hardly worth quoting.
the people forget the usurpation by which It is doubtful whether the name oi
he had attained it. Among his good Lombardo is a family name, or only in-
deeds was the collection and preservation dicates that Marco was an Italian, after
of the Homeric poems, which but for the fashion then prevalent among the
him might have perished. He was also French of calling all Italians Lombards.
the first to found a public library in See Note 124.
Athens. This anecdote is told by Vale- Benvenuto says of him that he "was
rius Maximus, Fact, ac Did., VI. i.
a man of noble mind, but disdainful, and ■
106. The stoning of Stephen. Acts
easily moved to anger."
vii. 54 : " They gnashed on him with Buti's portrait is as follows : " This
their teeth. But he, being full of the Marco was a Venetian, called Marco
Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into Daca ; and was a very learned man, and
heaven. .... Then they cried out with had many political virtues, and was very
a loud voice, and stopped their ears, andcourteous, giving to poor noblemen all
ran upon him with one accord, and cast that he gained, and he gained much ;
him out of the city, and stoned him. for he was a courtier, and was much be-
.... And he kneeled down, and cried loved for his virtue, and much was given
with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin
him by the nobility ; and as he gave to
to their charge ! And when he had said those who were in need, so he lent to all
this, he fell asleep." who asked. So that, coming to die,
117. He recognizes it to be a vision, and having much still due to him, he
but not false, because it symbolized the made a will, and among other bequests
truth. this, that whoever owed him should not
be held to pay the debt, saying, ' Who-
CANTO XVI. ever has, maythinks
keep.'that
" this Marco may
Portarelli
1. The Third Circle of Purgatory, be Marco Polo the traveller ; but this is
and the punishment of the Sin of Pride. inadmissible, as he was still living at the
2. Poor, or impoverished of its stars time of Dante's death.
by clouds. The same expression is ap- 57. What Guido del Duca has told
plied to the Arno, Canto XIV. 45, to him of the corruption of Italy, in Canto '
indicate its want of water. XIV.
19. In the Litany of the Saittts : — 64. Ovid, Metamorph., X., Ozell's
" Lamb of God, who takest away the
sins of the word, spare us, O Lord. Tr. :— " The god upon its leaves
" Lamb of God, who takest away the The sad expression of his sorrow weaves.
sins of the world, graciously hear us, O And to this hour the mournful purple wears
Lord. Ai, at, inscribed in funeral characters."
" Lamb of God, who takest away
the sins of the world, have mercy on 67. See the article Cabala, at the end
of Paradiso.
us ! "
27. Still living the life temporal, 69. Boethius, Cons. Phil. , V. Prosa 29
where time is measured by the calen-
dar. Ridpath's
"'But Tr. in :this
— indissoluble chain of
46. Marco Lombardo, was a Vene- causes, can we preserve the liberty of thei
tian nobleman, a man of wit and learning will ? Does this fatal Necessity restrain
and a friend of Dante. " Nearly all the motions of the human soul ? ' —
that he gained," says the Ottimo, "he 'There is no reasonable being,' replied
spent in charity He visited Paris, she, ' who has not freedom of will : for
and, as long as his money lasted, he was every being distinguished with this fa-
esteemed for his valour and courtesy. culty is endowed with judgment to per-
Afterwards he depended upon those ceive the differences of things ; to discover
richer than himself, and lived and died what he is to avoid or pursue. Now
honourably," There are some anecdotes what a petson esteems desirable, he de-
£ E 2
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
410
sires ; but what he thinks ought to be latter, that the person sits ; in the former,
avoided, he shuns. Thus every rational
that the opinion concerning him is true : "
creature hath a liberty of choosing and but the person doth not sit, because the •
rejecting. But I do not assert thSt this opinion of his sitting is true, but the
liberty is equal in all beings. Heavenly opinion is rather tnie because the action '
substances, who are exalted above us, of his being seated was antecedent in
have an enlightened judgment, an in- time. Thus, though the truth of the
corruptible will, and a power ever at opinion may be the effect of the person
command effectually to accomplish their taking a seat, there is, nevertheless, a \
desires. With regard to man, his im- necessity common to both. The same \
material spirit is also free ; but it is most method of reasoning, I think, should be
at liberty when employed in the contem- employed with regard to the prescience !
plation of the Divine mind ; it becomes of God, and future contingencies ; for,'
less so when it enters into a body ; and allowing it to be true that events are i
is still more restrained when it is im- foreseen because they are to happen, and i
prisoned ina terrestrial habitation, com- that they do not befall because they are 1
posed of members of clay ; and is reduced, foreseen, it is still necessary that what j
in fine, to the most extreme servitude is to happen must be foreseen by God, !
when, by plunging into the pollutions of and that what is foreseen must take place. \
vice, it totally departs from reason : for This then is of itself sufficient to destroy '
the soul no sooner turns her eye from the
all idea of human liberty."
radiance of supreme truth to dark and 78. Ptolemy says, " The wise man j
base objects, but she is involved in a shall control the stars ;" and the Turk- 1
mist of ignorance, assailed by impure ish proverb, " Wit and a strong will are |
olesires ; by yielding to which she in- superior to Fate." \
creases her thraldom, and thus the free-
dom which she derives from nature the79. Though
divine power free,
whichyouhasareimmediately
subject to '
becomes in some measure the cause of
breathed into you the soul, and the soul '
her slavery. But the eye of Providence,
is not subject to the influence of the '
which sees everything from eternity, stars, as the body is.
perceives all this ; and that same Pro- 84. Shakespeare, Lear, V. 3: —
vidence disjioses everything she has pre- " And take upon's the mystery of things.
destinated, inthe order it deserves. As
As if we were God's spies. "
Homer says of the sun, It sees everything
and hears everything.' " 92. Convito,lW. 12: " The supreme
Also Milton, Farad. Lost, II. 557 :— desire of everything, and that first given
by nature, is to return to its source ; and ;
" Others apart sat on a hill retired, since God is the source of our souls, and ]
In thou|;nt.s more elevate, and reasoned high
Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate, maker of them in his own likeness, as is 1
Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
written, ' Let us make man in our image, ;
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost."
after our likeness,' to him this soul chiefly :
See also Par. XVPI. Note 40. desireth to return. And like as a pil- •
70. BoethiHs, Cons. T./iil,,W. Prosa 3, grim, who goeth upon a road on which .
he never was before, thinketh every
Ridp4th's Tr. :—
*' But I shall now endeavour to demon- house he seeth afar off to be an inn, and •;
strate, that, in whatever vwny the chain not finding it so, directeth his trust to|
of caHses is disjrosed, the event of things the next, and thus from house to house .
which are foreseen is necessary ; although until he reacheth the inn ; in like man-1
prescience may not api^ear to be the ner our soul, presently as she enterethl
necessitating cause of their befalling. the new and untravelled road of this life,|
For example, if a person sits, the opinion turneth her eyes to the goal of her su«fv
formefl of him that he is seated is of preme good ; and therefore whatever;
necessity tnie ; Vnit by inverting the thing she seeth that seemeth to havft^ :
phrase, if the opinion is true th.tt he is some good in it, she believeth to be that.
seated, he must necessarily sit. In both And because her knowledge at first \t^\
esses, then, there is a necessity ; in the imperfect, not being experienced noP ^
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

trained, small goods seem great, and Second. Gregory retained the ambition,
therefore with them beginneth her de- the vigour, almost the activity of youth,
sire. Hence we see children desire ex- with the stubborn obstinacy, and some-
ceedingly an apple ; and then, going thing of the irritable petulance, of old4ft
farther, desire a little bird ; and farther age. He was still master of all his
still, a beautiful dress ; and then a horse ; powerful faculties ; his knowledge of
and then a woman ; and then wealth affairs, of mankind, of the peculiar in-
not very great, and then greater, and terests of almost all the nations in
then greater still. And this cometh to Christendom, acquired by long employ-
pass, because she findeth not in any of ment in the most important negotiations
these things that which she is seeking, both by Innocent the Third and by
and trusteth to find it farther on." Honorius the Third ; eloquence which
96. Henry Vaughan, Sacred Poems :— his own age compared to that of Tully ;
profound erudition in that learning
" They are indeed our pillar-fires,
Seen as we go ; which, in the mediaeval churchman, com-
They are that city's shining spires manded the highest admiration. No
We travel to." one was his superior in the science of
the canon law ; the Decretals, to which
99. Leviticus xi. 4 : " The camel be- he afterwards gave a more full and
cause he cheweth the cud, but divideth
authoritative form, were at his com-
not the hoof: he is unclean to you." mand, and they were to him as much
Dante applies these words to the Pope
the law of God as the Gospels them-
as temporal sovereign.
loi. Worldly goods. As in the old selves, or the primary principles of mo-
French satirical verses : — rality. The jealous reverence and attach-
ment of a great lawyer to his science
" Au temps passS du sifecle d'or, strengthened the lofty pretensions of the
Crosse de bois, eveque d'or ; churchman.
Maintenant changent les lois,
" Frederick the Second, with many of
Crosse d'or, ^v§que de bois."
the noblest qualities which could capti-
107. The Emperor and the Pope ; the vate the admiration of his own age, in
temporal and spiritual power. some respects might appear misplaced,
1 1 5. Lombardy and Romagna. and by many centuries prematurely born.
117. The dissension and war between Frederick having crowded into his youth
the Emperor Frederick the Second and adventures, perils, successes, almost un-
Pope Gregory the Ninth. Milman, Hist. paralleled in history, was now only
Lot. Christ., Book X. Ch. 3, says :— expanding into the prime of manhood.
"The Empire and the Papacy were A parentless orphan, he had struggled
now to meet in their last mortal and im- upward into the actual reigning monarch
placable strife ; the two first acts of this of his hereditary Sicily ; he was even
tremendous drama, separated by an in- then rising above the yoke of the tur-
terval of many years, were to be deve- bulent magnates of his realm, and the
loped during the pontificate of a prelate depressing tutelage of the Papal See ;
who ascended the throne of St. Peter at he had crossed the Alps a boyish adven-
the age of eighty. Nor was this strife turer, and won so much through his owr>
for any specific point in dispute, like the valour and daring that he might well
right of investiture, but avowedly for ascribe to himself his conquest, the king-
supremacy on one side, which hardly dom of Germany, the imperial crown ;
deigned to call itself independence ; for he was in undisputed possession of the
independence, on the other, which re- Empire, with all its rights in Northern
motely at least aspired after suprem.acy. Italy ; King of Apulia, Sicily, and Jeru-
Cjesar would bear no superior, the suc- salem. He was beginning to be at once
cessor of St. Peter no equal. The con- the Magnificent Sovereign, the J^night,
test could not have begun under men the poet, the lawgiver, the patron of
more strongly contrasted, or more deter- arts, letters, and sciencp ; the Magnir
minedly oppugnant in character, than ficent Spvereign, nqw holding his cpur^
Gregory the Ninth and Frederick the m, erie pf the oM t>afbftr-o aR4 figui^
 NOTES TO PURGATORlO.
4M
cities of Germany among the proud and more strong or more irreconcilable than
turbulent princes of the Empire, more the octogenarian Gregory, in his cloister
often on the sunny shores of Naples or palace, in his conclave of stem ascetics,
Palermo, in southern and almost Oriental with all but severe imprisonment within
luxury ; the gallant Knight and trouba- conventual walls, completely monastic
dour Poet, not forbidding himself those in manners, habits, views, in corporate
amorous indulgences which were the re- spirit, in celibacy, in rigid seclusion from
ward of chivalrous valour and of the the rest of mankind, in the conscientious
' gay science ; ' the Lawgiver, whose determination to enslave, if possible, all
far-seeing wisdom seemed to anticipate Christendom to its inviolable unity of
some of those views of equal justice, of faith, and to the least possible latitude
the advantages of commerce, of the cul- of discipline ; and the gay and yet
tivation of the arts of peace, beyond all youthful Frederick, with his mingled
the toleration of adverse religions, which assemblage of knights and ladies, of
even in a more dutiful son of the Church Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans, of
would doubtless have seemed godless in- poets, and men of science, met, as it
difference. Frederick must appear before were, to enjoy and minister to enjoy-
us«^in the course of our history in the full ment,— to cultivate the pure intellect,
development of all these shades of cha- — where, if not the restraints of reli-
racter but
; besides all this, PVederick's gion, at least the awful authority of
views of the temporal sovereignty were churchmen was examined with free-
as imperious and autocratic as those of dom, sometimes ridiculed with s;'ortive
the haughtiest churchman of the spiritual
supremacy. The ban of the Empire See also Inf. X. Note 119.
ought to be at least equally awful with 124. Currado (Conrad) da Palazzo of
that of the Church ; disloyalty to the Brescia ; Gherardo da Camino of Tre-
Emperor was as heinous a sin as in- viso ; and Guido da Castello of Reggio.
fidelity to the head of Christendom ; the Of wit." these three the Ottivio thus speaks :—
independence of the Lombard republics " Messer Currado was laden with
was as a great and punishable political honour during his life, delighted in a
heresy. Even in Rome itself, as head of fine retinue, and in political life in the
the Roman Empire, Frederick aspired government of cities, in which he ac-
to a supremacy which was not less un- quired much praise and fame.
limited because vague and undefined, and "Messer Guido was assiduous i;\
irreconcilable with that of the Supreme honouring men of worth, who passed on
Pontiff. If ever Emperor might be their way to France, and furnished many
tempted by the vision of a vast heredi- with horses and arms, who came hither-
tary monarchy to be perpetuated in his ward from France. To all who had
house, the princely house of Hohen- honourably consumed their property,
staufen, it was Frederick. He had heirs and returned more poorly furnished than
of his greatness ; his eldest son was King became them, he gave, without hope of
of the Romans ; from his loins might yet return, horses, arms, and money.
spring an inexhaustible race of princes ; " Messer Gherardo da Camino de-
the failure of his imperial line was his lighted not in one, but in all noble
last fear. The character of the man
seemed formed to achieve and to main- things, keeping constantly at home."
He farther says, that his fame was so
tain this vast design ; he was at once great in France that he was there spoken
terrible and popular, courteous, generous, of as the "simple Lombard," just as,
placable to his foes ; yet there was a " when one says the City, and no more,
depth of cruelty in the heart of Frederick one means Rome." Benvenuto da Imola
towards revolted subjects, which made sdys that all Italians were called Lom-
him look on the atrocities of his allies,
bards by the French. In the Ihstoin d '
Eccelin di Romano, and the Salinguerras, Croniijiie du petit ')ehan de Sahitri, fol. ,
but as legitimate means to quell insolent 219, ch. iv., the author remarks : "The
and stubborn rebellion
fifteenth day after Saintre's return, thert ^
*' It is impossible lo conceive a contrast came to Paris tw6 young, noble, vai
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. %n
brave Italians, whom we call Lom- beautifully when the spring newly begins,
bards." sitting in the thick branches of trees,
132. Deuteronomy ihsvlx. 2: "There- and she, frequently changing, pours forth
fore shall they have no inheritance her much-sounding voice, lamenting her
among their brethren : the Lord is dear Itylus, whom once she slew witk
their inheritance, as he hath said unto
the brass through ignorance."
them." 25. Esther vii. 9, lo : " And Har-
140. " This Gherardo," says Buti, bonah, one of the chamberlains, said
"had a daughter, called, on account of before the king, Behold also, the gal-
her beauty, Gaja ; and so modest and lows, fifty cubits high, which Haman
virtuous was she, that through all Italy had made for Mordecai, who had spoken
was spread the fame of her beauty and good for the king, standeth in the house
modesty." of Haman. Then the king said, Hang
The Ottimo, who preceded Buti in him thereon. So they hanged Haman
point of time, gives a somewhat different on the gallows that he had prepared for
and more equivocal account. He says : Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath
" Madonna
Messer Gaia dawas
Gherardo the daughter
Camino : she was ofa 34. Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus
lady of such conduct in amorous delecta- and Queen Amata, betrothed to
pacified." Tumus.
tions, that her name was notorious Amata, thinking Tumus dead, hanged
throughout all Italy ; and therefore she herself in anger and despair. jEneid,
is thus spoken of here." XII. 875, Dryden's Tr. :—
" Mad with her anguish, impotent to bear
CANTO XVIL The mighty grief, she loathes the vital air.
She calls herself the cause of all this ill.
And will
owns; the dire effects of her ungovemed
1. The trance and vision of Dante, and
the ascent to the Fourth Circle, where She breast.
raves against the gods, she beats her
the sin of Sloth is punished.
She tears with both her hands her purple vest ;
2. Iliad, III. 10 : " As the south Then round a beam a running noose she tied,
wind spreads a mist upon the brow of a And, fastened by the neck, obscenely died.
mountain, by no means agreeable to the " Soon as the fatal news by fame was blown.
shepherd, but to the robber better than And to her dames and to her daughters known,
The sad Lavinia rends her yellow hair
night, in which a man sees only as far as And rosy cheeks ; the rest her sorrow share ;
he can cast a stone." With shrieks the palace rings, and madness of
19. In this vision are represented some
of the direful effects of anger, beginning
with the murder of Itys by his mother, 53. despair."
See Par. V. 134 :—
" Even as the sun, that doth conceal himself
I'rocne, and her sister, Philomela. Ovid,
VL :— By too much light."
And Milton, Parad. Lost, III. 380 :—
" Now, at her lap arrived, the flattering boy
Salutes his parent with a smiling joy ; " Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear."
Alrout her neck his little arms are thrown,
And he accosts her in a prattling tone. 68. Matthew v. 9 ; " Blessed are the
peacemakers : for they shall be called
When Procne, on revengeful mischief bent,
the children of God."
Home to h'.s heart a piercing poniard sent. 85. Sloth. See //// VH. Note 115.
Itys, with nieful cries, but all too late,
Holds out his hands, and deprecates his fate ;
And Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, XXI.
Still at his mother's neck he fondly aims,
And strives to melt her with endearing names ; " In ira nasce e posa
Yet still the cruel mother perseveres,
Nor with concern his bitter anguish hears. '45:— Accidia niquitosa."
This might suffice ; but Philomela too
97. The first, the object ; the second,
Across his throat a shining cutlass drew." too much or too little vigour.
Or perhaps the reference is to the 124. The sins of Pride, Envy, and
Homeric legend of Philomela, Odyssey, Anger. The other is Sloth, or luke-
XIX. 518 : " As when the daughter of warmness
circle.
in well-doing, punished in this
Pandarus, the swarthy nightingale, sings
4*4 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

136. The sins of Avarice, Gluttony, " The greatest gift that in his largess God
and Lust. Creating made, and unto his own goodness
Nearest conformed, and that which he doih

Most highly, is the freedom of the will,

CANTO XVIII. Wherewith the creatures of intelligence
Both prize
all and only were and are endowed."
I. The punishment of the sin of 76. Near midnight of the Second Day
Sloth. of Purgatory.
27. Bound or taken captive by the 80. The moon was rising in the sign
image of pleasure presented to it. See of the Scorpion, it being now five days
Canto XVII. 91. after the full ; and when the sun is in
22. Milton, Parad. Lost, V. 100 :— this sign, it is seen by the inhabitants of
" But know that in the soul Rome to sit between the islands of Cor-
Are many lesser faculties, that serve sica and Sardinia.
Reason as chief ; among these Fancy next
Her office holds ; of all external things. 83. Virgil, bom
Mantua. at Pietola, near
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She foims imaginations, aery shapes.
Which Reason joining or disjoining frames 84. The burden of Dante's doubts
and questions, laid upon Virgil.
All what we affirm or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion ; then retires 91. Rivers of Bceotia, on whose banks
the Thebans crowded at night to invoke
Into her private cell, when Nature rests."
the aid of Bacchus to give them rain for
30. The region of Fire. Bnmetto their vineyards,
Latini, Tresor. Ch. CVIII. : " After the 94. The word falcare, in French
zone of the air is placed the fourth ele- faucher, here translated "curve," is a
ment. This is an orb of fire without term of equitation, describing the motion
any moisture, which extends as far as of the outer fore-leg of a horse in going
the moon, and surrounds this atmosphere round in a circle. It is the sweep of a
in wliich we are. And know that above mower's scythe.
the fire is first the moon, and the other
100. Ltike i. 39 : *' And Mary arose
stars, which are all of the nature of in those days and went into the hill-

44. If the soul follows the appetitus

fire." country
loi. with Caesar haste."
on his way to subdue
natiiralis, or goes not with another foot Ilerda, now Lerida, in Spain, besieged
than that of nature. Marseilles, leaving there part of his
49. In the language of the Scholastics, army under Brutus to complete the
Form was the passing from the potential work.
to the actual. " Whatever is Act," says 118. Nothing is known of this Abbot,
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Queest. not even his name. Finding him here,
I.XVI. Art. I, "whatever is Act is Fonn ; the commentators make bold to say that
quod he was "slothful and deficient in good
Form est actus est into
wasdividetl forma." And Form,
.Substantial again
deeds." This is like some of the defini-
which caused a thing to be ; and Acci- tions in the Cmsca, which, instead of
dental Form, which caused it to be in a the interpretation of a Dantesque word, .
certain way, " as heat makes its subject give you back the passage in which it \
occurs. \
not simply to be, but to be hot."
" The soul," says the .same AngeHc 119. This is the famous Emperor]
Doctor, Qua?st. LXXVi. Art. 4, "is the Frederick Barbarossa, wlio, according to •
substantial form of man ; anima est forma
the German popular tradition, is still '
siihstantialis honiinis." It is segregate sitting in a cave in the Kipphaiiser moun-
or distinct from matter, though united tains, waiting for some'hiiig to happen,
with it.
while his beard has grown tlirough the
61. "This" refers to the power that stone-table before him. In 1162 he
counsels, or the faculty of Reason. burned and devastated Milan, Brescia,
66. Accepts, or rejects like chaff". riacenz.!, and Cremona. He was
73. Dante makes Beatrice say, Par. drowned in the Salef in Armenia, on
V. 19 :— his crusade in I190, endeavouring ta
 4i5
NOTES TO PURGATOKIO.

ford the river on horseback in his impa- where Avarice is punished. It is the
tience to cross. His character is thus dawn of the Third Day.
drawn by. Milman, Lat. Christ., Boolv 3. Bnmetto Latini, Tresor. Ch. CXL
VIII. Ch. 7, and sufficiently explains " Saturn, who is sovereign over all, is
why Dante calls him "the good Barba- cruel and malign and of a cold nature."
rossa " :— 4. Geomancy is divination liy points
*' Frederick was a prince of intrepid in the ground, or pebbles arranged in
valour, consummate prudence, unmea- certain figures, which have peculiar
sured ambition, justice which hardened names. Among these is the figure
into severity, the ferocity of a barbarian called the Fortuna Major, which is thus
somewhat tempered with a high chival- drawn :—
rous gallantry ; above all, with a strength
of character which subjugated alike the
great temporal and ecclesiastical princes
of Germany ; and was prepared to assert
the Imperial rights in Italy to the utmost.
Of the constitutional rights of the Em- and which by an effiDrt of imagination
f>eror, of his unlimited supremacy, his can also be formed out of some of the
absolute independence of, his temporal last stars of Aquarius, and some of the
superiority over, all other powers, even first of Pisces.
that of the Pope, Frederick proclaimed Chaucer, Troil. and Cres., III.,
the loftiest notions. He was to the
Empire what Hildebrand and Innocent
" But whan the cocke, commune astrologer,
1415:—
were to the Popedom. His power was Gan on his brest to bete and after crowe,
of God alone ; to assert that it was And Lucifer, the dayes messanger,
Gan for to rise and out his hemes throwe,
bestowed by the successor of St. Peter And estward rose, to him that could it knowe,
was a lie, and directly contraiy to the I'ortuna Major."
doctrine of St. Peter."
121. Alberto della Scala, Lord of 6. Because the sun is following close
behind.
Verona. He made his natural son,
whose qualifications for the office Dante 7. This " stammering woman " of
here enumerates, and the commentators Dante's dream is Sensual Pleasure,
repeat, Abbot of the Monastery of San which the imagination of the beholder
Zeno. adorns with a thousand charms. T he
132. See /;;/ VU. Note 115. " lady saintly and alert " is Reason, the
same that tied Ulysses to the mast, and
135. Numbers y.x\\\. II, 12: "Surely stojiped the ears of his sailors with wax
none of the men that came out of Egypt,
from twenty years old and upward, shall that they might not hear the song of the
Sirens.
see the l.'uid which I sware unto Abra-
ham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob ; be- Gower, Conf. Amant., I.: —
cause they liave not wholly followed me: " Of such nature
save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the They ben, that with so swete a Steven -
Like to the mclodie of heven
Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun ; In womannishe vois they singe
With notes of so great likinge,
for they have wholly followed the Lord." Of suche mesure, of suche musike,
137. The Trojans who remained with
Acestes in Sicily, instead of f(jllovving Whereo; the shijipes they besvvike
That passen by the costes there.
.i4£neas to Italy. Aiueid, V.: "They For whan the shipmen lay an ere
enroll the matrons for the city, and set Unto the vois, in here airs
They wene it be a paradis,
on shore as many of the people as were
willing, —souls that had no desire of Which after is to hem an helle.''
high renown." 51. "That is," says Buti, "they
145. The end of the Second Day. shall have the gift of comforting their

CANTO XIX. Matlhew v. 4: "Blessed are they

that
souls."mourn : for they shall be com-
I. The ascent to the Fifth Circle,

forted.'"
■4i6 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

59. The three remaining sins to 1^ 23. The inn at Bethlehem.

purged away are Avarice, Gluttony, 25. The Roman Consul who rejected
and Lust. with disdain the bribes of Pyrrhus, and
61. See Canto XIV. 148. died so poor that he was buried at the
73. Psalms cxix. 25: "My soul public expense, and the Romans were
cleaveth unto the dust : quicken thou me oliliged to give a dowry to his daughters.
according to thy word." Virgil, ALneid, VI. 844, calls him
99. Know that I am the successor of "powerful in poverty." Dante also
Peter. It is Pope Adrian the Fifth who extols him in the Cotivito, IV. 5.
speaks. He was of the family of the 31. Gower, Conf. Amant., V. 13: —
Counts of Lavagna, the family taking " Betwene the two extremites
its title from the river Lavagna, flowing Of vice stont the propertes
between Siestri and Chiaveri, towns on Of vertue, and to prove it so
Take avarice and take also
the Riviera di Genova. He was Pope The vice of prodegalite,
only thirty-nine days, and died in 1276. Betwene hem liberalite.
When his kindred came to congratulate Which is the vertue of largesse
Slant and govemeth his noblesse.
him on his election, he said, "Would
that ye came to a Cardinal in good 32. This is St. Nicholas, patron saint
of children, sailors, and travellers. The
health, and not to a dying Pope. " incident here alluded to is found in the
134. Revelation xix. 10 : "And I fell
at his feet to worship him. And he said Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine,
unto me. See thou do it not, I am thy the great storehouse of mediaeval won-
ders.
fellow-servant."
137. Matthezu xxn. 30: "For in the It may be found also in Mrs. Jame-
resurrection they neither marry, nor are son's Sacred and Legendary Art, II. 62,
given in marriage, but are as the angels and in her version runs thus :—
in heaven." He reminds Dante that " Now in that city there dwelt a
here all earthly distinctions and relations certain nobleman who had three daugh-
are laid aside. He is no longer "the ters, and, from being rich, he became
Spouse of the Church." poor ; so poor that there remained no
141. Penitence; line 92: — means of obtaining food for his daugh-
" In whom weeping ripens ters but by sacrificing them o an infa-
That without which to God we cannot turn." mous life ; and oftentimes it came into
his mind to tell them so, but shame and
142. Madonna Alagia was the wife of sorrow held him dumb. Meantime the
Marcello Maltspini, that friend of Uante
maidens wept continually, not knowing
with whom, during his wanderings he
what to do, and not having bread to eat ;
took refuge in the Lunigiana, in 1307. and their father became more and more
desperate. When Nicholas heard of
this, he thought it a shame that such a
CANTO XX.
thing should happen in a Christian land;
1. In this canto the subject of the therefore one night, when the maidens
preceding is continued, namely, the were asleep, and their father alone sat
punishment of Avarice and Prodigality. watching and weeping, he took a hand-
2. To please the speaker, Poj>e Ad- ful of gold, and, tying it up in a hand-
riaa the Fifth, (who, Canto XIX. 139, kerchief, he repaired to the dwelling of
says, the poor man. He considered how he
might bestow it without making himself
" Now go, no longer will I have thee linger,") known, and, while he stood irresolute,
Dante departs without further question, the moon coming from behind a cloud
though not yet satisfied. showed him a window open ; so he
13. See the article Cabala at the end threw it in, and it fell at the feet of the
of Panrdiso, father, who, when he found it, returned
15. Tills is generally supposed to refer thanks, and with it he portioned his
to C"anlOi.
Note Grande della .Scala. See Inf. I. eldest daughter. A second time Nicho-
las provided a similar sum, and again he
 NOTES TO PVRGATORIO.

threw it in by night ; and with it the

folly. Never
intensely selfishwasas man Philipor the
monarch so'
Fair : his
nobleman married -his second daughter.
But he greatly desired to know who it own power was his ultimate scope ; he
was that came to his aid ; therefore he extended so enonnously the royal pre-
determined to watch, and when the good rogative, the influence of France, because
saint came for the third time, and pre- he was King of France. His rapacity,
pared to throw in the third portion, he which persecuted the Templars, his vin-
was discovered, for the nobleman seized dictiveness, which warred on Boniface
him by the skirt of his robe, and flung after death as through life, was this sel-
himself at his feet, saying, ' O Nicholas ! He was fishness inother forms."at the battle of
defeated
servant of God! why seek to hide thy-
self?' and he kissed his feet and his Courtray, 1302, known in history as the
hands. But Nicholas made him promise battle of the Spurs of Gold, from the
that he would tell no man. And many great number found on the field after
other charitable works did Nicholas per- the battle. This is the vengeance im-
form in his native city." precated upon him by Dante.
43. If we knew from what old chro- 50. For two centuries and a half, that
nicle, or from what Professor of the Rue is, from 1060 to 1316, there was either a
du Fouarre, Dante derived his know- Louis or a Phiiip on the throne of
ledge of French history, we might pos- France. The succession was as fol-
sibly make plain the rather difficult lows —:
passage which begins with this line. Philip I. the Amorous. . 1060
The spirit that speaks is not that of the Louis VI. the Fat . , . 1108
King Hugh Capet, but that of his father, Louis VII. the Young. . 1137
Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count Philip II. Augustus . . 1180
of Paris. He was son of Robert the Louis VIII. the Lion . . 1223
Strong. Pasquier, J?ec/t. de la France, Louis IX. the .Saint . . 1226
VI. I, describes him as both valiant and Philip HI. the Bold . . 1270
prudent, and says that, " although he Philip IV. the Fair . . 1285
was never king, yet was he a maker and
Louis X. . . . . ■ 1314
unmaker of kings," and then goes on to 52. It is doubtful whether this passage
draw an elaborate parallel between him is to be taken literally or figuratively.
and Charles M artel.
Pasquier, Kech. de la France, Liv. VI.
The "malignant plant" is Philip the Ch. I (thinking it is the King Hugh
Fair, whose character is thus drawn by
Milman, Lat. Christ., Book XI. Ch. Capet that speaks), breaks forth in in-,
8:— dignant protest as follows: —
" From this you can perceive the fata-
" In Philip the Fair the gallantry of lity there was in this family from its
the French temperament broke out on beginning to its end, to the disadvantage
rare occasions; his first Flemish cam- of the Carlovingians. And moreover,
paigns were conducted with bravery and how ignorant the Italian poet Dante
skill, but Philip ever preferred the subtle was, when in his book entitled Purgatory
negotiation, the slow and wily encroach- he says that our Hugh Capet was the
ment ;till his enemies were, if not in his son of a butcher. Which word, once
power, at least at great disadvantage, he written erroneously and carelessly by
did not venture on the usurpation or
him, has so crept into the heads of some
invasion. In the slow systematic pursuit
of his object he was utterly without simpletons, that many who never inves-
tigated the antiquities of our France have
scruple, without remorse. He was not fallen into this same heresy. Frangois
so much cruel as altogether obtuse to de Villon, more studious of taverns and
human suffering, if necessary to the pro- ale-houses than of good books, says in
secution of his schemes ; not so much
some part of his works,
rapacious as, finding money indispen- ' Si feusse les hoirs de Capet
sable to his aggrandizement, seeking
money by means of which he hardly Qi.i fut extrait de boucherie.' ,'
seemed to discern the injustice or the And since then Agrippa Alamanni, in
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
H8
his book on the Vanity of Science, chap- carried to England by Hugh the Great, '
ter Of Nobility, on this first ignorance in 936. The Man in Cloth of Grey re-
declares impudently against the genea- mains as great a mystery as the Man in
logy of our Capet. If Dante thought the Iron Mask.
that Hugh the Great, Capet's father, was 59. Hugh Capet was crowned at
a l)Utcher, he was not a clever man. But Rheims, in 987. The expression which
if he used this expression figuratively, as follows shows clearly that it is Hugh the
I am willing to believe, those who cling Great who speaks, and not Hugh the
to the shell of the word are greater block- founder of the Capetian dynasty.
heads still 61. Until the shame of the low origin |
" This passage of Dante being read of the family was removed by the mar- ;
and explained by Luigi Alamanni, an riage of Charles of Anjou, brother of i
Italian, before Francis the First of that Saint Louis, to the daughter of Raimond j
name, he was indignant at the impos- Berenger, who brought him Provence as
ture, and commanded it to be stricken her dower. I■
out. He was even excited to interdict 65. Making amends for one crime by i
the reading of the book in his kingdom. committing a greater. The particular '
But for my part, in order to exculpate
transaction here
this author, I wish to say that under the by fraud and holding by force alluded to is the seizing '
these pro-
name of Butcher he meant that Capet
vinces in the time of Philip the P'air. \
was son of a great and valiant warrior. 67. Charles of Anjou.
.... If Dante understood it thus, I 68. Curradino, or Conradin, son of i
forgive hirtl ; if otherwise, he was a veiy
the Emperor Conrad IV., a beautiful '
Ignorant poet." youth of sixteen, who was beheaded in |
Benvenuto says that the name of Capet the square of Naples by order of Charles ,
comes from the fact that Hugh, in play- of Anjou, in 1268. Voltaire, in his ,
ing with his companions in boyhood, rhymed chronology at the end of his \
A finales de f Empire, says,
'* was in the habit of pulling off their
caps and running away with them." " C'estbourreau
en soixante-huit que la main d'un 1'
Ducange repeats this story from an old
chronicle, and gives also another and Dans Conradin son fils ^teint un sang si \
more probable origin of the name, as
coming from the hood or cowl which Endeavouring to escape to Sicily after i
Hugh was jn the haliit of wearing. his defeat at Tagliacozzo, he was carried .
The belief that the family descended to Naplesbeau." and imprisoned in the Castel .
from a butclier was current in Italy in deir Uovo. "Christendom heard with J
Dante's time. Villani, IV. 3, says : horror," says Milman, Lat. Christ., a
" Most people say that the father was a Book XI. Ch. 3, "that the royal brother |
great and rich burgher of Paris, of a race of St. Louis, that the champion of the «.
of butchers or dealers in cattle." Church, after a mock trial, by the sen- %
53. When the Carli vingian race were tence of one judge, Robert di Lavena, — g
all dead but one. And who was he ? after an unanswerable pleading by Guido ;
The Otlimo .says it was Rudolph, who
• became a monk and afterwards Arch- demned de Suzaria, the alast famous
heir jurist,
of the—had con-
.Swabian ■'
bishop of Klieims. Benvenuto gives no house — a rival king who had fought gal-
name, but says only ".a monk in poor, lantly for his hereditary throne — to be i
coarse
Daniellogarments."
thinks it wasButi
somesaysFriar
the of executed as ajelon and a rebel on a pub-
same.
St. '
lie scaffold. So little did Conradin '
Francis, perhaps .St. Louis, forgetting dread his fate, that, when his doom was
that these saints did not see the light till announced, he was playing at chess with
some two centuries after the time here
Frederick of Austria. • ' Slave,' said \
sjjoken of. Others say Charles of Lor- Conradin to Robert of Bari, who read 1
raine ;and Biagioli decides that it must the fatal sentence, *do you dare to con- |
be either Charles the Simple, who died demn as a criminal the son and heir o( \
a prisoner in the castle of Peronne, in kings ? Knows not your master that he \
922; or Louis of Outre- Mer, who was is my equal, not my judge?' He added,
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 4»9

' I am a mortal, and must die ; yet ask ' Jhesus,' he seide,
' And fecche that the fend claymeth.
the kings of the earth if a prince be cri-
minal for seeking to win back the heri- Piers fruyt the Plowman.'
tage of his ancestors. But if there be no
pardon for me, spare, at least, my faith- " ' Who shal juste with Jhesus ?' quod I,
ful companions ; or if they must die, ' Jewes or scrybes ? '
" ' Nay,' quod he ; ' The foule fend,
strike me first, that I may not behold
And fals doom and deeth.' "
their death.' They died devoutly, nobly.
Every circumstance aggravated the ab- 75. By the aid of Charles of Valois
horrenceit
; was said — perhaps it was the Neri party triumphed in Florence,
the invention of that abhorrence — that and the Bianchi were banished, and with
Robert of Flanders, the brother of them Dante.
Charles, struck dead the judge who had 76. There is an allusion here to the
presumed to read the iniquitous sentence. nickname of Charles of Valois, Senza-
When Conradin knelt, with uplifted terra, or Lackland.
hands, awaiting the blow of the execu- 79. Charles the Second, son of Charles
tioner, he uttered these last words, ' O of Anjou. He went from France to
my mother ! how deep will be thy sor- recover Sicily after the Sicilian Vespers.
row at the news of this day ! ' Even the In an engagement with the Spanish fleet
followers of Charles could hardly restrain under Admiral Rugieri d'Oria, he was
their pity and indignation. With Con- taken prisoner. Dante says he sold his
radin died his young and valiant friend, daughter, because he married her for a
Frederick of Austria, the two Lancias, large sum of money to Azzo the Sixth of
two of the noble house of Donaticcio of Este.
Pisa. The inexorable Charles would not
82. ^neid, III. 56. "Cursed thirst
permit them to be buried in consecrated of gold, to what dost thou not drive the
" hearts
ground.
69. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic 86. of Themen."
flower-de-luce is in the ban-
Doctor of the Schools, died at the con- ner of France. Borel, Tresor de Re-
vent of Fossa Nuova in the Campagna, cherches, cited by Roquefort, Glossairc,
being on his way to the Council of
under the word Leye, says: "The ori-
Lyons, in 1274. He is supposed to have flamme is so called from gold and flame ;
been poisoned by his physician, at the that is to say, a lily of the marshes. The
instigation of Charles of Anjou. lilies are the arms of France on a field of
71. Charles of Valois, who came into azure, which denotes water, in memory
Italy by invitation of Boniface the Eighth, that they (the French) came from a
in 1301. See/«/I VI. 69. marshy country. It is the most ancient
74. There is in old French literature and principal banner of France, sown
a poem entitled Le Tournoyemettt de with these lilies, and was borne around
V Antechrist, written by Hugues de Mery,
our kings on great occasions."
a monk -of the Abbey of St. Germain- Roquefort gives his own opinion as
des-Pres, in the thirteenth centuiy, in follows : "The Franks, afterwards
which he describes a battle between the
called French, inhabited (before enter-
Virtues under the banner of Christ, and ing Gaul properly so called) the environs
the Vices under that of Antichrist.
of the Lys, a river of the Low Countries,
In the Vision of Piers Ploughman, whose banks are still covered with a kind
there is a joust between Christ and the of iris or flag of a yellow colour, which
foul fiend :— differs from the common lily and more
" Thanne was Feith in a fenestre.
And cryde ^fili David,
nearly resembles the flower-de-luce of our
arms. Now it seems to me very natural
As dooth a heraud of armes.
Whan aventrous Cometh to justes. that the kings of the Franks, having tq
Old ^ewes of Jerusalem choose a symbol to which the name of
For joye thei songen, armorial bearings has since been given,
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
should take in its compos,ition a beautiful
" Than I frayned at Feith, and remarkable flower, which they had
What all that fare by-mente,
And who sholde juste in Jerusalem, before their eyes, and that they should
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
420

name it, from the place where it grew in through the common sewer. Then
abundance, flower of the river Lys. " arrived, but not to the rescue, Arnulf,
These are the Hlies of which Drayton the Captain of the People ; he had per-
speaks in his Ballad of Agiiicvtirt : — haps been suborned by Reginald of
Supino. With him were the sons of
" .... when our grandsire g^eat. Chiton, whose father was pining in the
Claiming the regal seat,
By many a warlike feat dungeons of Boniface. Instead of resist-
Lopped the French lilies." ing, they joined the attack on the palace
of the Pope s nephew and his ow^n. The
87. This passage alludes to the seizure Pope and his nephew implored a truce ;
and imprisonment of Pope Boniface the it was granted for eight hours. This
Eighth by the troops of Philip the Fair time the Pope employed in endeavouring
at Alagna or Anagiii, in 1303. Milman, to stir up the people to his defence ; the
Lat. Christ., Book XI. Ch. 9, thus people coldly answered, that they were
describes the event :— under the command of their Captain.
" On a sudden, on the 7th September The Pope demanded the terms of the
(the 8th was the day for the publication conspirators. ' If the Pope would save his
of the Bull), the peaceful streets of life, let him instantly restore the Colonna
Anagni were disturbed. The Pope and Cardinals to their dignity, and reinstate
the Cardinals, who were all assembled the whole house in their honours and pos-
around him, were startled with the tram- ses ions after
; this restoration the Pope
pling of armed horse, and the terrible must abdicate, and leave his body at the
cry, which ran like wildfire through the disposal of Sciarra.' The Pope groaned
city, ' Death to Pope Boniface ! Long in the depths of his heart. ' The word
live the King of France ! ' Sciarra Co- is spoken.' Again the assailants thun-
lonna, at the head of three hundred dered at the gates of the palace ; still
horsemen, the Barons of Cercano and tliere was obstinate resistance. The
Supino, and some others, the sons of principal church of Anagni, that of Santa
Master Massio of Anagni, were marching
in furious haste, with the banner of the Maria, protected the Pope's palace.
Sciarra Colonna's lawless band set fire
king of France displayed. The ungrate- to the gates ; the church was crowded
ful citizens of Anagni, forgetful of their with clergy and laity and traders who
pride in their holy comjiatriot, of the had brought tlieir precious wares into the
honour and advantage to their town from sacred building. They were plundered
the splendour and wealth of the Papal with such rapacity that not a man
residence, received them with rebellious escaped with a farthing.
and acclaiming shouts. "The Marquis found himself com-
" The bell of the city, indeed, had pelled to surrender, on the condition
tolled at the first alarm ; the burghers that his own life, that of his family and
had assembled ; they had chosen their of his servants, should be spared. At
commander ; but that commander, these sad tidings the Pope wept bitterly.
whom they ignorantly or treacherously The Pope was alone ; from the first tiie
chose, was Arnulf, a deadly enemy of Cardinals, some from treachery, some
the Pope. The banner of the Church from cowardice, had fled on all sides,
was unfolded against the Pope by the even his most familiar friends : they had
captain of the jxjople of Anagni. The crept into the most ignoble hiding-places.
first attack was on the palace of the The aged Pontiff alone lost not his self-
Pope, on that of the Marquis (Jaetani, command. He had declared himself
his nephew, and those of three Cardi ready to perish in his glorious cause ; he
nals, the special partisans of Boniface. determined to fall with dignity. ' If I
The houses of the Pope and of his am betrayed like Christ, I am ready to
nephew made some resistance. The die like Christ.' He put on the stole of
doors of those of the Cardinals were St. Peter, the imperial crown was on his
beaten down, the trea.sures ransacked head, the keys of St. Peter in one hand
and carried off; the Cardinals them- and the cross in the other : he took his
selves Hcd from the backs of the houses scat on the Papal throne, and, like the
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. m
Roman senators of old, awaited the doubtless not unwilling to withdraw.
approach of the Gaul. The Pope was rescued, and led out into
" But the pride and cruehy of Boni- the street, where the old man addressed
face had raised and infixed deep in the a few words to the people : ' Good men
hearts of men passions which acknow- and women, ye see how mine enemies
ledged no awe of age, of intrepidity, or have come upon me, and plundered my
religious majesty. In William of No- goods, those of the Church and of the
garet the blood of his Tolosan ancestors, poor. Not a morsel of bread have I
in Colonna, the wrongs, the degradation, eaten, not a drop have I drunk, since
the beggary, the exile of all his house, my capture. I am almost dead with
had extinguished every feeling but re- hunger. If any good woman will give
venge. They insulted him with contu- me a piece of bread and a cup of wine,
melious reproaches ; they menaced his if she has no wine, a little water, I will
life. The Pope answered not a word. absolve her, and any one who will give
They insisted that he should at once ab- me their alms, from all their sins. ' The
dicate the Papacy. ' Behold my neck, compassionate rabble burst into a cry,
behold my head,' was the only reply. ' Long life to the Pope ! ' They carried
But fiercer words passed between the him back to his naked palace. They
Pope and William of Nogaret. Nogaret crowded, the women especially, with
threatened to drag him before the Coun- provisions, bread, meat, water, and
cil of Lyons, where he should be deposed wine. They could not find a single
from the Papacy. ' Shall I suffer my- vessel : they poured a supply of water
self to be degraded and deposed by into a chest. The Pope proclaimed a
Paterins like thee, whose fathers were general absolution to all, except the
righteously burned as Paterins ? ' Wil- plunderers of his palace. He even de-
liam turned fiery red, with shame clared that he wished to be at peace with
thought the partisans of Boniface, the Colonnas and all his enemies. This
more likely with wrath. Sciarra, it was perhaps was to disguise his intention of
said, would have slain him outright ; retiring, as soon as he could, to Rome.
he was prevented by some of his own " The Romans had heard with indig-
followers, even by Nogaret. ' Wretched nation the sacrilegious attack on the per-
Pope, even at this distance the good- son of the Supreme Pontiff. Four hun-
ness of my lord the King guards thy dred horse under Matteo and Gaetano
Orsini were sent to conduct him to the
life. '
" He was placed under close custody, city. He entered it almost in triumph;
not one of his own attendants permitted the populace welcomed him with every
to approach him. Worse indignities demonstration of joy. But the awe of
awaited him. He was set on a vicious his greatness was gone ; the spell of his
horse, with his face to the tail, and so dominion over the minds of men was
led through the town to his place of im- broken. His overweening haughtiness
prisonment. The palaces of the Pope and domination had made him many
and of his nephew were plundered ; so enemies in the Sacred College, the gold
vast was the wealth, that the annual of France had made him more. This
revenues of all the kings in the world general revolt is his severest condemna-
would not have been equal to the trea- tion. Among his first enemies was the
sures found and carried off by Sciarra's Cardinal Napoleon Orsini, Orsini had
freebooting soldiers. His very private followed the triumphal entrance of the
chamber was ransacked ; nothing left Pope. Boniface, to show that he desired
but bare walls. to reconcile himself with all, courteously
invited him to his table. The Orsini
" At length the people of Anagni
could no longer bear the insult and the coldly answered, ' that he must receive
sufferings heaped upon their illustrious the Colonna Cardinals into his favour ;
and holy fellow-citizen. They rose in he must not now disown what had been
irresistible insurrection, drove out the wrung from him by compulsion,' 'I will
soldiers by whom they had been over- pardon them,' said Boniface, 'but the
awed, now gorged with plunder, and mercy of the Pope is not to be from
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
422

compulsion.' He found himself again a account of the seizure of Pope Boni-

prisoner.
"This last mortification crushed the 97. What he was saying of the Vir-
bodily, if not the mental strength of the gin Mary, line 19.
Pope. Among the Ghibellines terrible face."
103. The brother of Dido and mur-
stories were bruited abroad of his death. derer of her husband. yEueid, I., 350.
In an access of fury, eitlier from poison " He, impious and blinded with the love
or wounded pride, he sat gnawing the of gold, having taken Sichaeus by sur-
' top of his staff, and at length either beat prise, secretly assassinates him before
out his own brains against the wall, or
the altar, regardless of his sister's great
smothered himself (a strange notion !)
with his own pillows. More friendly, 106. The Phrygian king, who, for his
affection."
probably more trustworthy, accounts hospitality to Silenus, was endowed by
describe him as sadly but quietly breath- Bacchus with the fatal power of turning
ing his last, surrounded by eight Cardi- all he touched to gold. The most laugh-
nals, having confessed the faith and able thing about him vi-as his wearing
received the consoling offices of the ass'smusic
ears, of as Pan
a punishment
Church. The Cardinal-Poet anticipates the to that of for preferring
Apollo.
his mild sentence from the Divine Judge.
Ovid, XI., Croxall's Tr. :—
" The religious mind of Christendom " Pan tuned the pipe, and with his rural song
was at once perplexed and horror- Pleased the low taste of all the vulgar throng ;
Such songs a vulgar judgment mostly please :
stricken by this act of sacrilegious vio- Midas was there, and Midas judged with
lence on the person of the Supreme
Pontiff; it shocked some even of the
sternest Ghibellines. Dante, who brands See also Hawthorne's story of T/ie
the pride, the avarice, the treachery of Goldenthese."
Touch in his Wonder-Book.
Boniface in his most terrible words, and
109. Joshua vii. 21 : " When I saw
has consigned him to the direst doom, among the spoils a goodly Babylonish
(though it is true that his alliance with garment, and two hundred shekels
the French, with Charles of Valois, by of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty
whom the poet had been driven into shekels weight, then I coveted them, and
exile, was among the deepest causes of took them ; and behold, they are hid in
his hatred to Boniface, ) nevertheless ex- the earth in the midst of my tent, and
presses the almost universal feeling. the silver under it."
Christendom shuddered to behold the
112. Acts V. I, 2 : "But a certain
Fleur-de-lis enter into Anagni, and man named Ananias, with Sappbira his
Christ again captive in his Vicar, the wife, sold a possession, and kept back
mockery, the gall and vinegar, the cruci- part of the price, his wife also being
fixion between living robbers, the inso- privy to it, and brought a certain part,
lent and sacrilegious cruelty of the second
and laid it at the apostles' feet."
113. The hoof-beats of the miracu-
Pilate."
Compare this scene with that of his lous horse in the Temple of Jerusalem,
• inauguration as Pope, Inf. XIX. Note when Heliodorus, the treasurer of King
Seleucus, went there to remove the trea-
591.
3- This "modem Pilate" is Philip sure. 2Maccabees iii. 25 : " For there
the Fair, and the allusion in the follow- appeared unto them an horse with a ter-
ing lines is to the persecution and sup- rible rider upon him, and adorned with
pression of the Order of the Kniglits a very fair covering, and he ran fiercely,
Templars, in 1307— 1312. See Milman, and smote at Heliodorus with his fore-
Lat. Christ., Book XII. Ch. 2, and feet, and it seemed that he that sat
Villani, VIII. 92, who says the act was upon the horse had complete harness of
committed per cupidi^a di guadagtiarc,
for love of gain ; and says also: "The 1 15. Aineid, III. 49, Davidson's Tr..*
king of France and his children had "This Polydore unhappy Priam had for.
afterwards much shame and adversity, merly sent in secrecy, with a great weight
both on account of this sin and on of gold, to be brought up by the king of
gold."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 423

Thrace, when he now began to distrust the centre of the Cyclades. It was
the arms of Troy, and saw the city with thrown up by an earthquake, in order
close siege blocked up. He, [Polym- to receive Latona, when she gave birth
nestor,] as soon as the power of the to Apollo and Diana, — the Sun and the
Trojans was crushed, and their fortune Moon.

gone, espousing Agamemnon's interest 136. Luke\\. 13,14: " And suddenly
and victorious arms, breaks every sacred there was with the angel a multitude of
bond, assassinates Polydore, and by vio- the heavenly host, praising God, and
lence possesses his gold. Cursed thirst saying, Glory to God in the highest, and
of gold, to what dost thou not drive the
on earth peace, good will toward men."
hearts of men ! " 140. Gower, Conf. Amant., HI. 5: —
116. Lucinius Crassus, surnamed the
" When Goddes sone also was bore.
Rich. He was Consul with Pompey, He sent his aungel down therfore,
and on one occasion displayed his vast Whom the shepherdes herden singe ;
Pees to the men of welwillinge
(V'ealth by giving an entertainment to the
populace, at which the guests were so In erthe be amonge us here."
numerous that they occupied ten thou-
sand tables. He was slain in a battle CANTO XXI.
with the Parthians, and his head was
sent to the Parthian king, Hyrodes, who I. This canto is devoted to the inter-
had molten gold poured down its throat. view with the poet Statins, whose release
Plutarch does not mention this circum- from punishment was announced by the
stance in his Life of Crassus, but says: — earthquake and the outcry at the end of
" When the head of Crassus was the last canto.
brought to the door, the tables were
3. yokn iv. 14, 15 : " Whosoever
just taken away, and one Jason, a tragic drinketh of the water that I shall give
actor of the town of Tralles, was sing- him, shall never thirst .... The
ing the scene in the Bacchte of Euripides woman saith unto him. Sir, give me this
concerning Agave. He was receiving water, that I thirst not, neither come
much applause, when Sillaces coming to
the room, and having made obeisance to hither to draw."
7. Ljikex\iv. 13—15: "And, behold,
the king, threw down the head of Cras- two of them went that same day to a
sus into the midst of the company. The village called Emmaus, which was from
Parthians receiving it with joy and accla- Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
mations, Sillaces, by the king's com- And they talked together of all these
mand, was made to sit down, while things which had happened. And it
Jason handed over the costume of Pen- came to pass, that, while they com-
theus to one of the dancers in the chorus, muned together and reasoned, Jesus
and taking up the head of Crassus, and himself drew near, and, went with
acting the part of a bacchante in her
frenzy, in a rapturous, impassioned man- 15. Among the monks of the Middle
ner, sang the lyric passages, Ages
them." there were certain salutations,
'We've hunted down a mighty chase to-day,
which had their customary replies or
And from the mountain bring the noble prey.'" countersigns. Thus one would say,
" Peace be with thee ! " and the answer
122. This is in answer to Dante's
question, line 35 :— would be, " And with thy spirit !" Or,
" And why only
" Praised be the Lord ! " and the answer,
"World without end !"
Thou dost renew these praises well deserved? "
128. The occasion of this quaking of head. 22. The letters upon Dante's fore-
the mountain is given, Canto XXI. 25. Lachesis. Of the three Fates,
58:- Clotho prepared and held the distaff,
" It trembles here, whenever any soul Lachesis spun the thread, and Atropos
Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves cut it.
To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it."
" These," says Plato, Republic, X.,
130. An island in the ^-Egean Sea, in " are the daughters of Necessity, the
F F
424 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

cause.
But while the common sufTrage crowned his
Fates, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos ;
who, clothed in white robes, with gar- And broke the benches with their loud ap-
lands on their heads, chant to the music plause.
of the Sirens ; Lachesis the events of His Muse had starved, had not a piece unread.
the Past, Clotho those of the Present, And by a player bought, supplied her bread."
Atropos those of the Future." Dante shows his admiration of him
33. See Canto XVIII. 46:— by placing him here.
" What reason seeth here,
89. Statius was not bom in Toulouse,
Myself can tell thee ; beyond that await as Dante supposes, but in Naples, as he
For Beatrice, since 'tis a work of faith. " himself states in his Silv/v, which work
So also Cowley, in his poem on the was not discovered till after Dante's
death. The passage occurs in Book III,
Use of Reason in Divine Matters :—
Eclogue v.. To Claudia his Wife, where
" Though Reason teries see. cannot through Faith's mys-
he describes the beauties of Parthenope,
and calls her the mother and nurse of
It sees that there and such they be ;
both, amborum genetrix altrixque.
Leadskeep, to heaven's door, and there does humbly
Landino thinks that Dante's error
And there through chinks and keyholes peep ; may be traced to Placidus Lactantius,
Though it, like Moses, by a sad command
Must not come into the Holy Land, a > commentator of the Thebaid, who
Yet thither it infallibly does guide, confounded Statius the poet of Naples
And from afar 'tis all descried." with Statius the rhetorician of Toulouse.
ioi\ Would be willing to remain
40. Nothing unusual ever disturbs another year in Purgatory.
the religio loci, the sacredness of the
mountain. 114. Petrarca uses the same expres-
44. This happens only when the soul, sion,—the lightning of the angelic smile,
that came from heaven, is received back il lampeggiar delV angelico riso.
131. See Canto XIX. 133.
into heaven ; not from any natural causes
affecting earth or air.
48 The gate of Purgatory, which is CANTO XXII.
also the gate of Heaven.
I. The ascent to tlie Sixth Circle,
50. Iris, one of the Oceanides, the
where the sin of Gluttony is punished.
daughter of Thaumas and Electra; the
rainbow. 5. Alatthew v. 6: "Blessed are they
65. The soul in Purgatory feels as which do hunger and thirst after right-
great a desire to be punished for a sin, eousness; for they shall be filled."
as it had to commit it. 13. The satirist Juvenal, who flour-
ished at Rome during the last half of
82. The siege of Jerusalem under
the first century of the Christian era,
Titus, surnamed the "Delight of Man- and died at the beginning of the second,
kind, "took place in the year 70. Statins,
who is here speaking, was born at Naples aged eighty. He was a contemporary
of Statius, and survived him some thirty
in the reign of Claudius, and had already
become famous "under the name that
most endures and honours," that is, as a hunger 40. ALneid, III. 56 : " O cursed
of gold, to what dost thou not
poet. His works are the Sih>(E, or mis- years.
cellaneous poems ; the Thebaid, an epic drive the hearts of men."
in twelve books; and the Achilleid, left i 42. The punishment of the Avaricious
unfinished. He wrote also a tragedy, and Prodigal. Inf. VII. 26: —
" With great howls
Agave, which is lost.
Juvenal says of him, Satire VII., Rolling weights forward by main force of chest."
Dryden's Tr, :— 46. Dante says of the Avaricious and
" All Rome is pleased when Statius will re-
Prodigal, Inf VII. 56:—
hcarv;,
" These from the sepulchre shall rise again
And longing crowds expect the promised With the fist closed, and these with tressei
verse ;
His lofty numl>ers with so ^reat a gust
They hear, and swallow Wkth such eager lust ; 56. Her two sons, Eteocles and Poly
shorn."

u
 4*5
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

11 ices, of whom Statius sings in the But why does Dante make no mention
ThehaiJ, and to whom Dante alludes
here of "^^ischyles the thunderous" and
by way of illustration, Inf. XXVI. 54. " Sophocles the royal" ?
See also the Note. Antiphon was a tragic and epic poet
58. Statius begins the Thebaid with of Attica, who was put to death by
an invocation to Clio, the Muse of Dionysius because he would not praise
History, whose office it was to record the tyrant's writings. Some editions
the heroic actions of brave men, I. read Anacreon for Antiphon.
107. Simonides, the poet of Cos, who
55:— won a poetic prize at the age of eighty,
" What first, O Clio, shall adorn thy page.
The expiring prophet, or jEtoIian's rage? and is said to be the first poet who wrote
Say, wilt thou sing how, grim with hostile for money.
blood,
Hippomedon repelled the rushing flood. Agatho was an Athenian dramatist,
Lament the Arcadian youth's untimely fate, of whom nothing remains but the name
Or Jove, opposed by Capaneus, relate?" and a few passages quoted in other
writers.
Skelton, Elegy on the Earl of North-
umberland:— 1 10. Some of the people that Statius
" Of hevenly poems, O Clyo calde by name introduces into his poems. Antigone,
In the college of musis goddess hystoriale.'' daughter of CEdipus; Deiphile, wife of
63. Saint Peter. Tideus ; Argia, her sister, wife of Poly-
70. Virgil's Bucolics, Eel. IV. 5, a nices ; Ismene, another daughter of
passage supposed to foretell the birth of Qidipus, who is here represented as still
Christ: "The last era of Cumeean song trothed. lamenting the death of Atys, her be-
is now arrived ; the great series of ages
begins anew; now the Virgin returns, 112. Hypsipile, who pointed out to
returns the Saturnian reign ; now a new Adrastus the fountain of Langia, when
progeny is sent down from the high his soldiers were perishing with thirst
heaven. " on their march against Thebes.
92. The Fourth Circle of Purgatory, 113. Of the three daughters of Tire-
where Sloth is punished. Canto XVII. sias only Manto is mentioned by Statius
85:- in the Thebaid. But Dante places Manto
" The love of good, remiss among the Soothsayers, Jnf. XX. 55, and
In what it should have done, is here restored ;
not in Limbo. Had he forgotten this ?
Here plied again the ill-belated oar."
113, 114. Thetis, the mother of
97. Some editions read in this line, Achilles, and Deidamia, the daughter of
instead of nostra amico, — nostro aittico, Lycomedes. They are among the per-
our ancient Terence; but the epithet sonages in the Achilleid of Statius.
would be more a])propriate to Plautus, 118. Four hours of the day were
who was the earlier writer.
already passed.
97, 98. Plautus, CDecilius, and Ter-
131. Cowley, The Tree of Know-
ence, the three principal Latin drama-
tists; Varro, "the most learned of the " The ledgesacred
—:
tree 'midst the fair orchard grew.
Romans," the friend of Cicero, and The phoenix Truth did on it rest
author of some five hundred volumes, And built his perfumed nest.
which made St. Augustine wonder Jiow That right Porphyrian tree which did true
Logic show ;
he who wrote so many books could find Each leaf did learned notions give
time to read so many ; and how he who And th' apples were demonstrative :
read so many could find time to write so So clear their colour and divine
many. The very shade they cast did other lights out-
100. Persius, the Latin satirist.
loi. Homer. This tree of Temptation, however, is
hardly theshine. " tree of Knowledge, though
106. Mrs. Browning, Wine oj Cy- sprung from it, as Dante says of the next,
prus:—- in Canto XXIV. 117. It is meant only
" Our Euripides, the human, —
With his droppings of warm tears ;
to increase the torment of the starving
And. his toui'hings of things common,
souls beneath it, by holding its fresh and
llll they rose to touch the sp.ieres." dewy fruit beyond their reach.
F F 2
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
426
That idol of mistake, that worshipped cheat.
142. John ii. 3: "And when they That Honour, — since so called
wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith
By vulgar minds appalled, —
unto liim, They have no wine." Played not the tyrant with our nature yet.
It had not come to fret
146. Daniel i. 12 : " Prove thy ser- The sweet and happy fold
vants, Ibeseech thee, ten days ; and let
Of gentle human-kmd ;
them give us pulse to eat and water to Nor did its hard law bind
drink And Daniel had under- Souls nursed in freedom ; but that law of gold.
That glad and golden law, all free, all fitted.
standing inall visions and dreams." Which Nature's own hand wrote, — What
148. Compare the description of the
Golden Age in Ovid, Met., I. :— pleases, is permitted."
" Thenew,golden age was first ; when man, yet Also Don Quixote's address to the
goatherds, Don Quix., Book II. Ch. 3,
No rule but uncorrupted reason knew,
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
Unforced by punishment, unawed by fear. Jarvis's
" After Tr. Don:— - Quixote had satisfied his
His words were simple, and his soul suicere ; hunger, he took up an handful of acorns,
Needless was written law, where none opprest: and, looking on them attentively, gave
The law of man was written in his breast :
No suppliant crowds before the judge appeared. utterance to expressions like these ; —
No court erected yet, nor cause w.xs heard : " ' Happy times, and happy ages !
But all was safe, for conscience was their guard. those to which the ancients gave the
The mountain-trees in distant prospect please, name of golden, not because gold (which,
Ere yet the pine descended to the seas ;
Ere sails were spread, new oceans to explore ; in this our iron age, is so much esteemed)
And happy mortals, unconcerned for more. was to be had, in that fortunate period,
Confined their wishes to their native shore.
without toil and labour ; but because
No walls were yet: nor fence, nor mote, nor
mound. they who then lived were ignorant of
these two words Meum and Tuum. In
Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet's angry sound:
Nor swords
crime. were forged ; but, void of care and that age of innocence, all things were
The soft creation slept away their time. in common ; no one needed to take any
The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough. other pains for his ordinary sustenance,
And unprovoked, did fruitful stores allow: than to lift up his hand and take it from
Content with food, which nature freely bred. the sturdy oaks, which stood inviting
On wildings and on strawberries they fed ;
Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest, him liberally to taste of their sweet and
And falling acorns fiirnLshed out a feast. relishing fruit. The limjiid fountains,
The flowers unsown in fields and meadows
and running streams, offered them, in
reigned ;
And western winds immortal spring maintained. magnificent abundance, their delicious
In following years, the be-^rded corn ensued and transparent waters. In the clefts of
From earth unasked, nor was that earth re- rocks, and in the hollow of trees, did the
newed.
From veins of valleys milk and nectar broke. industrious and provident bees form their
commonwealths, offering to every hand,
And honey sweating through the pores of oak."
without usury, the fertile produce of
Also Boethius, Book II. Met. 5, and their most delicious toil. The stout
the Ode in Tasso's/4w;«/a, Leigh Hunt's cork trees, without any other induce-
Tr., beginning : — ment than that of their own courtesy,
"O lovely age of gold !
Not that the rivers rolled
divested themselves of their light and
Withdew;
milk, or that the woods wept honey-
expanded bark, with whicii men began
to oover their houses, supported by rough
Not that the ready ground
Produced without a wound, pole«,'tonly for a defence against the in-
Or the mild serpent had no tooth that slew ;
clemency of the seasons. All then was ,
Not that a cloudless blue peace, all amity, all concord. As yet
For ever was in sight, the heavy coulter of the crooked ploitgh
Or that the heaven which burns, had not dared to force open, and search
And now is cold by turns,
Looked out in glad and everlasting light ;
into, the tender bowels of our first
No, nor that even the insolent ships from far mother, who unconstrained offered, from
Brought war to no new lands, nor riches worse every part of her fertile and spacious
than war :
besom, whatever might feed, sustain,
" But Kilely that that vain and delight those her children, who then
And breath-invented pain had her in possession. Then did the
 NOTES TO PURGATORJO.
427
Could not one wolfish appetite assuage;
simple and beauteous young shepherd- For glutting nourishment increased its rage.
esses trip it from dale to dale, and from As rivers poured from every distant shore
hill to hill, their tresses sometimes The sea insatiate drinks, and thirsts for more ;
plaited, sometimes loosely flowing, with Or as the fire, which all materials burns,
And wasted forests into ashes turns,
no more clothing than was necessary Grows more voracious as the more it preys.
modestly to cover what modesty has Recruits dilate the flame, and spread the blaz*
always required to be concealed ; nor So impiousrefreshments,
Erisichthon 'sand
hunger raves,
were there ornaments like those now-a- Receives refreshments craves.
Food raises a desire for food, and meat
days in fashion, to which the Tyrian Is but a new provocative to eat.
purple and the so-many-ways martyred He grows more empty as the more supplied.
silk give a value ; but composed of green And endless cramming but extends the void."
dock-leaves and ivy interwoven ; with
which, perhaps, they went as splendidly 30. This tragic tale of the siege of
and elegantly decked as our court-ladies Jerusalem by Titus is thus told in
do now, with all those rare and foreign Josephus, 'Jewish War, Book VI. Ch. 3,
inventions which idle curiosity hath Whiston's Tr. :—
taught them. Then were the amorous ' ' There was a certain woman that
conceptions of the soul clothed in simple dwelt beyond Jordan ; her name was
and sincere expressions, in the same way Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the
and manner they were conceived, without village Bethezub, which signifies the
seeking artificial phrases to set them off. house of Hyssop. She was eminent
Nor as yet were fraud, deceit, and malice for her family and her wealth, and
intermixed with truth and plain-dealing. had fled away to Jerusalem with the
Justice kept within her proper bounds ; rest of the multitude, and was with them
favour and interest, which now so much besieged therein at this time. The other
depreciate, confound, and persecute her, effects of this woman had been already
not daring then to disturb or offend her. seized upon, such I mean as she had
As yet the judge did not make his own brought with her out of Perea, and
will the measure of justice ; for then removed to the city. What she had
there was neither cause nor person to be treasured up besides, as also what food
she had contrived to save, had been also
judged.'"
carried off" by the rapacious guards, who
came every day running into her house
CANTO -XXIII.
for that purpose. This put the poor
I. The punishment of the sin of woman into a very great passion, and by
Gluttony. the frequent reproaches and imprecations
3. Shakespeare, As You Like It, II. she cast at these rapacious villains, she
had provoked them to anger against her;
7:- but none of them, either out of the in-
"Under the shade of melancholy boughs dignation she had raised against herself,
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time." or out of commiseration of her case,

II. Psalms li. 15: "O Lord, open would take away her life. And if she
thou my lips ; and my mouth shall show found any food, she perceived her labours
forth thy praise." were for others and not for herself ; and
26. Erisichthon the Thessalian, who it was now become impossible for her
in derision cut down an ancient oak in any way to find any more food, while
the sacred groves of Ceres. He was the famine pierced through her very
punished by perpetual hunger, till, other bowels and marrow, when also her pas-
food failing him, at last he gnawed his sion was fired to a degree beyond the
own flesh. Ovid, Met. VIII., Vernon's famine itself. Nor did she consult with
Tr. :— anything but with her passion and the
" Straight he requires, impatient in demand, necessity she was in. She then attempted
Provisions from the air, the seas, the land ; a most unnatural thing, and, snatching
But though the land, air, seas, provisions grant, up her son who was a child sucking at
S'arves at full tables, and complains of v^ant.
What to a people might in dole be p^id, her breast, she said, ' O thou miserable
Or victual cities for a long blockade. infant ! For whom shall I preserve thee
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
42^
in this war, this famine, and this sedition? word omo {homo, man) in the human
As to the war with the Romans, if they face, so written as to place the two o\
preserve our lives, we must be slaves. between the outer strokes of the m, the

m
This famine also will destroy us, even former represent the eyes, and the latter
before that slavery comes u^kju us. Yet the nose and cheekbones :
are these seditious rogues more terrible
than both the other. Come on, be thou
my food, and be thou a fury to these
seditious varlets, and a byword to the
world ; which is all that is now wanting
Brother Berthold, a Franciscan monk
to complete the calamities of the Jews.'
As soon as she had said this, she slew of Regensburg, in the thirteenth century,
her son, and then roasted him, and ate makes the following allusion to it in
the one half of him, and kept the other one of his sermons. See VVackernagel, ■
half by her concealed. Upon this the Deutsches Lesebuch, I. 678. The monk
seditious came in presently, and, smelling carries out the resemblance into still ftir-
the horrid scent of this food, they threat- ther detail : — .
ened her that they would cut her throat " Now behold, ye blessed children of |
immediately, if she did not show then, God, the Almighty has created you soul i
what food she had gotten ready. She and body. And he has written it under '
replied, that she had saved a very fine your eyes and on your faces, that you ;
portion of it for them ; and withal un- are created in his likeness. He has 1
covered what was left of her son. Here- written it upon your very faces with or- 1
upon they were seized with a horror and namented letters. With great diligence j
amazement of mind, and stood aston- are they embellished and ornamented, i
ished at the sight, when she said to This your learned men will understand, |
them : ' This is mine own son, and what but the unlearned may not understand it. \
hath been done was mine own doing. The two eyes are two o\. The h is 1
Come, eat of this food ; for I have eaten properly no letter ; it only helps the ]
of it myself. Do not you pretend to be others ; so that homo with an h means ■
either more tender than a woman, or Man. Likewise the brows arched above
'nore compassionate than a mother. and the nose down lietween them are an
But if you be so scrupulous, and do m, beautiful with three strokes. So is \
abominate this my sacrifice, as I have the ear a d, beautifully rounded and or-
eaten the one-half, let the rest be re- namented. So are the nostrils beauti- ■
served for me also.' After which those fully formed like a Greek f, beautifully '
men went out trembling, l^eing never so rounded and ornamented. So is the
much affrighted at anything as they were mouth an /, beautifully adorned and or- •
at this, and with some difficulty they namented. Now behold, ye good Chris- i
left the rest of that meat to the mother. tian people, how skilfully he has adorned :
Upon which the whole city was full of you with these six letters, to show that \
this horrid action immediately ; and ye are his own, and tliat he has created ;
while everybcxiy laid this miserable case you ! Now read me an o and an /// and i
before their own eyes, they trembled as if another o together; that spells homo, j
this unheard of action had been done by Then read me a d and an e and an / toge- \
themselves. So those that were thus ther ; that spells dei. Homo dci, man oi %
distressed by the famine were very desi- God, man of God ! " X,
rous to die, and those already dead were 48, Forese Donati, the brother-in-law^
esteemed happy, l)ecause they had not and intimate friend of Dante. "ThisJ
lived long enough either to hear or to F'orese," says Buti, " was a citizen of-^
see such miseries." Florence, and was brother of Messei *
31. Shakespeare, King Lear, V. 3: — Corso Donati, and was very gluttonous; '
" And in this habit and therefore the author feigns that hej
Met I my father with hi» bleeding rings, found him here, where the Gluttons apftf?
Their precious stones new lost"
32. In this fanciful recognition of the punished."
Certain vituperative sonnets, addressed '\j
 NOTES TO PURGATORTO. 425

to Dante, have been attributed to Forese. women go about in hoods and cloaks;
If authentic, they prove that the friend- most of the young men without cloaks,
ship between the two poets was not un- in long, flowing hair, and if they throw
interrupted. See Rossetti, Early Italian off their breeches, which from thei»
Poets, Appendix to Part II. smallness may easily be done, all is off,
74. The same desire that sacrifice and for they literally stick their posteriors
atonement may be complete. into a pair of socks and expend a yard
75. Mattheiu xxvii, 46 : " Eli, Eli, of cloth on their wristbands, while more
lama sabachthani ? that is to say. My stuff is put into a glove than a cloak,
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
hood. However, I am comforted' by.
me ? " one thing, and that is, that all now hav«
83. Outside the gate of Purgatory, begun to put their feet in chains, perhaps
where those who had postponed repent- as a penance for the many vain things
ance till the last hour were forced to they are guilty of ; for we are but a day
wait as many years and days as they had in this world, and in that dav the fashion
lived impenitent on earth, unless aided is changed a thousand times : all seek
by the devout prayers of those on earth. lil>erty, yet all deprive themselves of it :
See Canto IV. God has made our feet free, and many
87. Nella, contraction of Giovannella, with long pointed toes to their shoes can
widow of Forese. Nothing is known of scarcely walk : he has supplied the legs
this good woman but the name, and what with hinges, and many have so bound
Forese here says in her praise. them up with close lacing that they can
94. Covino, Descriz. Geograf. deW scarcely sit : the bust is tightly bandaged
Italia, p. 52, says: "In the district of up ; the arms trail their drapery along ;
Arhwrea, on the slopes of the Gennar- the throat is rolled in a capuchin ; the
gentu, the most vast and lofty mountain head so loaded and bound round with
range of Sardinia, spreads an alpine caps over the hair that it appears as
country which in Dante's time, being though it were sawed off. And thus I
almost barbarous, was called the Bar- might go on for ever discoursing of
" female absurdities, commencing with the
bagia.
102. Sacchetti, the Italian novelist of immeasurable trains at their feet, and
the fourteenth century, severely criticises proceeding regularly upwards to the
the fashions of the Florentines, and their head, with which they may always be
sudden changes, which he says it would seen occupied in their chambers ; some
take a whole volume of his stories to curling, some smoothing, and some
enumerate. In Nov. 178, he speaks of whitening it, so that they often kill
their wearing their dresses "far below themselves with colds caught in these
their arm-pits," and then "up to their vain occupations."
ears ; " and continues, in Napier's ver- 132. Statius.
sion, Flor. Hist., II. 539 : —
" The young Florentine girls, who
used to dress so modestly, have now CANTO XXIV.
changed the fashion of their hoods to
resemble courtesans, and thus attired 1. Continuation of the punishment of
Gluttony.
they move alx>ut laced up to the throat,
with all sorts of animals hanging as 7. Continuing the words with which
ornaments about their necks. Their the preceding canto closes, and referring
sleeves, or rather their sacks, as they to Statius.
should be called, — was there ever so 10. Picarda, sister of Forese and
useless and pernicious a fashion ! Can Corso Donati. She was a nun of Santa
any of them reach a glass or take a Clara, and is placed by Dante in the
morsel from the table without dirtying first heaven of Paradise, which Forese
herself or the cloth by the things she calls "high Olympus." .See Par. III.
knocks down ? And thus do the young 48, where her story is told more in
men, and worse ; and such sleeves are detail.
made even for sucking babe^. The 19. Buonagiunta Urbisani of Lucca is
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
430
one of the early minor poets of Italy, a " He was a good man, and very favour-
contemporary of Dante. Rossetti, Early able to Holy Church and to those of the
Italian Poets, 77, gives some specimens house of France, because he was from
of his sonnets and canzoni. All that is
known of him is contained in Benve- He is said to have died of a surfeit.
nuto's brief notice : " Buonagiunta of The eels and sturgeon of Bolsena, and
Tours."
Urbisani, an honourable man of the city the wines of Orvieto and Montefiascone, :
of Lucca, a brilliant orator in his mother in the neighbourhood of whose vineyards
tongue, a facile producer of rhymes, and he lived, were too much for him. But
still more facile consumer of wines ; who he died in Perugia, not in Orvieto.
knew our author in his lifetime, and 24. The Lake of Bolsena is in the-
sometimes corresponded with him." Papal States, a few miles northwest of!
Tiraboschi also mentions him, Storia
Viterbo, on the road from Rome to'
ddla Lett., IV. 397 : "He was seen by Siena. It is thus described in Murray's
Dante in Purgatory punished among the Handbook of Central Italy, p. 199 :—
Gluttons, from which vice, it is proper to "Its circular form, and being in the
say, poetry did not render him exempt." centre of a volcanic district, has led to;
22. Pope Martin the Fourth, whose its being regarded as an extinct crater ; \
fondness for the eels of Bolsena brought but that hypothesis can scarcely be ad-;
his life to a sudden close, and his soul mitted when the great extent of the lake;
to this circle of Purgatory, has been ridi- is considered. The treacherous beauty:
culed in the well-known epigram, — of the lake conceals malaria in its mostl
"Gaudent anguillse, quod mortuus hie jacet ille fatal forms ; and its shores, although'
Qui quasi morte reas excoriabat eas." there are no traces of a marsh, are de-
" Martin the Fourth," says Milman,
Hist. Lat. Christ., VI. 143, "was born hamlets serted,
are excepting where
scattered on atheir
few western
sickly' j
at Mont. Pence in Brie ; he had been slopes. The ground is cultivated inj
Canon of Tours. He put on at first the
many parts down to the water's edge,,
show of maintaining the Ipfty character but the labourers dare not sleep for 4<
of the Churchman. He excommunicated
single night during the summer or au-|
the Viterbans for their sacrilegious mal- tumn on the plains where they work by'
treatment of the Cardinals ; Rinaldo
Annibaldeschi, the Lord of Viterbo, was day ; and a large tract of beautiful and'
productive country is reduced to a per-
compelled to ask pardon on his knees of fect solitude by this invisible calamity, j
the Cardinal Rosso, and forgiven only Nothing can be more striking than the S
at the intervention of the Pope. Martin appearance of the lake, without a single ,
the Fourth retired to Orvieto.
sail upon its waters, and with scarcely a^
" But the Frenchman soon began to human habitation within sight of Bol-j
predominate over the Pontiff; he sunk sena ; and nothing perhaps can give thei
mto the vassal of Charles of Anjou. traveller who visits Italy for the first)
The great policy of liis predecessor, to time a more impressive idea of the effects;
assuage the feuds of Guelph and Ghi- of malaria. " «
belline, was an Italian policy ; it was Of the Vernaccia or Vemage, in which*
altogether abandoned. The Ghibellines Pope Martin cooked his eels, HendersooJ
in every city were menaced or smitten says, Hist. Anc. and Mod. Wines, p. 296 »
with excommunication ; the Lambertazzi " The Vemage .... was a red wine,!
were driven from Bologna. Forlt was of a bright colour, and a sweetish anq|
placed under interdict for harbouring the somewhat rough flavour, which waft
exiles ; the goods of the citizens were grown in Tuscany and other parts oK
confiscated for the benefit of the Pope.
Bertoldo Orsini was deposed from the thick-skinned Italy, and derived grape,itsvernaccia
name from the'i
(corre«i
Countship of Romagna ; the office was spending with the vinaciola of the an* 1
bestowed on John of Appia, with in- cients), that was used in the preparatioft ,
structions everywhere to coerce or to of it." ^
chastise the refractory Ghibellines." Chaucer mentions it in the Merchanft \
Villani, Book VI. Ch. 106, says :
Tale :— 3
 NOTES TO PURGATORTO.

" He drlnketh ipocras, clarre, and vernage | mentioned who should make Lucca
Of spices hot, to eiicreasen his corege.' I pleasant to him, seems to confirm the
And Redi, Bacchus in Tuscany, Leigh former interpretation.
Hunt's Tr., p. 30, sings of it thus :— • 38. In the throat of the speaker,
"If anybody doesn't like Vernaccia, where he felt the hunger and thirst431of
I mean that sort that's made in Pietrafitta, his punishment.
Let him fly
My violent eye ; 50. Chaucer, Complaint of the Blacke
I curse him, clean, through all the Alpha- Knight, 194: —
beta." " But even like as doth a skrivenere.
That can no more tell what that he shal write.
28. Ovid, Met. VII., says of Erisich- But as his maister beside dothe indite."
thon, that he
51. A canzone of the Vita Nuova,
" Deludes his throat with visionary fare.
Feasts on the wind and banquets on the air." beginning, in Rossetti's version, Early
Italian Poets, p. 255 :—
29. Ubaldin dalla Pila was a brother
"Ladies tjiat have intelligence in love,
of the Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubal- Of mine own lady I would speak with you ;
dini, mentioned Inf. X. 120, and fa- Not that I hope to count her praises through,
ther of the Archbishop Ruggieri, Inf. But, telling what I may, to ease my mind."
XXXIII. 14. According to Sacchetti,
Nov. 205, he passed most of his time at 56. Jacopo da Lentino, or " the
his castle, and turned his gardener into Notary," was a Sicilian poet who
flourished about 1250, in the later days
a priest ; "and Messer Ubaldino," con- of the Emperor Frederick the Second.
tinues the novelist, "put him into his Crescimbeni, Hist. Volg. Pocsia, III.
church ; of which one may say he made
a pigsty ; for he did not put in a priest, 43, says that Dante *' esteemed him so
highly, that he even mentions him in
hut a pig in the way of eating and drink- his Comedy, doing him the favour to
ing, who had neither grammar nor any
put him into Purgatory." Tassoni,
good thing in him." and others after him, make the careless
Some writers say that this Boniface, statement that he addressed a sonnet to
Archbishop of Ravenna, was a son of Petrarca. He died before Petrarca was
Ubaldino ; but this is confounding him born. Rossetti gives several specimens
with Ruggieri, Archbishop of Pisa. He of his sonnets and canzonette in his
was of the Fieschi of Genoa. His pas- Early Italian PoeSs, of which the fol-
turing many people alludes to his keep- lowing isone : —
ing a great retinue and court, and the
free life they led in matters of the table. "Of his Lady in Heaven.
31. Messer Marchese da Forli, who " I have it in my heart to serve God so
answered the accusation made against That into Paradise I shall repair, —
The holy place through the which every-
where
him, that "he was always drinking," by
saying, that "he was always thirsty." I have heard say that joy and solace flow.
37. A lady of l.ucca with whom Without my lady I were loath to go, —
She who has the bright face and the bright
Dante is supposed to have been en- hair ;
amoured. "Let us pass over in Because if she were absent, I being there.
silence," says Balbo, Life and Times of My pleasure know. would be less than nought, I
Dante, II. 177, "the consolations and Look you, I say not this to such intent
errors of the poor exile." But Buti As that I there would deal in any sin :
says: "He formed an attachment to only would behold her gracious mien.
a gentle lady, called Madonna Gen- And beautiful soft eyes, and lovely face.
tucca, of the family of Rossimpelo, on That so it should be my complete content
account of her great virtue and modesty, To see my lady joyful in her place."
and not with any other love." Fra Guittone d' Arezzo, a contem-
Benvenuto and the Ottimo interpret porary of the Notary, was one of the
the passage differently, making getttucca Frati Gaudentl, or Jovial Friars, men-
2L common noun, — gente bassa, low tioned in /«/ XXIII. Note 103. He
people. But the passage which imme- first brought the Italian Sonnet to the
uiately follows, in which a maiden is perfect form it has since preserved, and
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
4S«
left behind the earliest specimens of against him, he never cowered for an
Italian letter-writing. These letters are instant, but courageously determined to
written in a veiy florid style, and are resist, until succoured by Uguccione
perhaps more poetical than his verses, della Faggiola, to whom he had sent
which certainly fall very far short of the for aid. This attack continued during
"sweet new style." Of all his letters the greater part of the day, and gene-
the best is that To the Florentines, from rally with advantage to the Donati, for
which a brief extract is given Canto VI. the people were not unanimous, and
Note 76. many fought unwillingly, so that, if the
82. Corso Donati, the brother of Rossi, Bardi, and other friends had
Forese who is here speaking, and into
joined, and Uguccioni's forces arrived,
whose mouth nothing but Ghibelline it would have gone hard with the citi-
wrath could have put these words. zens. The former were intimidated,
Corso was the leader of the Neri in the latter turned back on hearing how
Florence, and a partisan of Charles de matters stood ; and then only did
Valois. His death is recorded by Vil- Corso's adherents lose heart and slink
lani, VIII. 96, and is thus described by from the barricades, while the towns-
Napier, Flor. Hist., I. 407: — men pursued their advantage by break-
" The popularity of Corso was now ing down a garden wall opposite the
thoroughly undermined, and the priors, Stinche prisons and taking their enemy
after sounding the Campana for a general in the rear. This completed the dis-
assembly of the armed citizens, laid a aster, and Corso, seeing no chance re-
formal accusation before the Podest^ maining, fled towards the Casentino ;
Piero Branca d' Agobbio against him but, being overtaken by some Cata-
for conspiring to overthrow the liberties lonian troopers in the Florentine ser-
of his country, and endeavouring to vice, he was led back a prisoner from
make himself Tyrant of Florence: he Rovezzano. After vainly endeavouring
was immediately cited to appear, and, to bribe them, unable to support the
not complying, from a reasonable dis- indignity of a public execution at the
trust of his judges, was within one hour, hands of his enemies, he let himself
against all legal forms, condemned to fall from his horse, and, receiving seve-
lose his head, as a rebel and traitor to ral stabs in the neck and flank from
the commonwealth. the Catalan lances, his body was left
" Not willing to allow the culprit bleeding on the road, until the monks
more time for an armed resistance than of San Salvi removed it to their con-
had been given for legal vindication, the vent, where he was interred next
Seignory, preceded by the Gonfalonier morning with the greatest privacy.
of justice, and followed by the Podest^,
Thus perished Corso Donati, ' the
the captain of the people, and the exe- wisest and most worthy knight of his
cutor,— all attended by their guards and time ; the best speaker, the most expe-
officers,— issued from the palace ; and rienced statesman ; the most renowned,
with the whole civic force marshalled in
the boldest, and most enterprising noble-
companies, with banners flying, moved man in Italy : he was handsome in
forward to execute an illegal sentence person and of the most gracious man-
against a single citizen, who nevertheless ners, but very worldly, and caused
stood undaunted on his defence. infinite disturiiance in Florence on
" Corso, on first hearing of the prose- account of his ambition.'* ....
cution, had hastily barricaded all the ' People now began to repose, and his
approaches to his palace, but, disabled unhappy death was often and variously
by the gout, could only direct the neces- discussed, according to the feelings of
sary operations from his lied ; yet thus friendship or enmity that moved the
helpless, thus abandoned by all but his speaker; but in truth, his life was dan-
own immediate friends and vassals ; gerous, and his death reprehensible. Ha
suddenly condemned to death ; encom- wa& a knight of great mind and name,
passed by the bitterest foes, with the
whole force of Uie republic banded ] • Villani, VIII. Ch. 96.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 433

gentle in manners as in blood ; of a fine He seized with sudden force the frighted fair.
mind,
figure even in his old age, with a beauti- "I'was Eurytus began : his bestial kind
His crime pursued; and each, as pleased his
fi.ll countenance, delicate features, and a
fair complexion; pleasing, wise ; and an Or her whom chance presented, took : the feast
eloquent speaker. His attention was An image of a taken town expressed.
ever fixed on important things ; he was "Therisecave resounds with female shrieks; we
intimate with all the great and noble, Mad with revenge, to make a swift reprice :
had an extensive influence, and was And Theseus first, ' What frenzy has possessed,
famous throughout Italy. He was an O Eurytus,' he cried, 'thy brutal breast,
To wrong Pirithous, and not him alone.
enemy of the middle classes and their But, while I live, two friends conjoined In
supporters, beloved by the troops, but
full of malicious thoughts, wicked, and
artful. He was thus basely murdered 125. yiidges vii. 5, 6: " So he brought
down on the
e ? 'people
" unto the water : and
by a foreign soldier, and his fellow-citi- the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one
zens well knew the man, for he was that lappeth of the water with his
instantly
ordered hisconveyed
death wereaway : tho'se
Rosso who tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou
della Tosa
set by himself; likewise every one that
and I'azzino de' Pazzi, as is commonly boweth down upon his knees to drink.
said by all ; and some bless him and And the number of them that lapped,
some the contrary. Many believe thai putting their hand to their mouth, were
the two said knights killed him, and I, three hundred men ; but all the rest of
wishing to ascertain tlie truth, inquired the |)eople bowed down upon their knees
diligently, and found what I have said to
be true.'* Such is the character of Corso to 139.
drink water."
The Angel of the Seventh
Donati, which has come down to us from Circle.
two authors who must have been perso-
nally acquainted with this distinguished
chief, Init opposed to each other in the CANTO XXV.
general ptililics of their country." I. The ascent to the Seventh Circle of
See also Inf. VI. Note 52.
99. Virgil and Statius. Purgatory, where the sin of Lust is
105. Dante had only so far gone punished.
round the circle, as to come in sight of 3. When the sign of Taurus reached
the second of these trees, which from the meridian, the sun, being in Aries,
distance to distance encircle the moun- would be two hours beyond it. It is
tain. now two o'clock of the afternoon. The
116. In the Terrestrial Paradise on the Scorpion is the sign opposite Taurus.
top of the mountain. 15. Shakespeare, Hamlet, I. 2: —
" And did address
121. The Centaurs, bom of Ixion and
the Cloud, and having the "double Itself to motion, like as it would speak."
breasts " of man and horse, became 22. Meleager was the son of CEneus
drunk with wine at the marriage of Hip- and Althjea, of Calydon. At his birth
podamia and Pirithous, and strove to the Fates were present and predicted his
carry off the bride and the other women future greatness. Clotho said that he
by violence. Theseus and the rest of the would be brave ; Lachesis, that he would
Lapithne opposed them, and drove them be strong; and Atropos, that he would
from the feast. This famous battle is live as long as the brand upon the fire
described at great length by Ovid, Met. remained unconsumed.
XII., Dryden's Tr. : — Ovid, Met. VIII. :—
" For one, most brutal of tlie brutal brood,
Or whether wine or beauty fired his blood. " There lay a log unlighted on the hearth.
Or both at once, beheld with lustful eyes When she was labouring in the throes of birth
The bride ; at once resolved to make his prize. For th' unborn chief ; the fatal sisters came.
Down hair,
went the board; and fastening on her And raised it up, and tossed it on the flame.
Then on the rock a scanty measure place
Of vital flax, and turned the wheel apace ;
And turning sung, ' To this red brand and the^
* Dine Compagni, III. 76. O new-.bom babe, we give an equal destiny ; *
♦S4 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

So vanished out of view. The frighted dame " Mother, I dying with unforgetful tongue
Sprung hasty from her bed, and quenched the Hail thee as holy and worship thee as just
flame. Who art unjust and unholy ; and with my
The log, in secret locked, she kept with care, knees
And that, while thus preserved, preserved her Would worship, but thy fire and subtlety,
Dissundering them, devour me ; for these limbs
Are as light dust and crumblings from mine
heir." distinguished himself in the
Meleager
Argonautic ex])edition, and afterwards in Before urn
the fire has touched them ; and my
face
tlie hunt of Calydon, where he killed
As a dead leaf or dead foot's mark on snow.
the famous boar, and gave the boar's And all this body a broken barren tree
head to Atalanta ; and when his uncles That was so strong, and all this fl )wer of l;;"-;
Disbranched and desecrated miserably,
tried to take possession of it, he killed
And minished all that god-like nmscl:; and
them also. On hearing this, and seeing might
the dead bodies, his mother in a rage And lesser than a man's : for all my veins
threw the brand upon the fire again, Fail me, and all mine ashen life burni
and, as it was consumed, Meleager
perished. 37. The dissertation which Dante
Mr. Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon : here puts into the mouth of Statins may
CHORUS. wn." in a briefer prose form in
be found doalso
" When thou dravest the men
the Convito, IV. 21. It so much excites
Of the chosen of Thrace, the enthusiasm of Varchi, that he
None turned him again declares it alone sufficient to prove
Nor endured he thy face
Clothed round with the blush of the battle, with Dante to have been a physician, philoso-
light from a terrible place. pher, and theologian of the highest
(ENEUS. order ; and goes on to say : "I not
only confess, but I swear, that as many
" Thou shouldst die as he dies times as I have read it, which day and
For whom none sheddeth tears ;
Filling thine eyes night are more than a thousand, my
And fulfilling thine ears wonder and astonishment have always
With the brilliance of battle, the bloom and the increased, seeming every time to find
beauty, the splendour of spears. therein new beauties and new instruction,
andThis
consequently
subject is new
also difficulties."
discussed in part
" In the ears of the world
It is sung, it is told. by Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., I.
And the light thereof hurled
And the noise thereof rolled Qucest. cxix., De propagatione hominis
From the Acroceraunian snow to the ford of the qiiaiitiim ad corpus.
fleece of gold. Milton, in his Latin poem, De Idea
MELEAGER. Platotika, has touched upon a theme
somewhat akin to this, but in a manner
" Would
Forth God
of allye these
could; carry me to make it seem very remote. Perhaps
Heap sand and bury me no two passages could better show the
By the Chersonese diffi;rence between Dante and Milton,
Where the thundering Bosphorus answers the
thunder of Pontic seas. than this canto and Plato's Archetypal
Man, which in Leigh Hunt's translation
runs as follows : —
" Dost thou mock at our praise
And the singing begun
And the men of strange days " Say, guardian goddesses of woods,
Aspects, felt in solitudes ; 1
Praising my s<m And Memory, at whose blessed knee
In the folds of the hills of home, high places of The Nine, which thy dear daught.rs be, •
Calydon f Learnt of the majestic past : -
And thou, that in some antre vast \
MBLBAGER.
Leaning afar off dost lie,
Otiose fcternity.
" For the dead man no home Is ;
Ah, better to Ixr Keeping the tablets and decrees
What the flower of the foam is Of Jove, and the ephemcridci
In fields of the sea, or the gods, and calendars,
rhat the sea-wave« might be a* my raiment, the Of the ever festal stars ;
gulf-stream a garment for me. S.iy, who was he, the suntes.^ shade.
After whose pattern man was made ;
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
43S

He first, the full of ages, bom In the language of the Schools, th^
With the old pale polar mom.
Sole, yet all ; first visible thought, Possible Intellect, intelitctus possibilis,
After which the Deity wrought ? is the faculty which receives impressions
Twin-birth with Pallas, not remain through the senses, and forms from
Doth he in Jove's o'ershadowed brain ; them pictures or fhantasmata in the
But though of wid'J communion, mind. The Active Intellect, intelleclus
Dwells apart, like one alone ;
And fills the wondering embrace, agens, draws from these pictures various
(Doubt it not) of size and place. ideas, notions, and conclusions. They
Whether, companion of the stars.
With their tenfold round he errs ; represent the Understanding and the
Or inhabits with his lone
Reason. •
Nature in the neighbouring moon ;
Or sits with body-waiting souls, 70. God.
Dozing by the Lethean pools :— 75. Redi, Bacchus in Tuscany :—
Or whether, haply, placed afar
In some blank region of our star, " Such bright blood is a ray enkindled
Of that sun, in heaven that shines.
He stalks, an imsuhstantial heap, And has been left behind entang ed
Humanity's giant
Where a loftier bulkarchetype
he rears ; And caught in the net of the many vines."
Than Atlas, grappler of the stars. 79. When Lachesis has spun out the
And through their shadow-touched abodes thread of life.
Brings a terror to the gods.
Not the seer of him had sight, 81. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol.,
Who found in darkness depths of light ; * I. Quaest. cxviii. Art. 3: '•'' Anima in-
His travelled eyeballs saw him not
In all his mighty gulfs of thought :— iellcctiva remand destructo corpore. "
Him the farthest-footed good, 86. Either upon the shores of Acheron
Pleiad Mercury, never showed or of the Tiber.
To any poet's wisest sight
In the silence of the night :— 103. yEneid, VI. 723, Davidson's
News of him the Assyrian priest t
Found not in his sacred list. Tr." :-
In the first place, the spirit within
Though he traced back old king Nine, nourishes the heavens, the earth, and
And Belus, elder name divine,
And Osiris, endless famed. wateryandplains, the moon's
Not the glory, triple-named. orb, the Titanian stars enlightened
; and the
Thrice great Hermes, though his eyes mind, diffused through all the members,
Read the sb^oes of all the skies. actuates the whole frame, and mingles
Left him in his sacred verse
with the vast body of the universe.
Revealed to Nature's worshippers. Thence the race of men and beasts, the
" O Plato ! and was this a dream
Of thine in bowery Academe ? vital principles of the flying kind, and
Wert thou the golden tongue to tell the monsters which the ocean breeds
First of this high miracle,
And charm him to thy schools below ? under its smooth plain. These principles
O call thy poets back, if so, % have the active force of fire, and are of a
Back to the state thine exiles call. heavenly original, so far as they are not
Thou greatest fabler of them all ;
Or folU w through the self-same gate, clogged by noxious bodies, blunted by
Thou, the founder of the state." earth-born limbs and dying members.
Hence they fear and desire, grieve and
48. "P-e heart, where the blood takes rejoice ; and, shut up in darkness and a
the " virtue informative," as stated in gloomy prison, lose sight of their native
line 40. skies. Even when with the last beains
52. The vegetitive soul, which in of light their life is gone, yet not every
man rliffers from that in plants, as being ill, nor all corporeal stains, are quite
in a state of devnlopment, while that of removed from the unhappy beings ; and
plants is complets already. it is absolutely necessary that many
SS- ^he vegtftative becomes a sensi- imperfections which have long been
tive soul. joined to the soul should be in marvellous
65. " This was the opinion of Aver- ways increased and riveted therein.
roes," sa-^ the Ottimo, "which is false, Therefore are they afflicted with punish-
and contriiy tc the Catholic faith." ments, and pay the penalties of their
former ills. Some, hung on high, are
• Tire=ias, who was blind. + Sanchoniathoa spread out to the empty winds ; in
X Whom Plato banished from his imaginary
republic Others, the guilt not done away is washed
 NOTES TO PURGATORTO.
43«
out in a vast watery abyss, or burned 5. It is near sunset, and the western I
away in fire. We each endure his own sky is white, as the sky always is in the
manes, thence are we conveyed along the neighbourhood of the sun.
spacious Elysium, and we, the happy 12. A ghostly or spiritual body.
few, possess the fields of bliss ; till 41. Pasiphae, wife of Minos, king of
length of time, after the fixed period is Crete, and mother of the Minotaur.
elapsed, hath done away the inherent
stain, and hath left the pure celestial Virgil,
Tr. :— Eclogue VI. 45, Davidson's
j
reason, and the fiery energy of the " And he soothes Pasiphae in her
simple spirit." passion for the snow-white bull : happy ■
121. "God of clemency supreme;" woman if herds had never been ! Ah, i
the church hymn, sung at matins on ill-fated maid, what madness seized thee ? i
Saturday morning, and containing a The daughters of Prcetus with imaginary j
prayer for purity. lowings filled the fields ; yet none of i
128. Luke i. 34: "Then said Mary them pursued such vile embraces of a
unto the angel. How shall this be, seeing beast, however they might dread the '
1 know not a man ? " plough about their necks, and often feel ;
131. Helice, or Callisto, was a daugh- for horns on their smooth foreheads, i
ter of Lycaon king of Arcadia. She Ah, ill-fated- maid, thou now art roam- ;
was one of the attendant nymphs of ing on the mountains ! He, resting his
Diana, who discarded her on account of snowy side on the soft hyacinth, nimi- ■
an amour with Jupiter, for which Jiino nates the blanched herbs under some J
turned her into a bear. Areas was the gloomy oak, or courts some female in :
offspring of this amour. Jupiter changed the numerous herd." j
them to the constellations of the Great 43. The Riphaean mountains are in 1
and Liitle Bear. the north of Russia. The sands are the \
Ovid, Met. II., Addison's Tr. :— sands of the deserts. ■

" But now her son had fifteen summers told, 59. Bea
62. tri
The highest ce. Par. \•
heaven.
Fierce at the chase, and in the forest bold ; XXVII. \
When, as he beat the woods in quest of prey.
He chanced to rouse his mother where she lay.
She knew her son, and kept him in her sight. 78. In one of Caesar's triumphs the ■
Roman soldiery around his chariot \
And fondly gazed : the boy was in a fright.
And aimed a pointed arrow at her breast. called him "Queen ;" thus reviling him ^
And would have slain his mother in the beast ; for his youthful debaucheries with j
But Jove forbad, and snatched them through Nicomedes, king of Bithynia. ^
the air
87. The cow made by Daedalus. ;
In whirlwinds up to heaven, and fixed them
there ;
92. Guido Guiniceiii, the best of.'
Where the new constellations nightly rise. the Italian poets Ijefore Dante, flourished \
And add a lustre to the Northern skies.
" When Juno saw the rival in her height. in
He the
was first half ofof the
a native thirteenth
Bologna, but ofcentury.
his life \'
Spangled with stars, and circled round with
light. nothing is known. His most celebrated f
She sought old Ocean in his deep abodes. poem is a Canzone on the Nature of^
And Tethys, both revered among the gods.
Love, which goes far to justify the*
They ask what brings her there : ' Ne'er ask,'
says she, warmth and tenderness of Dante'sl
' What me.brings me here ; heaven is no place for praise. Rossetti, Early Italian Poets^f
o'er, p. 24, gives the following version of it, J
You'll see, when Night has covered all things under the title of The Gentle Heart :—
{ove's starry bastard and triumphant whore " Within the gentle heart Love shelters him,
Isurp the heavens ; you'll see them proudly roll As birds within the green sltade of th«-l
lu their new orbs, and brighten all the pole,' "
Before the gentle heart, in Nature's schema
Love was not, nor the gentle heart ere Lovft
grove.
For with the sun, at once,
CANTO XXVI. So sprang the light immediately ; nor was
lis birth
And Ix)ve hath Ixiforc the iiisim's.
his eflTcct gentleness
I. The punishment of the sin of Ol very self : even as
Lust. W.thin the middle fire the hiMs excess.
 437
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

" The fire of Love comes to the gentle heart about to put her to death for neglecting
Like as its virtue to a precious stone ; the care of his child, who through her
To which no star its influence can impart
TiJl it is made a pure thing by the sun : neglect had been stung by a serpent.
For when the sun hath smit Statius, Thebaid, V. 949, says it was
From out its essence
vile, that which there was
Tydeus who saved Hypsipyle :—
The star endoweth it.
" But interposing Tydeus rushed between.
And so the heart created by God's breath And with his shield protects the Lemnian
Pure, true, and clean from guile,
A woman, like a star, enamoureth.
118. In the old Romance languages
" In gentle heart Love for like reason is the name of prosa was applied generally
For which theandlamp's
bowed high
: flame is fanned queen." poems, and particularly
to all narrative
Clear, piercing bright, it shines few its own to the monorhythmic romances. Thus
bliss ;
Nor would it bum there else, it is so proud.
Gonzalo de Berceo, a Spanish poet of
For evil natures meet the thirteenth century, begins a poem on
With Love as it were water met with fire. the Vida del Glorioso Confessor Santo
As cold abhorring heat.
Through gentle heart Love doth a track Domingo de Silos :—
divine, — " De un confessor Sancto quiero fer una prosa,
Like knowing like ; the same Quiero fer una prosa en roman paladino.
As diamond runs through iron in the mine. En qual suele el pueblo fablar & su vecino,
Ca non so tan letrado per fer otro Latino."
" The sun strikes full upon the mud all day ;
It remains vile, nor the sun's worth is less. 120. Gerault de Bemeil of Limoges,
' By race I am gentle,' the proud man doth born of poor parents, but a man of
say :
He is the mud, the sun is gentleness. talent and learning, was one of the
Let no man predicate most famous Troubadours of the thir-
That aught the name of gentleness should
have. teenth century. The old Proven9al
biographer, quoted by Raynouard, Choix
Even in a king's estate.
Except the heart there be a gentle man's. de Poesies, V. 166, says : "He was a
The star-beam lights the wave, — better poet than any who preceded or
Heaven holds the star and the star's radiance. followed him, and was therefore called
the Master of the Troubadours
" God, in the understanding of high Heaven,
Bums more than in our sight the living sun : He passed his winters in study, and his
There to behold His Face unveiled is given ;
whose will is homage paid to summers in wandering from court to
And Heaven, One,
court with two minstrels who sang his
Fulfils the things which live
In God, from the beginning excellent. The following specimen of his poems
So should my lady give
That truth which in her eyes is glorified, songs."
is from [Taylor's] Lays of the Min-
On which her heart is bent. nesingers and Troubadours, p. 247. It
To me whose service waiteth at her side.
is an Aubade, or song of the morning: —
" My lady, God shall ask, ' What daredst
" Companion dear ! or sleeping or awaking,
(When my soul stands
»' with all her acts Sleep not again ! for lo ! the morn is nigh.
reviewedthou
;) And in the east that early star is breaking.
' Thou passedstnow.Heaven, into My sight, as eye ;
The day's forerunner, known unto mine
To make Me of vain love similitude. The mom, the mom is near.
To Me doth praise belong. song ;
thee
And to the Queen of all the realm of grace " Companion dear ! with carols sweet I call
Who endeth fraud and wrong.'
Then may I plead : ' As though from Thee Sleep not again ! I hear the birds' blithe
he came.
Loud in the woodlands ; evil may befall thee.
Love wore an angel's face : And jealous eyes awaken, tarrying long.
Lord, if I loved her, count it not my shame.' " Now that the mom is near.
94, Hypsipyle was discovered and looking.
"Companion dear! forth from the window
rescutid by her sons Eumenius and
Attentive mark the signs of yonder heaven ;
Thoas, (whose father was the "bland Judge if aright I read what they betoken :
Jason," as Statins calls him,) just as Thine all the loss, if vain the warning given;
King Lycurgus in his great grief was The mom, the mom is near.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
438
" Companion dearstraying,
! since thou from hence wert this Troubadour, it is difficult to con-
Nor sleep nor rest these eyes have visited ; ceive the cause of the great celebrity he
My prayers unceasing to the Virgin paying,
That thou in tread.
peace thy backward way might Arnaud during
enjoyed Daniel was the inventor of
his life." 1
The mom, the mom is near. the Sestina, a song of six stanzas of six |
lines each, with the same rhymes ref)eated '
" Companion dear ! hence to the fields with me ! in all, though arranged in different and
Me thou forbad'st
night, to slumber through the intricate oider, which must be seen to be
thee ; that livelong night for understood.
And I have watched He was also author of the
metrical romance of Lancillotto, or
But thou in song or me hast no delight. Launcelot of the Lake, to which Dante
And now the mom is near.
Answer. doubtless refers in his expression //vjt" di ,
romanzi, or proses of romance. The i
" Companion dear ! so happily sojourning,
So blest am 1, I care not forth to speed :
following anecdote is from the old Pro-
Here brightest adorning
beauty reigns, her smiles
ven9alRaynouard,
authority, quoted
and and is both by Millot"^
thus translated
Her dwelling-place,
I heed — then wherefore should
by Miss Costello, Early Poetry of France, \
P- 37 :— !
The mom or jealous eyes ? " " Arnaud visited the court of Richard !
According to Nostrodamus he died in Coeur de Lion in England, and encoun-
1278. Notwithstanding his great repute, tered there a jongleur, who defied him y
Dante gives the pahn of excellence to to a trial of skill, and boasted of being ;
Arnaiid Daniel, his rival and contem- able to make more difficult rhymes than :
poraiy. But this is not the general Arnaud, a proficiency on which he chiefly |
verdict of literary history. prided himself. He accepted the dial- '
124. Fra Guittone d'Arezzo. See lenge, and the two poets separated, and :
Canto XXIV. Note 56. retired to their respective chambere to
137. Venturi has the indiscretion to prepare for the contest. The Muse of ;
say : " This is a disgusting compliment Arnaud was not propitious, and he vainly \
after the manner of the French ; in the endeavoured tostiing two rhymes toge- '
Italian fashion we should say, ' You will ther. His rival, on the other hand, :
do me a favour, if you will tell me your quickly caught the inspiration. The ■
name.' " Whereupon Biagioli thunders king had allowed ten days as the term ,
at him in this wise : " Infamous dirty of preparation, five for composition, and '
dog that you are, how can you call this the remainder for learning it by heart to ^
a compliment after the manner of the sing before the court. On the third day ^
French ? How can you set off against the jongleur declared that he had finishel '
it what any cobbler might say ? Away ! his poem, and was ready to recite it, but i
and a murrain on you ! Arnaud replied that he had not yet ^
142. Arnaud Daniel, the Trouba-
dour of the thirteenth century, whom custom thought of^ his. It was the jongleur's ■,
to repeat his verses out loud ^
Dante lauds so highly, and whom Pe- every day, in order to learn them better, S
trarca calls "the Grand Master of Love," and Arnaud, who was in vain endeavour- *^
was l)orn of a noble family at the cxstle ing to devise some means to save himself
of RiWyrac in Perigord. Millot, Hist, from the mockery of the court at being ,
des Trotib., II. 479, says of him : " In outdone in this contest, hapjjened to ;
all ages there have been false reputations, overhear the jongleur singing. He went )
founded on some individual judgment, to his door and listened, and succeeded J
whose authority has prevaded without in retaining the words and the air. On \
examination, until at last criticism dis- the day appointed they both appeared j
cusses, the truth penetrates, and the before the king. Arnaud desired to Ihj |
phantom of prejudice vanishes. Such allowed to sing first, and immediately ;
nas l)een the reputation of Arnaud gave the song which the jongleur haa |
D.'iniel." composed. The latter, slupified with \
Raynouard confirms this judgment, astonishment, could only exclaim : ' It ^
and says that, "in reading the works of is niysong, it is my song.' * Impossiblel' ]
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
43^

cried the king ; but the jongleur, per- 16. * With the hands clasped and
sisting, requested Richard to interrogate turned palm downwards, and the body
Amaud, who would not dare, he said, straightened backward in attitude of re-
to deny it. Daniel confessed the fact, sistance.
and related the manner in which the
23. Inf. XVII.
affair had been conducted, which amused
33. Knowing that he ought to con-
Richard far more than the song itself. fide in Virgil and go forward.
The stakes of the wager were restored 37. The story of the Babylonian
to each, and the king loaded them both lovers, whose trysting-place was under
with presents." the white mulberry-tree near the tomb of
According to Nostrodamus, Amaud Ninus, and whose blood changed the
died about 1 189. There is no other fruit from white to purple, is too well
reason for making him speak in Pro- known to need comment. Ovid, Met.
venyal than the evident delight which
Dante took in the sound of the words, IV., Eusden's Tr. :—
" At Thisbe's name awaked, he opened wide
and the peculiar flavour they give to the His dying eyes ; with dying eyes he tried
close of the canto. Raynouard says that On her to dwell, but closed them slow and
the writings of none of the Troubadours
have been so disfigured by copyists as 48. Statius had for a long while been
those of Amaud. This would seem to between Virgil and Dante.
be true of the very lines which Dante died."
58. Matthezv xx\. 2,A'- "Then shall
writes for him ; as there are at least the king say unto them on his right
seven different readings of them. hand. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
Here Venturi has again the indiscre- inherit the kingdom prepared for you
tion to say that Arnaud answers Dante from the foundation of the world."
in "a kind of lingua-franca, part Pro- 70, Dr. Furness's Hymn : —
vengal and part Catalan, joining together " Slowly by God's hand unfurled,
the perfidious French with the vile Down around the weary world
Spanish, perhaps to show that Arnaud Falls the darkness."
was a clever speaker of the two." And 90. Evening of the Third Day of
again Biagioli suppresses him with " that Purgatory. Milton, Farad. Lost, IV.
unbridled beast of a Venturi," and this
" most potent argument of his presump- "' Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray
tuous ignorance and impertinence." Had in her sober livery all things clad :
Silence accompanied ; for beast and bird,
598:-
They to their grassy couch, these to their
nests
CANTO XXVII. Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale ;
She all night long her amorous descant sung ;
Silence was pleased : now glowed the Arma,
1. The description of the Seventh ment
and last Circle continued. With living sapphires : Hesperus, that led
Cowley, Hymn to Light : — The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length,
" Say from what golden quivers of the sky Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light.
Do all thy winged arrows fly ? " And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw."
2. When the sun is rising at Jerusa- 93. The vision which Dante sees is a
lem, it is setting on the Mountain of foreshadowing of Matilda and Beatrice
Purgatory ; it is midnight in Spain, with in the Terrestrial Paradise. In the Old
Libra in the meridian, and noon in Testament Leah is a symbol of the
India.
Active Life, and Rachel of the Contem-
" A great labyrinth of words and plative ;as Martha and Mary are in the
things," says Venturi, "meaning only New Testament, and Matilda and Bea-
that the sun was setting !" and this time trice in the Divine Comedy. " Happy
the " dolce pcdag^ogo" Biagioli lets him is that house," says Saint Bemard, "and
escape without the usual reprimand. blessed is that congregation, where Mar-
8. Matthew v. 8 : '* Blessed are the
tha still complaineth of Mary."
pure in heart, for they shall see God." Dante says in the Convito, IV. 17 ;

O Q
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
440
" Truly it should be known that We can ker (nvn Image. These are the types of
have in this life two felicities, by follow- the Unglorified Active and Contempla-
ing two different and excellent roads, tive powers of Man. But Beatrice and
which lead thereto ; namely, the Active Matilda are the same powers, glorified.
life and the Contemplative." And how are they glorified ? Leah took
And Owen Feltham in his Resolves :— delight in her own labour; but Matilda,
" The mind can walk beyond the sight in Pperibiis mainnim Ttiarnm,—in GoiVs
of the eye, and, though in a cloud, can labour : Rachel, in the sight of her own
lift us into heaven while we live. Medi-
face ; Beatrice, in the sight of God''s
tation is the soul's perspective glass,
whereby, in her long remove, she dis- 112. The morning of the Fourth Day
cemeth God as if he were nearer hand. of Purgatory.
I persuade no man to make it his whole 115. Happiness.
life's business. We have bodies as well
as soids. And even this world, while
we are in it, ought somewhat to be cared "
fact. CANTO XXVIII.
for. As those states are likely to flourish,
where execution follows sound advise- I. The Terrestrial Paradise. Compare
ments, so is man, when contemplation Milton, Farad, Lost, IV. 214: —
is seconded by action. Contemplation
" Ir) this pleasant soil
generates ; action propagates. Without His far more pleasant g,irden God ordained :
the first, the latter is defective. With- Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow
out the last, the first is but abortive and All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste
And all amid them stood the Tree of Life,
embryous. Saint Bernard compares con- High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
templation to Rachel, which was the Of vegetable gold ; and next to Life,
more fair ; but action to Leah, which Our death, the Tree of Knowledge, grew fast by.
was the more fruitful. I will neither Knowledge of good bought dear b^' knowing ill.
Southward through Eden went a river large,
always be busy and doing, nor ever shut Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy
up in nothing but thoughts. Yet that hill
which some would call idleness, I will Passed underneath ingulfed ; for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden mould, high raised
call the sweetest part of my life, and that Upon the rapid current, which through veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst up drawn,
is, my thinking." Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
95. Venus, the morning star, rising
with the constellation Pisces, two hours Watered the garden ; thence united fell
before the sun. Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from his darksome passage now appears ;
100. Ruskin, Moi/. Painters, III. 22 1 : And now, divided into four main streams.
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
" This vision of Rachel and Leah has And country, whereof here needs no account ;
been always, and with unquestionable But rather to tell how, if art could tell,
truth, received as a type of the Active How from that sapphire fount thecrisi)ed brooks,
and Contemplative life, and as an intro- Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold.
duction to the two divisions of the Para- With mazy error under pendent shades
Ran nectar, visiting eacn plant, and fed
dise which Dante is alwut to enter. Flowers worthy of Paradise ; which not nice art
Therefore the unwearied spirit of the In beds and curious knots, but nature bo<m
Countes<; Matilda is understood to re- Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain ;
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
present the Active life, which forms the The open field, and where the unpierced shade
felicity of Earth ; and the spirit of Imbrowned the noontide bowers. Thus was
Beatrice the Contemplative life, which this place
A happy rural seat of various view :
forms the felicity of Heaven. This Groves balm
whose; rich trees wept odorous gums and
interpretation appears at first straight-
forward and certain ; but it has missed Others, whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,
count of exactly the most important fact If true, here only, and of delicious taste.
in the two passages which we have to Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flock*
explain. Observe : Leah gathers the Graiing the tender herb, were interposed ;
flowers to decorate hersrlf, and delights Or palm)r hillock, or the flowery lap
in lur tncn Lal>our. Rachel sits silent, Of some irrieuoiis valley spre.-icl her store ;
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose.
contemplating herself, and delights in Another side, umbrageous grots and caves

n
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine smell of well-cleft cedar, and of frank-
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps incense, that were burning, slied odour
Luxuriant : meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake, through the island : but she within was
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned singing with a beautiful voice, andj
Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. going over the web, wove with a golden 441
The birds their quire apply ; airs, vernal airs.
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune shuttle. But a flourishing wood sprung
The trembling leaves; while universal Pan, up around her grot, alder and poplar,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in tiance.
and sweet-smelling cypress. There also
Led on the eternal spring." birds with spreading wings slept, owls
2. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III. 219 : and hawks, and wide-tongued crows of
" As Homer gave us an ideal landscape, the ocean, to which maritime employ-
which even a god might have been pleased ments are a care. There a vine in its
to behold, so Dante gives us, fortunately, prime was spread about the hollow tjrot,
an ideal landscape, which is specially in- and it flourished with clusters. But four
tended for the terrestrial paradise. And fountains flowed in succession with white
it will doubtless be with some surprise, water, turned near one another, each in
after our reflections above on the general different ways ; but around there flour-
ished soft meadows of violets and of
tone of Dante's feelings, that we find our-
selves here first entering ^forest, and that parsley. There indeed even an immortal
even a thick forest coming would admire it when he beheld,
"This forest, then, is very like that and would be delighted in his mind ;
of Colonos in several respects, — in its there the messenger, the slayer of Argus,
peace and sweetness, and number of
birds ; it differs from it only in letting a standing, And again, admired." at the close of the same
light breeze through it, being therefore book, where Ulysses reaches theshore at
somewhat thinner than the Greek wood ; Phseacia :—
the tender lines which tell of the voices " Then he hastened to the wood ; and
of the birds mingling with the wind, and found it near the water in a conspicuous
of the leaves all turning one way before place, and he came under two shrubs,
it, have been more or less copied by which sprang from the same place ; one
of wild olive, the other of olive. Neither
every poet since Dante's time. They
are, so far as I know, the sweetest pas- the strength of the moistly blowing winds
sage of wood description which exists in breathes through them, nor has the shin-
literature." ing sun ever struck them with its beams,
Homer's ideal landscape, here referred nor has the shower penetrated entirely
to, is in Odyssey V., where he describes through them : so thick were they grown
the visit of Mercury to the Island of entangled with one another ; under which
Calypso. It is thus translated by Buck-
ley:— The wood
Ulysses came." of Colonos is thus described
" Immediately then he bound his in one of the Choruses of the CEdipus
beautiful sandals beneath his feet, am- Colonetts of Sophocles, Oxford rr..
brosial, golden ; which carried him both Anon. :—
over the moist wave, and over the " Thou hast come, O stranger, to the
boundless earth, with the breath of the seats of this land, renowned for the
wind Then he rushed over the steed ; to seats the fairest on earth, the
wave like a bird, a sea-gull, which, chalky Colonus ; where the vocal night-
hunting for fish in the terrible bays of ingale, chief abounding, trills her plain-
the barren sea, dips frequently its wings tive note in the green vales, tenanting
in the brine ; like unto this Mercury rode the dark-hued ivy and the leafy grove
over many waves. But when he came of the god, untrodden [by mortal foot],
to the distant island, then, going from teeming with fruits, impervious to the
the blue sea, he went to the continent ; sun, and unshaken by the winds of ever)-
until he came to the great cave in which storm ; where Bacchus ever roams in
the fair-haired Nymph dwelt ; and he revelry companioning his divine nurses.
found her within. A large fire was burn- And ever day by day the narcissus, with
ing on the hearth, and at a distance the its beauteous clusters, burstu into a 2 bloom
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
44?

by heaven's dew, the ancient coronet Dante's description of the Terrestrial

of the mighty goddesses, and tlie saffron Paradise will hardly fail to recall that of
with golden ray ; nor do the sleepless M ount Acidale in Spenser's Faerie Queette,
founts that feed the channels of Cephissus VI. X. 6 :—
fail, but ever, each day, it rushes o'er "It was an Hill plaste in an open plaine,
That round about was bordered with a wood
the plains with its stainless wave, ferti-
lizing the bosom of the earth ; nor have Of matchlesse
to disdainehight,
; that seemed th' earth
the choirs of the Muses spurned this In which all trees of honour stately stood.
clime ; nor Venus, too, of the golden And did all winter as in sommer bud,
rein. And there is a tree, such as I hear Spredding pavilions for the birds to bowre.
not to have ever sprung in the land of Which in their lower braunches sun^ aloud ;
And in their tops the soring hauke did towre,
Asia, nor in the mighty Doric island Sitting like king of fowles in maiesty and powre.
of Pelops, a tree unplanted by hand, of
" And at the foote thereof a gentle flud
spontaneous growth, terror of the hostile His silver waves did softly tumble downe,
spear, which flourishes chiefly in this Unmard with ragged mosse or filthy mud ;
clowne,
Ne mote wylde beastes, ne mote the ruder
region, the leaf of the azure olive that
nourishes our young. This shall neither Thereto approch ; ne filth mote therein
any one in youth nor in old age, mark- drowne :
ing for destruction, and having laid it But Nymphes and Faeries by the bancks
did sit
waste with his hand, set its divinity at In thecrowne,
woods shade which did the waters
paught ; for the eye that never closes of
Morian Jove regards it, and the blue- Keeping all noysome things away from it.
And to the waters fall tuning their accents fit.
eyed Minerva."
We have also Homer's description of " And on the top thereof a spacious plaine
faine.itselfe, to serve to all delight,
Did spred
the Garden of Alcinoiis, Odyssey, VII., Either to daunce, when they to daunce would
Uuckley's Tr. :—
" But without the hall there is a large Or else to course-about their bases light ;
garden, near the gates, of four acres ; Ne ought there wanted, which for pleasure
might
but around it a hedge was extended on Desired be, or thence to banish bale :
both sides. And there tall, flourishing So pleasauntly the Hill with uquall hight
trees grew, pears, and pomegranates, and Did seeme to overlooke the lowly vale ;
TTierefore it rightly cleeped was Mount
apple-trees producing beautiful fruit, and
sweet figs, and flourishing olives. Of
these the fruit never perishes, nor does it See alsoAcidale."
Tasso's Garden of Armida, in
fail in winter or summer, lasting through- the Gei-usalemme, XVI.
out the whole year ; but the west wind 20. Chiassi is on the sea-shore near
ever blowing makes some bud forth, and Ravenna. " Here grows a spacious pine
ripens others. Pear grows old after pear, forest," says Covino, Descr. Geof^., p. 39,
apple after apple, grape also after grape, " which stretches along the sea between
and fig after ng. There a fruitful vine- Ravenna and Cervia."
yard was planted : one part of this 25. The river Lethe.
ground, exposed to the sun in a wide 40. This lady, who represents the
place, is dried by the sun ; and some Active life to Dante's waking eyes, as
(grapes] they are gathering, and others Leah had done in his vision, and whom
tney are treading, and further on are Dante afterwards, Canto XXXIII. 119,
calls Matilda, is generally supposed by
Mnri|)e grapes,
:lower, and having
others thrown changing
are slightly off" the the commentators to be the celebrated
colour. And there are all kinds of beds Countess Matilda, daughter of Boniface,
laid out in order, to the furthest part of Count of Tuscany, and wife of Guelf, of
the ground, flourishing throughout the the house of Suabia. Of this marriage
whole year : and in it are two fountain.s, Villani, IV. 21, gives a very strange
one is spread through the whole garden, account, which, if true, is a singular pic-
but the other on the other side goes under ture of the times. Napier, Flor. Hist.,
the threshold of the hall to the lofty I. Ch. 4 and 6, gives these glimpses of
house, from whence the citizens are wont the Countess : —
tu draw water." "This heroine died in 1 1 15, after a
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 443

reign of active exertion for herself and Baroncione, and in her sixty-ninth year,
the Church against the Emperors, which this celebrated woman breathed her last,
generated the infant and as yet nameless after a long and glorious reign of inces-
factions of Guelf and Ghibelline. Matilda sant activity, during which she displayed
endured this contest with all the enthu- a wisdom, vigour, and determination of
siasm and constancy of a woman, com- character rarely seen even in men. She
bined with a manly courage that must bequeathed to the Church all those patri-
ever render her name respectable, whe- monial estates of which she had previ-
ther proceeding from the bigoti-y of the ously disposed by an act of gift to
age, or to oppose imperial ambition in Gregory the Seventh, without, however,
defence of her own defective title. Ac- any immediate royal power over the
cording to the laws of that time, she cities and other possessions thus given,
could not as a female inherit her father's as her will expresses it, ' for the good of
states, for even male heirs required a
her soul, and the souls of her parents.'
royal confirmation. Matilda therefore, "Whatever may now be thought of
having no legal right, feared the Emperor her chivalrous support, her bold defence,
and clung to the Popes, who already and her deep devotion to the Church, it
claimed, among other prerogatives, the was in perfect harmony with the spirit
supreme disposal of kingdoms of that age, and has formed one of her
" The Church had ever come forward chief merits with many even in the pre-
as the friend of her house, and from sent. Her unflinching adherence to the
childhood she had breathed an atmo- cause she had so conscientiously embraced
sphere of blind and devoted submission was far more noble than the Emperor
to its authority ; even when only fifteen
Henry's conduct. Swinging between the
she had appeared in arms against its extremes of unmeasured insolence and
enemies, and made two successful expedi- abject humiliation, he died a victim to
tions to assist Pope Alexander the Second Papal influence over superstitious minds ;
during her mother's lifetime. an influence which, amongst other debas-
" No wonder, then, that in a super- ing lessons, then taught the world that a
stitious age, when monarchs trembled at breach of the most sacred ties and dearest
an angry voice from the Lateran, the affections of human nature was one means
habits of early youth should have mingled of gaining the approbation of a Being
with every action of Matilda's life, and who is all truth and beneficence.
spread an agreeable mirage over the " Matilda's object was to strengthen
prospect of her eternal salvation : the the chief spiritual against the chief tem-
power that tamed a Henry's pride, a poral power, but reserving her own
Barbarossa's fierceness, and afterwards independence ; a policy subsequently
withstood the vast ability of a Frederic,
pursued, at least in spirit, by the Guel-
might without shame have been rever- phic states of Italy. She therefore pro-
enced by a girl whose feelings so har- tected subordinate members of the
monized with the sacred strains of ancient
Church against feudal chieftains, and its
tradition and priestly dignity. But from head against the feudal Emperor. True
whatever motive, the result was a con- to her religious and warlike character,
tinual aggrandizement of ecclesiastics ; she died between the sword and the
in prosperity and adversity ; during life crucifix, and two of her last acts, even
and after death ; from the lowliest priest when the hand of death was already cold
to the proudest pontiff. on her brow, were the chastisement of
"The fearless assertion of her own revolted Mantua, and the midnight cele-
independence by successful struggles with
bration of Christ's nativity in the depth
the Emperor was an example not over- of a freezing and unusually inclement
looked bythe young Italian communities
under Matilda's rule, who were already
accused by imp>erial legitimacy of poli- winter." 50. Ovid, Met. V., Maynwaring's
tical innovation and visionary notions of
:— maids.
Tr." Here, while young Proserpine, among the
government
"Being then at a place caDed Monte Diverts herself in these delicious shades :
444 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

While like a child with busy speed and care Like gamesome
dead ; boys over the churchyard
She gathers lilies here, and violets there ;
While first lo fill her little lap she strives, The light in vain keeps looking for his face, '
Hell's grizzly monarch at the shade arrives ; Now screaming sea-fowl settle in his place."
Sees her thus sporting on the flowery green.
And loves the blooming maid, as soon as seen. 80. Psalm xcii. 4: " For thou. Lord,
His urgent flame impatient of delay. hast made me glad through thy work :
Swift as his thought he seized the beauteous [ will triumph iu the works of thy
prey.
And bore her m his sooty car away.
TTie frighted goddess to her mother cries, 87. Canto XXI. 46 :—
But all inbehind
vain, her
for now hands."
Far she leavesfarheroff"virgin
she flies.
train ; " Because that neither rain, nor hail, nor snow,
To them too cries, and cries to them in vain. Nor dew, nor hoar-frost any higher falls
And while with passion she repeats her call, Than the short, little stairway of three step.s."
The violets from her lap, and lilies fall :
She misses 94. Only six hours, according to
moanthem,
; poor heart ! and makes new
Adam's own account in Par., XXI.
Her lilies, ah ! are lost, her violets gone."
65. Ovid, Met. X., Eu.sclen's Tr. :— " Rises
Upon was
the mount
I, with which
life or highest
pure or o'er the wave
sinful.
139:—
From the first hour to that which is the second.
He " For CytherSa's
with lips while
a heedless arrow razedCupid prest,
her breast.
The goddess felt it, and, with fury stung, As the sun changes quadrant, to the sixth."
The wanton mischief from her bosom flung : 102. Above the gate described in
Yet thought at first the danger slight, but Canto IX.
found
The dart too faithful, and too deep the wound. 146. Virgil and Statins smile at this
Fired with a mortal beauty, she disdains allusion to the dreams of poets.
To haunt th' Idalian mount, or Phrygian plains.
She seeks not Cnidos, nor her Paphian shrines,
Nor Amathus, that teems with brazen mines :
Even Heaven itself with all its sweets unsought, CANTO XXIX.
Adonis far a sweeter Heaven is thought."
I. The Terrestrial Paradise and the
72. When Xerxes invaded Greece he
Apocalyptic Procession of the Church
crossed the Hellespont on a bridge of Triumphant.
boats with an army of five million. So
say the historians. On his return he 3. Psalm xxxii. i : •' Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose
crossed it in a fishing-boat almost alone,
— "a warning to all human arrogance." sin 10. is covered."
Counted together, their steps were
Leander naturally hated the Helles- not a hundred in all.
pont, having to swim it so many times.
41. The Muse of Astronomy, or things
The last time, according to Thomas
celestial, represented as crowned with
Hood, he met with a sea nymph, who, stars and robed in azure. Milton, Parad.
enamoured of his beauty, carried him
to the bottom of the sea. See Hero and Lost, VII. I, makes the same invoca-
Leander, stanza 45 :— tion—:
" Descend
name from heaven, Urania, by that
" His eyes are blinded with the .sleety brine,
HLs ears
noise are; deafened with the wildering If rightly thou art called, whose voice divine
Following, above the Olympian hill I soar.
He asks the purpose of her fell design, Above the flight of Pega.sean wine.
But foamy
voice, waves choke up his struggling The meaning, not the name, 1 call : for thou
Nor of the Muses nine, nor on the top
Under the ponderous sea his body dips.
Of old Olympus dwell'st ; but, heavenly-bom.
And Hero's name dies bubbling on his lips. Before the hills appeared, or fountain flowed.
Thou with Eternal Wisdom didst converse,
" Look how a man is lowered to his grave, Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
A yearning hollow in the green earth's lap ; In presence of the Almighty Father, pleased
So he is sunk into the yawning wave.
The plunging sea fills up the watery gap;
Anon he is all gone, and nothing seen. With thy celestial song.'"
But likeness ofgrecn turf and hillucks green. 47. The general form which objects
may have in common, and by which
" And where he swam, the constant sun lie* they resemble each other.
sleeping.
Over the verdant plain that makes his bed ; 49. The faculty which lends discourse
And all the noisy waves go freshly leaping, to reason is apprehension, or the faculty
 NOTES TO PURGA7VRT0. 445

by which things are first conceived. See 2. St. Mark has the LlON, because he
Canto XVIII. 22 :- has set forth the royal dignity of Christ ;
or, according to others, because he begins
" Your apprehension from some real thing with the mission of the Baptist, — "■ tht
An image draws, and in yourselves dis-
plays it, voice of one crying in the wilderness, '—
So that it makes the soul turn unto it." which is figured by the lion : or, accord-
ing to a third interpretation, the lion was
50. Revelation i. 12, 20 : " And I allotted to St. Mark because there was,
turned to see the voice that spake with in the Middle Ages, a popular belief
me. And, being turned, I saw seven that the young of the lion was born dead,
golden candlesticks And the and after three days was awakened to
seven candlesticks are the seven vitality by the breath of its sire ; some
churches." authors, however, represent the lion as
Some commentators interpret them as vivifying his young, not by his breath,
the seven Sacraments of the Church ; but by his roar. In either case the ap-
others, as the seven gifts of the Holy plication isthe same ; the revival of the
Ghost. young lion was considered as symbolical
78. Delia or Diana, the moon ; and of the resurrection, and Mark was com-
her girdle, the halo, sometimes seen monly called the ' historian of the resur-
around it. rection. 'Another commentator observes
83. Revelation iv. 4 : " And round that Mark begins his Gospel with ' roar-
about the throne were four and twenty ing,'— ' the voice of one crying in the
seats : and upon the seats I saw four and wilderness ; ' and ends it fearfully with
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white a curse, — ' He that believeth not shall
raiment ; and they had on their heads be damned ; ' and that, therefore, his
crowns of gold." appropriate attribute is the most terrible
These four and twenty elders are sup- of beasts, the lion. 3. Luke has the
posed to symbolize here the four and O.K, because he has dwelt on the priest-
twenty books of the Old Testament. hood of Christ, the ox being the emblem
The crown of lilies indicates the purity of sacrifice. 4. John has the Eagle,
of faith and doctrine. which is the symbol ot the highest in-
85. The salutation of the angel to the spiration, because he soared upwards to
Virgin Mary. Luke\. 28: "Blessed art the contemplation of the divine nature of
thoumade
are amongto referwomen." Here the words
to Beatrice. the Saviour."
100. Ezekiel i. 4 : " And I looked,
92. The four Evangelists, of whom and behold, a whirlwind came out of the
the four mysterious animals in Ezekiel north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding
are regarded as symbols. Mrs. Jameson, itself, and a brightness was about it, and
Sacred and Legendary Art, I. 99 :— out of the midst thereof, as the colour of
amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also
" The general application of the Four
Creatures to the Four Evangelists is of out of the midst thereof came the like-
much earlier date than the separate and ness of four living creatures. And this
individual application of each symbol, was their appearance; they had the like-
which has varied at different times ; that ness of a man. And every one had four
propounded by St. Jerome, in his com- faces, and every one had four wings.
mentary on Ezekiel, has since his time And their feet were straight feet ; and
prevailed universally. Thus, then, — i. the sole of their feet was like the sole of
To St. Matthew was given the Cherub, a calf's foot ; and they sparkled like the
or human semblance, because he begins colour of burnished brass. "
his Gospel with the human generation of 105. In Revelation iv. 8, they are
Christ ; or, according to others, because described as having "each of them six
in his Gospel the human nature of the wings ;" in Ezekiel, as having only four.
Saviour is more insisted on than the 107. The triumphal chariot is the
divine. In the most ancient mosaics, Church. The two wheels are generally
the type is human, not angelic, for the interpreted as meaning the Old and New
head is that of a man with a beard. Testaments ; but Dante, Par. XII. 106,
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
446
speaks of them as St. Dominic and St. That what he acts he is compelled to do.
Francis. Or universal ruin must ensue.
Straight he ascends the high ethereal throne.
io8. The Griffin, half lion and half From whence he used to dart his thunder down,
eagle, is explained by all the commen- From whence his showers and storms he used to
tators as a symbol of Christ, in his di- But now pour,
could meet with neither storm nor
vine and human nature. Didron, in shower ;
his Chi-istian Iconography., interprets it Then, aiming at the youth, with lifted hand,
Full at his head he hurled the forky brand.
differently. He says, Millington's Tr.,
I. 458 :- In dreadful thund'rings. Thus th' almighty sire
Suppressed the raging of the fires with fire.
"The mystical bird of two colours is
understood in the manuscript of Herrade See also Inf. XVII. Note 107.
to mean the Church ; in Dante, the bi- 121. The three Theological or Evan-
fornied bird is the representative of the gelical Virtues, Charity, Hope, and
Church, the Pope. The Pope, in fact, Faith. For the symbolism of colours in
is both priest and king ; he directs the Art, see Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and
souls and governs the persons of men ; Legendary
28. Art, QuoiedCanio VIII. Note
he reigns over things in heaven. The
Pope, then, is but one single person in 130. The four Cardinal Virtues,
two natures, and under two forms ; he Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, and Tem-
is both eagle and lion. In his character perance. They are clothed in purple
of Pontiff, or as an eagle, he hovers in to mark their nobility. Prudence is re-
the heavens, and ascends even to the presented with three eyes, as looking at
throne of God to receive his commands ; the past, the present, and the future.
as the lion or king he walks upon the 133. St. Luke and St. Paul.
earth in strength and power." 136. St. Luke is supposed to have
He adds in a note : " Some commen- been a physician ; a belief founded 0:1
tators ofDante have supposed the griffin Colossians iv. 14, " Luke, the beloved
to be the emblem of Christ, who, in physician." The is animal that nature
fact, is one single person with two holds most dear man.
natures ; of Christ, in whom God and 140. The sword with which St. Paul
man are combined. But in this they is armed is a symbol of warfare and
are mistaken ; there is, in the first place, martyrdom; " I bring not peace, but a
a manifest impropriety in describing sword." St. Luke's office was to heal ;
the car as drawn by God as by a beast St. Paul's to destroy. Mrs. Jameson,
of burden. It is very doubtful even Sacred and Legendaty Art, I. 188,
whether Dante can be altogether freed
from the imputation of a want of re- "At what period the sword was given
says
to St.:— Paul as his distinctive attribute is
verence in harnessing the Pope to the
car of the Church." with antiquaries a disputed point ; cer-
1 10. The wings of the Griffin extend tainly much later than the keys were
upward between the middle list or trail given to Peter. If we could be sure that
of splendour of the seven candles and the the mosaic on the tomb of Otho the
three outer ones on each side. Second, and another mosaic already
117. The chariot of the sun, which described, had not been altered in suc-
Pliaclon had leave to drive for a day, is cessive restorations, these would be
thus described by Ovid, Met. II., Addi- evidence that the sword was given to
son's Tr. :— St. Paul as his attribute as early as the
"A rnlden axle did the work uphold. sixth century ; but there are no monu-
Gold was the beam, the wheels were orbed ments which can be absolutely trusted
with gold.
Tlie spokes in rows of silver pleased the sight,
as regards the introduction of the sword
The Beat with party-coloured gems was bright ; before the end of the eleventh century ;
Apollo shincd amid the glare of light." since the end of the fourteenth century
120. In smiting Phaeton with a it has been so generally adopted, that in
thunderiwll. Ovid, Met. H. :— the devotional effigies I can remember
no instance in which it is omitted. When
" Jove called to witness every power above,
And even the god wliusc son the chariot drove. St. Paul is leaning on the sword, it ex<

M
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

presses his martyrdom ; when he holds vellous processions ever marshalled on

it aloft, it expresses also his warfare in paper. In the invention, arrangement,
the cause of Christ : when two swords grouping, and colouring the poet has
are given to him, one is the attribute, shown himself a great master in art,
the other the emblem ; but this double familiar with all the stately requirements
allusion does not occur in any of the of solemn shows, festivals, and triumphs.
older representations. In Italy I never
met with St. Paul bearing two swords,
Whatever he may have gathered from the
sacred records, and from classic writers, m-
and the only instance I can call to mind or seen in early mosaics, or witnessed in
is the bronze statue by Peter Vischer, the streets of Florence with her joyoi:;;
on the shrine of St. Sebald, at Nurem- population, her May-day dancers, and
the military pomp of her magnificent
berg."
142, The four Apostles James, Peter, Carroccio, like the ark of the covenant
John, and Jude, writers of the Canonical going forth with the host, has here been
Epistles. The red flowers, with which sui"passed in invention and erudition, and
their foreheads seem all aflame, are sym- a picture produced at once as original as
bols of martyrdom. Massinger, Virgin it is impressive, as significant as it is
Martyr, V. i :— grand. Petrarca was, probably, indebted
' ' What flowers are these ? to it for
favour withhisItalian
'Trionfi,'
artists.so frequently in
In Dioclesian's gardens, the most beauteous
Compared with these are weeds." " This canto with the four that follow
form a poem which, though an essential
143. St. John, writer of the Apoca- portion of the Divina Commedia, may
lypsehere
; represented as asleep ; as if be separately considered as the continua-
he were "in the spirit on the Lord's tion of the poetic vision mentioned in the
day, and heard behind him a great voice Vita Nuova, and the fulfilment of the
as of a trumpet." Or perhaps the allu- intention there expressed.
sion may be to the belief of the early " It represents the symbolical passage
Christians that John did not die, but of the Christian Church, preceded by the
was sleeping till the second coming of Hebrew dispensation, and followed by
Christ. This subject has been repre- the disastrous effects of schism, and the
sented in mediaeval Art as follows.
comiptions induced by the unholy con-
Mre. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary duct of political Pontiffs. The soul of
Art, I. 139: — this solemn exhibition, the living and
"St. John, habited in priest's gar- glorified principle of the beatitude which
ments, descends the steps of an altar into Religion pure and holy confers upon
an open grave, in which he lays himself those who embrace it, is personified in
down, not in death, but in sleep, until the 'Donna,' to whom Dante from his
the coming of Christ; 'being reserved earliest youth had been more or less de-
alive with Enoch and Elijah (who also voted, the Beatrice of the Vita Nuova,
knew not death), to preach against the ' Loda di Dio vera,' who concentrates in
herself the divine wisdom with which the
Antichrist in the last days.' This fanci-
ful legend is founded on the following Church is inspired, whom angels delight
text : ' Peter, seeing the disciple whom to honour, and whose advent on earth
Jesus loved following, saith unto Jesus, had been prepared from all eternity by
Lord, and what shall this man do ? Jesus the moral virtues.
saith unto him. If I will that he tarry till " Beatrice is here presented as the
I come, what is that to thee ? Then went principle of divine beatitude, or that
this saying abroad among the brethren which confers it, and bears a resem-
that that disciple should not die.' (John blance to the figure of the New Jerusa-
xxi. 21, 22,)" lem seen by St, John descending from
154. Of this canto and those that fol- heaven ' as a bride adorned for her hus-
low, Dr. Barlow, Study of the Div. Com., band '(Rev. xxi. 2); a representation of
p. 270, says: — which, in the manner of Raphael, occurs
" Dante's sublime pageant of the in one of the tapestries of the Vatican,
Church Militant is one of the most mar- and, though not arrayed in the colouxs
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
448
of the Christian virtues, Faith, Hope, window, forty-six angels are represented
and Charity, white and green and red, with long golden hair, white transparent
as was Beatrice, may yet be regarded as robes, and wings of yellow, red, violet,
a Roman version of her." and green ; they are all painted on a
Didron, describing the painting of the background of azuie, like the sky, and
Triumph of Christ in the Church of celebrate with blended voices, or with
Notre Dame de Brou, Christian Icono- musical instruments, the glory of Christ.
Some have in their hands instruments ol
graphy, Millington's Tr., I. 315, says: —
" In the centre of all rises the Hero of different forms, others books of music.
the Triumph, Jesus Christ, who is seated The four animals of the Evangelists seem
in an open car with four wheels. He with sonorous voice to swell the accla-
alone is adorned with a nimbus formed mations of the hosts of saints ; the ox
of rays, departing from each point of the with his bellowing, the lion with his roar,
head, and which illumines everything the eagle with his cry, and the angel with
around. With one glance he embraces his song, accompany the songs of the
the past which precedes, and the future forty-six angels who fill the upper part
which is to succeed him. His face re- of the window. At the head of the pro-
sembles that drawn by Raphael and the cession isan angel who leads the entire
masters of the period of Renaissance, company, and, with a little cross which
agreeing with the description given by he holds in his hand, points out to all the
Lentulus and Damascenus; it is serious Paradise they are to enter. Finally,
and gentle. In the centre of the chariot twelve other angels, blue as the heaven
is placed a starry globe traversed by the into which they melt, join in adoration
ecliptic, on which the twelve signs of the before the triumph of Christ
zodiac are brilliantly figured. This globe " Dante has given a description of a
is symbolic of the world, and forms a similar triumph, but marked by some in-
throne for Christ: the Son of God is teresting differences. The Florentine
seated on its summit. The car is placed poet formed his cortege of figures taken
upon four wheels, and drawn by the four from the Apo.alypse and Christian sym-
attributes or symbols of the Evangelists. bolism. At Brou, with the exception of
The angel of St. Matthew, and the eagle the attributes of the Evangelists, every-
of St. John, are of celestial whiteness; thing ishistorical. In the sixteenth cen-
the lion of St. Mark, and the ox of St. tury, in fact, history began to predomi-
Luke, are of a reddish yellow, symboliz- nate over symbolism, which in the thir-
ing the earth on which they dwell. The teenth and fourteenth centuries had
eagle and angel do, in fact, fly ; while reigned supreme. Dante, who was a
the lion and the ox walk. Yet upon the politic poet, drew the triumph, not of
painted window all the four have wings. Christ, but of the Church ; the triumph
A rein of silver, passing round the neck of Catholicism rather than of Chris-
of each of the four symbols, is attached tianity. The chariot by which he repre-
to the pole of the chariot. The Church, sents the Church is widowed of Christ,
represented by the four most elevated whose figure is so important on the win-
religious potentates, by the Pojie, the dow of Brou ; the chariot is empty, andi
Cardinal, the Archbishop, and Bishop, Dante neither discovered this deficiency,
or by the four chief Fathers, St. Gregory, nor was concemed to rectify it ; for he
.St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and St. Augus- was less anxious to celebrate Christ and
tine, drives the four-wheeled car, and, in his doctrine, for their own sake, than asi
conjunction with the Evangelists, urges connected with the organization and.
it onward. Jesus guides nis triumph, administration of the Church. Hei
not holding reins, but shedding blessings described the car as drawn by & '
from his right hand wherever he passes. griffin, thereby representing the Pope, .
" The entire assemblage of persons for the griffin unites in itself the charac-
represente<l on the window are seen teristics of both eagle and lion. Now
marching onwards, singing with joy. the Pope is also twofold in character; as
Within the spaces formed by the mul- priest he is the eagle floating in tiie air;
lions which trellis the upper part of the as king, he is a lion, walking upon the
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO. 449

earth. The Ultramontane poet regarded with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with
the Church, that is the Papacy, in the me from Lebanon."
light of an absolute monarchy; not a 17. At the voice of so venerable an
limited monarchy as with us, and still old man.
less a republic, as amongst the schisma- 19. The cry of the multitude at
tics of Greece and of the East. Conse- Christ's entry into Jerusalem. Matthew
quently, while, at Brou, the Cardinal, xxi. 9: "Blessed is he that cometh in
the Archbishop, and Bishop assist the the name of the Lord."
Pope in guiding the car of the Church, 21. jEndd, VI. 833: "Give me
in the ' Divina Commedia,' the Pope is lilies in handfuls ; let me scatter purple
alone, and accepts of no assistance from
the other great ecclesiastical dignitaries. 25. Milton,
flowers. " Parad. Lost, I. 194: —
At Brou the car is guided by the Evan- " As when the sun new-risen
gelists, orby their attributes ; ecclesiasti- Shines through the horizontal misty air
cal power is content merely to lend its Shorn of his beams."
aid. According to the Italian poet, the 32. It will be observ'ed that Dante
Evangelists, although present at the Iri- makes Beatrice appear clothed in the
umph, do not conduct it; the Pope is colours of the three Theological Virtues
himself the sole guide of the Church, and described in Canto XXIX. 121. The
permits neither the Evangelists to direct white veil is the symbol of Faith ; the green
nor ecclesiastics to assist him. The Pope mantle, of Hope ; the red tunic, of Charity.
seems to require no assistance ; his eye The crown of olive denotes wisdom.
and arm alone are sufficient for him." This attire somewhat resembles that given
by artists to the Vii^n. " The proper
CANTO XXX. dress of the Virgin," says Mrs. Jameson,
Legends of the Madonna, Introd., liii.,
I. In this canto Beatrice appears. " is a close, red tunic, with long sleeves,
and over this a blue robe or mantle. . . .
The Seven Stars, or Septentrion of the
highest heaven, are the seven lights that Her head ought to be veiled."
lead the procession, the seven gifts of the 35. Beatrice had been dead ten years
at the date of the poem, 1300.
Holy Ghost, by which all men are guided
safely in things spiritual, as the mariner 36. Fully to imderstand and feel what
is by the Septentrion, or Seven Stars of is expressed in this line, the reader must
the Ursa Minor, two of which are called call to mind all that Dante says in the
Vita Nuova of his meetings with Bea-
the "Wardens of the Pole," and one of trice, and particularly the first, which is
which is the Cynosure, or Pole Star.
thus rendered by Mr. Norton in his Nrw
These lights precede the triumphal cha-
riot, as in our heaven the Ursa Minor Life of Dante, p. 20 :—
precedes, or is nearer the centre of rest, " Nine times now, since my birth, the
heaven of light had turned almost to the
than the Ursa Major or Charles's Wain. same point in its gyration, when first ap-
In the Northern Mythology the God
peared before my eyes the glorious lady
Thor is represented as holding these con- of my mind, who was called Beatrice by
stel ations inhis hand. The old Swedish
Rhyme Chronicle, describing the statues many who did not know why they thus
called her. She had now been in this
in the church of Upsala, says: —
life so long, that in its course the starry
" The God Thor was the highest of them ; heaven had moved toward the east one
He sat naked as a child,
of the twelfth parts of a degree ; so that
Seven stars in his hand and Charles's Wain'."
about the beginning of her ninth year she
Spenser, Faerie Queetie, I. IL I: — appeared to me, and I near the end of
my ninth year saw her. She appeared
" His
By this the northern
sevenfold wagoner
teme behind the had set starre
steadfast to me clothed in a most noble colour, a
That was in ocean waves yet never wet. becoming and motiest crimson, and she
But firme is ftxt, and sendeth light from farre
was girt and adorned in the style that
To all that in the wide deep wandering arre." became her extreme youth. At that
II. Song of Solomon iv. 8: "Come instant, I say truly, the spirit of life,
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
450
which dvvells in the most secret chamber
85. ^neid, VL 180: " Dovra drop
of the heart, began to tremble with such the firs ; crashes, by axes felled, the
violence, that it appeared fearfully in the ilex ; and the ashen rafters and the
least pulses, and, trembling, said these yielding oaks are cleft by wedges."
words : Kcce deus fortior me, qui veniens And IX. 87: "A wood .... dark
doininabitiir miki ! 'Behold a god, with gloomy firs, and rafters of the
stronger than I, who, coming, shall rule
Denistoun, Mem. of the Duke of Ur-
me" !At ' biito, \. "4, says: "On the summit grew
that instant, the spirit of the
soul, which dwells in the high chamber those
maple.magnificent pines, which gave to
to which all the spirits of the senses the district of Massa the epithet of
bring their perceptions, began to marvel Trabaria, from the beams which were
greatly, and, addressing the spirits of carried thence for the palaces of Rome,
the sight, said these words : Apparuit and which are noticed by Dante as
' The living rafters
jam beatitudo vestra, — ' Now hath ap-
Upon the back of Italy.
peared your bliss.' At that instant the
natural spirit, which dwells in that part
where the nourishment is supplied, 87. Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, IV.
began to weep, and, weeping, said ' ' The fanned snow
these words : Heu miser I quia fre- That's bolted by the northern blast twice o'er."
quenter imped it us ero deinceps, — 'Woe
is me wretched ! because frequently And Midsummer Night's Dream : —
henceforth shall I be hindered.' " High Taurus' snow
" From this time forward 1 say that Fanned with the eastern wind."
Love lorded it over my soul, which had XI 3. :Which are formed in such lofty
lieen thus quickly put at his disposal ; 3 —
regions, that they are beyond human
and he began lo exercise over me such conception.
control and such lordship, through the 125. Beatrice died in 1290, at the age
power which my imagination gave to
him, that it behoved me to perform of twenty-five. '
136. How far these self-accusations of
completely all his pleasure. He com- Dante were justified by facts, and how
manded me many times that I should far they may be regarded as expressions
seek to see this youthful angel, so that of a sensitive and excited conscience, we
I in my boyhood often went seeking her, have no means of determining. It is
and saw her of such noble and praise- doubtless but simple justice to apply to
worthy deportment, that truly of her him the words which he applies to
might be said that saying of the poet
Virgil, Canto III. 8:—
Homet : ' She does not seem the daugh- " O noble conscience, and without a stain,
ter of mortal man, but of God.' And
though her image, which stayed con- How sharp a sting is trivial fault to thee !"
This should be borne in mind when
stantly with me, mspired confidence in
Love to hold lordship over me, yet it we read what Dante says of his own
was of such noble virtue, that it never shortcomings; as, for instance, in his
suffered that Love should rule without conversation with his brother-in-law
• jc faithful counsel of Reason in those Forese, Canto XXIII. 115:—
r.ialters in which such counsel could be " If thou bring back to mind
What thou with me hast liccn and I with thee, ,
.iseful. " The present memory will be grievous stilL" j
48. Dante here translates Virgil's own
words, as lie lias done so many times • But what shall we say of this sonnet j
before. /Eiieid, IV. 23 : Agnosco addressed to Dante by his intimate i
veteris vestigia flatnmiB. friend, Guido Cavalcanti ? Rossetti,
52. The Terrestrial Paradise lost by Early Italian Poets, p. 358 : —
Eve. " I come to thee by daytime constantly,
83. Psalm xxxi. I, 8: "In thee, O But in thy thoughts too much of bajCBeM
find:
Lor.l, have I put my tnist Greatly it Brieves me for thy gentle mind,
Thou hast set my feet in a large room." And for thy many virtues gone from thee.
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

It was thy wont to shun much company, A risk incur that it may cost my life ;
Unto all sorry concourse ill inclined : For I received a wound so deep and wide
And kind.
still thy speech of me, heartfelt and From one I saw entrenched within her eyes.
That still I weep, nor peace I since have
Had made me treasure up thy poetry.
But now I dare not, for thine abject life.
Make manifest that I approve thy rhymes : Others think the allusion is general.
known. " 45*
Nor know.
come I in such sort that thou may'st The Ottimo says: "Neither that young
woman, whom in his Rime he called
Ah ! prythee read this sonnet many times :
So shall that evil one who bred this strife Pargoletta, nor that Lisetta, nor that
Be thrust from thy dishonoured soul, and other mountain maiden, nor this one,
nor that other." He might have added
the lady of Bologna, of whom Dante
go."
CANTO XXXI. sings in one of his "sonnets:
And I may— say
1. In this canto Dante, having made That in an evil hour I saw Bologna,
confession of his sins, is drawn by Ma- And that fair lady whom I looked upon."
tilda through the river Lethe. Buti gives a different interpretation of
2. Hitherto Beatrice has directed her the word pargoletta, making it the same
discourse to her attendant hand -maidens
around the chariot. Now she speaks 2lS, pargultd, ox pargolezza, "childishness
directly to Dante. or indiscretion of youth. "
In all this unnecessary confusion one
25. As in a castle or fortress. thing is quite evident. As Beatrice is
30. As one fascinated and enamoured speaking of the past, she could not
with them.
possibly allude to Gentucca, who is
42. The sword of justice is dulled by spoken of as one who would make
the wheel being turned against its edge. Lucca pleasant to Dante at some future
This is the usual interpretation ; but a
friend suggests that the allusion may be time: —
to the wheel of St. Catherine, which is '"A maid is bom, and wears not yet the veil,'
Began he, ' who to thee shall pleasant make
studded with sword-blades.
My city, howsoever men may blame it.'"
46. The grief which is the cause of Upon the whole, the interpretation
your weeping. of the Ottimo is the most satisfactory,
59. There is a good deal of gossiping or at all events the least open to objec-
among the commentators about this little tion.
girl or PargoUtta. Some suppose it to
be the same as the Gentucca of Canto 63. Proverbs i. 17: "Surely in vain
the net is spread in the sight of any
XXIV. 37, and the Pargoletta of one of
the poems in the Canzoniere, which in 72. larbas, king of Gaetulia, from
Mr. Lyell's translation rans as follows : — whom Dido bought the land for building
Carthage.
bird."
" Ladies, behold a maiden fair, and young ;
To you I come heaven's beauty to display, 77. The angels described in Canto
And manifest the place from whence I am. XXX. 20, as
In heaven I dwelt, and thither shall return,
Joy to impart to angels with my light. " Scattering flowers above and round about."
He who shall me behold nor be enamoured.
Of Love shall never comprehend the charm ; 92. Matilda, described in Canto
For every pleasing gift was freely given. XXVIIL 40:-
When Nature sought the grant of me from
him " A lady all alone, who went along
Who willed that your companion I should be. Singing and culling floweret after floweret.
Elach star upon my eyes its influence sheds, With which her pathway was all painted
And with its light and virtue I am blest :
Beauties are mine the world hath never seen.
For I obtained them in the realms abo\ e ; 95. Bunyan, Pilgrim^s Progress, the
And ever must their essence rest unknown. river without a bridge : -
Unless through consciousness of him in ' ' Nowover."
I further saw that betwixt
whom
them and the gate was a river ; but there
Love shall abide through pleasure of another. was no bridge to go over : the river was
These words a youthful angel bore inscribed
Upon her brow, whose vision we beheld ; very deep. At the sight therefore of
And I, who to find safety gazed on her, this river, the pilgrims were much
 NOTES TO PUKGATOKIO.
452
stunned ; but the men that went with against phantoms and demons ; calm;
them said, ' You must go through, or tempests ; stanches blood, and is useful
you cannot come at the gate.' .... to The
soothsayers."
" They then addressed themselves to beauty of green eyes, ojuelos
the water, and, entering, Christian began verdes, is extolled by Spanish poets ;
to sink, and crying out to his good friend and is not left unsung by poets of otlier
Hopeful, he said, 'I sink in deep waters ; countries. Lycophron in his " tenebrous
the billows go over my head, all his poem " of Cassandra, says of Achilles :—
waves go over me. Selah.' .... " Lo ! the warlike eagle come,
" Now upon the bank of the river, on Green of eye, and black of plume."
the other side, they saw the two shining
men again, who there waited for them. And in one of the old French Mys-
Wherefore being come out of the river, having teries, Hist. Thr'at. Franq., I. 176,
Joseph describes the child Jesus as
they saluted them, saying, ' We are
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister
for those that shall be heirs of salva- " Les yeulx vers, la chair blanche et tendre
Les cheveulx blonds."
tion.' " 122. Monster is here used in thesersc
98. Psalms li. 7: "Purge me with of marvel or prodigy.
hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me
and I shall be whiter than snow." 123. Now as an eagle, now as a lion.
104. The four attendant Nymphs on The two natures, divine and human, of
the left of the triumphal chariot. See Christ are reflected in Theology, or
Canto XXIX. 130 :— Divine Wisdom. Didron, who thinks
the Griffin a symbol of the Pope, applies
" Upon the left hand four made holiday this to his spiritual and temporal power :
Vested in purple."
"As priest he is the eagle floating in
106. See Canto I. Note 23. the air; as king he is a lion walking on
III. These four Cardinal Virtues lead
to Divine Wisdom, but the three Evan- the 132. earth."The Italian Caribo, like the Eng-
gelical Virtues quicken the sight to pene- lish Carol or Roundelay, is both song and
trate more deeply into it. dance. Some editions read in this line
1 14. Standing upon the chariot still ;
"singing," instead of "dancing."
she does not alight till line 36 of the
next canto.
CANTO XXXII.
116. The colour of Beatrice's eyes
has not been passed over in silence by 1. A mystical canto, in which is de-
the commentators. Lani, in his Annota- scribed the tree of the forbidden fruit,
zioni, says: "They were of a greenish and other wonderful and mysterious
blue, like the colour of the sea." Me- things.
chior Messirini, who thought he had 2. Beatrice had been dead ten years.
discovered a portrait of Beatrice as old 10. Goethe, Hermann and Dorothea,
as the fourteenth century, affirms that
Cochrane's Tr., p. 103 :—
she had "splendid brown eyes." Dante
here calls them emeralds; upon which " Ev'n hisas orb the wanderer, who, ere the sun dips
in the ocean,
the Ottimo comments thus: "Dante One List look still takes of the day-god, fast
disappearing ;
very happily introduces this precious
stone, considering its properties, and Then, amid rocks rude-piled, umbrageous
forests, and copsewoods,
considering that griffins watch over Sees vision
his similitude
; float, wherever he fixes his
emeralds. The emerald is. the prince
of all green stones ; no gem nor. herb Finding it glancing before him, and dancing
has greater greenness ; it rfeflects an in magical colours."
image like a mirror ; increases wealth ; 35. A disfrenata saetta, an uncurbe<l
is useful in litigation and to orators ; is arrow, like that which Pandarus shot at
good for convulsions and epilepsy ; pre- Menelaus, ///«</, IV. 124: "The sharp-
serves and strengthens the sight ; restrains pointed aiTow sprang forth, eager to rush
lu»t ; restores memory ; is powerful
among the crowd."
 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.
453

water which flowed from the wound in

38. Genesis ii. 16 : " Of every tree of
the garden thou mayest freely eat. But Christ's side. At least so thinks Vellu-
of the tree of the knowledge of good and telli.
evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III, 226, says :
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt "Some three arrow-flights farther up
into the wood we come to a tall tree,
surely die. "
Some commentators suppose that which is at first barren, but, after some
Dante's mystic tree is not only the tree little time, visibly opens into flowers, of
of knowledge of good and evil, but also a colour 'less than that of roses, but more
a symbol of the Roman Empire. than that of violets.' It certainly would
41. Virgil, Georgics, II. 123: "The not be possible, in words, to come nearer
groves which India, nearer the ocean, to the definition of the exact hue which
the utmost skirts of the globe, produces, Dante meant, — that of the apple-blossom.
where no arrows by their flight have Had he employed any simple colour-
been able to surmount the airy summit
phrase, as a 'pale pink,' or 'violet pink,'
of the tree ; and yet that nation is not or any other such combined expression,
he still could not have completely got at
slow at archery."
43. Christ's renunciation of temporal the delicacy of the hue; he might per-
power. haps have indicated its kind, but not its
51. The pole of the chariot, which tenderness; but by taking the rose-leaf
was made of this tree, he left bound to as the type of the delicate red, and then
the tree. enfeebling this with the violet gray, he
Buti says: "This chariot represents gets, as closely as language can carry
the Holy Church, which is the congrega- him, to the complete rendering of the
tion of the faithful, and the pole of this vision, though it is evidently felt by him
chariot is the cross of Christ, which he to be in its perfect beauty ineffable ; and
bore upon his shoulders, so that the rightly so felt, for of all lovely things
author well represents him as dragging which grace the spring-time in our fair
the temperate zone, I am not sure but this
that pole
the with cross his
wasneck." The the
made of statement
tree of blossoming of the apple-tree is the
knowledge, is founded on an old legend.
When Adam was dying, he sent his son fairest." 65. The eyes of Argus, whom Mer-
Seth to the Garden of Paradise to bring cury lulled asleep by telling him the
him some drops of the oil of the mercy story of Syrinx, and then put to death.
of God. The angel at the gate refused
him entrance, but gave him a branch Ovid,
tale, Met., I., Dryden's Tr. :—
" While Hermes piped, and sung, and told his
from the tree of knowledge, and told
him to plant it upon Adam's grave; and The keeper's winking eyes began to fail.
that, when it should bear fruit, then And drowsy slumber on the lids to creep ;
Till all the watchman was at length asleep.
should Adam receive the oil of God's Then soon the god his voice and song supprest.
mercy. The branch grew into a tree, And with his powerful rod confirmed his rest ;
but never bore fruit till the passion of Without delay his crooked falchion drew.
And at one fatal stroke the keeper slew."
Christ ; but " of a branch of this tree and
of other v.ood," says Buti, "the cross 73. The Transfiguration. The pas-
was made, and from that branch was sage in the Song of Solomon, ii. 3, "As
suspended such sweet fruit as the body the apple-tree among the trees of the
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then Adam wood, so is my beloved among the
and other saints had the oil of mercy, sons," is interpreted as referring to
inasmuch as they were taken from LimiSo Christ ; and Dante here calls the Trans-
and led by Christ into eternal life." figuration the blossoming of that tree.
54. In the month of Februaiy, when 77. Matthew xvii. 5 : "While he 5'et
the sun is in the constellation of the
spake, behold, a bright cloud over-
Fishes. Dante here gives it the title of shadowed them : and, behold, a voice
the Lasca, the Roach or Mullet. out of the cloud, which said, This is
58. The red and white of the apple- my beloved Son, in whom I am well
blossonos is symbolical of the blood and pleased ; hear ye him. And when the
454 NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

disciples heard it, they fell on their face, 152. Philip the Fourth of France.
and were sore affaid. And Jesus came For his character see Canto XX. Note
and touched them, and said, Arise, and
be not afraid. And when they had lifted 156. This alludes to the maltreatment
up their eyes, they saw no man, save of Boniface by the troops of Philip at
Alagna. See Canto XX. Note 87.
Jesus
82. only."
Matilda. 159. The removal of the Papal See
98. The seven Virtues holding the 43-
from Rome to Avignon.
seven golden candlesticks, or the seven The principal points of the allegory
gifts of the Holy Spirit. of this canto may be summed up as
H2. The descent of the eagle upon follows. The triumphal chariot, the
the tr^e is interpreted by Buti as the Church ; the seven Nymphs, the Virtues
persecution of the Christians by tlie Cardinal and Evangelical ; the seven
Emperors. The rending of the bark candlesticks, the seven gifts of the Holy
of the tree is the "breaking down of Spirit ; the tree of knowledge, Rome ;
the constancy and fortitude of holy the Eagle, the Imperial power ; the
men"; the blossoms arc "virtuous Fox, heresy ; the Dragon, Mahomet ;
the shameless whore. Pope Boniface the
examples or prayers," and the new
leaves, "the virtuous deeds that holy ofEighth ; and the giant, Philip the Fair
men had begun to do, and which were France.
interrupted by these persecutions."
115. Buti says : " This descent of the CANTO XXXIII.
eagle upon ihe chariot, and the smiting
I. In this canto Dante is made to
it, mean the persecution of the Holy
Church and of the Christians by the drmk of the river Eunoe, the memory
Emperors, as appears in the chronicles of things good.
down to the time of Constantine." Psalm Ixxix., beginning: "O God,
the heathen are come into thine inherit-
119. The fox is Heresy. ■ ance ; thy holy temple have they
126. The gift of Constantine to the
Church, Inf. XIX. 125:- defded." The three Evangelical and
four Cardinal Virtues chant this psalm,
" Ah, mother,
Constantine ! of how much woe was alternately responding to each other.
Not thy conversion, but that marriage-dower The Latin words must be chanted,
Which the first wealthy Father took from in order to make the lines rhythmical,
with an equal emphasis on each syllable.
thee ! " 7. When their singing was ended.
131. Mahomet. Revelation xii. 3 :
"And there appeared another wonder 10 Jo/in xvi. 16 : "A little while,
in heaven ; and, behold, a great red and ye shall not see me : and again, a
dragon, having seven heads and ten little while, and ye shall see me ; be-
horns, and seven crowns upon his
heads. And his tail drew the third 15. causeDante,
Igo to the Father."
Matilda, and Statins.
part of the stars of heaven, and did 27. As in Canto XXXI. 7 :—
cast them to the cartli." " My facuhies were in so great confusion,
That the voice moved, but sooner was extinct,
144. These seven heads, say the
Ollhiio and others, "denote the seven Than by its organs 11 was set at large."
deadly sins." But Biagioli, following 34. Is no longer what it was. Reve-
Buti, says : " There is no doui)t that lation xvii. 8: "The beast that thou
these heads and the horns represent the
Sbme that we have .said in Canto XIX. sawest was, and is not."
36. In the olden time in Florence,
of the htferiio ; namely, the ten horns, if an assassin could contrive to eat a
the Ten Commandnienls of God ; and sop of bread and wine at the grave of
the seven heads, the Seven Sacraments the murdered man, within nine days
of the Ciuirch." Never was there a after the murder, he was free from the
wider difference of interpretation. The vengeance of the family ; and to prevent
context certainly favours the first. this they kept watch at the tomb. There
150. Pope Boniface the Eighth. is no evading the vengeance of God in
 455
NOTES TO PURGATORIO.

this way. Such is the interpretation of implacable enemy, who ever and secretly
this passage by all the old commentators. layeth snares for human prosperity, —
37. The Roman Empire shall not disinheriting some of those who were
always be without an Emperor, as it willing, — impiously, in the absence of
was then in the eyes of Dante, who our protector, despoiled us also, who
counted the " German Albert," Alberto were unwilling. Wherefore we wept
tedesco, as no Emperor, because he never long by the rivers of confusion, and in-
came into Italy. See the appeal to him, cessantly implored the protection of the
Canto VI. 96, and the malediction, just king, to scatter the satellites of the
because he suffered cruel tyrant, and restore us to our just
rights. And when thou, successor of
" The garden of the empire to be waste." Caesar and of Augustus, crossing the
43. The Roman numerals making chain of the Apennines, brought back
DVX, or Leader. The allusion is to the venerable Tarpeian ensigns, our long
Henry of Luxemburgh, in whom Dante sighings straightway ceased, the foun-
placed his hopes of the restoration of tains of our tears were stayed, and a new
the Imperial power. He was the suc- hope of a better age, like a sun suddenly
cessor of the German Albert of the risen, shed its beams over Latium. Then
preceding note, after an interregnum of many, breaking forth into jubilant vows,
one year. He died in 13 12, shortly sang with Mars the Saturnian reign, and
after his coronation in Rome. See the return of the Virgin.
Canto VI. Note 97. " But since our sun (whether the fer-
Villani, though a Guelf, pays this vour of desire suggests it, or the aspect
tribute of respect to his memory. Book of truth) is already believed to have de-
IX. Ch. I : '* He was wise and just and layed, or is supposed to be going back
gracious, valiant in arms, dignified, and in his course, as if a new Joshua or the
catholic ; and although of low estate in son of Amos had commanded, we are
lineage, he was of a magnanimous heart, compelled in our uncertainty to doubt,
feared and redoubted, and if he had and to break forth in the words of the
lived longer, he would have done great Forerunner : ' Art thou he that should
things. " come, or look we for another?' And
When Henry entered Italy in Sep- although the fury of long thirst turns
tember, 1310, Dante hastened to meetinto doubt, as is its wont, the things
him, full of faith and hope. Whether which are certain because they are near,
this interview took place at Susa, Turin, nevertheless we believe and hope in thee,
or Milan, is uncertain ; nor is there any asserting thee to be the minister of God,
record of it, except the allusion in the and the son of the Church, and the pro-
following extract from a letter of Dante, moter of the Roman glory. And I, who
'* written in Tuscany, at the sources of write as well for myself as for others,
the Arno, on the 14th of May, 131 1, in when my hands touched thy feet and my
the first year of the happy journey of the lips performed their office, saw thee most
divine Henry into Italy." Dante was benignant, as becometh the Imperial
disappointed that his hero should linger majesty, and heard thee most clement.
so long in the Lombard towns, and Then my spirit exulted within me, and
wished him to march at once against I silently said to myself, ' Behold the
Florence, the monster " that drinketh lamb of God, who taketh away the sins
neither of the headlong Po, nor of thy
Tyber." In this letter, Mr. Greene's of Dante, the world,"*
Far. XXX. 133, sees the
Tr., he says :— crown and throne that await the " noble
" The inheritance of peace, as the Henry " in the highest heaven :—
immense love of God wilnesseth, was
left us, that in the marvellous sweetness " On thatfixed great throne on which thine eyes are
thereof our hard warfare might be soft- For the crown's sake already placed upon it.
Before thou suppest at this wedding feast.
ened, and by the use thereof we might Shall sit the soul ithat b to be Augustus
deserve the joys of our triumphant coun- On earth) of noble Henry, who shall come
try. But the hatred of the ancient and To reform Italy ere she be prepared."
H H
 NOTES TO rURGATORIO.
456
47. Themis, the daughter of Coelus tween Florence and Pisa. Its waters
and Terra, whose oracle was famous in have the power of incrusting or petrify-
Attica, and who puzzled Deucalion and ing anything left in them. " This power
Pyrrha by telling them that, in order to of incrustation," says Covino, Descriz.
repeople the earth after the deluge, they Geog. deir Italia, " is especially manifest
must throw "their mother's bones be- a little above Colle, where a great pool
hind them." rushes impetuously from the ground."
The Sphinx, the famous monster born 69. If the vain thoughts thou hast
of Chimoera, and having the head of a been immersed in had not petrified thee,
woman, the wingii of a bird, the body and the pleasure of them stained thee ;
of a dog, and the paws of a lion ; and if thou hadst not been
whose riddle " What animal walks on
" Converted into stone and stained with sin."
four legs in the morning, on two at noon,
and on three at night ? " so puzzled the 78. The staff wreathed with palm,
Thebans, that King Creon offered his the cockle-shell in the hat, and the
crown and his daughter Jocasta to any sandal-shoon were all marks of the pil-
one who should solve it, and so free the grim, showing he had been beyond
land of the uncomfortable monster ; a sea and in the Holy Land. Thus in
feat accomplished by CEdipus apparently the old ballad of TJie Friar of Orders
without much difficulty.
49. The Naiades having undertaken Gray" And
: — how should I your true love know
to solve the enigmas of oracles, Themis, From many another one?
offended, sent forth a wild beast to ravage O by his cockle-hat and staff.
the flocks and fields of the Thebans ; And by his sandal-shoone.'
though why they should have been held
accountable for the doings of the Naiades In the Vita Nuova,^\.x. Norton's Tr.,
is not very obvious. The tradition is p. 71, is this passage : " Moreover, it is
to be known that the people who travel
founded on a passage in Ovid, Met.^ in the service of the Most High are called
by three distinct terms. Those who go
"Carmina Naiades non intellecta priorum beyond the sea, whence often they bring
Solvunt."
back the palm, are called palmers. Those
Heinsius and other critics say that the who go to the house of Galicia are called
lines should read, — pilgrims, because the burial-place of St.
James was more distant from his country
" Carmina Lalades non intellecta priorum than that of any other of the Apostles.
Solverat ;" And those are called romei who go to
referring to CEdipus, son of Laius. But
Rosa Moranda maintains the old read- 85. How far Philosophy differs from
ing, and says there is authority in Pau- Religion.
Rome." Isaiah Iv. 8 : " For my
lanias for making the Naiades inter- thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
preters oforacles. are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
54. Coplas de Manrique : — For as the heavens are hi^er than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your
" Our cradle is the starting place,
ways, and my thoughts than your
Life is the running of the race."
57. First by the P^agle, who rent its 104. Noon of the Fourth Day of Pur-
bark and leaves ; then by the giant, who thoughts."
liore away the chariot which had been gatory.
112. Two of the four rivers that
bound to it. watered Paradise. Here they are the
61. The sin of Adam, and the death same as Lethe and Eunoe, the oblivion
of Christ. of evil, and the memory of good.
66. Widening at the top, instead of
127. Bunyan, Pilgrim^ s Progiess : —
diminishing upward like other trees. " I saw then, that they went on their
68. The Elsa is a river in Tuscany, way to a pleasant river, which David
risking in the mountains near Colle, and the king called ' the river of God ; ' but
flowing northward into the Amo, be- John, • the river of the water of life.'
 NOTES ro PURGATORIO.
457
Now their way lay just upon the bank this meadow they lay down and slept ;
of the river : here therefore Christian for here they might lie down safely.
and his companion walked with great When they awoke, they gathered again
delight : they drank also of the water of of the fruits of the trees, and drank
the river, which was pleasant, and enli- again of the water of the river, and then
vening to their weary spirits. Besides,
on the banks of this river, on either side, lay down again to sleep."
129. Sir John Denham says : —
were green trees for all manner of fruit ;
and the leaves they ate to prevent sur- " The sweetest cordial we receive at last
feits and other diseases that are incident Is conscience of our virtuous actions past."
to those that heat their blood by travels.
On either side of the river was also a 145. The last word in this division
meadow, curiously beautified with lilies ; of the poem, as in the other two, is the
and it was green all the year long. In suggestive word "Stars."
/
ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE HERO AS POET. life- long, uns'.irrendering battle, against

From Heroes and Hero Worship, by Thoinas the world. Affection all converted into
Carlyle. indignation ; an implacable indignation ;
Many volumes have been written by slow, equable, silent, like that of a god !
way of commentary on Dante and his The eye too, it looks out as in a kind of
Book ; yet, on the whole, with no great surprise, a kind of inquiry. Why the
result. His biography is, as it were, world was of such a sort ? This is
irrecoverably lost for us. An unimpor- Dante: so lie looks, this " voice of ten
tant, wandering, sorrow-stricken man,
not much note was taken of him while silent centuries," and sings us "his mys-
tic, unfathomable song."
he lived ; and the most of that has van- The little that we know of Dante's
ished, in the long space that now inter- Life corresponds well enough with his
venes. It is five centuries since he Portrait and this Book. He was l)orn
ceased writing and living here. After at Florence, in the upper class of so-
all commentaries, the Book itself is ciety, in the year 1265. His education
mainly what we know of him. The was the best then going ; much school-
Book, — and one might add that Portrait divinity, Aristotelean logic, some Latin
commonly attributed to Giotto, which, classics, — no inconsiderable insight into
looking on it, you cannot help inclining certain provinces of things : and Dante,
to think genuine, whoever did it. To with his earnest, intelligent nature, we
me it is a most touching face ; perhaps, need not doubt, learned better than most
of all faces that I know, the most so. all that was learnable. He has a clear,
Lonely there, painted as on vacancy, cultivated understanding, and of great
with the simple laurel wound round it ; subtlety ; this best fruit of education he
the deathless sorrow and pain, the known had contrived to realize from these scho-
victory which is also deathless ;— signifi- lastics. He knows accurately and well
cant of the whole history of Dante ! I what lies close to him ; but in such a
think it is the mournfulest face that ever time, without printed books or free in-
was j)ainted from reality ; an altogether tercourse, he could not know well what |
tragic, heart-affecting face. There is in was distant : the small, clear light, most ;
it, as foundation of it, the softness, ten- luminous for what is near, breaks itself j
derness, gentle affection as of a child ; into singular chiaroscuro striking on what j
but all this is as if congealed into sharp is far off. This was Dante's learning 1
contradittion, into abnegation, isolation, from the schools. In life, he had goiiel
proud, hopeless pain. A soft etherial through the usual destinies ;— been twices
soul looking out so stern, implacal)le, out campaigning as a soldier for thpl
grim-trencliant, as from imprisonment of Florentine state ; been on embassy rhad J
thick-ribbed ice ! Withal it is a silent in his thirty-fifth year, by natural grada-^
pain too, a silent, scornful one : the lip tion of talent and service, become one of
is curled in a kind of godlike disdain of
the chief magistrates of F'lorence. He
the thing that is eating out his heart, — had met in Ijoyhood a certain Beatrice
as if it were withal a mean, insignificant Portinari, a beautiful little girl of his own
thing, as if he whom it had power to age and rank, and grown up thenceforth
torture and strangle were greater than it. in partial sight of her, in some distant
The face of one wholly in protest, and intercourse with her.
fi
All readers know
 THE HERO AS POET. 459

his graceful, affecting account of this; curious document, some considerable

and tlien of their being parted ; of her number of years later, is a Letter of
being wedded to another, and of her Dante's to the Florentine Magistrates,
death soon after. She makes a great written in answer to a milder proposal ol
theirs, that he should return on condition
figure in Dante's Poems ; seems to have
made a great figure in his life. Of all of apologizing and paying a fine. He an-
beings it might seem as if she, held apart swers, with fixed, stern pride : "If I can-
from him, far apart at last in the dim not return without calling myself guilty, I
Eternity, were the only one he had ever
with his whole strength of affection willForneverDante return,there niinquam
was now revertarJ'''
no home in
loved. She died: Dante himself was this world. He wandered from patron to
wedded ; but it seems not happily, far patron, from place to place ; proving, in
from happily. I fancy, the rigorous, his own bitter words, " How hard is the
earnest man, with his keen excitabilities,
path, Come e duro calie." The wretched
was not altogether easy to make happy. are not cheerful company. Dante, poor
We will not complain of Dante's and banished, with his proud, earnest
miseries : had all gone right with him nature, with his moody humours, was
as he wished it, he might have been not a man to conciliate men. Petrarch
Prior, PodestSi, or whatsoever they call reports of him, that being at Can della
it, of Florence, well accepted among Scala's court, and blamed one day for
neighbours, and the world had wanted his gloom and taciturnity, he answered
one of the most notable words ever in no courtier-like way. Delia Scala
spoken or sung. Florence would have stood among his courtiers, with mimes
had another prosperous Lord Mayor ; and buffoons (nebiilones ac histrioi^S)
and the ten dumb centuries continued makmg him heartily merry; when, turn-
voiceless, and the ten other listening ing to Dante, he said : "Is it not
centuries (for there will be ten of them strange, now, that this poor fool should
and more) had no Divina Cominedia to make himself so entertaining ; while you,
hear ! We will complain of nothing. a wise man, sit there day after day, and
A nobler destiny was appointed for this have nothing to amuse us with at all ? "
Dante ; and he, struggling like a man Dante answered bitterly : " No, not
led towards death and crucifixion, could strange ; your Highness is to recollect
not help fulfilling it. Give him the the proverb, Like to Z//&^;"— given the
choice of his happiness ! He knew not, amuser, the amusee must also be given !
more than we do, what was really happy, Such a man, with his proud, silent ways,
what was really miserable. with his sarcasms and sorrows, was not
In Dante's Priorship, the Guelph- made to succeed at court. By degrees,
Ghibbeline, Bianchi-Neri, or some other it came to be evident to him that he
confused disturbances, rose to such a had no longer any resting-place, or hope
height, that Dante, whose party had of benefit, in this earth. The earthly
seemed the stronger, was with his friends world had cast him forth, to wander ; no
cast unexpectedly forth into banishment ; living heart to love him now ; for his
doomed thenceforth to a life of woe and sore miseries there was no solace here.
wandering. His property was all confis- The deeper naturally would the Eter-
cated, and more; he had the fiercest nal World impress itself on him ; that
feeling that it was entirely unjust, ne- awful reality over which, after all, this
farious in the sight of God and man. Time-world, with its Florences and ban-
He tried what was in him to get rein- ishments, only flutters as an unreal
stated tried
; even by warlike surprisal, shadow, Florence thou shalt never see ;
with arms in his hand ; but it would not but Hell and Purgatory and Heaven thou
do ; bad only had become worse. There shalt surely see ! What is Florence, Can
is a record, I believe, still extant in the della Scala, and the World and Life alto-
Florence Archives, dooming this Dante, gether? Eternity: thither, of a truth,
wheresoever caught, to be burnt alive. not elsewhither, art thcu and all things
I Burnt alive ; so it stands, they say : a bound ! The great soul of Dante, home-
Ivery curious civic document. Another less on earth, made its home more and
.t6o ILL USTRA TIONS.

more in that awful other world. Natu- worded, of true rhythm and melody in i
rally iiis thoughts brooded on that, as on the words, there is something deep and ]
the one fact important for him. Bodied good in the meaning too. For body and i
or bodiless, it is the one fact important soul, word and idea, go strangely toge- ,
for all men : but to Dante, in that age, ther here as everywhere. Song : we said j
it was bodied in fixed certainty of scien- before, it was the Heroic of Speech ! All ;
tific shape ; he no more doubted of that old Poems, Homer's and the rest, are, \
Malebolge Pool, that it all lay there with authentically Songs. I would say, in ■
its gloomy circles, with its alti guai, and strictness, that all right Poems are ; that
that he himself should see it, than we whatsoever is not simg is properly no
doubt that we should see Constantinople Poem, but a piece of Prose cramped into
f we went thither. Dante's heart, long jingling lines, — to the great injury of the
filled with this, brooding over it in gcimmar, to the great grief of the reader, \
speechless thought and awe, bursts forth for most part ! What we want to get at ■
at length into "mystic, unfathomable is the thought the man had, if he had ■
song; " and this his Divine Comedy, the any : why should he twist it into jingle, ;
most remarkable of all modern Books, is if he could speak it out plainly ? It is
the result. It must have been a great only when the heart of him is rapt into \
solacement to Dante, and was, as we can true passion of melody, and the very tones i
see, a, proud thought for him at times, of him, according to Coleridge's remark, i
that he, here in exile, could do this become musical by the greatness, depth,
work ; that no Florence, nor no man or and music of his thoughts, that we can ;
men, could hinder hin; from doing it, or give him right to rhyme and sing ; that
e\^ much help him in doing it. He we call him a Poet, and listen to him as j
knew too, partly, that it was great ; the the Heroic of Speakers, — whose speech \
greatest a man could do. " If thou is song. Pretenders to this are many ; i
and to an earnest reader, I doubt, it is .
follow thy star, Se tu segiii tua stella, " —
so could the Hero, in his forsakenness,
for most part a very melancholy, not to '
in his extreme need, still say to himself: say an insupportable business, that of ;
" Follow thou thy star, thou shalt not reading rhyme ! Kliyme that had no \
fail of a glorious haven ! " The labour inward necessity to be rhymed; — it •
of writing, we find, and indeed could ought to have told us plainly, without i
know otherwise, was great and painful any jingle, what it was aiming at. \\
for him ; he says. This Book " which would advise all men who can speak jj
has made me lean for many years." Ah their thought, not to sing it ; to under- J
yes, it was won, all of it, with pain and stand that, in a serious time, among!
sore toil, — not in sport, but in grim seriousformen, there it.
is Precisely
no vocation in,'
earnest. His Book, as indeed most them singing as wej
good Books are, has been written, in love the true song, and are charmed byJ
many senses, with his heart's blood. It it as by something divine, so shall wej
is his whole history this Book. He died hate the false song, and account it a£
after finishing it ; not yet very old, at the mere wooden noise, a thing hollow, Jfj
age of fifly-six ; broken-hearted rather, superfluous, altogether an insincere and^,
as is said. He lies buried in his death- offensive thing. .ii
city Ravenna: Hic claudor Dantes patriis I give Dante my highest praise when \j\
extorris ab orris. The Florentines begged say of his Divine Comedy that it is, in aU!| i
back his botly, in a century after ; the senses, genuinely a Song, In the vttfA.
Ravenna people would not give it. sound of it there is a canto fermo ; it prof ■
'* Here am I Dante laid, shut out from ceeds as by a chant. The language, his ;
simple terza rima, doubtless helped him j
my native shores." in tins. One reads along naturally with j
I said, Dante's Poem was a .Song : it
a sort of lilt. But I add, that it could \
is Tieck who calls it "a mystic, un»
fathomable .Song " ; and such is literally not l)e otherwise ; for the essence and \
the character of it. Coleridge remarks material of the work are themselves \
very pertinently somewhere, that wher- rhythmic. Its depth, and rapt passion \
eyer you find a sentence musically and sincerity, makes it musical; — g« j
 THE HERO AS POET.

ieep enough, there is music everywhere. not because he is world-wide, but because
A true inward symmetry, what one calls he is world-deep. Through all objects
an architectural harmony, reigns in it, he pierces as it were down into the heart
proportionates it all : architectural ; which of Being. I know nothing so intense as
also partakes of the character of music. Dante. Consider, for example, to begin
1
The three kingdoms. Inferno, Purgatorw, with the outermost development of his 46
Paradise, look out on one another like intensity, consider how he paints. He
compartments of a great edifice ; a great has a great power of vision ; seizes the
supernatural world-cathedral, piled up very type of a thing ; presents that and
there, stern, solemn, awful ; Dante's nothing more. You remember that first
World of Souls ! It is, at bottom, the view he gets of the Hall of Dite : red
tincerest of all Poems ; sincerity, here too, pinnacle, red-hot cone of iron glowing
we find to be the measure of worth. It through the dim immensity of gloom ; so
vivid, so distinct, visible at once and for
came deep out of the author's heart of ever ! It is an emblem of the whole
hearts ; and it goes deep, and through
long generations, into ours. The people genius of Dante. There is a brevity, an
of Verona, when they saw him on the abrupt precision in him : Tacitus is not
streets, used to say: '■^ Eccavi t uom cK e briefer, more condensed ; and then in
stato al" Inferno, See, there is the man Dante it seems a natural condensation,
that was in Hell ! " Ah, yes, he had spontaneous to the man. One smiting
been in Hell !— in Hell enough, in long, word ; and then there is silence, nothing
severe sorrow and struggle ; as the like more said. His silence is more eloquent
of him is pretty sure to have been. Com- than words. It is strange with what a
medias that come out divine are not ac- sharp, decisive grace he snatches the tnie
complished otherwise. Thought, true likeness of a matter ; cuts into the matter
labour of any kind, highest virtue itself, as with a pen of fire. Plutus, the blus-
is it not the daughter of Pain ? Bom as
tering giant, collapses at Virgil's rebuke;
out of the black whirlwind ; true effort, it is "as the sails sink, the mast being
in fact, as of a captive struggling to free suddenly broken." Or that poor Bni-
himself: that is Thought. In all ways
netto, with the cotto aspetto, "i-a.ce baked,"
we are "to become perfect through parched brown and lean ; and the "fiery
tiiffcriiig." — But, snow" that falls on them there, a "fiery
known to me is so as I say, no
elaborated workof
as this
snow without wind," slow, deliberate,
Dante's. It has all been as if molten, in never-ending ! Or the lids of those
the hottest furnace of his soul. It had Tombs ; square sarcophaguses, in that
made him "lean" for many years. Not silent dim-burning Hell, each with its
the general whole only ; every compart- Soul in torment ; the lids laid open there ;
ment of it is worked out, with intense they are to be shut at the Day of Judg-
earnestness, into truth, into clear visuality. ment, through Eternity. And how
Each answers to the other ; each fits in Earinata rises ; and how Cavalcante falls
its place, like a marble stone accurately — at hearing of his Son, and the past
hewn and polished. It is the soul of tense "yw/" The very movements in
Dante, and in this the soul of the Middle Dante have something brief ; swift, de-
Ages, rendered for ever rhythmically cisive, aknost military. It is of the
visible there. No light task ; a right inmost essence of his genius this sort of
intense one : but a task which is done. painting. The fiery, swift Italian nature
Perhaps one would say intensity, with of the man, so silent, passionate, with
the much that depends on it, is the its quick abrupt movements, its silent
p«"evailing character of Dante's genius. "pale rages," speaks itself in these things.
Dante does not come before us as a large For though this of painting is one of
catholic mind ; rather as a narrow, and the outermost developments of a man,
even sectarian mind : it is partly the fruit it comes like all else from the essential
iof his age and position, but partly too of faculty of him ; it is physiognomical of
his own nature. His greatness has, in the whole man. Find a man whose
all senses, concentred itself into fiery words paint you a likeness, you have
emphasis and depth. He is world-great found a man worth something ; mark
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
462
liis manner of doing it, as very charac- 1Nature is made ; it is so Dante discerned
teristic of him. In the first place, he jthat she was made. What a paltry notion!
could not have discerned the object at j
is that of his Divine Comedy''s being a
all, or seen the vital type of it, unless he ■ poor splenetic, impotent, terrestrial libel;
liad, what we may call, sympathised with putting those into Hell whom he could
it,— had sympathy in him to bestow on not be avenjed upon on earth ! I sup«
objects. He must have been sincere
p<ise if ever pity, tender as a mother's,
about it too ; sincere and sympathetic : was in the heart of any man, it was in
a man without worth cannot give you Dante's. But a man wlio does not know
the likeness of any object ; he dwells in rigour cannot pity either. His very pity
vague outwardness, fallacy and trivial will be cowardly, egotistic,- sentimen-
hearsay, about all objects. And indeed tality, or little better. I know not in
may we not say that intellect altogether the world an affection equal to that of
expresses itself in this power of discern- Dante. It is a tenderness, a trembling,
ing what an object is ? Whatsoever of longing, pitying love : like the wail of
faculty a man's mind may have will come iliolian harps, soft, soft ; like a child's
out here. Is it even of business, a matter young heart ; —and tlien that stern, sore-
to be done ? The gifted man is he who saddened heart ! These longings of his
sees the essential point, and leaves all the towards his Beatrice ; their meeting
rest aside as surplusage ; it is his faculty, together in the Paradiso; his gazing inj
too, the man of business's faculty, her pure transfigured eyes, her that ha(f
that he discern the true likeness, not the been purified by death so long, separate^
false, superficial one, of the thing he from him so far: — one likens it to tlM^
has got to work in. And how much of song of angels ; it is among the purest
morality is in the kind of insight we get utterances of affection, perhaps the verj^
of anything; "the eye seeing in all purest that ever came out of a human souU*
things what it brought with it the faculty For the intense Dante is intense in alt
of seeing ! " To the mean eye all things things ; he has got into the essence a|
are trivial, as certainly as to the jaundiced all. His intellectual insight, as paintei^
they are yellow. Raphael, the painters on occasion too as reasoner, is but thft
tell us, is the best of all Portrait-painters result of all other sorts of intensity!
withal. No most gifted eye can exhaust Morally great, above all, we must caft
the significance of any object. In the him ; it is the beginning of all. Hi|
commonest human face there lies more scorn, his grief, are as transcendent
than Raphael will take away with him. his love ;— as, indee<l, what are they
Dante's painting is not graphic only, the inverse or converse of his love ? '
brief, true, and of a vividness as of fire
Dio Spiacenti, ed a^ nemicisnt. Hateful 1
in dark night ; taken on the wider scale, God and to the enemies of God:" lofl
it is every way noble, and the outcome scorn, unappeasable silent reprobatio
of a great soul. Francesca and her Lover, and aversion : ^''Non ragionam di lor, \yi
what qualities in that ! A thing woven will not speak of them, look only an
as out of rainbows, on a ground of
eternal black. A small flute-voice of not pass." Or think of this: "They hai§i
the hope to die, Non Han speransa mi
infinite wail speaks there, into our very morie." One day, it had risen steml|'.
heart of hearts. A touch of womanhood benign on the scathed heart of Dant^^
in it too : iMla bella persona, che mi fn that he, wretched, never-resting, worn 11]
tolta; and how, even in the Pit of woe,
he was, would full surely die; "that\
it is a solace that he will never part from Destiny itself could not doom him not;
her ! Saddest tragedy in these alti guai. to die." Such words are in this man.]
And the racking winds, in that aer /i7nno, For rigour, earnestness, and depth he ill
whirl them away again, to wail for ever! not to be paralleled in the moden^
Strange to think : l5ante was the friendof world ; to seek his parallel we must gOj
this poor Francesca's father ; Francesca into the Hebrew Bible, and live with tM:
antique Prophets there. i
herself
as may have
a bright sat upon
innocent little the Poet'sInfinite
child. knee,
I do not agree with much modal 1
pity, yet also infinite rigour of law : it is so criticism, in greatly preferring the /» \
^ \
 463
THE HERO AS POET.

ferno to the two other parts of the veracity as in this of Dante's ; a man sent
Divine Commedia. Such preference to sing it, to keep it long memorable.
belongs, I imagine, to our general By- Very notable with what brief simplicity
ronism of taste, and is like to be a he passes out of the every-day reality,
transient feeling. The Purgatorio and into the Invisible one ; and in the second
Pitradiso, especially the former, one or third stanza, we find ourselves in the
would almost say, is even more excellent World of Spirits ; and dwell there, as
than it. It is a noble thing that Pttr- among things palpable, indubitable ! To
i;atorio, " Mountain of Purification ; " an Dante they zuere so; the real world, as
emblem of the noblest conception of that it is called, and its facts, was but the
age. If Sin is so fatal, and Hell is and threshold to an infinitely higher Fact
must be so rigorous, awful, yet in Re- of a World. At bottom, the one was as
pentance too is man purified ; Repent- pretei-naXnxdX as the other. Has not each
ance is the grand Christian act. It is man a soul ? He will not only be a
beautiful how Dante works it out. The spirit, but is one. To the earnest Dante
tremolar deW onde, that "trembling" of it is all one visible Fact ; he believes it,
the ocean-waves under the first pure sees it ; is the Poet of it in virtue of that.
gleam of morning, dawning afar on the Sincerity, I say again, is the saving merit,
now as always.
■wandering Two, is as the fype of an
altered mood. Hope has now dawned ; Dante's Hell, Purgatory, Paradise,
never-dying Hope, if in company still are a symbol withal, an emblematic
with heavy sorrow. The obscure sojourn representation of his belief about this
of daemons and reprobate is under foot; a Universe : — some Critic in a future age,
soft breathing of penitence mounts higher like those Scandinavian ones the other
and higher, to the Throne of Mercy itself. day, who has ceased altogether to think
" Pray for me," the denizens of that as Dante did, may find this too all an
Mount of Pain all say to him. "Tell "Allegory," perhaps an idle Allegory !
my Giovanna to pray for me," my It is a sublime embodiment, our sub-
daughter Giovanna; "I think her limest, of the soul of Christianity. It
mother loves me no more ! " They toil expresses, as in huge world-wide archi-
painfully up by that winding steep, tectural emblems, how the Christian
Dante felt Good and Fvil to be the two
" bent down like corbels of a building,"
«>ome of them, — crushed together so polar elements of this Creation, on which
" for the sin of pride ; " yet nevertheless it all turns ; that these two differ not by
in years, in ages, and aeons they shall preferabilUy of one to the other, but by in-
have reached the top, which is Heaven's compatibility absolute and infinite ; that
gate, and by Mercy shall have been ad- the one is excellent and high as light and
mitted in. The joy too of all, when one Heaven, the other hideous, black as Ge-
has prevailed ; the whole Mountain henna and the Pit of Hell ; Everlasting
shakes with joy, and a psalm of j^raise Justice, yet with Penitence, with ever-
rises, when one soul has {perfected re- lasting Pity, — all Chris'.iauism, as Dante
pentance, and got its sin and misery left and the Middle Ages had it, is emblemed
iiehind ! I call all this a noble embodi- here. Emblemed : and yet, as I urged
ment of a true, noble thought. the other day, with what entire truth of
But indeed the Three compartments purpose; how imconscious of any em-
mutually support one another, are in- bleming ! Hell, Purgatory, Paradise :
dispensable to one another. The Pa- these things were not fashioned as em-
radiso, a kind of inarticulate music to blems ;was there, in our Modern Euro-
me, is the redeeming side of the Inferno; pean Mind, any thought at all of their
the Inferno without it were untrue. All being emblems ! Were they not indubit-
three make up the true Unseen World, able, awful facts ; the whole heart of
as figured in the Christianity of the man taking them for practically true, all
Middle Ages ; a thing for ever memo- Nature everywhere confirming them? So
rable, for ever true in the essence of it, is it always in these things. Men do not
to all men. It was perhaps delineated believe in Allegory. The future Critic,
in no human soul with such depth of * whatever his new thought may be, who
454 ILLUSTRATIONS.

considers this of Dante to have been all noblest men. In the one sense and in
got up as an Allegory, will commit one the other, are we not right glad to pos-
sore mistake !— Paganism we recognised sess it? As I calculate, it may last yet
as a veracious expression of the earnest, for long thousands of years. For the
awe-struck feeling of man towards the thing that is uttered from the inmost
Universe ; veracious, true once, and
still not without worth for us. But mark parts of a man's soul differs altogether
from what is uttered by the outer part.
here the difference of Paganism and The outer is of the day, under the em-
Christianism ; one great difference. pire of mode ; the outer passes away, in
Paganism emblemed chiefly the Opera- swift endless changes ; the inmost is the
tions of Nature ; the destinies, efforts, same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
combinations, vicissitudes of things and True souls, in all generations of the
men in this world : Christianism em- world, who look on this Dante, will find
blemed the Law of Human Duty, the a brotherhood in him ; the deep sincerity
Moral Law of Man. One was for the of his thoughts, his woes and hopes, will
sensuous nature : a rude helpless utter- speak likewise to their sincerity ; they
ance of the ^rj/ Thought of men,— the will feel that this Dante too was a
chief recognised virtue, Courage, Supe- brother. Napoleon in Saint Helena
riority to Fear. The other was not for is charmed with the genial veracity of
the sensuous nature, but for the moral. old Homer. The oldest Hebrew Pro-
What a progress is here, if in that one phet, under a vesture the most diverse
respect only !— from ours, does yet, because he speaks
And so in this Dante, as we said, had from the heart of man, speak to all
ten silent centuries, in a very strange men's hearts. It is the one sole secret
way, found a voice. The Diviria Corn- of continuing long memorable. Dante,
media is of Dante's writing ; yet in truth for depth of sincerity, is like an antique
it belongs to ten Christian centuries, Prophet too ; his words, like theirs,
only the finishing of it is Dante's. So come from his very heart. One need
always. The craftsman there, the smith not wonder if it were predicted that
with that metal of his, with these tools, his Poem might be the most enduring
with these cunning methods, — how little thing our Europe has yet made ; for
of all he does is properly his work ! All nothing so endures as a truly sp<>ke'i
past inventive men work there with him ; word. All cathedrals, pontificalities,
— as indeed with all of us, in all things. brass and stone, and outer arrangement
Dante is the spokesman of the Middle never so lasting, are brief in comparison
Ages ; the Thought they lived by stands to an unfathomable heart-song like this :
here, in everlasting music. These sub- one feels as if it might survive, .still of
lime ideas of his, terrible and beautiful, importance to men, when these had all
are the fruit of the Christian Meditation
sunk into new irrecognisable combina-
of all the good men who had gone be- tions, and had ceased individually to be.
fore him. Precious they ; but also is
not he precious? Much, had not he
spoken, would have been dumb ; not
dead, yet living voiceless. DANTE.
On the whole, is it not an utterance, From the Essays of T. B Macaulay.
this mystic Song, at once of one of the
greatest human souls, and of the highest The beginning of the thirteenth cen-
thing that Europe had hitherto realised tury was, as Machiavelli has remarked,
for itself? Christianism, as Dante sings the era of a great revival of this extra-
it, is another than Paganism in the rude ordinary system. The policy of Inno-
Norse mind ; another than " liastarti cent,— the growth of the Inquisition ami
Christianism" half- articulately spoken the mendicant orders, — the wars against
in the Arab Desert, seven hundred years the Albigenses, the Pag.ins of the East,
before!— The noblest idea made real and the unfortunate princes of the house
hitherto among men is sung, and em- of Swabia, agiated Italy during the two
blemed forth abidingly, by one of the following generations. In thi* point

f, i
 DANTE.
465

Dante was completely under the influ- smiling and radiant spirits with that
ence of his age. He was a man of scowl of unutterable misery on his brow,
a turbid and melancholy spirit. In early and that curl of bitter disdain on his
youth he had entertained a strong and
lips, which all h'ls portraits liave pre-
unfortunate passion, which, long after served, and which might furnish Chan-
the death of her whom he loved, con- trey with hints for the head of his pro-
tinued to haunt him. Dissipation, am- jected Satan.
bition, misfortunes, had not effaced it. There is no poet whose intellectual
He was not only a sincere, but a pas- and moral character are so closely con-
sionate, believer. The crimes and abuses nected. The great source, as it api<ears
of the Church of Rome were indeed to me, of the power of the Divine
loathsome to him ; but to all its doc- Comedy is the strong belief with which
trines and all its rites, he adhered with the story seems to be told. In this
enthus'astic fondness and veneration ; respect, the only books which apjiroach
and at length, driven from his native to its excellence are Gulliver's Travels
country, reduced to a situation the most and Robinson Crusoe. The solemnity
painful to a man of his disposition, con- of his asseverations, the consistency and
demned to learn by experience that no minuteness of his details, the earnestness
food is so bitter as the bread of depen- with which he labours to make the
dence, and no ascent so painful as the reader understand the exact shape and
staircase of a patron, his wounded spirit size of everything tliat he describes, give
took refuge in visionaiy devotion. Bea- an air of reality to his wildest fictions.
trice, the unforgotten object of his early I should only weaken this statement by
tenderness, was invested by his imagina- quoting instances of a feeling which per-
tion with glorious and mysterious attri- vades the whole work, and to which it
butes ; she was enthroned among the owes much of its fascination. This is
highest of the celestial hierarchy : Al- the real justification of the many pas-
mighty Wisdom had assigned to her the sages in his poem which bad critics have
care of the sinful and unhappy wanderer condemned as grotesque. I am con-
who had loved her with such a perfect cerned to see that Mr. Cary, to whom
love. By a confusion, like that which Dante owes more than ever poet owed
often takes place in dreams, he has to translator, has sanctioned an accusa-
sometimes lost sight of her human na- tion utterly unworthy of his abilities.
ture, and even of her personal existence, "His solicitude," says that gentleman,
and seems to consider her as one of the
"to define all his images in such a man-
attributes of the Deity. ner as to bring them withm the circle of
But those religious hopes which had our vision, and to subject them to the
released the mind of the sublime enthu- power of the pencil, renders liim little
siast from the terrors of death had not better than grotesque, where Milton has
rendered his speculations on human life
since taught us to expect sublimity." It
more cheerful. This is an inconsistency is true that Dante has never shrunk from
which may often be observed in men of embodying his conceptions in determi-
a similar tem])erament. He hoped for nate words, that he has even given
happinesss beyond the grave : but he measures and numbers, where Milton
felt none on earth. It is from this cause, would have left his images to float unde-
more than from any other, that his de- fined in a gorgeous haze of language.
scription of Heaven is so far inferior to Both were right. Milton did not ])rofess
the Hell or the Purgatory. With the to have been in heaven or hell. He might,
passions and miseries of the suffering therefore, reasonably confine himself to
spirits he feels a strong sympathy. But magnificent generalities. Far diffeient
among the beatified he appears as one was the office of the lonely traveller, who
who has nothing in common with them, had wandered through the nations of the
— as one who is incapable of compre- dead. Had he described the abode of
hending, not only the degree, but the the rejected spirits in language resem-
nature of their enjoyment. We think bling the splendid lines of the English
that we see him standing amidst those poet, — had he told us of
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
466
" An universe of death, which God by curse of the reality of apparitions, they have
Created evil, for evil only good,
Where all life dies, death lives, and Nature no appreiiensiou that he will manifest
breeds himstlf to them in any sensible man-
Perrerse all monstrous, all prodigious things, ner. While this is the case, to de-
Abominable, unutterable, and worse
scribe superhuman beings in the lan-
Than ceived,
fables yet have feigned, or fear con-
guage, and to attribute to them the
Gorgons, and hydras, and chimaeras dire," —
actions of humanity, may be grotesque,
unphilosophical, inconsistent ; but it will
this would doubtless have been noble be the only mode of workmg upon the
writing. But where would have been feelings of men, and therefore the'
that strong impression of reality, which, only mode suited for poetry. Shake-
in accordance with his plan, it should speare understood this well, as he un-
have been his great object to produce ? derstood everything that belonged to
It was absolutely necessary for him to his art. Who does not sympathize
delineate accurately "all monstrous, all with the rapture of Ariel, flying after
prodigious things," — to utter what sunset on the wings of the bat, or suck-
might to others appear "unutterable," Who ing indoes the cups of llowers with the bee ?
not shudder at the caldron oi
— to relate with the air of truth what
fables had never feigned, — to embody Macbeth ? Where is the philosopher
what fear had never conceived. And who is not moved when he thinks of the
I will frankly confess that the vague strange connection between the infernal
sublimity of Milton affects me less than spirits and " the sow's blood that hath
these reviled details of Dante. We eaten her nine farrow ? " But this diffi-
read Milton ; and we know that we cult task of representing supernatural
are reading a great poet. When we beings to our minds in a manner whicit
read Dante, the poet vanishes. We shall be neither unintelligible to our in-
are listening to the man who has re- tellects, nor wholly inconsistent with our
turned from " the valley of the dolo- ideas of their nature, has never been
rous abyss ; " — we seem to see the so well performed as by Dante. I will
dilated eye of horror, to hear the shud- refer to three instances, whicli are,
dering accents with which he tells liis perhaps, the most striking ;— the de-
fearful tale. Considered in this light, scription of the transformation of tlie
the narratives are exactly what they serpents and the rol)be:s, in the twenty-
should be, — definite in themselves, but fifth canto of the Inferno, — the passage
suggesting to the mind ideas of awful concerning Nimrod, in the thirty-first
and indefinite wonder. They are made canto of the same part, — and the mag-
up of the images of the earth : they nificent procession in the twenty-ninth
are told in the language of the earth. canto of the Purgatorio.
Yet the whole effect is, beyond expres- The metaphors and comparisons of
sion, wild and unearthly. The fact Dante harmonize admirably with that
is, that supernatural beings, as long air of strong reality of which I have
as they are considered merely with spoken. They have a very peculiar
•reference to their own nature, excite cnaracter. He is perhaps the only
our feelings very feelily. It is when jx)et whose writings become niuch less
the great gulf which separates them intelligible if all illustrations of this
from us is passed, when we suspect sort were expunged. His similes are
some strange and undcfinable relation frequently rather those of a traveller
between the laws of the visil)le and than of a poet. He employs them not
the invisible world, that they rouse, to display his ingenuity by fanciful
perliaps, the strongest emotions of analogies, — not to delight the reader
which our nature is capable. (low by affording him a distant and passing
many children, and how many men, glimpse of beautiful images remote from
are afraid of ghosts, who are not afraid the path in which he is proceeding,—
of Go<l ! And this, because, though but to give an exact idea of the object!
they entertain a much stronger convic- which he is describing, by comparing
tion of the existence of a Deity than them with others generally knowa
 DANTE. 467

The boiling pitch ia Malebolge was Divine Comedy without observing how
like that in the Venetian arsenal ;— little impression the forms of the ex-
the mound on which he travelled along ternal world appear to have made on
the banks of Phlegethon was like that the mind of Dante. His temper and
between Ghent and Bruges, but not so his situation had led him to fix his ob-
large ; the cavities where the Simo- servation almost exclusively on human
niacal prelates are confined resembled nature. The exquisite opening of the
the fonts in the Church of John at eighth canto of the Purgatorio affords
Florence. Every reader of Dante will a strong instance of this. He leaves
recall many other illustrations of this to others the earth, the ocean, and the
description, which add to the appear- sky. His business is with man. To
ance of sincerity and earnestness from other writers, evening may be the sea-
which the narrative derives so much of son of dews and stars and radiant
its interest. clouds. To Dante it is the hour of
Many of his comparisons, again, are fond recollection and passionate devo
intended to give an exact idea of his tion, — the hour which melts the heart
feelings under particular circumstances. of the mariner and kindles the love of
The delicate shades of grief, of fear, of the pilgrim, — the hour when the toll
anger, are rarely discriminated with of the bell seems to mourn for another
sufficient accuracy in the language of day,
the most refined nations. A rude dia- more. which is gone and will return na
lect never abounds in nice distinctions The feeling of the present age has
of this kind. Dante therefore employs taken a direction diametrically oppo-
the most accurate and infinitely the site. The magnificence of the physical
most poetical mode of marking the pre- world, and its influence upon the hu-
cise state of his mind. Every person man mind, have been the favourite
who has experienced the bewildering themes of our most eminent poets. The
effect of sudden bad tidings, — the herd of blue-stocking ladies and son-
stupefaction, — the vague doubt of the neteering gentlemen seems to consider
truth of our own perceptions which
a strong sensibility to the "splendour
they produce, — will understand the of the grass, the glory of the flower,"
following simile: — "I was as he is as an ingredient absolutely indispen-
who dreameth his own harm, — who, sable in the formation of a poetical mind.
dreaming, wishes that it may be all a They treat with contempt all writers who
dream, so that he desires that which is are unfortunately
as though it were not." This is only " nee ponere lucum
one out of a hundred equally striking
and expressive similitudes. The com- Artifices, nee rus saturum laudare.**
parisons of Homer and Milton are mag-The orthodox poetical creed is more
nificent digressions. It scarcely injures
Catholic. The noblest earthly object
their effect to detach them from the
of the contemplation of man is man
work. Those of Dante are very dif- himself. The universe, and all its fair
ferent. They derive their beauty from
the context, and reflect beauty upon it. and glorious forms, are indeed included
in the wide empire of the imagination ;
His embroidery cannot be taken out
!iut she has placed her home and her
without spoiling the whole web. I
cannot dismiss this part of the subject sanctuary amidst the inexhaustible va-
rieties and the impenetrable mysteries of
without advising every person who can
muster sufficient Italian to read the the mind.
simile of the sheep, in the third canto " In tutte parti impera, e quivi regge
of the Purgatorio. I think it the most
perfect passage of the kind in the Quivi 6 la sua cittade, e 1' alto seggia"
world, the most imaginative, the most Othello is perhaps the greatest work m
picturesque, and the most sweetly ex- the world. From what does it derive
pressed. its power? From the clouds? From
No person can have attended to the the ocean ? From the mountains ? Or
 ILLUSTRA TIOMS.
468
from love strong as death, and jea- incomparable style, the most loathsome
lousy cmel as the grave ! What is it objects of the sewer and the dissecting-
room.
that Vk^e go forth to see in Hamlet ?
Is it a reed shaken with the wind ? There is another peculiarity in the
A small celandine ? A bed of daf- poem of Dante, which, I think, de-
fodils ? Or is it to contemplate a serves notice. Ancient mythology has
mighty and wayward mind laid bare hardly ever been successfully interwoven
before us to the inmost recesses ? It with modern poetry. One class of
may perhaps be doubted whether the writers have mtroduced the fabulous
lakes and the hills are better fitted for deities merely as allegorical representa-
the education of a poet than the dusky tives of love, wine, or wisdom. This
streets of a huge capital. Indeed, who necessarily renders their works tame
is not tired to death with pure descrip- and cold. We may sometimes admire
tion of scenery? Is it not the fact, their ingenuity ; but with what interest
that external objects never strongly can we read of beings of whose per-
excite our feelings but when they are sonal existence the writer does not suffer
contemplated in reference to man, as us to entertain, for a moment, even a
illustrating his destiny, or as influ- conventional belief? Even Spenser's
encing his character? The most beau- allegory is scarcely tolerable, till we
tiful object in the world, it will be contrive to forget that Una signifies in-
allowed, is a beautiful woman. But nocence, and consider her merely as an
who that can analyze his feelings is not oppressed lady under the protection of a
sensible that she owes her fascination generous knight.
less to grace of outline and delicacy of Those writers who have, more judi-
colour, liian to a thousand associations ciously, attempted to preserve the per-
which, often unperceived by ourselves, sonality of the classical divinities have
connect those qualities with the source failed from a different cause. They
of our existence, with the nourishment have been imitators, and imitators at a
of our infancy, with the passions of disadvantage. Euripides and Catullus
our youth, with the hopes of our age, believed in Bacchus and Cybele as little
with elegance, with vivacity, with ten- as we do. But they lived among men
derness, with the strongest of natural who did. Their imaginations, if not
instincts, with the dearest of social their opinions, took the colour of the
ties ? age. Hence the glorious inspiration
To those who think thus, the insen- of the Bacchaj and the Atys. Our
sibility of the Florentine poet to the minds are formed by circumstances : and
beauties of nature will not appear an un- I do not believe that it would be in the
pardonable deficiency. On mankind no power of the greatest modem poet to
writer, with the exception of Shake- lash himself up to a degree of enthu-
speare, has looked with a more penetra- siasm adequate to the production of
ting eye. I have said that his poetical such works.
character had derived a tinge from his Dante alone, among the poets of
peculiar temi>er. It is on the sterner later times, has been, in this respect,
and darker passions that he delights to neither an allegorist nor an imitator ;
dwell. All love, excepting the half and, consequently, he alone with
has effect.
intro-
mystic passion which he still felt for his duced the ancient fictions
buried Beatrice, had palled on the fierce His Minos, his Charon, his Pluto, are
and restless exile. The sad story of absolutely terrific. Nothing can be
Kiniini is almost a single exception. I more bi nutiful or original than the use
know not wheiher it has been remarked, which he has made of the river of
that, in one poin", misantliropy Lethe. He has never assigned to his
to have affected his mind as it didseems
that mythological characters any umctions in-
of Swift. Nauseous and revolting images consistent with the creed of the Catholic
seem to have had a fascination for his Church. He has related nothing con-
mind ; and he repeatedly places before cerning them which a good Christian of
bis readers, with all the energy of his that age might not b lieve possible. On
 469
DANTE AND MILTON.

this account, there is nothing in these many men of genius have panegyrized
passages that appears puerile or pedantic. and imitated them !
On the contrary, this singular use of The style of Dante is, if not his
classical names suggests to the mind a highest, perhaps his most peculiar excel-
vague and awful idea of some mysterious lence. Iknow nothing with which it
revelation, anterior to all recorded his- can be compared. The noblest models
tory, of which the dispersed fragments of Greek composition must yield to it.
might have been retained amidst the im- His words are the fewest and the best
postures and superstitions of later reli- which it is possible to use. The first
gions. Indeed the mythology of the expression in which he clothes his
Divine Comedy is of the elder and more thoughts is always so energetic and
colossal mould. It breathes the spirit of comprehensive, that amplification would
Homer and iEschylus, not of Ovid and only injure the effect. There is pro-
Claudian. bably no writer in any language who
This is the more extraordinary, since has presented so many strong pictures
Dante seems to have been utterly igno- to the mind. Yet there is probably no
rant of the Greek language ; and his writer equally concise. This perfec-
favourite Latin models could only have tion of style is the principal merit of
served to mislead him. Indeed, it is the Paradiso, which, as I have already
impossible not .to remark his admira- remarked, is by no means equal in
tion of writers far inferior to himself; other respects to the two preceding
and, in particular, his idolatry of Virgil, parts of the poem. The force and
who, elegant and splendid as he is, has felicity of the diction, however, irresis-
no pretensions to the depth and origi- tibly attract the reader through the
nality of mind which characterize his theological lectures and the sketches of
Tuscan woi^shipper. In truth, it may rule
be ecclesiastical biography, with which
laid down as an almost universal this division of the work too much
that good poets are bad critics. Their abounds. It may seem almost absurd
minds are under the tyranny of ten thou- to quote particular specimens of an
sand associations imperceptible to excellence which is diffused over all
others. The worst writer may easily his hundred cantos. I will, however,
happen to touch a spring which is con- instance the third canto of the Inferno,
nected in their minds with a long suc- and the sixth of the Purgatorio, as pas-
cession of beautiful images. They are sages incomparable in their kind. The
like the gigantic slaves of Aladdin, merit of the latter is, perhaps, rather
gifted with matchless ]iower, but bound oratorical than poetical ; nor can I re-
by spells so mighty that, when a child collect anything in the great Athenian
whom they could have crushed touched speeches which equals it in force of
a talisman, of whose secret he was igno- invective and bitterness of sarcasm. I
rant, they immediately became his have heard the most eloquent statesman
vassals. It has more than once hap- of the age remark that, next to Demo-
pened to me to see minds, graceful and sthenes, Dante is the writer who ought
majestic as the Titania of Shakespeare, to be most attentively studied by every
bewitched by the charms of an ass's man who desires to attain oratorical
head, bestowing on it the fondest ca- eminence.
resses, and crowning it with the sweetest
flowers. I need only mention the DANTE AND MILTON.
poems attributed to Ossian. They are
From the Essays of T. B. Macaulay.
utterly worthless, except as an edifying
instance of the success of a story with- The only poem of modern times which
out evidence, and of a book without can be compared with the Paradise Lost
merit. They are a chaos of words is the Divine Comedy. The subject of
which present no image, of images Milton, in some points, resembled that
which have no archetype ;— they are of Dante ; but he has treated it in a
without form and void ; and darkness widely different manner. We cannot,
.1$^ upon the face of them. Yet how we think, better illustrate our opinion
 ILL USTRA TIONS.
470
respecting our own great poet, than by Nimrod. "His face seemed to me as'
contrasting him with the father of Tus- long and as broad as the ball of St. \
can hterature. Peter's at Rome ; and his other limbs i
The poetry of Milton differs from that were in proportion ; so that the bank :
of Dante, as the hieroglyphics of Egypt which concealed him from the waist
differed from the picture-writing of downwards nevertheless showed so much \
Mexico. The images which Dante em- of him, that three tall Germans would !
ploys speak for themselves ; they stand in vain have attempted to reach to his j
simply for what they are. Those of hair." We are sensible that we do no
Milton have a signification which is justice to the admirable style of the '
often discernible only to the initiated. Florentine poet. But Mr. Gary's trans- i
Their value depends less on what they lation is not at hand ; and our version, i
directly represent than on what they re- however rude, is sufficient to illustrate j
motely suggest. However strange, how- our meaning. ;
ever grotesque, may be the appearance Once more, compare the lazar-house •
which Dante undertakes to describe, he in the eleventh book of the Paradise i
never shrinks from describing it. He Lost with the last ward of Malebolge in j
gives us the shape, the colour, the sound, Dante. Milton avoids the loathsome \
the smell, the taste ; he counts the num- details, and takes refuge in indistinct i
bers he
; measures the size. His similes but solemn and tremendous imagery, j
are tiie illustrations of a traveller. Un- Despair hurrying from couch to couch '
like those of other poets, and especially to mock the wretches with his attend- j
of Milton, they are introduced in a plain, ance. Death shaking his dart over them, ■
business-like manner ; not for the sake but, in spite of supplications, delaying^
of any beauty in the objects from which to strike. What says Dante? " There J
they are drawn ; not for the sake of any was such a moan there as there would ■
ornament which they may impart to the be if all the sick who, between July •
poem ; but simply in order to make the and September, are in the hospitals of '
meaning of the writer as clear to the Valdichiana, and of the Tuscan swamps, j
reader as it is to himself. The ruins of and of Sardinia, were in one pit to- ;
the precipice which led from the sixth to gether ; and such a stench was issuing
the seventh circle of hell were like those forth as is wont to issue from decayed \
of the rock which fell into the Adige on limbs." I
the south of Trent. The cataract of We will not take upon ourselves thcij
rhlegethon was like that of Aqua Cheta invidious office of settling precedency |
at the monastery of St. Benedict. The between two such writers. Each in his l,
place where the heretics were confined own department is incomparable; and )
in burning tombs resembled the vast each, we may remark, has wisely, or '
cemetery of Aries. fortunately, taken a subject adapted to
Now let us compare with the exact exhibit his peculiar talent to the greatest i
details of Dante the dim intimations of advantage. The Divine Comedy is a *
Milton. We will cite a few examples. personal narrative. Dante is the eye- J
The English poet has never thought of witness and ear-witness of that which he \
taking the measure of Satan. He gives relates. He is the very man who has ^
us merely a vague idea of vast bulk. heard the tormented spirits cn'ing out .
In one passage the fiend lies stretched for the second death, wlio has read the
out huge in length, floating many a dusky characters on the portal withm
roo<l, equal in size to the earth-born which there is no hope, who has hidden ■
enemies of Jove, or to the sea-monster his face from the terrors of the Gorgon,
which the mariner mistakes for an island. ■ who has fled from the hooks and the \
When he addresses himself to battle
seething pitch of Barbariccia and Drag- |
against the guardian angels, he stands hignazzo. His own hands have grasped
like Teneriffc or Atlas : his stature
the shaggy sides of Lucifer. His own
reaches the sky. Contrast with these
feet have climbed the mountain of expia- i
descriptions the lines in which Dante tion. His own brow has been marked '
has described the gigantic spectre of by the purifying angel. The reader \

4J
 THE ITALIAN PILGRIATS PROGRESS.

would throw aside such a tale in in- by a strange confusion of ideas, think
credulous disgust, unless it were told the reason must have been because it
with the strongest air of veracity, with a "ended happily ! " that is, because be-
sobriety even in its horrors, with the ginning with hell (to some), it termi-
greatest precision and multiplicity in its nated with "heaven" (toothers). As well 471
details. The narrative of Milton in
might they have said, that a morning's
this respect differs from that of Dante, work in the Inquisition ended happily,
as the adventures of Amadis differ from because, while people were being racked
those of Gulliver in the dungeons, the officers were making
Poetry which relates to the beings of merry in the drawing-room. For the
another world ought to be at once mys- much-injured epithet "Divine," Dante's
terious and picturesque. That of Milton memory is not responsible. He entitled
is so. That of Dante is picturesque his poem, arrogantly enough, yet still
indeed beyond any that ever was written. not with that impiety of arrogance, "The
Its effect approaches to that produced Comedy of Dante Alighieri, a Floren-
by the pencil or the chisel. But it is
tine by nation, but not by habits." The
picturesque to the exclusion of all mys- word "divine" was added by some
tery. This is a fault on the right side, a transcriber ; and it heaped absurdity on
fault inseparable from the plan of Dante's absurdity, too much of it, alas I being
poem, which, as we have already ob- literally infernal tragedy. I am not
served, rendered the utmost accuracy of spea'iiing in mockery, any further than
description necessary. Still it is a fault. the fact itself cannot help so speaking.
The supernatural agents excite an in- I respect what is to be respected in
terest but
; it is not the interest which is Dante ; I admire in him what is ad-
proper to supernatural agents. We feel mirable ;would love (if his infernalities
that we could talk to the ghosts and would let me) what is lovable ; but this
demons without any emotion of un- must not hinder one of the human race
earthly awe. We could, like Don Juan, from protesting against what is erroneous
ask them to supper, and eat heartily in in his fame, when it jars against every
their company. Dante's angels are good best feeling, human and divine. Mr.
men with wings. His devils are spiteful, Cary thinks that Dante had as much
ugly executioners. His dead men are right to avail himself of "the popular
merely living men in strange situations. creed in all its extravagance," as Homer
The scene which passes between the had of his gods, or Shakespeare of his
poet and Farinata is justly celebrated. fairies. But the distinction is obvious.
.Still, P'arinata in the burning tomb is Homer did not personally identify him-
exactly what Farinata would have been self with a creed, or do his utmost to
at an auto da fe. Nothing can be more perf>etuate the worst parts of it in be-
touching than the first interview of half of a ferocious, inquisitorial church,
Dante and Beatrice. Yet what is it but and to the risk of endangering the peace
a lovely woman chiding, with sweet, of millions of gentle minds.
austere composure, the lover for whose The great poem thus misnomered is
affection she is grateful, but whose vices partly a system of theology, partly an
she reprobates? The feelings which abstract of the knowledge of the day,
give the passage its charm would suit but chiefly a series of passionate and
the streets of Florence as well as the imaginative pictures, altogether fomiing
summit of the Mount of Purgatory. an account of the author's times, his
friends, his enemies, and himself, written
to vent the spleen of his exile, and the
THE ITALIAN PILGRIM'S. rest of his feelings, good and bad, and to
PROGRESS. reform Church and State by a spirit of
resentment and obloquy, which highly
Leigh Hunt's Stories from the Italian Poets. needed reform itself. It has also a de-
Dante entitled the saddest poem in sign strictly self-referential. The author
the world a Comedy, because it was feigns that the beatified spirit of his mis-
•arritten in a middle style ; though some, tress has obtained leave to warn and
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
47*
purify his soul by showing him the state need not be told, Pagan customs of all ,
of things in the next world. She deputes sorts, including religious and most re-
the soul of his master Virgil to conduct verend ones, are existing under the ;
him through hell and purgatory, and sanction of other names, — heathenisms!
then takes him herself through the christened. A Tuscan postilion, once^
spheres of heaven, where St. Peter cate- enumerating to me some of the native I
chises and confirms him, and where he is poets, concluded his list with Apollo ; .
finally honoured with sights of the Virgin and a plaster-cast man over here, in ;
Mary, of Christ, and even a glimpse of London, appeared much puzzled, when i
the Supreme Being ! conversing on the subject with a friend i
His hell, considered as a place, is, to of mine, how to discrepate Samson from i
speak geologically, a most fantastical Hercules.
formation. It descends from beneath Dante, accordingly, while, with the ;
Jerusalem to the centre of the earth, and frightful bigotry of the schools, he puts ■
is a funnel graduated in circles, each the whole Pagan world into hell-borders, i
circle being a separate place of torment (with the exception of two or three,
for a different vice or its co-oidinates, whose salvation adds to the absurdity,) j
and the point of the funnel terminating mingles the hell of Virgil with that of 1
with Satan stuck into ice. Purgatory is Tertullian and St. Dominic ; sets Minos ■
a corresponding mountain on the other at the door as judge ; retains Charon in \
side of the globe, commencing with the
his old office of boatman over the Stygian '
antipodes of Jerusalem, and divided into lake ; puts fabulous people with real {
exterior circles of expiation, which end among the damned. Dido, and Cacus, ;
in a table-land forming the terrestrial and Ephialtes, with Ezzelino and Pope \
paradise. From this the hero and his Nicholas the Fifth ; and associates the j
mistress ascend by a flight, exquisitely Centaurs and the Furies with the agents •
conceived, to the stars ; where the sun of diabolical torture. It has pleased him j
and the planets of the Ptolemaic system also to elevate Cato of Utica to the office j
(for the true one was unknown in Dante's of warder of purgatory, though the cen- j
time) form a series of heavens for different
sor's poor, good wife, Marcia, is detained J
virtues, the whole terminating in the in the regions below. By these and other \
empyrean, or region of pure light, and far greater inconsistencies, the whole ^
the presence of the Beatific Vision. place of punishment becomes a reduction
The boundaries of old and new, strange ad absiirdum, as ridiculous as it is melan«|
as it may now seem to us, were so con- choly ; so that one is astonished how so^
fused in those days, and books were so great a man, and especially a man who.^
rare, and the Latin poets held in such thought himself so far advanced beyond|
invincible reverence, that Dante, in one his age, and who possessed such powersS
and the same poem, speaks of the false of discerning the good and beautiful, J
gods of Paganism, and yet retains much could endure to let his mind live in so5l
of its lower mythology ; nay, invokes foul and foolish a region for any length
Apollo himself at the door of Paradise. of time, and there wreak and harden the^j
There was, perhaps, some mystical and unworthiest of his passions. Genius, )
even philosophical inclusion of the past nevertheless, is so commensurate with
in this medley, as recognising the con- absurdity throughout the book, and there i
stant superintendence of Providence ; but are even such sweet and balmy as well
that Dante partook of what may be as sublime pictures in it occasionally, nay ;
called the literary superstition of the often, that not only will the poem ever i
time, even for want of better knowledge, be worthy of admiration, but, when those !
is clear from the grave historical use he increasing purifications of Christianity
makes of poetic fables in his treatise on which our blessed reformers began shall ;
Monarchy, and in the very arguments finally precipitate the whole dregs of the ,
which he puts into the mouths of saints author into the mythology to which they ^
and apostles. There are lingering feel- belong, the world will derive a pleasure (
ings to this effect even now among the from it to an amount not to be conceived
peasantry of Italy; where, the reader till the arrival of that day. Dante, mean- j;
 473
THE ITALIAN PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

time, with an impartiality which has its smiles and its beatitude ; but always
been admired by those who can approve excepting the poetry, — especially the
the assumption of a theological tyranny similes brought from the more heavenly
at the expense of common feeling and earth, — we realise little but a fantastical
decency, has put friends as well as foes assemblage of doctors and doubtful cha-
into hell, — tutors of his childhood, kins- racters, far more angry and theological
men of those who treated him hospitably, than celestial ; giddy raptures of monks
even the father of his beloved friend, and inquisitors dancing in circles, and
Guido Cavalcante saints denouncing popes and Florentines ;
Milton has spoken of the "milder in short, a heaven libelling itself with
shades of Purgatory ; " and truly they invectives against earth, and terminating
possess great beauties. Even in a theo- in a great presumption. . . .
logical point of view they are something The people of Sienna, according to this
like a bit of Christian refreshment after national and Christian poet, were a parcel
the horrors of the Inferno. The first of coxcombs ; those of Arezzo, dogs ;
emerging from the hideous gulf to the and of Casentino, hogs. Lucca made a
sight of the blue serenity of heaven is trade of perjury. Pistoia was a den of
painted in a manner inexpressibly charm- beasts, and ought to be reduced to ashes ;
ing. So is the sea-shore with the coming and the river Arno should overflow and
of the angel ; the valley, with the angels drown every soul in Pisa. Almost all
in green ; the repose at night on the the women in Florence walked half naked
rocks ; and twenty other pictures of gen- in public, and were abandoned in private.
tleness and love. And yet special and Every brother, husband, son, and father,
great has been the escape of the Pro- in Bologna, set their women to sale. In
testant world from this part of Roman all Lombardy were not to be found three
Catholic belief; for Purgatory is the men who were not rascals ; and in Genoa
heaviest stone that hangs upon the neck and Romagna people went about pre-
of the old and feeble in that communion. tending to be men, but in reality were
Hell is avoidable by repentance ; but bodies inhabited by devils, their souls
Purgatory what modest conscience shall
having gone to the "lowest pit of hell"
escape ? Mr. Cary, in a note on a pas- to join the betrayers of their friends and
sage in which Dante recommends his kinsmen.
readers to think on what follows this So much for his beloved countrymen.
expiatory state, rather than what is suf- As for foreigners, particularly kings,
fered there, looks upon the poet's injunc- Edward the First of England and Robert
tion as an "unanswerable objection to of Scotland were a couple of grasping
the doctrine of purgatory," it being dif- fools ; the Emperor Albert was an
ficult to conceive "how the best can usurper ; Alphonso the Second of Spain,
meet death without horror, if they believe a debauchee ; the King of Bohemia, a
it must be followed by immediate and coward ; Frederick of Aragon, a coward
intense suffering." Luckily, assent is and miser ; the Kings of Portugal and
not belief; and mankind's feelings are Norway, forgers ; the King of Naples, a
for the most part superior to their opi- man whose virtues were expressed by a
nions ;otherwise the world would have unit, and his vices by a milHon ; and the
been in a bad way indeed, and Nature King of France, the descendant of a
not been vindicated of her children. But Paris butcher, and of progenitors who
let us watch and be on our guard against poisoned St. Thomas Aquinas, their de-
all resuscitations of superstition. scendants conquering with the arms of
As to our Florentine's Heaven, it is Judas rather than of soldiers, and selling
full of beauties also, though sometimes of the flesh of their daughters to old men,
a more questionable and pantomimical in order to extricate themselves from a
sort than is to be found in either of the danger
other books. I shall speak of some of But truly it is said, that, when Dante
them presently ; but the general impres- is great, nobody surpasses him. I doubt
sion of the place is, that it is no heaven if anybody equals him, as to the constant
at alL He says it is, and talks much of intensity and incessant variety of his pic-
 474 ILL USTRA TIONS.

tures ; and whatever he paints, he throws, dark as cinders, but has a sword in his
as it were, upon its own powers ; as hand too sparkling to be gazed at.
though an artist should draw figures that Dante's occasional pictures of the beau-
started into Hfe, and proceeded to action ties of external nature are worthy of
for themselves, frightening their creator. these angelic creations, and to the last
' Every motion, word, and look of these degree fresh and lovely. You long to
creatures becomes full of sensibility and bathe you eyes, smarting with the fumes
suggestions. The invisible is at the back of hell, in his dews. You gaze enchanted
of the visible ; darkness becomes palpa- on his green fields and his celestial blue
ble ; silence describes a character, nay, skies, the more so from the pain and
forms the most striking part of a story ; sorrow in midst of which the visions are
a word acts as a flash of lightning, which created.
displays some gloomy neighbourhood, Dante's grandeur of every kind is pro-
where a tower is standing, with dreadful portionate to that of his angels, almost
faces at the window ; or where, at your to his ferocity ; and that is saying every-
feet, full of eternal voices, one abyss is thing. It is not always the spiritual
beheld dropping out of another in the grandeur of Milton, the subjection of the
lurid light of torment material impression to the moral ; but it
Ginguene has remarked the singular is equally such when he chooses, and far
variety, as well as beauty, of Dante's more abundant. His infernal precipices
angels. Milton's, indeed, are common- — his black whirlwinds— his innumerable
place in the comparison. In the eighth cries and claspings of hands— his very
canto of the Inferno, the devils insolently odours of huge loathsomeness — his giants
refuse the poet and his guide an entrance at twilight standing up to the middle in
into the city of Dis. An angel comes pits, like towers, and causing earthquakes
sweeping over the Stygian lake to en- when they move — his earthquake of the
force it; the noise of his wings makes mountain in Purgatory, when a spirit is
the shores tremble, and is like a crashing set free for heaven — his dignified Mantuan
whirlwind, such as beats down the trees Sordello, silently regarding him and his
and sends the peasants and their herds
guide as they go by, ' ' like a lion on his
flying before it. The heavenly messenger, watch " — his blasphemer, Capaneus,
after rebuking the devils, touches the lying in unconquered rage and sullenness
portals of the city with his wand ; they under an eternal rain of flakes of fire
fly open ; and he returns the way he
came without uttering a word to the two (human precursor of Milton's Satan) —
his aspect of Paradise, "as if the universe
companions. His face was that of one had smiled " — his inhabitants of the
occupied with other thoughts. This angel whole planet Satum crying out so loud,
is announced by a tempest. Another, in accordance with the anti-Papal indig-
who brings the souls of the departed to nation of Saint Pietro Damiano, that the
Purgatory, is first discovered at a dis- poet, though among them, could not hear
tance, gradually disclosing white splen- ■what they said — and the blushing eclipse,
dours, which are his wings and garments. like red clouds at sunset, which takes
He comes in a boat, of which his wings
are the sails ; and as he approaches, it is place at the Apostle Peter's denunciation
of the sanguinary filth of the court of
impossible to look him in the face for its Rome, — all these sublimities, and many
brightness. Two other angels have green more, make us not know whether to 'be
wings and green garments, and the dra- more astonished at the greatness of the
pery is kept in motion like a flag by the poet or the raging littleness of the man.
vehement action of the wings. A fifth Grievous is it to be forced to bring two
has a face like the morning star, casting such opposites together ; and I wish, for
forth quivering beams. A sixth is of a the honour and glory of poetry, I did not
lustre so oppressive, that the poet feels a feel compelled to do so. But the swarthy
weight on his eyes before he knows what
P'lorentine had not the healthy tempera-
is coming. Another's presence affects ment of his brethren, and he fell upon
the senses like the fragrance of a May evil times. Compared with Homer and
morning ; and another is in garments Shakespeare, his very intensity seem*
 475
DANTE AND TACITUS.

only superior to theirs from an excess of usual

name. personal delight in a poet and his
the morbid ; and he is inferior to both in
other sovereign qualities of poetiy,— to
the one, in giving you the healthiest
general impression of nature itself, — to DANTE AND TACITUS.
Shakespeare, in boundless universality,
By Rev. H. H. Milman, History of Latin
— to most great poets, in thorough har- Christianity, Book XIV. ch. 5.
mony and delightfulness. He wanted
(generally speaking) the music of a happy Christendom owes to Dante the crea-
and a happy-making disposition. Homer, tion of Italian Poetry, through Italian, of
from his large vital bosom, breathes like Christian Poetry. It required all the
a broad fresh air over the world, amidst courage, firmness, and prophetic sagacity
alternate storm and sunshine, making you of Dante to throw aside the inflexible
aware that there is rough work to be bondage of the established hierarchical
faced, but also activity and beauty to be Latin of Europe. He had almost yielded,
enjoyed. The feeling of health and and had actually commenced the Divine
strength is predominant. Life laughs at Comedy in the ancient, it seemed, the
death itself, or meets it with a noble universal and eternal language. But the
confidence, — is not taught to dread it as poet had profoundly meditated, and de-
a malignant goblin. Shakespeare has liberately resolved on his appeal to the
all the smiles as well as tears of Nature, Italian mind and heart. Yet even then
and discerns the " soul of goodness in he had to choose, to a certain extent to
things evil." He is comedy as well as form, the pure, vigorous, picturesque,
tragedy, — the entire man in all his quali- harmonious Italian which was to be in-
ties, moods, and experiences; and he telligible, which was to become native
beautifies all. And both those truly di- and popular to the universal ear of Italy.
vine poets make Nature their subject He had to create ; out of a chaos he had
through her own inspiriting medium, — to summon light. Every kingdom, every
not through the darkened glass of one province, every district, almost every
man's spleen and resentment. Dante, in city, had its dialect, peculiar, separate,
constituting himself the hero of his poem, distinct, rude in construction, harsh, in
not only renders her, in the general im- different degrees, in utterance. Dante
pression, asdreary as himself, in spite of in his book on Vulgar Eloquence,
the occasional beautiful pictures he draws ranges over the whole land, rapidly dis-
of her, but narrows her very immensity cusses the Sicilian and Apulian, the
into his pettiness. He fancied, alas ! Roman and Spoletan, the Tuscan and
that he could build her universe over Genoese, the Romagnole and the Lom-
again out of the politics of old Rome bard, the Trevisan and Venetian, the
and the divinity of the schools ! . . . Istrianand Friulian ; all are coarse, harsh,
All that Dante said or did has its in- mutilated, defective. The least bad is
terest for us in spite of his errors, because the vulgar Bolognese. But high above
he was an earnest and suffering man and all this discord he seems to discern, and
a great genius ; but his fame must ever to receive into his prophetic ears, a noble
continue to lie where his greatest blame and pure language, common to all, pe-
does, in his principal work. He was a culiar to none — a lang[uage which he de-
gratuitous logician, a preposterous poli- scribes as Illustrious, Cardinal, Courtly,
tician, a cruel theologian ; but his won- if we may use our phrase, Parliamentary,
derful imagination, and (considering the that is, of the palace, the courts of jus-
bitterness that was in him) still more tice, and of public affairs. No doubt it
wonderful sweetness, have gone into the sprung, though its affiliation is by no
hearts of his fellow-creatures, and will means clear, out of the universal dege-
remain there in spite of the moral and nerate Latin, the rustic tongue, common
religious absurdities with which they are not in Italy alone, but in all the provinces
mingled, and of the inability which the of the Roman Empire. Its first domicile
best-natured readers feel to associate his was the splendid Sicilian and Apulian
entire memory, as a poet, with their Court of Frederick the Second, and of
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
476
his accomplished son. It has been boldly guage, of which, if he was not abso-
said, that it was part of Frederick's mag- lutely the creator, he was the first who
nificent design of universal empire : he gave it permanent and vital being, arose
would make Italy one realm, under one one of the great poets of the world.
king, and speaking one language. Dante There is a vast chasm between the
does homage to the noble character of close of Roman and the dawn of Italian
Frederick the Second. Sicily was the letters, between the period at which
birthplace of Italian Poetiy. The Sicilian appeared the last creative work written
Poems live to bear witness to the truth by transcendent human genius in the
of Dante's assertion, which might rest on Roman language, while yet in its con-
his irrefragable authority alone. The summate strength and perfection, and
Poems, one even earlier than the Court the first in which Italian poetry and
of Frederick, those of Frederick himself, the Italian tongue came forth in their
of Pietro della Vigna, of King Enzio, of majesty ; between the history of Taci-
King Manfred, with some peculiarities in tus and the Divina Commedia. No
the formation, orthography, use, and one can appreciate more highly than
sounds of words, are intelligible from one myself (if I may venture to speak of
end of the peninsula to the other. The myself) the great works of ecclesiastical
language was echoed and perpetuated, or Latin, the Vulgate, parts of the Ritual,
rather resounded spontaneously, among St. Augustine : yet who can deny that
poets in other districts. This courtly, there is barbarism, a yet unreconciled
aristocratical, universal Italian, Dante confusion of uncongenial elements, of
heard as the conventional dialect in the Orientalism and Occidentalism, in the
Courts of the Ciesars, in the republics, in language ? From the time of Trajan,
the principalities throughout Italy. Per- except Claudian, Latin letters are almost
haps Dante, the Italian, the Ghibelline, exclusively Christian ; and Christian
the assertor of the universal temporal letters are Latin, as it were, in a second-
monarchy, dwelt not less fondly in his ary and degenerate form. The new era
imagination on this universal and noble opens with Dante.
Italian language, because it would super- To my mind there is a singular kin-
sede the Papal and hierarchical Latin ; dred and similitude between the last
the Latin, with the Pope him.self, would great Latin and the first great Italian
withdraw into the sanctuary, into the writer, though one is a poet, the other
service of the Church, into affairs purely an historian. Tacitus and Dante have
spiritual. the same penetrative tnith of observa-
However this might be, to this ve- tion as to man and the external world
hicle of his noble thoughts Dante fear- of man ; the same power of expressing
lessly intrusted his poetic immortality, that truth. They have the common gift
which no poet anticipated with more of flashing a whole train of thought, a
confident security. While the scholar vast range of images on the mind, by a
Petrarch condescended to the vulgar few brief and pregnant words ; the same
tongue in his amatory poems, which he faculty of giving life to human emotions
had still a lurking fear might be but by natural images, of imparting to
ephemeral, in his Africa and in his natural images, as it were, human life
I>atin verses he laid up, as he fondly and human sympathies : each has the
thought, an imperishable treasure of intuitive judgment of saying just enough j
fame. Even lioccaccio, happily for his the stem self-restraint which will not
own glory, followed the example of say more than enough ; the rare talent
Dante, as he too probably supposed in of compressing a mass of profound
his least enduring work, his gay De- thought into an apophthegm ; each
camerone. Yet Boccaccio doubted, to- paints with words, with the fewest pos-
wards the close of his life, whether the sible words, yet the picture lives and
Divine Comedy had not been more sub- speaks. Each has that relentless moral
lime, and therefore destined to a more indignation, that awful power of satire,
secure eternity, in I^tin. which in the historian condemns to an
Thus in Italy, with the Italian lan- immortality of earthly infamy, in th«
 ATI
DANTE AND TACITUS.

Christian poet aggravates that gloomy nant stanzas, have the full meaning of
immortality of this world by ratifying it pages or chapters of divinity. But
ill the next. Each might seem to em- though his doctrine is that of Aquinas,
body remorse. Patrician, high, im- Dante has all the fervour and passion of
perial, princely, Papal criminals are the Mystics ; he is Bonaventura as well
compelled to acknowledge the justice as St. Thomas.
of their doom. Each, too, writing, one Dante was in all respects but one,
of times just passed, of which the in- his Ghibellinism, the religious poet of
fluences were strongly felt in the social his age, and to many minds not less
state and fortunes of Rome, — the other religious for that exception. He was
of his own, in which he had been ac- anti-Papal, but with the fullest reve-
tively concerned, — throws a personal rence for the spiritual supremacy of the
passion (Dante of course the most) into successor of St. Peter. To him, as to
his judgments and his language, which, most religious Imperialists or Ghibel-
whatever may be its effect on their jus- lines, to some of the spiritual Francis-
lice, adds wonderfully to their force and cans, to a vast host of believers through-
reality. Each, too, has a lofty sym- out Christendom, the Pope was two
pathy with good, only that the highest distinct personages. One, the temporal,
ideal of Tacitus is a death-defying Stoic, they scrupled not to condemn with the
or an all-accomplished Roman Procon- fiercest reprobation, to hate with the
sul, an Helvidius Thrasea, or an Agri- bitterest cordiality : Dante damns pon-
cola; that of Dante, a suffering, and so tiffs without fear or remorse. But the
purified and beatified Christian saint, or other, the Spiritual Pope, was worthy
martyr; in Tacitus it is a majestic and of all awe or reverence ; his sacred per-
virtuous Romn.n matron, an Agrippina, son must be inviolate ; his words, if not
in Dante an unreal mysterious Beatrice. infallible, must be heard with the pro-
Dante is not merely the religious poet foundest respect ; he is the Vicar of
of Latin or medieval Christianity ; in Christ, the representative of God upon
him that mediaeval Christianity is summed earth. With his Ghibelline brethren
up as it were, and embodied for per- Dante closed his eyes against the incon-
petuity. The Divine Comedy contains gruity, the inevitable incongruity, of
in its sublimest form the whole mytho- these two discordant personages meeting
logy, and at the same time the quint- in one : the same Boniface is in hell, yet
essence, the living substance, the ulti- was of such acknowledged sanctity on
mate conclusions of the Scholastic Theo- earth that it was spiritual treason to
logy. The whole course of Legend, the touch his awful person. The Saints of
Demonology, Angelology, the extra Dante are the Saints of the Church ; on
mundane world, which in the popular the highest height of wisdom is St.
belief was vague, fragmentary, incohe- Thomas, on the lughest height of ho-
rent, in Dante, as we have seen, becomes liness, St. Benedict, St. Dominic, St.
an actual, visible, harmonious system. Francis. To the religious adversaries
In Dante heathen images images, hea- of the Church he has all the stern re-
then mythology, are blended in the morselessness of an inquisitor. The
same living reality with those of Latin noble Frederick the Second, whom we
Christianity, but they are real in the have just heard described as the parent
sense of the early Christian Fathers. of Italian poetry, the model of a mighty
They are acknowledged as a part of the Emperor, the Cassar of Caesars, is in
vast hostile Demon world, just as the hell as an arch-heretic, as an atheist.
Angelic Orders, which from Jewish or In hell, in the same dreary circle, up to
Oriental tradition obtained their first his waist in fire, is the noblest of the
organization in the hierarchy of the Ghibellines, Farinata degli Uberti. In
Areopagite. So, too, the schools of hell for the same sin is the father of his
Theology meet in the poet. Aquinas, dearest friend and brother poet Guido
it has been said, has nothing more sub- Cavalcanti. Whatever latent sympathy
tile and metaphysical than the Paradise, seems to transpire for Fra Dolcino, he
only that in Dante single lines, or preg- is unrelentingly thrust down to the com-
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
478
panionship of Mohammed. The Ca- bank the Brenta, only " not so higK
tholic may not reverse the sentence of nor so wide," as any of these. And
the Church. besides the trenches, we have two well-
built castles; one like Ecbatana, with
seven circuits of wall (and surrounded
DANTE'S LANDSCAPES. by a fair stream), wherein the great
poets and sages of antiquity live; and
From Ruskin's Modern ch. 14. Painters, Vol. III. another, a great fortified city with walls
of iron, red-hot, and a deep fosse round
The thing that must first strike us in it, and full of "grave citizens," — the city
this respect, as we turn our thoughts to of Dis.
the poem, is, unquestionably, the fo)'- Now, whether this be in what we
mality of its landscape. moderns call " good taste," or not, I
Milton's effort, in all that he tells us do not mean just now to inquire, —
of his Inferno, is to make it indefinite ; Dante having nothing to do with taste,
but with the facts of what he had seen ;
Dante's, to make it definite. Both, in-
deed, describe it as entered through only, so far as the imaginative faculty of
gates ; but, within the gate, all is wild the two poets is concerned, note that
and fenceless with Milton, having in- Milton's vagueness is not the sign of
deed its four rivers,— the last vestige imagination, but of its absence, so far as
of the mediaeval tradition, — but rivers it is significative in the matter. For it
which flow through a waste of moun- does not follow, because Milton did not
taiu and moorland, and by "many a he map out his Inferno as Dante did, that
could not have done so if he had
frozen, many a fiery alp." But Dante's
Inferno is accurately separated into cir- chosen ; only, it was the easier and less
cles drawn with well-pointed compasses; imaginative process to leave it vague
ma])ped and properly surveyed in every than to define it. Imagination is always
direction, trenched in a thoroughly good the seeing and asserting faculty ; that
style of engineering from depth to depth, which obscures or conceals may be judg-
and divided in the ^^ accurate middle" ment, or feeling, but not invention.
(dritto mezzo) of its deepest abyss into a The invention, whether good or bad, is
concentric series of ten moats and em- in the accurate engineering, not in the
bankments, like those about a castle, fog and uncertainty.
with bridges from each embankment to When we pass with Dante from the
the next ; precisely in the manner of Inferno to the Purgatory, we have in-
those bridges over Hiddekel and Eu- deed more light and air, but no more
phrates, which Mr. Macaulay thinks liberty ; being now confined on various
so innocently designed, apparently not ledges cut into a mountain-side, with a
aware that he is also laughing at Dante, precipice on one hand and a vertical
These larger fosses are of rock, and the wall on the other ; and, lest here also
bridges also ; but as he goes further into we should make any mistake about
detail, Dante tells us of various minor magnitudes, we are told that the ledges
fosses and embankments, in which he were eighteen feet wide, and that the
anxiously points out to us not only the ascent from one to the other was by
formality, but the neatness and perfect- steps, made like those which go up
ness, of the stone-work. For instance, from Florence to the church of San
in describing the river Phlegethon, he Miniato.
tells us tliat it was "' paved with stone at Lastly, though in the Paradise there
the Ijoltom, and at the sides, and over is perfect freedom and infinity of space,
the iifi^cs of the sidc^," just as the water is though for trenches we have planets,
at tlie baths of Hulicame ; and for fear and for cornices constellations, yet there
we should think this embankment at all is more cadence, procession, and order
larger than it really was, Dante adds, among the redeemed souls than any
carefully, that it was made just like the others ; they fly so as to describe letters
embankments of Ghent or Bruges against and sentences in the air, and rest in
the sea, or those iu Lombardy which circles, like rainbows, or determinate
 419
DANTE'S LANDSCAPES.

figures, as of a cross and an eagle ; in nightingales, which sing " in the green
which certain of the more glorified glades and in the dark ivy, and in the
natures are so arranged as to form the thousand-fruited, sunless, and windless
eye of the bird, while those most highly thickets of the god " (Bacchus) ; the idea
blessed are arranged with their white of the complete shelter from wind and
crowds in leaflets, so as to form the sun being here, as with Ulysses, the
image of a white rose in the midst of uppermost one. After this come the
heaven. usual staples of landscape, — narcissus,
Thus, throughout the poem, I con- crocus, plenty of rain, olive-trees ; and
ceive that the first striking character of last, and the greatest boast of all, — " it
its sceneiy is intense definition ; pre- is a good country for horses, and con-
cisely the reflection of that definitiveness
veniently bythe sea ; " but the promi-
which we have already traced in picto- nence and pleasantness of the thick
rial art. But the second point which wood in the thoughts of the writer are
seems noteworthy is, that the flat ground very notable ; whereas to Dante the
and embanked trenches are reserved for idea of a forest is exceedingly repulsive,
the Inferno ; and that the entire terri- so that, as just noticed, in the opening
tory of the Purgatory is a mountain, of his poem, he cannot expiess a general
thus marking the sense of that purifying despair about life more strongly than by
and perfecting influence in mountains saying he was lost in a wood so savage
which we saw the mediaeval mind was
and terrible, that "even to think or speak
so ready to suggest. The same general of it is distress, — it was so bitter, — it was
idea is indicated at the very commence- something next door to death " ; and
ment of the poem, in which Dante is over- one of the saddest scenes in all the
whelmed byfear and sorrow in passing Inferno is in a forest, of which the trees
through a dark forest, but revives on are haunted by lost souls ; while, (wi'li
seeing the sun touch the top of a hill, only one exception,) whenever tlic
afterwards called by Virgil " the pleasant country is to be beautiful, we find our-
mount, — the cause and source of all selves coming out into open air and open
meadows.
delight."
While, however, we find this greater It is quite true that this is partly a
honour paid to mountains, I think we characteristic, not merely of Dante, or
may perceive a much greater dread and of medieval writers, but of Southern
dislike of woods. We saw that Homer writers ; for the simple reason that the
seemed to attach a pleasant idea, for forest, being with them higher upon
the most part, to forests ; regarding the hills, and more out of the way, than
them as sources of wealth and places in the north, was generally a type of
of shelter ; and we find constantly an lonely and savage places ; while in
idea of sacredness attached to them, as England, the " greenwood" coming up
being haunted especially by the gods ; to the very walls of the towns, it was
so that even the wood which surrounds
possible to be " merry in the good
the house of Circe is spoken of as a greenwood," in a sense which an Italian
sacred thicket, or rather as a sacred could not have understood. Hence
glade, or labyrinth of glades (of the par- Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare send
ticular word used I shall have more to their favourites perpetually to the woods
say presently) ; and so the wood is for pleasure or meditation ; and trust
sought as a kindly shelter by Ulysses, in their tender Canace, or Rosalind, or
spite of its wild beasts ; and evidently Helena, or Silvia, or Belphoebe, where
regarded with great afliection by So- Dante would have sent no one but a
phocles, for, in a passage which is always condemned spirit. Nevertheless, there
regarded by readers of Greek tragedy is always traceable in the mediaeval
with peculiar pleasure, the aged and mind a dread of thick foliage, which
blind Qidipus, brought to rest in "the was not present to that of a Greek ; so
sweetest resting-place " in all the neigh- that, even in the North, we have our
bourhood of Athens, has the spot de- sorrowful " children in the wood," and
«crjbed to him as haunted perpetually by black huntsmen of the Hartz forests.
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
48o
and such other wood terrors ; the prin- are removed in this paradise; and even
cipal reason for the difference being, the pathlessness of the wood, the most!
that a Greek, being by no means given dreadful thing possible to him in his
to travelling, regarded his woods as so days of sin and shortcoming, is now a
much valuable property, and, if he joy to him in his days of purity. And
ever went into them for pleasure, ex- as the fenceles-sness and thicket of sin
pected to meet one or two gods in the led to the fettered and fearful order of
course of his walk, but no banditti ; eternal punishment, so the fencelessness
while a mediaeval, much more of a and thicket of the free virtue lead to the
solitary traveller, and expecting to meet loving and constellated order of eternal
with no gods in the thickets, but only
with thieves, or a hostile ambush, or a happiness.
This forest, then, is very like that
bear, besides a great deal of trouble- of Colonos in several respects, — in its:
some ground for his horse, and a very peace and sweetness, and number o^
serious chance, next to a certainty, of birds ; it differs from it only in letting'
losing his way, naturally kept in the a light breeze through it, being there-
of>en ground as long as he could, and fore somewhat thinner than the Greek
regarded the forests, in general, with wood ; the tender lines which tell of
anything but an eye of favour. the voices of the birds mingling with'i
These, I think, are the principal the wind, and of the leaves all turning
points which must strike us, when we one way before it, have been more or
first broadly think of the poem as com- less copied by every poet since Dante's;
pared with classical work. Let us now time. They are, so far as I know, the|
go a little more into detail. sweetest passage of wood description
As Homer gave us an ideal landscape, which exists in literature. '
which even a god might have been Before, however, Dante has gone fari
pleased to behold, so l3ante gives us, in this wood, — that is to say, only soi
fortunately, an ideal landscape, which is far as to have lost sight of the placd
sjiecially intended for the terrestrial para- where he entered it, or rather, 1 sup-,
dise. And it will doubtless be with pose, of the light under the boughs of
some surprise, after our reflections above the outside trees, and it must have been,
on the general tone of Dante's feelings, a very thin wood indeed if he did notj
that we find ourselves here first entering do this in some quarter of a mile's;
a forest, and that even a thick forest. walk, — he comes to a little river, threei
But there is a peculiar meaning in this. paces over, which bends the blades of
With any other poet than Dante, it grass to the left, with a meadow oii'
might have been regarded as a wanton the other side of it ; and in thiS;
inconsistency. Not so with him : by meadow ;'
glancing back to the two lines which
explain the nature of Paradise, we shall " A lady, graced with solitude, who went 1
Singing and setting flower by flower apart, \
see what he means by it. Virgil tells By which the path she walked on was besprent \
him, as he enters it, " Henceforward, ' Ah, lady beautilul, that basking art !
take thine own pleasure for guide ; thou in beams of love, if 1 nuty trust thy face,
Which uselh to bear witness of the heart, (
art beyond the steep ways, and beyond
Let Uking come on thee,' said I, ' to trace i
all Art ;" — meaning, that the perfectly 'I"hy path a httle closer to the shore, i
Eurified and noble human creature, Where I may reap the hearing of thy lays. "
aving no pleasure but in right, is past Thou niindcst me, how Proserpine of yore i
nil effort, and past all rttle. Art has no Appeared
ther in such a place, what time her mo i'
existence for such a being. Hence, the Lost her, and she did spring, forevermore.'
first aim of Dante, in his landscape As, pointing downwards and to one another
imagery, is to show evidence of this Her feet, a lady bendeth in the dance, \
And barely settolh one More the other,
perfect lilxsrty, and of the purity and Thus, on the scarlet and the saffron glance ]
sinlessness of the new nature, converting Of flowers with motion maidenlike she bent ,
pathless ways into ha])py ones. So that (Her modest eyelids drooping and askance) ; J
all those fences and formalisms which And there she gave my wishes their content, I
Approaching, so that her sweet melodies j
bad been needed for him in imperfection Arrived upon mine ear with what they meant j
(

J
 DANTE'S LANDSCAPES.

SVhen first she came amongst the blades that rise, " A lady, young and beautiful, I dreamed,
Already wetted, from the goodly river, Was passing o'er a lea ; and, as she came,
She graced me by the lifting of her eyes." Methought I saw her ever and anon
Cayley. Bending to cull the flowers ; and thus she sang ;
' Know ye, whoever of my name would ask, 481
That I am Leah ; for my brow to weave
I have given this passage at length, A garland, these fair hands unwearied ply ;
because, for our purposes, it is by much To please me at the crystal mirror, here
the most important, not only in Dante, I deck me. But my sister Rachel, she
Before her glass abides the livelong day.
but in the whole circle of poetry. This Her radiant eyes beholding, charmed no less
lady, observe, stands on the opposite Than I with this delightful task. Her joy
side of the little stream, which, pre- In contemplation, as m labour mine.'"
sently, she explains to Dante is Lethe,
having power to cause forgetfulness of This vision of Rachel and Leah has
all evil, and she stands just among the been always, and with unquestionable
bent blades of grass at its edge. She is truth, received as a type of the Active
first seen gathering flower from flower, and Contemplative life, and as an intro-
duction to the two divisions of the
then " passing continually the multitu- Paradise which Dante is about to enter.
dinous flowers through her hands," smil-
ing at the same time so brightly, that Therefore the unwearied spiiit of the
her first address to Dante is to prevent Countess Matilda is understood to re-
him from wondering at her, saying, "if present the Active life, which forms
he will remember the verse of the ninety- the felicity of Earth; and the spirit of
second Fsalm, beginning * Delectasti,' he Beatrice the Contemplative life, which
will know why she is so happy." forms the felicity of Heaven. This
And turning to the verse of the Psalm, interpretation appears at first straight-
we find it written, "Thou, Lord, hast forward and certain, but it has missed
made me glad through thy works. I will count of exactly the most important
triumph in the works of thy hands;" or, fact in the two passages which we have
in the very words in which Dante would to explain. Observe : Leah gathers the
read it, — flowers to decorate herself, and delights
in Her Own Labor. Rachel sits silent,
" Quia delectasti me, Domine, in factura tua,
Et in operibus manuum Tuarum exi4tabo." contemplating herself, and delights in
Her (him Image. These are the types
Now we could not for an instant have of the Unglorified Active and Contem-
had any difficulty in understanding this, plative powers of Man. But Beatrice
but that, some way farther on in the and Matilda are the same powers. Glori-
poem, this lady is called Matilda, and it fied. And how are they Glorified ? Leah
is with reason supposed by the commen- took delight in her own labour ; but
tators to be the great Countess Matilda Matilda — "in operibus manuum Tua-
of the eleventh century ; notable equally rum"— in God's ill 6our ;— Rachel in the
for her ceaseless activity, her brilliant sight of her own face ; Beatrice in the
Eolitical genius, her perfect piety, and sight of God's face.
er deep reverence for the see of Rome. And thus, when afterwards Dante
This Countess Matilda is therefore Dante's sees Beatrice on her throne, and prays
guide in the terrestrial paradise, as Bea- her that, when he himself shall die,
tiice is afterwards in the celestial ; each she would receive him with kindness,
of them having a spiritual and symbolic Beatrice merely looks down for an
character in their glorified state, yet instant, and answers with a single
retaining their definite personality. smile, then " towards the eternal foun-
The question is, then, what is the
symbolic character of the Countess tain turns." it is evident that Dante dis-
Therefore
Matilda, as the guiding spirit of the tinguishes in both cases, not between
terrestrial paradise ? Before Dante had earth and heaven, but between perfect
entered this paradise he had rested on and imperfect happiness, whether in
a step of shelving rock, and as he earth or heaven. The active life which
watched the stars he slept, and dreamed, has only the service of man for its end,
and thus tells us what he saw :— and therefore gathers flowers, with Leah,
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
4Sa
for its own decoration, is indeed happy,
but not perfectly so; it has only the DANTE'S CREED.
happiness of the dream, belonging essen- From the Foreign Quarterly Review,
tially to the dream of human life, and No. LXV. Art. I.
passing away with it. But the active
life which labours for the more and more Another thought sustained him, and
was the end towards which he directed
discovery of God's work, is perfectly
happy, and is the life of the terrestrial all the energies which love had roused
paradise, being a true foretaste of heaven, within him ; and this must be specially
and beginning in earth, as heaven's ves- insisted upon, because, wonderfully
tibule. So also the contemplative life enough! even in the present day it is
which is concerned with human feeling either misunderstood or lightly treated
and thought and beauty — the life which by all who busy themselves about Dante.
is in earthly poetry and imagery of noble This aim is the national aim, — the same
earthly emotion — is happy, but it is the desire that vibrates instinctively in the
happiness of the dream ; the contempla- bosoms of twenty-two millions of men,
and which is the secret of the immense
tive life which has God's person and
love in Christ for its object, has the popularity Dante has in Italy. This idea
happiness of eternity. But because this and the almost superhuman constancy
higher happiness is also begun here on with which he pursued it, render Dante
earth, Beatrice descends to earth ; and the most complete individual incarnation
when revealed to Dante first, he sees of this aim that we know, and, notwith-
the image of the twofold personality standing, this is just the point upon
of Christ reflected in her eyes ; as which his biographers are the most un-
the flowers, which are, to the me- certain
diaeval heart, the chief work of God, It must be said and insisted upon, that
are for ever passing through Matilda's this idea of national greatness is the
hattds. leading thought in all that Dante did or
Now, therefore, we see that Dante, as wrote. Never man loved his country
tlie great prophetic exponent of the heart with a more exalted or fervent love ;
of the Middle Ages, has, by the lips of never had man such projects of magni-
the spirit of Matilda, declared the me- ficent and exalted destinies for her. All
diaeval faith, — that all perfect active life who consider Dante as a Guelph or a
Ghibelline grovel at the base of the
was "the expression of man's delight in monument which he desired to raise to
Gocfs work:" and that all their political
and warlike enei^, as fully shown in Italy. We are not here required to give
the mortal life of Matilda, was yet in- an opinion upon the degree of feasibility
ferior and impure, — the energy of the of Dante's ideas, — the future must de-
dream, — compared with that which on cide this point. What we have to do is
the opposite bank of Lethe stood to show what Dante aimed at, in order
"choosing flower from flower." And that those who desire to come to a just
what joy and peace there were in this estimate of his life may have sufficient
work is marked by Matilda's l>eing the grounds to judge him. This we shall
person who draws Dante through the do as rapidly as possible, relying upon
stream of Lethe, so as to make him passages in the Convito, and his little
forget all sin, and all sorrow : throwing treatise De ATonarchia, for our authority.
iier arms round him, she plunges his The following, then, is a summary of
head under the waves of it ; then draws what, in the thirteenth centiiry, Dante
believed.
him through, crying to him, "Hold me,
hold me'''' (Tiemmi, tiemmi), and so God is one, — the universe is one
presents him, thus bathed, free from all thought of God, — the universe there-
painful memory, at the feet of the spirit fore isone. All things come from God^
of the more heavenly contemplation. — they all participate, more or less, in
the Divine nature, according to the end
for which they are created. They all
float towards different points over the
 483
DANTE'S CREED.

great ocean of existence, but they are a;ll which the general inspiration of mankind
moved by the same will. Flowers in the ascends, thence to flow down again in
garden of God all merit our love accord- the fonn of Law, — a power strong in
ing to the degree of excellence he has unity, and in the supporting advice of
bestowed upon each ; of these Man is the higher intellects naturally destined to
the most eminent. Upon him God has rule, providing with calm wisdom for all
bestowed more of his own nature than the different functions which are to be
upon any other creature. In the con- fulfilled, — the distinct employments, —
tinuous scale of being, that man whose itself performing the part of pilot, of
nature is the most degraded touches supreme chief, in order to bring to the
upon the animal ; he whose nature is
highest perfection what Dante calls "the
the most noble approaches that of the universal religion of human nature ;"
angel. Everything that comes from the that is, empire, — Imperium. It will
hand of God tends towards the perfec- maintain concord amongst the rulers of
tion of which it is susceptible, and man states, and this peace will diffuse itself
more fervently and more vigorously than from thence into towns, from the towns
all the rest. There is this difference among each cluster of habitations, into
between him and other creatures, that every house, into the bosom of each
his perfectibility is what Dante calls man. But where is the seat of this
possible, meaning inde^ni/e. Coming from empire to be ?
the bosom of God, the human soul in- At this question Dante quits all ana-
cessantly aspires towards Him, and en- lytic argumentation, and takes up the
deavours byholiness and knowledge to language of synthetical and absolute
become reunited with Him. Now the affirmation, like a man in whom the
life of the individual man is too short
least expression of doubt excites asto-
nishment.
and too weak to enable him to satisfy
that yearning in this world ; but around He is no longer a philosopher, he is
him, before him, stands the whole hu- a believer. He shows Rome, the Holy
man race to which he is allied by his City, as he calls her, — the city whose
social nature, — that never dies, but very stones he declares to be worthy
works through one generation of its of reverence, — " There is the seat of
members after another onwards, in the
road to eternal truth. Mankind is one. empire." There never was, and there
never will be, a people endowed with
God has made nothing in vain, and if more gentleness for the exercise of com-
there exists a multitude, a collective of mand, with more vigour to maintain it,
men, it is because there is one aim for and more capacity to acquire it, than the
them all, — one work to be accomphshed Italian nation, and above all, the Holy
by them all. Whatever this aim may Roman people.
be, it does certainly exist, and we must
endeavour to discover and attain it.
Mankind, then, ought to work together,
in order that all the intellectual powers THE DIVINA COMMEDIA.
that are bestowed amongst them may
receive the highest possible development^ From the German of Schelling.
whether in the sphere of thought or ac-
tion. Itis only by harmony, consequently In the sanctuary where Religion "is
by association, that this is possible. married to immortal verse " stands Dante
Mankind must be one, even as God is as high-priest, and consecrates all modem
one ; — one in organization, as it is already Art to its vocation. Not as a solitary
one in its principle. Unity is taught by poem, but representing the whole class
the manifest design of God in the ex- of the New Poetry, and itself a separate
ternal world, and by the necessity of an class, stands the " Divine Comedy," so
aim. Now unity seeks for something by entirely unique, that any theory drawn
which it may be represented, and this is from peculiar forms is quite inadequate
found in a unity of government. There to it ;— a world by itself, it demands its
must then of necessity be some centre to. own peculiar theory. The predicate of
4&J ILLUSTRA TIONS.

Divine was given it by its author,* be- unity to that portion of the world which
cause it treats of theology and things is revealed to him, and out of the mate-
divine; Comedy he called it, after the rials of his time, its history, and its
simplest science, creates his own mythology. For
kind, on notion"
account ofof this and itsbeginning
its fearful opposite as the ancient world is, in general, the
and its happy ending, and because the world of classes, so the modem is that
mixed nature of the poem, whose mate- of individuals. In the former the Uni-
rial is now lofty and now lowly, rendered versal isin truth the Particular, the race
a mixed kind of style necessary. acts as an individual ; in the latter, the
One readily perceives, however, that, Individual is the point of departure, and
according to the common notion, it becomes the Universal. For this reason,
cannot be called Dramatic, because it in the former all things are permanent
represents no circumscribed action. So and imperishable : number likewise is
far as Dante himself may be looked upon of -no account, since the Universal idea
as the hero, who serves only as a thread coincides with that of the Individual ;—
for the measureless series of visions and in the latter constant mutation is the
pictures, and remains rather passive than fixed law ; no narrow circle limits its
active, the poem seems to approach nearer ends, but one which through Individu-
to a Romance ; yet this definition does ality widens itself to infinitude. And
not completely exhaust it. Nor can we since Universality bekmgs to the essence
call it Epic, in the usual acceptation of poetry, it is a necessaiy condition that
of the word, since there, is no regular the Individual through the highest pecu-
sequence in the events represented. To liarity should again become Universal,
look upon it as a Didactic poem is like- and by his complete speciality become
wise impossible, because it is written again absolute. Thus, through the per-
with a far less restricted form and aim fect individuality and uniqueness of his
than that of teaching. It belongs, there- poem, Dante is the creator of modem
fore, to none of these classes in parti- art, which without this arbitrary neces-
cular, nor is it merely a compound of sity, and necessary arbitrariness, cannot
them ; but an entirely unique, and as it be imagined.
Were organic, mixture of all their ele- From the very beginning of Greek
rtients, not to be reproduced by any Poetry, we see it clearly separated from
arV)itrary rules of art, — an absolute in- Science and Philosophy, as in Homer ;
dividuality, comparable with itself alone, and this process of separation continued
and with naught else. until the poets and the philosophers be-
The material of the poem is, in general came the antipodes of each other. They
terms, the express identity of the poet's in vain, by allegorical interpretations of
age ;— the interpenetration of the events the Homeric poems, sought artificially to
thereof with the ideas of Religion, create a harmony between the two. In
Science, and Poetry in the loftiest genius modem times Science has preceded
of that century. Our intention is not to Poetry and Mythology, which cannot be
consider it in its immediate reference to
Mythology without being universal, and
its age ; but rather in its universal appli- drawing into its circle all the elements of
cation, and as the archetype of all modern the then existing culture. Science, Reli-
Poetry. gion, and even Art, and joining in a
The necessary law of this poetry, down ^perfect unity the material not only of the
to the still indefinitely distant point where present but of the past. Into this strug-
the great epic of motlem times, which gle (since Art demands somethingdefinite
hitherto has announced itself only rhap- and limited, while the spirit of the world
sodically and in broken glimpses, shall rushes towards the unlimited, and with
present itself as a perfect whole, is this, ceaseless power sweeps down all bar-
—that the individual gives shape and riers) must the Individual enter, but with
absolute freedom seek to rescue perma-
nent shapes from the fluctuations of time,
• The title of " Divina " was not given to
and within arbitrarily assumed fomis to
the poem till lon^ after Dante's death. It first give to the structure of his poem, by iti
appears in the edition of 1516. — Tr.
 485
THE DIVI^A COMMEDIA.

absolute peculiarity, internal necessity poet has to do, in order to embody into
and external universality. a poetic whole the entire history and
This Dante has done. He had before culture of his age, — the only mytholo-
him, as material, the history of the gical material which lies before him.
present as well as of the past. He could He must, from absolute arbitrariness,
not elaborate this into a pure Epos, join together the allegorical and histori-
partly on account of its nature, partly cal :he must be allegorical, (and he is so,
because, in doing this, he would have too, against his will, ) because he cannot
excluded other elements of the culture be symbolical ; and he must be histori-
of his time. To its completeness be- cal, because he wishes to be poetical.
longed also the astronomy, the theology, In this respect his invention is always
and the philosophy of the time. To peculiar, a world by itself, and alto-
these he could not give expression in a gether characteristic.
didactic poem, for by so doing he would The only German poem of universal
again have limited himself. Conse- plan unites together in a similar manner
quently, in order to make his poem the outermost extremes in the aspira-
universal, he was obliged to make it tions of the times, by a very peculiar
historical. An invention entirely un- invention of a subordinate mythology,
controlled, and proceeding from his own in the character of Faust ; although, in
individuality, was necessary to unite the Aristophanic meaning of the word,
these materials, and form them into an it may far better be called a Comedy,
organic whole. To represent the ideas and in another and more poetic sense
of Philosophy and Theology in symbols Divine, than the poem of Dante.
was impossible, for there then existed no The energy with which the individual
symbolic Mythology. He could quite as embodies the singular mixture of the
little make his poem purely allegorical, materials which lie before him in his age
for then, again, it could not be histori- and his life, determines the measure in
cal. It was necessary, therefore, to which he possesses mythological power.
make it an entirely unique mixture of Dante's personages possess a kind of
Allegory and History. In the emble- eternity from the position in which he
matic poetry of the ancients no clue of places them, and which is eternal ; but
this kind was possible. The Individual not only the actual which he draws from
only could lay hold of it, and only an his own time, as the story of Ugolino
uncontrolled invention follow it. and the like, but also what is pure in-
The poem of Dante is not allegorical vention, as the death of Ulysses and his
in the sense that its figures only signified companions, has in the connection of his
something else, without having any poem a real mythological truth.
separate existence independent of the It would be of but subordinate interest
thing signified. On the other hand, to represent by itself the Philosophy,
none of them is independent of the Physics, and Astronomy of Dante, since
thing signified in such a way as to be at his true peculiarity lies only in his man-
once the idea itself and more than an ner of fusing them with •is poetry. The
allegory of it. There is therefore in Ptolemaic system, which to a certain
his poem an entirely unique mean degree is the foundation of his poetic
between Allegory and symbolic-objective structure, has already in itself a mytho-
Form. There is no doubt, and the poet logical colouring. If, however, his phi-
has himself elsewhere declared it, that losophy isto be characterized in general
Beatrice, for example, is an Allegory, as Aristotelian, we must not understand
namely, of Theology. So her com- by this the pure Peripatetic philosophy,
panions ; so many other characters. but a peculiar union of the same wjth
But at the same time they count for the ideas of the Platonic then entertained,
themselves, and appear on the scene as as may be proved by many passages of
historic personages, without on that ac- his poem.
count being symbols. We will not dwell upon the power
In this respect Dante is archetypal, and solidity of separate passages, the
since he has proclaimed what the modern simplicity and endless naiveti of separate
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
486
{)ictures, in which he expresses his phi- as an emblematical expression of the
osophical views, as the well-known de- internal type of all Science and Poetry,
scription ofthe soul which comes from is that form eternal, and capable of em-
the hand of God as a little girl "weep- bracing in itself the three great objects
ing and laughing in its childish sport," of science and culture, — Nature, History,
a guileless soul, which knows nothing, and Art. Nature, as the birth of all
save that, moved by its joyful Creator, things, is the eternal Night ; and as that
"willingly it turns to that which gives unity through which these are in them-
it pleasure ; "—we speak only of the selves, itis the aphelion of the universe
general symbolic form of the whole, in the point of farthest removal from God,
whose absoluteness, more than in any- the true centre. Life and History, whose
thing else, the universal value and im- nature is gradual progress, are only a
mortality ofthis poem is recognized. process of clarification, a transition to an
If the union of Philosophy and Poetry, absolute condition. This can nowhere
even in their most subordinate synthesis, be found save in Art, which anticipates
is understood as making a didactic poem, eternity, is the paradise of hfe, and is
it becomes necessary, since the poem truly in the centre.
must be without any external end and Dante's poem, therefore, viewed from
aim, that the intention (of instructing) all sides, is not an isolated work of a
should lose itself in it, and be changed particular age, a particular stage of cul-
into an absoluteness [in eine Absoluthdt ture ;but it is archetypal, by the uni-
verwandelt), so that the poem may seem versal interest which it ui\ites with the
to exist for its own sake. And this is most absolute individuality,— by its uni-
only conceivable, when Science (con- versality, invirtue of which it excludes
sidered as a picture of the universe, and no side of life and culture, —and, finally,
in perfect harmony therewith, as xhe by its form, which is not a peculiar type,
most original and beautiful Poetry) is in but the type of the theory of the universe
itself already poetical. Dante's poem is in general.
a much higher iiiterpenetration of Sci- The peculiar internal arrangement of
ence and Poetry, and so much the more the poem certainly cannot possess this
must its form, even in its freer self- universal interest, since it is formed upon
existence, be adapted to the universal the ideas of the time, and the peculiar
views of the poet. On the other hand,
typeTheof division
the world's aspect.
of the universe, and the as is to be expected from a work so
arrangement of the materials according artistic and full of purpose, the general
to the three kingdoms of Hell, Purga- inner type is again externally imaged
tory, and Paradise, independently of the forth, through the form, colour, sound,
peculiar meaning of these ideas in Chris- of the three great divisions of the poem.
tian theology, are also a general symbolic From the extraordinary nature of his
form, so that one docs not see why material, Dante needed for the form of
under the same form every remarkable his creations in detail some kind of cre-
age should nc# have its own Divine dentials which only the Science of his |
Comedy. As in the modern Drama time could give, and which for him are, '^
the form of five acts is assumed as the so to speak, the Mythology and the ,
usual one, liecause every event may be general basis which supports the daring
regarded in its Beginning, its Progress, edifice of his inventions. But even in
its Culmination, its Dinouemeut, and the details he remains true to his design
ts final Consummation, so this tricho- of Ijeing allegorical, without ceasing to be
tomy, or threefold division of Dante in historical and poetical. Hell, Pui^tory,
th^ higher prophetic poetry, which is to and Paradise are, as it were, only his
be the expression of a whole age, is con- system of Theology in its concrete and
ceivable as a general form, which in its architectural development. The propor-
filling up may Vie infinitely varied, as by tion, number, and relations which he
the power of original invention it can observes in their internal structure were
always be quickened into new life. Not prescribed by this science, and herein he
alone, however, as an external form, but renounced intentionally the freedom ol

U
 487
THE DIVINA COMMEDIA.

invention, in order to give, by means gatorio deep silence reigns, for the
of form, necessity and limitation to his lamentations of the lower world grow
poem, which in its materials was unli- mute ; upon its summits, the forecourts
mited. The universal sanctity and signi- of Heaven, all becomes colour : the Para-
ficancy of numbers is another external diso is the true music of the spheres.
form upon which his poetry rests. So The variety and difference of the
in general the entire logical and syllo- punishments in the Inferno are con-
gistic lore of that age is for him only ceived with almost unexampled inven-
fomi, which must be granted to him in tion. Between the crime and the punish -
order to attain to that region in which ment there is never any other than a
his poetry moves. poetic relation. Dante's spirit is not
And yet in this adherence to religious daunted by what is terrible ; nay, he
and philosophical notions, as the most goes to its extreme limits. But it could
universally interesting thing which his be shown, in every case, that he never
age offered, Dante never seeks an ordi- ceases to be sublime, and in consequence
nary kind of poetic probability ; but truly beautiful. For that which men
rather renounces all intention of flatter- who are not capable of comprehending
ing the baser senses. His first entrance the whole have sometimes pointed out
into Hell takes place, as it should take as low, is not so in their sense of the
place, without any unpoetical attempt term, but it is a necessary element of the
to assign a motive for it or to make it mixed nature of the poem, on account of
intelligible, in a condition like that of a which Dante himself called it a Comedy.
Vision, without, however, any intention The hatred of evil, the scorn of a god-
of making it appear such. His being
like spirit, which are expressed in Dante's
drawn up by Beatrice's eyes, through fearful composition, are not the inherit-
which the divine power is communicated ance of common souls. It is indeed very
doubtful still, though quite generally
to him,
what he' expresses
is wonderful in hisinown
a single line :
adventures believed, whether his banishment from
he immediately changes to a likeness of Florence, after he had previously dedi-
the mysteries of religion, and gives it cated his poetry to Love, first spurred
credibility by a yet higher mystery, as on his spirit, naturally inclined to what-
when he makes his entrance into the ever was earnest and extraordinary, to the
moon, which he compares to that of light highest invention, in which he breathed
into the unbroken surface of water, an forth the whole of his life, of the destiny
image of God's incarnation. of his heart and his country, together
To show the perfection of art and the with his indignation thereat. But the
depth of purpose which was carried even vengeance which he takes in the Inferno,
into the minor details of the inner struc- he takes in the name of the Day of
ture of the three worlds, would be a Judgment, as the elected Judge with
science in itself. This was recognized Erophetic power, not from personal hate,
shortly after the poet's death by his ut with a pious soul roused by the abo-
nation, in their appointing a distinct minations ofthe times, and a love of his
Lectureship upon Dante, which was first native land long dead in others, ^ he
filled by Boccaccio. has himself represented in a passage in
But not only do the several incidents the Paradiso, where he says : —
in each of the three parts of the poem
allow the universal character of the first " If e'er it happen that the Poem sacred.
To which both Earth and Heaven have lent
form to shine through them, but the law their hand.
thereof expresses itself yet more definitely Till it hath made me meagre many a year.
in the inner and spiritual rhythm, by Conquer the cruelty that shuts me out
Of the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered,
which they are contradistinguished from An enemy to the wolves that war upon it,
each other. The Inferno, as it is the With other voice forthwith, with other fleece,
most fearful in its objects, is likewise The poet shall return, and at the font
the strongest in expression, the severest Baptismal Aall he take the crown of laurel."
in diction, and in its very words dark He tempers the horror of the torments
and awful. In one portion of the Pur- of the damned by his own feeling for
K ic
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
488
them, which at the end of so much suf- dually to behold the colourless pure
fering so overwhelms him that he is essence of Deity itself.
ready to weep, and Virgil says to him, The astronomical system which the
"Wherefore then art thou troubled?" age of the poet invested with a mytho-
It has already been remarked, that the logical value, the nature of the stars and
greater part of the punishments of the of the measure of their motion, are the
Inferno are symbolical of the crimes for ground upon which bis inventions, in
which they are inflicted, but many of this part of the poem, rest. And if he
them are so in a far more general rela- in this sphere of the unconditioned still
tion. Of this kind is, in particular, the suffers degrees and differences to exist,
representation of a metamorphosis, in he again removes them by the glorious
which two natures are mutually in- word which he puts into the mouth of
terchanged, and their substance trans- one of the sister-souls whom he meets in
muted. No metamorphosis of Antiquity the moon, that " every Where in heaven
can comnpare with this for invention,
and if a naturalist or a didactic poet is Paradise."
The plan of the poem renders it natural
were able to sketch with such power that, on the very ascent through Para-
emblems of the eternal metamorphoses dise, the loftiest speculations of theology
of nature, he might congratulate himself should be discussed. His deep reverence
upon it. for this science is symbolized by his love
As we have already remarked, the of Beatrice. In proportion as the field
Inferno is not only distinguished from of vision enlarges itself into the purely
the other parts by the external form of Universal, it is necessary that Poetry
its representation, but also by the cir- should become Music, foim vanish, and
cumstance that it is peculiarly the realmthat, in this point of view, the Inferno
should appear the most poetic part of the
Oi' forms, and conseciuently the plastic work. But in this work it is absolutely
Eart of the poem. The Purgatorio must
e recognized as the picturesque part. mipossible to take things separately ; and
Not only are the penances here inifKjsed the peculiar excellence of each separate
upon sinners at times pictorially treated, part is authenticated and recognized only
even to brightness of colouring, but the through its harmony with the whole. If
journey up the holy mountain of Purga- the relation of the three parts to the
tory presents in detail a rapid succession whole is perceived, we shall neces-
of shifting landscapes, scenes, and mani- sarily recognize the Paradiso as the
fold play of light ; until upon its outer- purely musical and lyrical portion, even
most boundary, when the poet has in the design of the poet, who ex-
reached the waters of Lethe, the highest presses this in the external form by the
pomp of painting and colour displays frequent use of the Latin words of
itself, in the picturing of the divine Church hymns.
primeval forest of this region, of the The marvellous grandeur of the poem,
celestial clearness of the water overcast which gleams forth in the mingling of all
with its eternal shadow, of the maiden the elements of poetry and art, reaches
wh^n he meets upon its banks, and the in this way a perfect manifestation.
descent of Beatrice in a cloud of flowers, This divine work is not plastic, not
l>eneath a white veil, crowned with olive, picturesque, not musical, but all of these
at once and in accordant harmony. It
wrapped in a green mantle, and "vested
in colours of the living flame." is not dramatic, not epic, not lyric, but a
The poet has urged his way to light fieculiar, unique, and unexampled ming-
through the very heart of the earth : in ing of all these.
J.he darkness of the lower world forms I think I have shown, at the same
alOkne could be distinguished : in Purga- time, that it is prophetic, and typical of
tory i^ight is kindled, but still in con- all the modern Poetry. It embraces all
comesnection' with earthly
coPour. matter,
In Paradise there and be- its characteristics, and springs out of the
remains intricately mingled materials of the same,
nothing biVu the pure music of the light ; as the first growth, stretching itself above
reflection ceases, and the Poet rises gra- the earth and toward the heavens, — the
 THE DIVINA COMMEDIA. 489

first fruit of transfiguration. Those who its entireness, and that it is not held
would become acquainted with the poetry together by a loosely woven band. They
of modern times, not superficially, but at who have no vocation for this can apply
its fountain-head, may train themselves to themselves the words at the beginning
by this great and mighty spirit, in order of the first part, —
to know by what means the whole of
the modern time may be embraced in " Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' intrate."

END OF PURGATORia
PARADISOe
I LOT mine eyes, and all the windows blaze
With forms of saints and holy men who died,
Here martyred and hereafter glorified ;
And the great Rose upon its leaves displays
Christ's Triumph, and the angelic roundelays.
With splendor upon splendor multiplied ;
And Beatrice again at Dante's side
No more rebukes, but smiles her words of praise.
And then the organ sounds, and unseen choirs
Sing the old Latin hymns of peace and love
And benedictions of the Holy Ghost ;
And the melodious bells among the spires
O'er all the house-tops and through heaven above
Proclaim the elevation of the Host !

O star of morning and of liberty !

O bringer of the light, whose splendor shines
Above the darkness of the Apennines,
Forerunner of the day that is to be !
The voices of the city and the sea,
The voices of the mountains and the pines,
Repeat thy song, till the familiar lines
Are footpaths for the thought of Italy !
Thy fame is blown abroad from all the heights.
Through all the nations ; and a sound is heard,
As of a mighty wind, and men devout.
Strangers of Rome, and the new proselytes,
In their own language hear thy wondrous word,
And many are amazed and many doubt.

J
 PARADISO.
CANTO I.

The glory of Him who moveth everything

Doth penetrate the universe, and shine
In one part more and in another less.
Within that heaven which most his Hght receivs
Was I, and things beheld which to repeat
Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends ;
Because in drawing near to its desire
Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,
That after it the memory cannot go.
Truly whatever of the holy realm
I had the power to treasure in my mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
O good Apollo, for this last emprise
Make of me such a vessel of thy power
As giving the beloved laurel asks !
One summit of Parnassus hitherto
Has been enough for me, but now with both
I needs must enter the arena left
Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe
As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw
Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his.
O power divine,
So that lend'st thou
the shadow of thethyself
blessedto realm
me
Stamped in my brain I can make inanifest,
Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree,
And crown myself thereafter with those leaves
Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.
So seldom. Father, do we gather them
For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet,
(The fault and shame of human inclinations,)
L L2
494 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

That the Peneian foliage should bring forth

Joy to the joyous Delphic deity,
When any one it makes to thirst for it.
A little spark is followed by great flame ;
Perchance with better voices after me
Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond !
To mortal men by passages diverse
Uprises circles
Which the world's lamp ; with
four uniteth but by thatcrosses,
three one
With better course and with a better star
Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax
Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion.
Almost that passage had made morning there
And evening here, and there was wholly white
That hemisphere, and black the other part,
When Beatnce towards the left-hand side
I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun ;
Never did eagle fasten so upon it !
And even as a second ray is wont
To issue from the first and reascend,
Like to a pilgrim who would fain return,
Thus of her action, through the eyes infused
In my imagination, mine I made.
And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont
There much is lawful which is here unlawful
Unto our powers, by virtue of the place
Made for the human species as its own.
Not long I bore it, nor so little while
But I beheld it sparkle round about
Like iron thai comes molten from the fire ;
And suddenly it seemed that day to day
Was added, as if He who has the power
Had with another sun the heaven adorned.
With eyes upon the everlasting wheels
Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her
Fixing my vision from above removed,
Such at her aspect inwardly became
As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him
Peer of the other gods beneath the sea.
To represent transhumanise in words
Impossible were; the example, then, suffice
Him for whom Grace the experience reserves.
If I was merely what of me thou newly
Createdst, Love who governest the heaven,
Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light ! Wi
 PARADISO, I. 495

When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal

Desiring thee, made me attentive to it
By harmony thou dost modulate and measure,
Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled
By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river 80
E'er made a lake so widely spread abroad.
The newness of the sound and the great light
Kindled in me a longing for their cause.
Never before with such acuteness felt ;
Whence, she, who saw me as I saw myself, 85
To quiet in me my perturbed mind.
Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask,
And she began : " Thou makest thyself so dull
With false imagining, that thou seest not
What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off. 90
Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest ;
But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site.
Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest."
If of my former doubt I was divested
By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, 95
I in a new one was the more ensnared ;
And said : " Already did I rest content
From great amazement ; but am now amazed
In what way I transcend these bodies light."
Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, 100
Her eyes directed tow'rds me with that look
A mother casts on a dehrious child ;
And she began : " All things whate'er they be
Have order among themselves, and this is form,
That makes the universe resemble God. w>s
Here do the higher creatures see the footprints
Of the Eternal Power, which is the end
Whereto is made the law already mentioned.
In the order that I speak of are inclined
All natures, by their destinies diverse, no
More or less near unto their origin ;
Hence they move onward unto ports diverse
O'er the great sea of being ; and each one
With instinct given it which bears it on.
This bears away the fire towards the moon ; us
This is in mortal hearts the motive power
This binds together and unites the earth.
Nor only the created things that are
Without intelligence this bow shoots forth,
But those that have both intellect and love. x*

k
496 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

The Providence that regulates all this

Makes with its light the heaven forever (|uiet,
Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste.
And thither now, as to a site decreed,
Bears us away the virtue of that cord las
Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark.
True is it, that as oftentimes the form
Accords not with the intention of the art,
Because in answering is matter deaf,
So likewise from this course doth deviate 130
Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses,
Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way,
(In the same wise as one may see the fire
Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus
Earthward is wrested by some false delight. 135
Thou shouldst not wonder more, if well I judge,
At thine ascent, than at a rivulet
From some high mount descending to the lowland.
Marvel it would be in thee, if deprived
Of hindrance, thou wert seated down below, *4o
As if on earth the living fire were quiet."
Thereat she heavenward turned again her face.

CANTO II.
O Ye, who in some pretty little boat.
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along,
Turn back to look again upon your shores ;
Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,
In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed ;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,
And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
Ye other few who have the neck uplifted
Betimes to th' bread of Angels upon which
One liveth here and grows not sated by it,
Well may you launch upon the deep salt-sea
Your vessel, keeping still my wake before you
Upon the water that grows smooth again.
Those glorious ones who unto Colchos passed
Were not so wonder-struck as you shall be,
When Jason they beheld a ploughman made !
 PARADISO, II. 497

The con-created and perpetual thirst

For the reahn deiform did bear us on,
As swift almost as ye the heavens behold.
Upward gazed Beatrice, and I at her ;
And in such space perchance as strikes a bolt
And flies, and from the notch unlocks itself,
Arrived I saw me where a wondrous thing
Drew to itself my sight ; and therefore she
From whom no care of mine could be concealed,
Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful,
Said unto me : " Fix gratefully thy mind
On God, who unto the first star has brought us," 3°
It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us.
Luminous, dense, consolidate and bright
As adamant on which the sun is striking.
Into itself did the eternal pearl
Receive us, even as water doth receive 3
A ray of light, remaining still unbroken.
If I was body, (and we here conceive not
How one dimension tolerates another,
Which needs must be if body enter body,)
More the desire should be enkindled in us 40
That essence to behold, wherein is seen
How God and our own nature were united.
There will be seen what we receive by faith.
Not demonstrated, but self-evident
In guise of the first truth that man believes. •♦5
I made reply : " Madonna, as devoutly
As most I can do I give thanks to Him
Who has removed me from the mortal world.
But tell me what the dusky spots may be
Upon this body, which below on earth 5°
Make people tell that fabulous tale of Cain ?"
Somewhat she smiled ; and then, " If the opinion
Of mortals be erroneous," she said,
" Where'er the key of sense doth not unlock,
Certes, the shafts of wonder should not pierce thee ss
Now, forasmuch as, following the senses.
Thou seest that the reason has short wings.
But tell me what thou think'st of it thyself"
And I : " What seems to us up here diverse.
Is caused, I think, by bodies rare and dense." 6*
And she : " Right truly shalt thou see immersed
In error thy belief, if well thou hearest
The argument that I shall make against it.
498 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Lights many the eighth sphere displays to you ;

Which in their quality and quantity 65 \
May noted be of aspects different. i
If this were caused by rare and dense alone, ■
One only virtue would there be in all :
Or more or less diffused, or equally. j
Virtues diverse must be perforce the fruits 70 .
Of formal principles ; and these, save one.
Of course would by thy reasoning be destroyed.
Besides, if rarity were of this dimness :
The cause- thou askest, either through and through ]
This planet thus attenuate were of matter, 75 '
Or else, as in a body is apportioned :
The fat and lean, so in like manner this ;
Would in its volume interchange the leaves. i
Were it the former, in the sun's eclipse \
It would be manifest by the shining through 80 \
Of light, as through aught tenuous interfused. 1
This is not so ; hence we must scan the other, j
And if it chance the other I demolish, j
Then falsified will thy opinion be, \
But if this rarity go not through and through, 85 ■
There needs must be a limit, beyond which -{
Its contrary prevents the further passing, j
And thence the foreign radiance is reflected, 1
Even as a colour cometh back from glass, |
The which behind itself concealeth lead, ^ 1
Now thou wilt say the sunbeam shows itself
More dimly there than in the other parts,
By being there reflected farther back.
From this reply experiment will free thee
If e'er thou try it, which is wont to be
The fountain to the rivers of your arts.
Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two remove
Alike from thee, the other more remote
Between the former two shall meet thine eyes.
Turned towards these, cause that behind thy back
Be placed a light, illuming the three mirrors
And coming back to thee by all reflected.
Though in its quantity be not so ample
The image most remote, there shalt thou see
How it perforce is equally resplendent.
Now, as beneath the touches of warm rays
Naked the subject of the snow remains
Both of its former colour and its cold,
 PARADISO, II. 499

Thee thus remaining in thy intellect,

Will I inform with such a living light, no
That it shall tremble in its aspect to thee.
Within the heaven of the divine repose
Revolves a body, in whose virtue lies
The being of whatever it contains.
The following heaven, that has so many eyes, ns
Divides this being by essences diverse.
Distinguished from it, and by it contained.
The other spheres, by various differences,
All the distinctions which they have within them
Dispose unto their ends and their effects. «2o
Thus do these organs of the world proceed.
As thou perceivest now, from grade to grade ;
Since from above they take, and act beneath.
Observe me well, how through this place I come
Unto the truth thou wishest, that hereafter 125
Thou mayst alone know how to keep the ford
The power and motion of the holy spheres.
As from the artisan the hammer's craft,
Forth from the blessed motors must proceed.
The heaven, which lights so manifold make fair, 130
From the Intelligence profound, which turns it.
The image takes, and makes of it a seal.
And even as the soul within your dust
Through members different and accommodated
To faculties diverse expands itself, 135
So likewise this Intelligence diffuses
Its virtue multiplied among the stars.
Itself revolving on its unity.
Virtue diverse doth a diverse alloyage
Make with the precious body that it quickens. mo
In which, as life in you, it is combined.
From the glad nature whence it is derived,
The mingled virtue through the body shines,
Even as gladness through the living pupil.
From this proceeds whate'er from light to light J4S
Appeareth different, not from dense and rare :
This is the formal principle that produces,
According to its goodness, dark and bright."
500 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO III. ]
i
That Sun, which erst with love my bosom warmed,
Of beauteous truth had unto me discovered,
By proving and reproving, the sweet aspect.
And, that I might confess myself convinced
And confident, so far as was befitting, s
I lifted more erect my head to speak.
But there appeared a vision, which withdrew me
So close to it, in order to be seen,
That my confession I remembered not.
Such as through polished and transparent glass,
Or waters crystalline and undisturbed,
But not so deep as that their bed be lost,
Come back again the outlines of our faces
So feeble, that a pearl on forehead white
Comes not less speedily unto our eyes ;
Such saw I many faces prompt to speak,
So that I ran in error opposite
To that which kindled love 'twixt man and fountain.
As soon as I became aware of them.
Esteeming them as mirrored semblances,
To see of whom they were, mine eyes I turned,
And nothing saw, and once more turned them forward
Direct into the light of my sweet Guide,
Who smiling kindled in her holy eyes.
" Marvel thou not," she said to me, " because
I smile at this thy puerile conceit.
Since on the truth it trusts not yet its foot,
But turns thee, as 'tis wont, on emptiness.
True substances are these which thou beholdest,
Here relegate for breaking of some vow.
Therefore speak with them, listen and believe ;
For the true light, which giveth peace to them,
Permits them not to turn from it their feet."
And I unto the shade that seemed most wishful
To speak directed me, and I began,
As one whom too great eagerness bewilders :
"O well-created spirit, who in the rays ^ jj.
Of life eternal dost the sweetness taste "t* S]
Which being untasted ne'er is comprehended, i
 PARADISO, III. SOI

Grateful 'twill be to me, if thou content me +0

Both with thy name and with your destiny."
Whereat she promptly and with laughing eyes :
" Our charity doth never shut the doors
Against a just desire, except as one
Who wills that all her court be like herself. 4s
I was a virgin sister in the world ;
And if thy mind doth contemplate me well,
The being more fair will not conceal me from thee,
But thou shalt recognise I am Piccarda,
Who, stationed here among these other blessed, 50
Myself am blessed in the slowest sphere.
All our affections, that alone inflamed
Are in the pleasure of the Holy Ghost,
Rejoice at being of his order formed ;
And this allotment, which appears so low, w
Therefore is given us, because our vows
Have been neglected and in some part void."
Whence I to her : " In your miraculous aspects
There shines I know not what of the divine,
Which doth transform you from our first conceptions, 6c
Therefore I was not swift in my remembrance ;
But what thou tellest me now aids me so.
That the refiguring is easier to me.
But tell me, ye who in this place are happy.
Are you desirous of a higher place, 65
To see more or to make yourselves more friends ? "
First with those other shades she smiled a little ;
Thereafter answered me so full of gladness,
She seemed to burn in the first fire of love :
"Brother, our will is quieted by virtue 70
Of charity, that makes us wish alone
For what we have, nor gives us thirst for more.
If to be more exalted we aspired,
Discordant would our aspirations be
Unto the will of Him who here secludes us ; 75
Which thou shalt see finds no place in these circles.
If being in charity is needful here.
And if thou lookest well into its nature ;
Nay, 'tis essential to this blest existence
To keep itself within the will divine, 8«
Whereby our very wishes are made one ;
So that, as we are station above station
Throughout this realm, to all the realm 'tis pleasing,
As to the King, who makes his will our will.
502 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And his will is our peace ; this is the sea 85

To which is moving onward whatsoever
It doth create, and all that nature makes." 9< i
Then it was clear to me how everywhere
In heaven is Paradise, although the grace
Of good supreme there rain not in one measure.
But as it comes to pass, if one food sates, j
And for another still remains the longing,
We ask for this, and that decline with thanks,
E'en thus did I, with gesture and with word.
To learn from her what was the web wherein ^;
She did not ply the shuttle to the end.
" A perfect life and merit high in-heaven
A lady o'er us," said she, " by whose rule
Down in your world they vest and veil themselves,
That until death they may both watch and sleep
Beside that Spouse who every vow accepts
Which charity conformeth to his pleasure.
To follow her, in girlhood from the world
I fled, and in her habit shut myself,
And pledged me to the pathway of her sect.
Then men accustomed unto evil more
Than unto good, from the sweet cloister tore me ;
God knows what afterward my life became.
This other splendour, which to thee reveals
Itself on my right side, and is enkindled
With all the illumination of our sphere.
What of myself I say applies to her ;
A nun was she, and likewise from her head
Was ta'en
But when the was
she too shadow
to theof world
the sacred wimple.
returned
Against her wishes and against good usage,
Of the heart's veil she never was divested.
Of great Costanza this is the effulgence,
Who from the second wind of Suabia
Brought forth the third and latest puissance."
Thus unto me she spake, and then began
" Ave Maria " singing, and in singing
Vanished, as through deep water something heavy.
My sight, that followed her as long a time
As it was possible, when it had lost her
Turned round unto the mark of more desire,
And wholly unto Beatrice reverted ; *
But she such lightnings flashed into mine eyes,
That at the first my sight endured it not ;
And this in questioning more backward made me. db

i\
 PARADISO, IV. 503

CANTO IV.

Between two viands, equally removed

And tempting, a free man would die of hunger
Ere either he could bring unto his teeth.
So would a lamb between the ravenings
Of two fierce wolves stand fearing both alike ;
And so would stand a dog between two does.
Hence, if I held my peace, myself I blame not,
Impelled in equal measure by my doubts,
Since it must be so, nor do 1 commend.
I held my peace ; but my desire was painted
Upon my face, and questioning with that
More fervent far than by articulate speech.
Beatrice did as Daniel had done
Relieving Nebuchadnezzar from the wrath
Which rendered him unjustly merciless,
And said : " Well see I how attracteth thee
One and the other wish, so that thy care
Binds itself so that forth it does not breathe.
Thou arguest, if good will be permanent.
The violence of others, for what reason
Doth it decrease the measure of my merit ?
Again for doubting furnish thee occasion
Souls seeming to return unto the stars,
According to the sentiment of Plato.
These are the questions which upon thy wish
Are thrusting equally ; and therefore first
Will I treat that which hath the most of galL
He of the Seraphim most absorbed in God,
Moses, and Samuel, and whichever John
Thou mayst select, I say, and even Mary,
Have not in any other heaven their seats,
Than have those spirits that just appeared to thee,
Nor of existence more or fewer years ;
But all make beautiful the primal circle.
And have sweet life in different degrees.
By feeling more or less the eternal breath.
They showed themselves here, not because allotted
This sphere has been to them, but to give sign
Of the celestial which is least exalted.
504 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

To speak thus is adapted to your mind, 40

Since only through the sense it apprehendeth
What then it worthy makes of intellect. '
On this account the Scripture condescends ;
Unto your faculties, and feet and hands i
' To God attributes, and means something else ; 45 ;
And Holy Church under an aspect human
Gabriel and Michael represent to you, t
And him who made Tobias whole again. I
That which Timaeus argues of the soul ^
Doth not resemble that which here is seen, v> \
Because it seems that as he speaks he thinks.
He says the soul unto its star returns,
Believing it to have been severed thence
Whenever nature gave it as a form ;
Perhaps his doctrine is of other guise ss \
Than the words sound, and possibly may be \
With meaning that is not to be derided. \
If he doth mean that to these wheels return \
The honour of their influence and the blame, \
Perhaps his bow doth hit upon some truth. 60 \
This principle ill understood once warped J
The whole world nearly, till it went astray
Invoking Jove and Mercury and Mars.
The other doubt which doth disquiet thee
Less venom has, for its malevolence cs
Could never lead thee otherwhere from me.
That as unjust our justice should appear
In eyes of mortals, is an argument
Of faith, and not of sin heretical.
But still, that your perception may be able 70
To thoroughly penetrate this verity,
As thou desirest, I will satisfy thee.
If it be violence when he who suffers
Co-operates not with him who uses force.
These souls were not on that account excused ; rs
For will is never quenched unless it will.
But operates as nature doth in fire.
If violence a thousand times distort it.
Hence, if it yieldeth more or less, it seconds
The force ; and these have done so, having power «•
Of turning back unto the holy place.
If their will had been perfect, like to that
Which Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held,
And Mutius made severe to his own hand,
 PARADISO. IV. 5Q<;

It would "have urged them back along the road 8-

Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free ;
But such a solid will is all too rare.
And by these words, if thou hast gathered them
As thou shouldst do, the argument is refuted
That would have still annoyed thee many times. *
But now another passage runs across
Before thine eyes, and such that by thyself
Thou couldst not thread it ere thou wouldst be weary.
I have for certain put into thy mind
That soul beatified could never lie, ' 95
For it is ever near the primal Truth,
And then thou from Piccarda might'st have heard
Costanza kept affection for the veil.
So that she seemeth here to contradict me.
Many times, brother, has it come to pass, toe
That, to escape from peril, with reluctance
That has been done it was not right to do,
E'en as Alcmaeon (who, being by his father
Thereto entreated, his own mother slew)
Not to lose pity pitiless became. los
At this point I desire thee to remember
That force with will commingles; and they cause
That the offences cannot be excused.
Will absolute consenteth not to evil ;
But in so far consenteth as it fears, no
If it refrain, to fall into more harm.
Hence when Piccarda uses this expression,
She meaneth the will absolute, and I
The other, so that both of us speak truth."
Such was the flowing of the holy river "s
That issued from the fount whence springs all truth ;
This put to rest my wishes one and all.
" O love of the first lover, O divine,"
Said I forthwith, " whose speech inundates me
And wanns me so, it more and more revives me, rza
My own affection is not so profound
As to suffice in rendering grace for grace ;
Let Him, who sees and can, thereto respond.
Well I perceive that never sated is
Our intellect unless the Truth illume it, j^s
Beyond which nothing true expands itself.
It rests therein, as wild beast in his lair.
When it attains it ; and it can attain it ;
If not, then each desire would frustrate be.
5o6 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Therefore springs up, in fashion of a shoot, jjo

Doubt at the foot of truth ; and this is nature,
Which to the top from height to height impels us.
This doth invite me, this assurance give me
With reverence. Lady, to inquire of you
Another truth, which is obscure to me. i3S
I wish to know if man can satisfy you
For broken vows with other good deeds, so
That in your balance they will not be light."
Beatrice gazed upon me with her eyes
Full of the sparks of love, and so divine, *♦<»
That, overcome my power, I turned my back
And almost lost myself with eyes downcast.

CANTO V.

" If in the heat of love I flame upon thee

Beyond the measure that on earth is seen,
So that the valour of thine eyes I vanquish.
Marvel thou not thereat ; for this proceeds
From perfect sight, which as it apprehends
To the good apprehended moves its feet.
Well I perceive how is already shining
Into thine intellect the eternal light,
That only seen enkindles always love ;
And if some other thing your love seduce,
'Tis nothing but a vestige of the same,
111 understood, which there is shining througe.
Thou fain wouldst know if with another service
For broken vow can such return be made
As to secure the soul from further claim."
Tliis Canto thus did Beatrice begin ;
And, as a man who breaks not off his speech,
Continued thus her holy argument :
*' The greatest gift that in his largess God
Creating made, and unto his own goodness
Nearest conformed, and that which he doth prize
Most highly, is the freedom of the will,
Wherewith the creatures of intelligence
Both all and only were and are endowed.
Now M'ilt thou .see, if thence thou reasonest,
The high worth of a vow, if it be made
So that when thou consentest (iod consents :
 PARADISO, V. 507

For, closing between God and man the compact,

A sacrifice is of this treasure made.
Such as I say, and made by its own act. 30
What can be rendered then as compensation ?
Think'st thou to make good use of what thou'st offered.
With gains ill gotten thou wouldst do good deed.
Now art thou certain of the greater point ;
But because Holy Church in this dispenses, 35
Which seems against the truth which I have shown thee,
Behoves thee still to sit awhile at table.
Because the solid food which thou hast taken
Requireth further aid for thy digestion.
Open thy mind to that which I reveal, 40
And fix it there within ; for 'tis not knowledge,
The having heard without retaining it.
In the essence of this sacrifice two things
Convene together ; and the one is that
This Of
lastwhich 'tis made, is the
for evermore other isnot
cancelled the agreement. 45
Unless complied with, and concerning this
With such precision has above been spoken.
Therefore it was enjoined upon the Hebrews
To offer still, though sometimes what was offered 50
Might be commuted, as thou ought'st to know.
The other, which is known to thee as matter,
May well indeed be such that one errs not
If it for other matter be exchanged.
But let none shift the burden on his shoulder 55
At his arbitrament, without the turning
Both of the white and of the yellow key ;
And every permutation deem as foolish,
If in the substitute the thing relinquished,
As the four is in six, be not contained. 60
Therefore whatever thing has so great weight
In value that it drags down every balance.
Cannot be satisfied with other spending.
Let mortals never take a vow in jest ;
Be faithful and not blind in doing that, 65
As Jephthah was in his first offering.
Whom more beseemed to say, ' I have done wrong,
Than to do worse by keeping ; and as foolish
Thou the great leader of the Greeks wilt find,
Whence wept Iphigenia her fair face, 7°
And made for her both wise and simple weep,
Who heard such kind of worship spoken of.'
5o8 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Christians, be ye more serious in your movements ;

Be ye not like a feather at each wind,
And think not every water washes you. 75
Ye have the Old and the New Testament,
And the Pastor of the Church who guideth you
Let this suffice you unto your salvation.
If evil appetite cry aught else to you,
Be ye as men, and not as silly sheep, 80
So that the Jew among you may not mock you.
Be ye not as the lamb that doth abandon
Its mother's milk, and frolicsome and simple
Combats at its own pleasure with itself."
Thus Beatrice to me even as I write it ; 85
Then all desireful turned herself again
To that part where the world is most alive.
Her silence and her change of countenance
Silence imposed upon my eager mind,
That had already in advance new questions ; 9°
And as an arrow that upon the mark
Strikes ere the bowstring quiet hath become.
So did we speed into the second realm.
My Lady there so joyful I beheld,
As into the brightness of that heaven she entered, 9s
More luminous thereat the planet grew ;
And if the star itself was changed and smiled,
What became I, who by my nature am
Exceeding mutable in every guise !
As, in a fish-pond which is pure and tranquil, too
The fishes draw to that which from without
Comes in such fashion that their food they deem it ;
So I beheld more than a thousand splendours
Drawing towards us, and in each was heard : ■
" Lo, this is she who shall increase our love." »«« j
And as each one was coming unto us,
Full of beatitude the shade was seen.
By the effulgence clear that issued from it.
Think, Reader, if what here is just beginning
No farther should proceed, how thou wouldst have "o ]
An agonizing need of knowing more ; <%
And of thyself thou'lt see how I from these |i
Was in desire of hearing their conditions,
As they unto mine eyes were manifest.
" O thou well-born, unto whom (irace concedes
To see the thrones of the eternal triumph,
Or ever yet the warfare be abandoned
 PARADTSO, VL 509

With light that through the whole of heaven is spread

Kindled are we, and hence if thou desirest
To know of us, at thine own pleasure sate thee." >ao
Thus by some one among those holy spirits
Was spoken, and by Beatrice : " Speak, speak
Securely, and believe them even as Gods."
" Well I perceive how thou dost nest thyself
In thine own light, and drawest it from thine eyes, i^s
Because they coruscate when thou dost smile,
But know not who thou art, nor why thou hast,
Spirit august, thy station in the sphere
That veils itself to men in ahen rays."
This said I in direction of the light 130
Which first had spoken to me ; whence it became
By far more lucent than it was before.
Even as the sun, that doth conceal himself
By too much light, when heat has worn away
The tempering influence of the vapours dej^e, »3s
By greater rapture thus concealed itself
In its own radiance the figure saintly.
And thus close, close enfolded answered me
In fashion as the following Canto sings.

CANTO VL

" After that Constantine the eagle turned

Against the course of heaven, which it had followed
Behind the ancient who Lavinia took,
Two hundred years and more the bird of God
In the extreme of Europe held itself.
Near to the mountains whence it issued first ;
And under shadow of the sacred plumes
It governed there the world from hand to hand,
And, changing thus, upon mine own alighted.
Caesar I was, and am Justinian,
Who, by the will of primal Love I feel,
Took from the laws the useless and redundant ;
And ere unto the work I was attent,
One nature to exist in Christ, not more.
Believed, and with such faith was I contented.
But blessed Agapetus, he who was
The supreme pastor, to the faith sincere
Pointed me out the way by words of his.

I
M M 2
 5IO THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Him I believed, and what was his assertion

I now see clearly, even as thou seest
Each contradiction to be false and true.
As soon as with the Church I moved my feet,
God in his grace it pleased with this high task
To inspire me, and I gave me wholly to it,
' And to my Belisarius I commended
The arms, to which was heaven's right hand so joined
It was a signal that I should repose.
Now here to the first question terminates
My answer ; but the character thereof
Constrains me to continue with a sequel.
In order that thou see with how great reason
Men move against the standard sacrosanct,
Both who appropriate and who oppose it.
Behold how great a power has made it worthy
Of reverence, beginning from the hour
When Bbllas died to give it sovereignty.
Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode
Three hundred years and upward, till at last
The three to three fought for it yet again.
Thou knowest what it achieved from Sabine wrong
Down to Lucretia's sorrow, in seven kings
O'ercoming round about the neighboring nations ;
Thou knowest what it achieved, borne by the Romans
Illustrious against Brennus, against Pyrrhus,
Against the other princes and confederates.
Torquatus thence and Quinctius, who from locks
Unkempt was named, Decii and Fabii,
Received the fame I willingly embalm ;
It struck to earth the pride of the Arabians,
Who, following Hannibal, had passed across
The Alpine ridges, Po, from which thou glidest ;
Beneath it triumphed while they yet were young
Pompey and Scipio, and to the hill
Beneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed ;
Then, near unto the time when heaven had willed
To bring the whole world to its mood serene,
Did Ceesar by the will of Rome assume it.
What it achieved from Var unto the Rhine,
Isbre beheld and Saone, beheld the Seine,
And every valley whence the Rhone is filled ;
What it achieved when it had left Ravenna,
And leaped the Rubicon, was such a flight
That neither tongue nor pen could follow it.
 PARADISO, VI. 511

Round towards Spain it wheeled its legions ; then

Towards Durazzo, and Pharsalia smote 65
That to the calid Nile was felt the pain.
Antandros and the Simois, whence it started,
It saw again, and there where Hector lies,
And ill for Ptolemy then roused itself.
From thence it came like lightning upon Juba ; 7"
Then wheeled itself again into your West,
Where the Pompeian clarion it heard.
From what it wrought with the next standard-bearer
Brutus and Cassius howl in Hell together,
And Modena and Perugia dolent were ; "75
Still doth the mournful Cleopatra weep
Because thereof, who, fleeing from before it.
Took from the adder sudden and black death.
With him it ran even to the Red Sea shore ;
With him it placed the world in so great peace, so
That unto Janus was his temple closed.
But what the standard that has made me speak
Achieved before, and after should achieve
Throughout the mortal realm that lies beneath it, •
Becometh in appearance mean and dim, ss
If in the hand of the third Caesar seen
With eye unclouded and affection pure.
Because the living Justice that inspires me
Granted it, in the hand of him I speak of.
The glory of doing vengeance for its wrath, so
Now here attend to what I answer thee ;
Later it ran with Titus to do vengeance
Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin.
And when the tooth of Lombardy had bitten
The Holy Church, then underneath its wings -95
Did Charlemagne victorious succor her.
Now hast thou power to judge of such as those
Whom I accused above, and of their crimes,
Which are the cause of all your miseries.
To the public standard one the yellow lilies 100
Opposes, the other claims it for a party.
So that 'tis hard to see which sins the most.
Let, let the Ghibellines ply their handicraft
Beneath some other standard ; for this ever
111 follows he who it and justice parts. xos
And let not this new Charles e'er strike it down,
He and his Guelfs, but let him fear the talons
That from a nobler lion stripped the fell.
512 THE DIVINE COMED Y.
. i
Already oitentimes the sons have wept
The father's crime ; and \et him not beheve "o
That God will change His scutcheon for the lilies. 1
This little planet doth adorn itself |
With the good spirits that have active been,
That fame and honour might come after them ; ;
And whensoever the desires mount thither, "s i
Thus deviating, must perforce the rays ]
Of the true love less vividly mount upward. '
of our wag es '
But in
With our desert onis portion
commensurati of our joy, ;
Because we see them neither less nor greater. i»o '
Herein doth living Justice sweeten so ;
Affection in us, that for evermore \
It cannot warp to any iniquity. j
Voices diverse make up sweet melodies ; ;
So in this life of ours the seats diverse "s i
Render sweet harmony among these spheres ; ;
And in the compass of this present pearl :
Shineth the sheen of Romeo, of whom ,
^ The grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded. 1
But the Provengals who against him wrought, i.^o i
They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes he \
Who makes his hurt of the good deeds of others. I
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen, j
Had Raymond Berenger, and this for him
Did Romeo, a poor man and a pilgrim ;
And then malicious words incited him
To summon to a reckoning this just man.
Who rendered to him seven and five for ten.
Then he departed poor and stricken in years.
And if the world could know the heart he had, m" !
In begging bit by bit his livelihood, |
Though much it laud him, it would laud him more."

CANTO VII.
" OsANNA sancius Deus Sahaoih,
Superillustrans daritate tua
Felices igtics horum malahoth / '
In this wise, to his melody returning,
This substance, upon which a double light
Doubles itself, was seen by me to sing,
 PARADISO, Vn. 513

And to their dance this and the others moved,

And in the manner of swift-hurrying sparks
Veiled themselves from me with a sudden distance.
Doubting was I, and saying, " Tell her, tell her," 10
Within me, " tell her," saying, " tell my Lady,"
Who slakes my thirst with her sweet effluences ;
And yet that reverence which doth lord it over
The whole of me only by B and ICE,
Bowed me again like unto one who drowses. is
Short while did Beatrice endure me thus ;
And she began, lighting me with a smile
Such as would make one happy in the fire :
" According to infallible advisement.
After what manner a just vengeance justly 90
Could be avenged has put thee upon thinking,
But I will speedily thy mind unloose ;
And do thou listen, for these words of mine
Of a great doctrine will a present make thee.
By not enduring on the power that wills as
Curb for his good, that man who ne'er was bom,
Damning himself damned all his progeny ;
Whereby the human species down below
Lay sick for many centuries in great error,
Till to descend it pleased the Word of God *>
To where the nature, which from its own Maker
Estranged itself, he joined to him in person
By the sole act of his eternal love.
Now unto what is said direct thy sight ;
This nature when united to its Maker, 3S
Such as created, was sincere and good ;
But by itself alone was banished forth
From Paradise, because it turned aside
Out of the way of truth and of its life.
Therefore the penalty the cross held out, 40
If measured by the nature thus assumed,
None ever yet with so great justice stung,
And none was ever of so great injustice,
Considering who the Person was that suffered.
Within whom such a nature was contracted. 4S
From one act therefore issued things diverse ;
To God and to the Jews one death was pleasing ;
Earth trembled at it and the Heaven was opened.
It should no longer now seem difficult
To thee, when it is said that a just vengeance 50
By a just court was afterward avenged.
514 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But now do I behold thy mind entangled

From thought to thought within a knot, from which
With great desire it waits to free itself. i
Thou sayest, ' Well discern I what I hear ; ss ,
But it is hidden from me why God willed ;
For our redemption only this one mode.' ;
Buried reniaineth, brother, this decree !
Unto the eyes of every one whose nature
Is in the flame of love not yet adult. 60 ,
Verily, inasmuch as at this mark i
One gazes long and little is discerned,
Wherefore this mode was worthiest will I say.
Goodness Divine, which from itself doth spurn
All envy, burning in itself so sparkles «S \
That the eternal beauties it unfolds. '
Whate'er from this immediately distils
Has afterwards no end, for ne'er removed
Is its impression when it sets its seal. \
Whate'er from this immediately rains down ro -i
Is wholly free, because it is not subject ;
Unto the influences of novel things. ;
The more conformed thereto, the more it pleases; |
For the blest ardour that irradiates all things \
In that most like itself is most vivacious. n ,
With all of these things has advantaged been \
The human creature ; and if one be wanting.
From his nobility he needs must fall.
Tis sin alone which doth disfranchise him.
And render him unlike the Good Supreme,
So that he little with its light is blanched,
And to his dignity no more returns.
Unless he fill up where transgression empties
With righteous pains for criminal delights.
- Your nature when it sinned so utterly
In its own .seed out of these dignities
Kven as out of Paradise was driven,
■Nor could itself recover, if thou notest
With nicest subtilty, by any way,
Except by passing one of these two fords :
"Either that God through clemency alone
Had pardon granted, or that man himself
Had satisfaction for his folly made.
Fix now thine eye deep into the abyss
Of the eternal counsel, to my speech
As far as may be fastened steadfastly !
 PAR AD I so, VJI. 51S

Man in his limitations had not power

To satisfy, not having power to sink
In his humility obeying then,
Far as he disobeying thought to rise ; 100
And for this reason man has been from power
Of satisfying by himself excluded.
Therefore it God behoved in his own ways
Man to restore unto his perfect life,
I say in one, or else in both of them. i^
But since the action of the doer is
So much more grateful, as it more presents
The goodness of the heart from which it issues,
Goodness Divine, that doth imprint the world,
Has been contented to proceed by each a»
And all its ways to lift you up again ;
Nor 'twixt the first day and the final night
Such high and such magnificent proceeding
By one or by the other was or shall be ;
For God more bounteous was himself to give 305
To make man able to uplift himself,
Than if he only of himself had pardoned ;
And all the other modes were insufficient
For justice, were it not the Son of God
Himself had humbled to become incarnate. «»
Now, to fill fully each desire of thine,
Return I to elucidate one place.
In order that thou there mayst see as I do.
Thou sayst : ' I see the air, I see the fire,
The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures ws
Come to corruption, and short while endure ;
And these things notwithstanding were created ; '
Therefore if that which I have said were true.
They should have been secure against corruption.
The Angels, brother, and the land sincere >3»
In which thou art, created may be called
Just as they are in their entire existence ;
But all the elements which thou hast named,
And all those things which out of them are made,
By a created virtue are informed. 13s
Created was the matter which they have ;
Created was the informing influence
Within these stars that round about them go.
The soul of every brute and of the plants
By its potential temperament attracts ' 140
The ray and motion of the holy lights ;
5l6 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But your own life immediately inspires

Supreme Beneficence, and enamours it
So with herself, it evermore desires her.
And thou from this mayst argue furthermore
Your resurrection, if thou think again
How human flesh was fashioned at that time
When the first parents both of them were made."

CANTO VIII.

The world used in its peril to believe 1

That the fair Cypria delirious love ;
Rayed out, in the third epicycle turning ; j
Wherefore not only unto her paid honour I
Of sacrifices and of votive cry s
The ancient nations in the ancient error, ;
But both Dione honoured they and Cupid, \
That as her mother, this one as her son, )
And said that he had sat in Dido's lap ; i
And they from her, whence I beginning take, lo ■
Took the denomination of the star ;
That wooes the sun, now following, now in front. i
I was not ware of our ascending to it ; \
But of our being in it gave full faith
My Lady whom I saw more beauteous grow.
And as within a flame a spark is seen.
And as within a voice a voice discerned.
When one is steadfast, and one comes and goes,
Within that light beheld I other lamps
Move in a circle, speeding more and less,
Methinks in measure of their inward vision.
From a cold cloud descended never winds,
Or visible or not, so rapidly
They would not laggard and impeded seem
To any one who had those lights divine
Seen come towards us, leaving the gyration
Begun at first in the high Seraphim.
And behind those that most in front appeared ft
Sounded " Osanna ! " so that never since ^\
To hear again was I without desire.
Then unto us more nearly one approached,
And it alone began : " We all are ready
Unto thy pleasure, that thou joy in us.
 PAKADISO, VIJI. 517

We turn around with the celestial Princes,

One gyre and one gyration and one thirst, 35
To whom thou in the world of old didst say,
' Ye who, intelligent, the third heaven are moving; '
And are so full of love, to pleasure thee
A litde quiet will not be less sweet."
After these eyes of mine themselves had offered a'
Unto my Lady reverently, and she
Content.and certain of herself had made them,
Back to the light they turned, which so great promise
Made of itself, and " Say, who art thou ? " was
My voice, imprinted with a great affection. 45
O how and how much 1 beheld it grow
With the new joy that superadded was
Unto its joys, as soon as I had spoken !
Thus changed, it said to me : " The world possessed me
Short time below ; and, if it had been more, 5°
Much evil will be which would not have been.
My gladness keepeth me concealed from thee.
Which rayeth round about me, and doth hide me
Like as a creature swathed in its own silk.
Much didst thou love me, and thou hadst good reason ; ss
For had I been below, I should have shown thee
Somewhat beyond the foliage of my love.
That left-hand margin, which doth bathe itself
In Rhone, when it is mingled with the Sorgue,
Me for its lord awaited in due time, *^
And that horn of Ausonia, which is tovvned
With Bari, with Gaeta and Catena,
Whence Tronto and Verde in the sea disgorge.
Already flashed upon my brow the crown
Of that dominion which the Danube waters 6;
After the German borders it abandons ;
And beautiful Trinacria, that is murky
'Twixt Pachino and Peloro, (on the gulf
Which greatest, scath from Eurus doth receive,)
Not through Typhoeus, but through nascent sulphur, 70
Would have awaited her own monarchs still,
Through me from Charles descended and from Rudolph,
If evil lordship, that exasperates ever
The subject populations, had not moved
Palermo to the outcry of ' Death ! death !' -5
And if my brother could but this foresee,
The greedy poverty of Catalonia
Straight would he flee, that it might not molest him ;
5i8 THE DIVINE COMEDY. \

For verily 'tis needful to provide, \

Through him or other, so that on his bark 80 ■
Already freighted no more freight be placed. '
His nature, which from liberal covetous i
Descended, such a soldiery would need \
As should not care for hoarding in a chest." • ^
\ " Because I do believe the lofty joy Sj \
Thy speech infuses into me, my Lord, \
Where every good thing doth begin and end \
Thou seest as I see it, the more grateful .
Is it to me ; and this too hold I dear.
That gazing upon God thou dost discern it. «• \
Glad hast thou made me ; so make clear to me, j
Since speaking thou hast stirred me up to doubt, j
How from sweet seed can bitter issue forth." j
This I to him ; and he to me : '* If I
Can show to thee a truth, to what thou askest 95 !
Thy face thou'lt hold as thou dost hold thy back. \
The Good which all the realm thou art ascending \
Turns and contents, maketh its providence \
To be a power within these bodies vast ;
And not alone the natures are foreseen "w \
Within the mind that in itself is perfect, \
But they together with their preservation. j
For whatsoever thing this bow shoots forth
Falls foreordained unto an end foreseen,
Even as a shaft directed to its mark. »«»s
If that were not, the heaven which thou dost walk
Would in such manner its effects produce.
That they no longer would be arts, but ruins.
This cannot be, if the Intelligences
- That keep these stars in motion are not maimed,
And maimed the First that has not made them perfect.
Wilt thou this truth have clearer made to thee ? "
And I : " Not so ; for 'tis impossible
That nature tire, I see, in what is needful." .
Whence he again : " Now say, would it be worse
For men on earth were they not citizens ?"
" Yes," I replied ; " and here I ask no reason."
*' And can they be so, if below they live not
Diversely unto offices diverse ?
No, if your master writcth well for you.'
So came he with deductions to this point ;
Then he concluded : " Therefore it behoves
The roots of your effects to be diverse.
 PARADISO, IX. qig

Hence one is Solon born, another Xerxes,

Another Melchisedec, and another he
Who, flying through the air, his son did lose.
Revolving Nature, which a signet is
To mortal wax, doth practise well her art.
But not one inn distinguish from another ;
Thence happens it that Esau differeth
In seed from Jacob ; and Quirinus comes
From sire so vile that he is given to Mars.
A generated nature its own way
Would always make like its progenitors.
If Providence divine were not triumphant.
Now that which was behind thee is before thee •,
But that thou know that I with thee am pleased,
With a corollary will I mantle thee.
Evermore nature, if it fortune find
Discordant to it, like each other seed
Out of its region, maketh evil thrift ;
And if the world below would fix its mind
On the foundation which is laid by nature.
Pursuing that, 'twould have the people good.
But you unto religion wrench aside
Him who was born to gird him with the sword.
And make a king of him who is for sermons ;
Therefore your footsteps wander from the road."

CANTO IX.

Beautiful Clemence, after that thy Charles

Had me enlightened, he narrated to me
The treacheries his seed should undergo ;
But said : " Be still and let the years roll round ; "
So I can only say, that lamentation
Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.
And of that holy light the life already
Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,
As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.
Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious.
Who from such good do turn away your hearts'
Directing upon vanity your foreheads !
And now, behold, another of those splendours
Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
It signified by brightening outwardly.
^2o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

The eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were

Upon me, as before^ of dear assent
To my desire assurance gave to me,
" All, bring swift compensation to my wish,
Thou blessed spirit," I said, " and give me proof
That what I think in thee I can reflect !"
Whereat the light, that still was new to me,
Out of its depths, whence it before was singing,
As one delighted to do good, continued :
" Within that region of the land depraved
Of Italy, that lies between Rialto
And fountain-heads of Brenta and of Piava,
Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,
Wherefrom descended formerly a torch
That made upon that region great assault.
Out of one root were born both I and it ;
Cunizza was I called, and here I shine
Because the splendour of this star o'ercame me.
But gladly to myself the cause T pardon
Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me ;
Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.
Of this so luculent and precious jewel.
Which of our heaven is nearest unto me.
Great fame remained ; and ere it die away
This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
See if man ought to make him excellent.
So that another life the first may leave !
And thus thinks not the present multitude
Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,
Nor yet for being scourged is penitent. 4S|
But soon 'twill be that Padua in the marsh
Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
Because the folk are stubborn against duty ;
And where the Sile and Cagnano join
One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head, s«
For catching whom e'en now the net is making.
Feltro moreover of her impious pastor
Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be
That for the like none ever entered Malta,
.^mple exceedingly would be the vat 5S
Thctt of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,
.\nd weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,
Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift
To show himself a partisan ; and such gifts
Will to the living of the land conform.
 PARADISO, IX. 521

Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,

From which shines out on us God Judicant,
So that this utterance seems good to us,"
Here it was silent, and it had the semblance
Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel 65
On which it entered as it was before.
The other joy. already known to me,
Became a thing transplendent in my sight,
As a fine ruby smitten by the sun.
Through joy effulgence is acquired above, 70
As here a smile ; but down below, the shade
Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.
'* God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,
Thy sight is," said I, " so that never will
Of his can possibly from thee be hidden ; 75
Thy voice, then, that for ever makes the heavens
Glad, with the singing of those holy fires
Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,
Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings ?
Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning 80
If I in thee were as thou art in me."
" The greatest of the valleys where the water
Expands itself," forthwith its words began,
" That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,
Between discordant shores against the sun 8s
Extends so far, that it meridian makes
Where it was wont before to make the horizon.
I was a dweller on that valley's shore
'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short
Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese. 90
With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly
Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,
That with its blood once made the harbour hot
Folco that people called me unto whom
My name was known ; and now with me this heaven 95
Imprints itself, as I did once with it ;
For more the daughter of Belus never burned,
Offending both Sichasus and Creusa,
Than I, so long as it became my locks,
Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded 100
Was by Demophoon, nor yet Alcides,
When lole he in his heart had locked.
Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,
Not at the fault, which comes not bark to mind,
But at the power which ordered and foret^aw. wj
522 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Here we behold the art that doth adorn ;

With such affection, and the good discover
Whereby the world above turns that below.
But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear ;
Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born, no ,
Still farther to proceed behoveth me.
Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light ^
That here beside me thus is scintillating, ■
Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water. \
Then know thou, that within there is at rest us \
Rahab, and being to our order joined, 1
With her in its supremest grade 'tis sealed. I
Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone \
Cast by your world, before all other souls
First of Christ's triumph was she taken up. 3-0 |
Full meet it was to leave her in some heaven, '
Even as a palm of the high victory j
Which he acquired v/ith one palm and the other, ;
Because she favoured the first glorious deed '
Of Joshua upon the Holy Land, i?j j
That little stirs the memory of the Pope. !
Thy city, which an offshoot is of him {
Who first upon his Maker turned his back, \
And whose ambition is so sorely wept,
Brings forth and scatters the accursed flower
Which both the sheep and lambs hath led astray,
Since it has turned the shepherd to a wolf.
For this the Evangel and the mighty Doctors
Are derelict, and only the Decretals
So studied that it shows upon their margins.
On this are Pope and Cardinals intent ;
Their meditations reach not Nazareth,
There where his pinions Gabriel unfolded ;
But Vatican and the other parts elect
Of Rome, which have a cemetery been
Unto the soldiery that followed I'eier,
Shall soon be free from this adultery."

CANTO X.
Looking into his Son with all the Love
Which each of them eternally breathes forth,
The Primal and unutterable Power
 PARADTSO, X. 5^3

Whate'er before the mind or eye revolves

With so much order made, there can be none 5
Who this beholds without enjoying Him.
Lift up then, Reader, to the lofty wheels
With me thy vision straight unto that part
Where the one motion on the other strikes,
And there begin to contemplate with joy 10
That Master's art, who in himself so loves it
That never doth his eye depart therefrom.
Behold how from that point goes branching off
The oblique circle, which conveys the planets,
To satisfy the world that calls upon them ; 15
And if their pathway were not thus inflected,
Much virtue in the heavens would be in vain,
And almost every power below here dead.
If from the straight line distant more or less
Were the departure, much would wanting be «>
Above and underneath of mundane order.
Remain now, Reader, still upon thy bench,
In thought pursuing that which is foretasted,
If thou wouldst jocund be instead of weary.
I've set before thee ; henceforth feed thyself, as
For to itself diverteth all my care
That theme whereof I have been made the scribe,
The greatest of the ministers of nature.
Who with the power of heaven the world imprints
And measures with his light the time for us, 30
With that part which above is called to mind
Conjoined, along the spirals was revolving,
Where each time earlier he presents himself;
And I was with him ; but of the ascendmg
I was not conscious, saving as a man 3?
Of a first thought is conscious ere it come ;
And Beatrice, she who is seen to pass
From good to better, and so suddenly
That not by time" her action is expressed.
How lucent in herself must she have been ! 40
And what was in the sun, wherein I entered.
Apparent not by colour but by light,
I, though I call on genius, art, and practice.
Cannot so tell that it could be imagined ;
Believe one can, and let him long to see it. 45
And if our fantasies too lowly are
For altitude so great, it is no marvel.
Since o er the sun was never eye could go.
NN
524 T7/£ DIVINE COMEDY. \

Such in this place was the fourth family

Of the high Father, who forever sates it, so \
Showing how he breathes forth and how begets. \
And Beatrice began : " Give thanks, give thanks
Unto the Sun of Angels, who to this
Sensible one has raised thee by his grace ! " j
Never was heart of mortal so disposed ss
To worship, nor to give itself to God >
With all its gratitude was it so ready, j
As at those words did I myself become ; ■
And all my love was so absorbed in Him, \
That in oblivion Beatrice was eclipsed. «o ;
Nor this displeased her ; but she smiled at it .
So that the splendour of her laughing eyes
My single mind on many things divided. ;
Lights many saw I, vivid and triumphant,
Make us a centre and themselves a circle, ©s <
More sweet in voice than luminous in aspect. i
Thus girt about the daughter of Latona . ■
AVe sometimes see, when pregnant is the air, I
So that it holds the thread which makes her zone. ■
Within the court of Heaven, whence I return, 70 j
Are many jewels found, so fair and precious
They cannot be transported from the realm ;
And of them was the singing of those*lights.
Who takes not wings that he may fly up thither,
The tidings thence may from the dumb await !
As soon as singing thus those burning suns
Had round about us whirled themselves three times,
Like unto stars neighbouring the steadfast poles,
Ladies they seemed, not from the dance released,
But who stop short, in silence listening
Till they have gathered the new melody.
And within one I heard beginning : " When
The radiance of grace, by which is kindled
True love, and which thereafter grows by loving,
Within thee multiplied is so resplendent 85
That it conducts thee upward by that stair, ^
Where without reascending none descends, j
Who should deny the wine out of his vial j
Unto thy thirst, in liberty were not
Except as water which descentls not seaward. 9<>
Fain would?t thou know with what plants is enflowered
This garland that encircles with delight
The Lady fair who makes thee strong for heaven.
 PARADISO, X. 525

Of the lambs was I of the holy flock

Which Dominic conducteth by a road
Where well one fattens if he strayeth not.
He who is nearest to me on the right
My brother and master was ; and he Albertus
Is of Cologne, I Thomas of Aquinum.
If thou of all the others wouldst be certain,
Follow behind my speaking with thy sight
Upward along the blessed garland turning.
That next effulgence issues from the smile
Of Gratian, who assisted both the courts
In such wise that it pleased in Paradise.
The other which near by adorns our choir
That Peter was who, e'en as the poor widow,
Offered his treasure unto Holy Church., • ^^^^
The fifth light, that among us is the fairest, kr^J'^'^
Breathes forth from such a love, that all the world
Below is greedy to learn tidings of it.
Within it is the lofty mind, where knowledge
So deep was put, that, if the true be true,
To see so much there never rose a second.
Thou seest next the lustre of that taper,
Which in the flesh below looked most within
The angelic nature and its ministry.
Within that other little light is smiling
The advocate of the Christian centuries,
Out of whose rhetoric Augustine was furnished.
Now if thou trainest thy mind's eye along
From light to light pursuant of my praise,
With thirst already of the eighth thou waitest.
By seeing every good therein exults
The sainted soul, which the fallacious world
Makes manifest to him who listeneth well;
The body whence 'twas hunted forth is lying
Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom
And banishment it came unto this peace.
See farther onward flame the burning breath
Of Isidore, of Beda, and of Richard ' ^Xi^J^
Who was in contemplation more than man.
This, whence to me returneth thy regard,
The light is of a spirit unto whom
In his grave meditations death seemed slow.
It is the light eternal of Sigier,
Who, reading lectures in the Street of Straw,
Did syllogize invidious verities." N N 2
$26 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Then, as a horologe that calleth us

What time the Bride of God is rising up 140
With matins to her Spouse that he may love her.
Wherein one part the other draws and urges,
Ting ! ting ! resounding with so sweet a note,
That swells with love the spirit well disposed,
Thus I beheld the glorious wheel move round, M5
And render voice to voice, in modulation
And sweetness that can not be comprehended,
Excepting there where joy is made eternal.

CANTO XI.
O Thou insensate care of mortal men, ;
How inconclusive are the syllogisms '
That make thee beat thy wings in downward flight ! ]
One after laws and one to aphorisms
Was going, and one following the priesthood, s j
And one to reign by force or sophistry, , , '
And one in theft, and one in state affairs, > > i^^.l •<', ^-^^^ -- --^
One in the pleasures of the flesh involved \ \
Wearied himself, one gave himself to ease ;
When I, from all these things emancipate, «
With Beatrice above there in the Heavens
AVith such exceeding glory was received !
When each one had returned unto that point
Within the circle where it was before.
It stood as in a candlestick a candle ; u
And from within the effulgence which at first
Had spoken unto me, I heard begin
Smiling while it more luminous became :
" Even as I am kindled in its ray.
So, looking into the Eternal Light, •
The occasion of thy thoughts I apprehend.
Thou doubtest, and wouldst have me to resift
In language so extended and so open
My speech, that to thy sense it may be plain.
Where just before I said, ' where well one fattens,* n
And where I said, ' there never rose a second ' ; '\
And here 'tis needful we distinguish well. \
The Providence, which governeth the world li
With counsel, wherein all created vision 1
Is vanquished ere it reach unto the bottom^ s* \
 PARADISO, XI. ... 527

(So that towards her own Beloved might go

The bride of Him who, uttering a loud cry, tA ■
Espoused her with his consecrated blood, )j^ \
Self-confident and unto Him more faithful,) \ j '^' '
Two Princes did ordain in her behoof, ^" as
Which on this side and that might be her guide.
The one was all seraph ical in ardour ;
The other by his wisdom upon earth
A splendour was of light cherubical.
One will I speak of, for of both is spoken 40
In praising one, whichever may be taken.
Because unto one end their labours were.
Between Tupino and the stream that falls
Down from the hill elect of blessed Ubald,
A fertile slope of lofty mountain hangs, 45
From which Perugia feels the cold and heat
Through Porta Sole, and behind it weep
Gualdo and Nocera their grievous yoke.
From out that slope, there where it breaketh most
Its steepness, rose upon the world a sun ^ 10
As this one does sometimes from out the Ganges ;
Therefore let him who speaketh of that place.
Say not Ascesi, for he would say little,
But Orient, if he properly would speak.
He was not yet far distant from his rising 55
Before he had begun to make the earth
Some comfort from his mighty virtue feel. . '
For he in youth his father's wrath incurred '- -'^o- — ^^^.^^^a.
For certain Dame, to whom, as unto death,
The gate of pleasure no one doth unlock ; 60
And was before his spiritual court
Et coram patre unto her united ;
Then day by day more fervently he loved her.
She, reft of her first husband, scorned, obscure,
One thousand and one hundred years and more, cs
Waited without a suitor till he came.
Naught it availed to hear, that with Amyclas
Found her unmoved at sounding of his voice
He who struck terror into all the world ;
Naught it availed being constant and undaunted, yo
So that, when Mary still remained below.
She mounted up with Christ upon the cross .'
But that too darkly I may not proceed, '
Francis and Poverty for these two lovers
Take thou henceforward in my speech diffuse. 75
528 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Their concord and their joyous semblances,

The love, the wonder, and the sweet regard, \
They made to be the cause of holy thoughts ;
So much so that the venerable Bernard i
First bared his feet, and after so great peace 8c i
Ran, and, in running, thought himself too slow. i
O wealth unknown ! O veritable good ! '
Giles bares his feet, and bares his feet Sylvester *
Behind the bridegroom, so doth please the bride ! i
Then goes his way that father and that master, »5 ;
He and his Lady and that family (
Which now was girding on the humble cord ;
Nor cowardice of heart weighed down his btow
At, being son of Peter Bernardone, \
Nor for appearing marvellously scorned ; go ■
But regally his hard determination ,
To Innocent he opened, and from him J
Received the primal seal upon his Order. '
After the people mendicant increased \
Behind this man, whose admirable life 95 \
Better in glory of the heavens were sung,
Incoronated with a second crown \
Was through Honorius by the Eternal Spirit j
The holy purpose of this Archimandrite. I
And when he had, through thirst of martyrdom, «x j
In the proud presence of the Sultan preached ^
Christ and the others who came after him, •
And, finding for conversion too unripe
The folk, and not to tarry there in vain,
Returned to fruit of the Italic grass.
On the rude rock 'twixt Tiber and the Arno
From Christ did he receive the final seal,
Which during two whole years his members bore
When He, who chose him unto so mucl; good.
Was pleased to draw him up to the reward
That he had merited by being lowly,
Unto his friars, as to the rightful heirs.
His most dear Lady did he recommend,
And bade that they should love her faithfully ;
And from her bosom the illustrious soul nf;
Wished to depart, returning to its realm, Jj
And for its body wished no other bier.
Think now what man was he, who was a fit
Companion over the high seas to keep
The bark of Peter to its proper bearings. -^^

m
 PARADISO, XII. 529

And this man was our Patriarch ; hence whoever

Doth follow him as he commands can see
That he is laden with good merchandise.
But for new pasturage his flock has grown
So greedy, that it is impossible
They be not scattered over fields diverse ;
And in proportion as his sheep remote
And vagabond go farther off from him,
More void of milk return they to the fold.
Verily some there are that fear a hurt,
And keep close to the shepherd ; but so few.
That little cloth doth furnish forth their hoods.
Now if my utterance be not indistinct,
If thine own hearing hath attentive been.
If thou recall to mind what I have said,
In part contented shall thy wishes be ;
For thou shalt see the plant that's chipped away,
And ihe rebuke that lieth in the words,
'Where well one fattens, if he strayeth not. '

CANTO XII.

Soon as the blessed flame had taken up

The final word to give it utterance.
Began the holy millstone to revolve.
And in its gyre had not turned wholly round.
Before another in a ring enclosed it,
And motion joined to motion, song to song ;
Song that as greatly doth transcend our Muses,
Our Sirens, in those dulcet clarions.
As primal splendour that which is reflected.
And as are spanned athwart a tender cloud
Two rainbows parallel and like in colour,
When Juno to her handmaid gives command,
(The one without born of the one within,
Like to the speaking of that vagrant one
Whom love consumed as doth the sun the vapours,)
And make the people here, through covenant
God set with Noah, presageful of the world
That shall no more be covered with a flood,
In such wise of those sempiternal roses
The garlands twain encompassed us about,
And thus the outer to the inner answered.
530 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

After the dance, and other grand rejoicings, \

Both of the singing, and the flaming forth \
Effulgence with effulgence blithe and tender, :
Together, at once, with one accord had stopped, 25 ;
(Even as the eyes, that, as volition moves them.
Must needs together shut and lift themselves,)
Out of the heart of one ot the new lights '
There came a voice, that needle to the star \
Made me appear in turning thitherward. 30 \
And it began : " The love that makes me fair :
Draws me to speak about the other leader, '
By whom so well is spoken here of mine. \
'Tis right, where one is, to bring in the other, i
That, as they were united in their warfare, 3S '
Together likewise may their glory shine. <
The soldiery of Christ, which it had cost 1
So dear to arm again, behind the standard i
Moved slow and doubtful and in numbers few, ■
AVhen the Emperor who reigneth evermore 40 \
Provided for the host that was in peril, j
Through grace alone and not that it was worthy ; i
And, as was said, he to his Bride brought succour \
With champions twain, at whose deed, at whose word *
The straggling people were together drawn.
Within that region where the sweet west wind
Rises to open the new leaves, wherewith
Europe is seen to clothe herself afresh.
Not far off from the beating of the waves.
Behind which in his long career the sun
Sometimes conceals himself from every man,
Is situate the fortunate Calahorra,
Under protection of the mighty shield
In which the Lion subject is and sovereign.
Therein was born the amorous paramour
Of Christian Faith, the athlete consecrate,
Kind to his own and cruel to his foes ;
And when it was created was his mind
Replete with such a living energy^
I'hat in his mother her it made prophetic.
As soon as the espousals were complete
Between him and the Faith at holy font,
Where they with mutual safety dowered each other,
The woman, who for him had given assent,
Saw in a dream the admirable fruit fll

I
That issue would from him and from his heirs ;
 PARADISO, XII. 531

And that he might be construed as he was,

A spirit from this place went forth to name him
With His possessive whose he wholly was.
Dominic was he called ; and him I speak of 70
Even as of the husbandman whom Christ
Elected to his garden to assist him.
Envoy and servant sooth he seemed of Christ,
For the first love made manifest in him
Was the first counsel that was given by Christ. 7s
Silent and wakeful many a time was he
Discovered by his nurse upon the ground,
As if he would have said, ' For this I came.'
O thou his father, Felix verily !
O thou his mother, verily Joanna, 80
If this, interpreted, means as is said !
Not for the world which people toil for now
In following Ostiense and Taddeo,
But through his longing after the true manna,
He in short time became so great a teacher, 85
That he began to go about the vineyard,
Which fadeth soon, if faithless be the dresser ;
And of the See, (that once was more benignant
Unto the righteous poor, not through itself,
But him who sits there and degenerates,) 9°
Not to dispense or two or three for six,
Not any fortune of first vacancy,
Non decimas qiice sujit pauperiim Dei,
He asked for, but against the errant world
Permission to do battle for the seed, 95
Of which these four and twenty plants surround thee
Then with the doctrine and the will together.
With office apostolical he moved.
Like torrent which some lofty vein out-presses ;
And in among the shoots heretical 100
His impetus with greater fury smote,
WHierever the resistance was thi^ greatest.
Of him were made thereafter divers runnels,
Whereby the garden catholic is watered.
So that more living its plantations stand. los
If such the one wheel of the Biga was.
In which the Holy Church itself defended
And in the field its civic battle won.
Truly full manifest should be to thee
The excellence of the other, unto whom xro
Thomas so courteous was before my coming.
532 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

But still the orbit, which the highest part

Of its circumference made, is derelict,
So that the mould is where was once the crust.
His family, that had straight forward moved
With feet upon his footprints, are turned round
So that they set the point upon the heel.
And soon aware they will be of the harvest
Of this bad husbandry, when shall the tares
Complain the granary is taken from them.
Yet say I, he who searcheth leaf by leaf
Our volume through, would still some page discover
Where he could read, ' I am as I am wont.'
'TwillFrom
not be from Casal
whence nor Acquasparta,
come such unto the written word
That one avoids it, and the other narrows.
Bonaventura of Bagnoregio's life
Am I, who always in great offices
Postponed considerations sinister.
Here are Illuminato and Agostino,
Who of the first barefooted beggars were
That with the cord the friends of God became.
Hugh of Saint Victor is among them here,
And Peter Mangiador, and Peter of Spain,
Who down below in volumes twelve is shining ;
Nathan the seer, and metropolitan
Chrysostom, and Anselmus, and Donatus
Who deigned to lay his hand to the first art ;
Here is Rabanus, and beside me here
Shines the Calabrian Abbot Joachim,
He with the spirit of prophecy endowed.
To celebrate so great a paladin
Have moved me the impassioned courtesy
y\nd the discreet discourses of Friar Thomas,
And with me they have moved this company."

CANTO XIII.
Let him imagine, who would well cor.ceive
\Vhat now I saw, and let him while 1 speak
Retain the image as a steadfas-t rock.
The fifteen stars, that in their divers regions
The sky enliven with a light so great
That it transceiids all clusters of the air;
 PARADISO, XIII. 533

Let him the Wain imagine unto which

Our vault of heaven sufficeth night and day,
So that in turning of its pole it fails not ;
Let him the mouth imagine of the horn «>
That in the point beginneth of the axis
Round about which the primal wheel revolves, —
To have fashioned of themselves two signs in heaven,
Like unto that which Minos' daughter made,
The moment when she felt the frost of death ; u
And one to have its rays within the other,
And both to whirl themselves in such a manner
That one should forward go, the other backward ;
And he will have some shadowing forth of that
True constellation and the double dance »
That circled round the point at which I was ;
Because it is as much beyond our wont,
As swifter than the motion of the Chiana
Moveth the heaven that all the rest outspeeds.
There sang they neither Bacchus, nor Apollo, «
But in the divine nature Persons three,
And in one person the divine and human.
The singing and the dance fulfilled their measure,
And unto us those holy lights gave need,
Growing in happiness from care to care. 30
Then broke the silence of those saints concordant
The light in which the admirable life
Of God's own mendicant was told to me,
And .said : "Noav that one straw is trodden out
Now that its seed is garnered up already, as
Sweet love invites me to thresh out the other.
Into that bosom, thou believest, whence
Was drawn the rib to form the beauteous cheek
Whose taste to all the world is costing dear,
And into that Avhich, by the lance transfixed, 40
Before and since, such satisfaction made
That it weighs down the balance of all sin,
Whate'er of light it has to human nature
Been lawful to possess was all infused
By the same power that both of them created ; 4S
And hence at what I said above dost wonder.
When I narrated that no second had
The good which in the fifth light is enclosed.
Now ope thine eyes to what I answer thee.
And thou shalt see thy creed and my discourse 90
Fit in the truth as centre in a circle.
534 THE DIVINE COMEDY.
That which can die, and that which dieth not,
Are nothing but the splendour of the idea
Which by his love our Lord brings into being ;
Because that living Light, which from its fount
Effulgent flows, so that it disunites not
From Him nor from the Love in them intrined.
Through its own goodness reunites its rays
\\\ nine subsistences, as in a mirror.
Itself eternally remaining One.
Thence it descends to the last potencies.
Downward from act to act becoming such
That only brief contingencies it makes ;
And these contingencies I hold to be
Things generated, which the heaven produces
By its own motion, with seed and without.
Neither their wax, nor that which tempers it.
Remains immutable, and hence beneath
The ideal signet more and less shines through ;
Therefore it happens, that the selfsame tree
After its kind bears worse and better fruit.
And ye are born with characters diverse.
If in perfection tempered were the wax.
And were the heaven in its supremest virtue,
The brilliance of the seal would all appear ;
But nature gives it evermore deficient.
In the like manner working as the artist,
Who has the skill of art and hand that trembles.
If then the fervent Love, the Vision clear,
Of primal Virtue do dispose and seal,
Perfection absolute is there acquired.
Thus was of old the earth created worthy
Of all and every animal perfection ;
And thus the Virgin was impregnate made ;
So that thine own opinion I commend, 8s
That human nature never yet has been.
Nor will be, what it was in those two persons.
Now if no farther forth I should proceed,
' Then in what way was he without a peer ?'
Would be the first beginning of thy words.
But, that may well appear what now appears not,
Think who he was, and what occasion moved him
To make request, when it was told him, ' Ask.'
I've not so spoken that thou canst not see
Clearly he was a king who asked for wisdom, m
That he might be sufficiently a king ;
 PARADISO, XIII. lis

'Twas not to know the number in which are

The motors here above, or if necesse
With a contingent e'er necesse make,
Non si est dare prim um motiitn esse,
Or if in semicircle can be made
Triangle so that it have no right angle.
Whence, if thou notest this and what I said,
A regal prudence is that peerless seeing
In which the shaft of my intention strikes
And if on ' rose ' thou turnest thy clear eyes,
Thou'lt see that it has reference alone
To kings who're many, and the good are rare.
With this distinction ^ake thou what I said,
And thus it can consist with thy belief
Of the first father and of our Delight.
And lead shall this be always to thy feet,
To make thee, like a weary man, move slowly
Both to the Yes and No thou seest not ;
For very low among the fools is he
Who affirms without distinction, or denies,
As well in one as in the other case ;
Because it happens that full often bends
Current opinion in the false direction,
And then the feelings bind the intellect.
Far more than uselessly he leaves the shore,
(Since he retumeth not the same he went,)
Who fishes for the truth, and has no skill ;
And in the world proofs manifest thereof
Parmenides, Melissus, Brissus are,
And many who went on and knew not whither ;
Thus did Sabellius, Arius, and those fools
Who have been even as swords unto the Scriptures
In rendering distorted their straight faces.
Nor yet shall people be too confident
In judging, even as he is who doth count
The corn in field or ever it be ripe.
For I have seen all winter long the thorn
First show itself intractable and fierce,
And after bear the rose upon its top ;
And I have seen a ship direct and swift
Run o'er the sea throughout its course entire,
To perish at the harbour's mouth at last.
Let not Dame Bertha nor Ser Martin think,
Seeing one steal, another offering make,
To see them in the arbitrament divine ;
For one may rise, and fall the other may."
536 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO XIV.
From centre unto rim, from rim to centre,
In a round vase the water moves itself,
As from without 'tis struck or from within.
Into my mind upon a sudden dropped
What I am saying, at the moment when
Silent became the glorious life of Thomas,
Because of the resemblance that was b(frn
Of his discourse and that of Beatrice,
Whom, after him, it pleased thus to begin :
" This man has need (and does not tell you so.
Nor with the voice, nor even in his thought)
Of going to the root of one truth more.
Declare unto him if the light wherewith
Blossoms your substance shall remain with you
Eternally the same that it is now ;
And if it do remain, say in what manner,
After ye are again made visible.
It can be that it injure not your sight.''
As by a greater gladness urged and drawn
They who are dancing in a ring sometimes
Uplift their voices and their motions quicken ;
So, at that orison devout and prompt.
The holy circles a new joy displayed
In their revolving and their wondrous song.
Whoso lamenteth him that here we die
That we may live above, has never there
Seen the refreshment of the eternal rain.
The One and Two and Three who ever liveth,
And reigneth ever in Three and Two and One,
Not circumscribed and all things circumscribing,
Three several times was chanted by each one
Among those spirits, with such melody
That for all merit it were just reward ;
And, in the lustre most divine of all
The lesser ring, I heard a modest voice,
Such as perhaps the Angel's was to Mary,
Answer : " As long as the festivity
Of Paradise shall be, so long our love
Shall radiate round about us such a vesture.
 PAR A Dl so, XIV. 537

Its brightness is proportioned to the ardour,

The ardour to the vision ; and the vision
Equals what grace it has above its worth.
When, glorious and sanctified, our flesh
Is reassumed, then shall our persons be
More pleasing by their being all complete ;
For will increase whate'er bestows on us
Of light gratuitous the Good Supreme,
Light which enables us to look on Him ;
Therefore the vision must perforce increase.
Increase the ardour which from that is kindled,
Increase the radiance which from this proceeds.
But even as a coal that sends forth flame,
And by its vivid whiteness overpowers it
So that its own appearance it maintains,
Thus the effulgence that surrounds us now
Shall be o'erpowered in aspect by the flesh,
Which still to-day the earth doth cover up :
Nor can so great a splendour weary us.
For strong will be the organs of the body
To everything which hath the power to please us."
So sudden and alert appeared to me
Both one and the other choir to say Amen,
That well they showed desire for their dead bodies ;
Nor sole for them perhaps, but for the mothers,
The fathers, arid the rest who had been dear
Or ever they became eternal flames.
And lo ! all round about of equal brightness
Arose a lustre over what was there.
Like an horizon that is clearing up.
And as at rise of early eve begin
Along the welkin new appearances.
So that the sight seems real and unreal.
It seemed to me that new subsistences
Began there to be seen, and make a circle
Outside the other two circumferences.
O very sparkling of the Holy Spirit,
How sudden and incandescent it became
Unto mine eyes, that vanquished bore it not !
But Beatrice so beautiful and smiling
Appeared to me, that with the other sights
That followed not my memory I must leave her.
Then to uplift themselves mine eyes resumed
The power, and I beheld myself translated
To higher salvation with my Lady only.
538 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Well was 1 ware that I was more uplifted 8s

By the enkindled smiling of the star,
That seemed to me more ruddy than its wont.
With all my heart, and in that dialect
Which is the same in all, such holocaust
To God I made as the new grace beseemed ; 9<j
And not yet from my bosom was exhausted
The ardour of sacrifice, before I knew
This offering was accepted and auspicious;
For with so great a lustre and so red
Splendours appeared to me in twofold rays, 9S
I said : " O Helios who dost so adorn them ! "
Even as distinct with less and greater lights
Glimmers between the two poles of the world
The Galaxy that maketh wise men doubt,
Thus constellated in the depths ot Mars,
Those rays described the venerable sign '
That quadrants joining in a circle make. \
Here doth my memory overcome my genius ; ^
For on that cross as levin gleamed forth Christ, \
So that I cannot find ensample worthy; 105'
But he who takes his cross and follows Christ j
Again will pardon me what I omit, i
Seeing in that aurora lighten Christ.
From horn to horn, and 'twixt the top and base.
Lights were in motion, brightly scintillating
As they together met and passed each other ;
Thus level and aslant and swift and slow
We here behold, renewing still the sight,
The particles of bodies long and short, V*
Across the sunbeam move, wherewith is listed «|^
Sometimes the shade, which for their own defence \
People with cunning and with art contrive.
And as a lute and harp, accordant strung
With many strings, a dulcet tinkling make
To him by whom the notes are not distinguished, ^\
So from the lights that there to me appeared ;
Upgathered through the cross a melody, j
Which rapt me, not distinguishing the hymn. j
Well was I ware it was of lofty laud, {
Because there came to me, " Arise and conquer ! " »sif
As unto him who hears and comprehends not
So much enamoured I became therewith.
That until then there was not anything
That e'er had fettered me with such sweet bonds.
 PAR AD ISO, XV, 539

Perhaps my word appears somewhat too bold, ^3©

Postponing the delight of those fair eyes,
Into which gazing my desire has rest ;
But who bethinks him that the living seals
Of every beauty grow in power ascending,
And that I there had not turned round to those, t^
Can me excuse, if I myself accuse
To excuse myself, and see that I speak truly :
For here the holy joy is not disclosed,
Because ascending it become§ more pure.

CANTO XV.

A WILL benign, in which reveals itself

Ever the love that righteously inspires,
As in the iniquitous, cupidity.
Silence imposed upon that dulcet lyre,
And quieted the consecrated chords, 5
That Heaven's right hand doth tighten and relax.
How unto just entreaties shall be deaf
Those substances, which, to give me desire
Of praying them, with one accord grew silent?
'Tis well that without end he should lament, *o
Who for the love of thing that doth not last
Eternally despoils him of that love !
As through the pure and tranquil evening air
There shoots from time to time a sudden fire,
Moving the eyes that steadfast were before, '5
And seems to be a star that changeth place,
Except that in the part where it is kindled
Nothing is missed, and this endureth little ;
So from the horn that to the right extends
Unto that cross's foot there ran a star 30
Out of the constellation shining there ;
Nor was the gem dissevered from its ribbon.
But down the radiant fillet ran along,
So that fire seemed it behind alabaster.
Thus piteous did Anchises' shade reach forward, 35
If any faith our greatest Muse deserve,
When in Elysium he his son perceived.
" O sanguis nims, O super infusa
Gratia Dei, sicut tibi, cui
Bis tinquam Coeii janua reclusa i " 3°
5/.C THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thus that effulgence ; whence I gave it heed ;

Then round unto my Lady turned my sight, j
And on this side and that was stupefied ;
For in her eyes was burning such a smile
That with mine own methought I touched the bottom 35 j
Both of my grace and of my Paradise !
Then, pleasant to the hearing and the sight,
The spirit joined to its beginning things . 1
I understood not, so profound it spake ;
Nor did it hide itself from me by choice, 40 .
But by necessity ; for its conception i
Above the mark of mortals set itself. i
And when the bow of burning sympathy ;
Was so far slackened, that its speech descended <
Towards the mark of our intelligence, 4S \
The first thing that was understood by me ,
Was " Benedight be Thou, O Trine and One, i
Who hast unto my seed so courteous been ! " j
• And it continued : " Hunger long and grateful, \
Drawn from the reading of the mighty volume so \
Wherein is never changed the white nor dark,
Thou hast appeased, my son, within this light
In which I speak to thee, by grace of her !
Who to this lofty flight with plumage clothed thee.
Thou thinkest that to me thy thought doth pass 55 j
From Him who is the first, as from the unit, \
If that be known, ray out the five and six ;
And therefore who I am thou askest not, \
And why I seem more joyous unto thee ■
Than any other of this gladsome crowd. 60 '
Thou think'st the truth ; because the small and great ■
Of this existence look into the mirror |
Wherein, before thou think'st, thy thought thou showest. I
'
sacred
With thesight
But that love, inand
perpetual, whichI watch
which makes me thirst .
With sweet desire, may better be fulfilled,
Now let thy voice secure and frank and glad
Proclaim the wishes, the desire proclaim,
To which my answer is decreed already."
To Beatrice I turned me, and she heard
Before I spake, and smiled to me a sign,
That made the wings of my desire increase ;
Then in this wise began I : " Love and knowledge,
When on you dawned the first Equality,
Of the same weight for each of you became ;
 PARADISO, XV. 54*

For in the Sun, which lighted you and burned

With heat and radiance, they so equal are,
That all similitudes are insufficient
But among mortals will and argument,
For reason that to you is manifest, «<>
Diversely feathered in their pinions are.
Whence I, who mortal am, feel in myself
This inequality ; so give not thanks.
Save in my heart, for this paternal welcome.
Truly do I entreat thee, living topaz ! «s
Set in this precious jewel as a gem,
That thou wilt satisfy me with thy name."
" O leaf of mine, in whom I pleasure took
E'en while awaiting, I was thine own root ! "
Such a beginning he in answer made me. 9°
Then said to me : " That one from whom is named
Thy race, and who a hundred years and more
Has circled round the mount on the first cornice,
A son of mine and thy great-grantlsire was ;
Well it behoves thee that the long fatigue «
Thou shouldst for him make shoiter with thy works.
Florence, within the ancient boundary
From which she taketh still her tierce and nones,
Abode in quiet, temperate and chaste.
No golden chain she had, nor coronal, ««»
Nor ladies shod with sandal shoon, nor girdle
That caught the eye more than the person did.
Not yet the daughter at her birth struck fear
Into the father, for the time and dower
Did not o'errun this side or that the measure. «>§
No house's had she void of families.
Not yet had thither come Sardanapalus
To show what in a chamber can be done ;
Not yet surpassed had Montemalo been
By your Uccellatojo, which surpassed "•
Shall in its downfall be as in its rise.
Bellincion Berti saw I go begirt
With leather and with bone, and from the mirror
His dame depart without a painted face ;
And him of Nerli saw, and him of Vecchio, »«s
Contented with their simple suits of buff,
And with the spindle and the flax their dames.
O fortunate women ! and each one was certain
Of her own burial-place, and none as yet
For sake of France was in her bed deserted. 002 "•
542. THE DIVINE COMEDY.

One o'er the cradle kept her studious watch, ;

And in her lullaby the language used
That first delights the fathers and the mothers ;
Another, drawing tresses from her distaff,
Told o'er among her family the tales "s '
Of Trojans and of Fesole and Rome.
As great a marvel then would have been held J
A Lapo Salterello, a Cianghella, \
As Cincinnatus or Cornelia now. \
To such a quiet, such a beautiful 130 |
Life of the citizen, to such a safe ;
Community, and to so sweet an inn, ■
Did Mary give me, with loud cries invoked,
And in your ancient Baptistery at once |
Christian and Cacciaguida I became. 135 '^
Moronto was my brother, and Eliseo ; '
From Val di Pado came to me my wife, \
And from that place thy surname was derived.
I followed afterward the Emperor Conrad, ,
And he begirt me of his chivalry, 140 j
So much I pleased him with my noble deeds. j
I followed in his train against that law's .:
Iniquity, whose people doth usurp i
Your just possession, through your Pastor's fault. "
There by that execrable race was I 145 >
Released from bonds of the fallacious world, j
The love of which defileth many souls, ;
And came from martyrdom unto this peace." ^

CANTO XVI.
O THOU our poor nobility of blood,
If thou dost make the people glory in thee
Down here where our affection languishes,
A marvellous thing it ne'er will be to me ;
For there where appetite is not perverted,
I say in Heaven, of thee I made a boast !
Tnily thou art a cloak that quickly shortens.
So that unless we piece thee day by day
Time goeth round about thee with his shears !
With You^ which Rome was first to tolerate,
(Wherein her family less perseveres,)
Yet once again my words beginning made ;
 PARADISO, XVI. 541

Whence Beatrice, who stood somewhat apart,

Smiling, appeared like unto her who coughed
At the first failing writ of Guenever. is
And I began : " You are my ancestor,
You give to me all hardihood to speak,
You lift me so that I am more than I.
So many rivulets with gladness fill
My mind, that of itself it makes a joy »
Because it can endure this and not burst.
Then tell me, my beloved root ancestral.
Who were your ancestors, and what the years
That in your boyhood chronicled themselves ?
Tell me about the sheepfold of Saint John, aj
How large it was, and who the people were
Within it worthy of the highest seats."
As at the blowing of tlit winds a coal
Quickens to flame, so 1 beheld that light
Become resplendent at my blan(Ushments. ac
And as unto mine eyes it grew more f:\ir,
With voice more sweet and tender, i)ut not in
This modern dialect, it said to me :
" From uttering of the Ave, till the birth
In which my mother, who is now a saint, 3S
Of me was lightened who had been her burden,
Unto its Lion had this fire returned
Five hundred fifty times and thirty more.
To reinflame itself beneath his paw.
My ancestors and I our birthplace hiid 40
Where first is found the last ward of the city
By him who runneth in your annual game.
Suffice it of my elders to hear this ;
But who they were, and whence they thither came,
Silence is more considerate than speech. 45
All those who at that tniie were there between
Mars and the Baptis:t, fit for bearing arms,
Were a fifth part of those who now are living ;
But the community, that row is mixed
With Campi and Certaldo and Figghine, 5°
Pure in the lowest artisan was seen.
O how much better 'twere to have as neighbours
The folk of whom I speak, and at Galluzzo
And at Trespiano have your boundary.
Than have them in the town, and bear the stench ss
Of Aguglione's churl, and him of Signa
Who has sharp eyes for trickery already.
544 ' THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Had not the folk, which most of all the work!

Degenerates, been a siep-dame unto Caesar,
But as a mother to her son benignant, 60
Some who turn Florentines, and trade and discount,
Would have gone back again to Simifonte
There where their grandsires went about as beggars.
At Montemurlo still would be the Counts,
The Cerchi in the parish of Acone, 65
Perhaps in Valdigrieve the Buondelmonti.
Ever the intermingling of the people
Has been the source of malady in cities,
As in the body food it surfeits on ;
And a blind bull more headlong plunges down 70
Than a blind lamb ; and very often cuts
Better and more a single sword than five.
If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia, *
How they have passed away, and how are passing
Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them, 7S
To hear how races waste themselves away,
Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard,
Seeing that even cities have an end.
All things of yours have their mortality.
Even as yourselves ; but it is hidden in some 80
That a long while endure, and lives are short ;
And as the turning of the lunar heaven
Covers and bares the shores without a pause,
In the like manner fortune does with Florence.
Therefore should not appear a marvellous thing «5
What I shall say of the great Florentines
Of whom the fame is hidden in the Past.
I saw the Ughi, saw the Catellini,
Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and Alberichi,
Even in their fall illustrious citizens ; 90
And saw, as mighty as they ancient were.
With him of La Sannella him of Area,
.And Soldanier, Ardinghi, and Bostichi.
Near to the gate that is at present laden
With a new felony of so much weight 95
That soon it shall be jetsam from the bark,
The Ravignani were, from whom descended
The County Guido, and whoe'er the name
f )f the great Bellincione since hath taken.
He of La Pressa knew the art of ruling
Already, and already (laligajo
Had hilt and pommel gilded in his house.
 PARADISO, XVI. 545

Mighty already was the Column Vair,

Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifant, and Barucci,
And Galli, and they who for the bushel blush. los
The stock from which were the Calfucci born
Was great already, and already chosen
To curule chairs the Sizii and Arrigucci.
O how beheld I those who are undone
By their own pride ! and how the Balls of Gold no
Florence entlowered in all their mighty deeds !
So likewise did the ancestors of tl>ose
Who evermore, when vacant is your church,
Fatten by staying in consistory.
The insolent race, that like a dragon follows ng
Whoever flees, and unto him that shows
His teeth or purse is gentle as a lamb,
Already rising was, but from low people ;
So that it pleased not Ubertin Donato
That his wife's father should make him their kin. no
Already had Caponsacco to the Market
From Fesole descended, and already
Giuda 9.nd Infangato were good burghers.
I'll tell a thing incredible, but true ;
One entered the small circuit by a gate las
Which from the Delia Pera took its name !
Each one that bears the beautiful escutcheon
Of the great baron whose renown and name
The festival of Thomas keepeth fresh.
Knighthood and privilege from him received ; 13°
Though with the populace unites hiniself
To-day the man who binds it with a border.
Already were Gualterotti and Importuni ;
And still more quiet would the Borgo be
If with new neighbours it remained unfed. 13s
The house from which is born your lamentation.
Through just disdain that death among you brought
And put an end unto your joyous life,
Was honoured in itself and its companions.
O Buondelmonte, how in evil hour 140
Thou fled'st the bridal at another's promptings !
Many would be rejoicing who are sad.
If God had thee surrendered to the Ema
The first time that thou camest to the city.
But it behoved the mutilated stone t4S
Which guards the bridge, that Florence should provide
A victim in her latest hour of peace, , ^.. ... .
546 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

With all these families, and others with them,

Florence beheld I in so great repose,
That no occasion had she whence to weep ;
With all these families beheld so just
And glorious her people, that the lily
Never upon the spear was placed reversed,
Nor by division was vermilion made."

\ \ CANTO XVII.
\ '■- '^,
As came to Clymene, to be made certain
Of that which he had heard against himself,
He who makes fathers chary still to children.
Even such was I, and such was I perceived
By Beatrice and by the holy light
That first on my account had changed its place.
Therefore my Lady said to me : " Send forth
The flame of thy desire, so that it issue
Imprinted well with the internal stamp ;
Not that our knowledge may be greater made
By speech of thine, but to accustom thee
To tell thy thirst, that we may give thee drink."
" O my beloved tree, (that so dost lift thee.
That even as minds terrestrial perceive
No triangle containeth two obtuse,
So thou beholdest the contingent things
Ere in themselves they are, fixing thine eyes
Upon the point in which all times are present,)
While I was with Virgilius conjoined
Upon the mountain that the souls doth heal.
And when descending into the dead world.
Were spoken to me of my future life
Some grievous words ; although I feel myself
In sooth foursquare against the blows of chance.
On this accoimt my wish would be content
To hear what fortune is approaching me.
Because foreseen an arrow comes more slowly."
Thus did I say unto that selfsame light
That unto me had spoken before ; and even
As Beatrice willed was my own will confessed.
Not in vague phrase, in which the foolish folk
Ensnared themselves of old, ere yet was slain
The I^mb of God who taketh sins away.
 PARADISO, XVII. 547

But with clear words and unambiguous

Language responded that paternal love, 35
Hid and revealed by its own proper smile :
" Contingency, that outside of the volume
Of your materiality extends not,
Is all depicted in the eternal aspect.
Necessity however thence it takes not, 4°
Except as from the eye, in which 'tis mirrored,
A ship that with the current down descends.
From thence, e'en as there cometh to the ear
Sweet harmony from an organ, comes in sight
To me the time that is preparing for thee. <5
As forth from Athens went Hippolytus,
By reason of his step-dame false and cruel,
So thou from Florence must perforce depart.
Already this is willed, and this is sought for ;
And soon it shall be done by him who thinks it, s«»
Where every day the Christ is bought and sold.
The blame shall follow the offended party
In outcry as is usual ; but the vengeance
Shall witness to the truth that doth dispense it.
Thou shalt abandon everything beloved »
Most tenderly, and this the arrow is
x' Which first the bow of banishment shoots forth.
Thou shalt have proof how savoureth of salt
The bread of others, and how hard a road '\^^
The going down and up another's stairs, , fc
And that which most shall weigh upon thy sh^oulders
Will be the bad and foolish company
With which into this valley thou shalt fall ;
For all ingrate, all mad and impious
Will they become against thee ; but soon after «5
They, and not thou, shall have the forehead scarlet
Of their bestiality their own proceedings
Shall furnish proof; so 'twill be well for thee
A party to have made thee by thyself.
Thine earliest refuge and thine earliest inn v>
Shall be the mighty Lombard's courtesy,
Who on the Ladder bears the holy bird,
Who such benign regard shall have for thee
That 'twixt you twain, in doing and in asking,
That shall be first which is with others last. 75
With him shalt thou see one who at his birth
Has by this star of strength been so impressed,
That notable shall his achievements be.
548 THE DIVINJ^ COMEDY.

Not yet the people are aware of him

Through his young age, since only nine years yet so ;
Around about him have these wheels revolved^ j
But ere the Gascon cheat the noble Henry, ■
Some sparkles of his virtue shall appear
In caring not for silver nor for toil.
So recognized shall hismagnificence Ss j
Become hereafter, that his enemies |
Will not have power to keep mute tongues about it.
On him rely, and on his benefits ; ;
By him shall many people be transformed, ,
' Changing condition rich and mendicant ; go \
And written in thy mind thou hence shalt bear i
Of him, but shalt not say it " — and things said he ;
Incredible to those who shall be present. ;
Then added : " Son, these are the commentaries -
On what was said to thee ; behold the snares 9S 3
That are concealed behind few revolutions ; ■
Yet would I not thy neighbours thou shouldst envy, ■
Because thy life into the future reaches I
Beyond the punishment of their perfidies." j
When by its silence showed that sainted soul loo \
That it had finished putting in the woof
Into that web which I had given it warped,
Began I, even as he who yearneth after,
Being in doubt, some counsel from a person
Who seeth, and upiightly wills, and loves: 105
" Well see I, father mine, how spurreth on
The time towards me such a blow to deal me
As heaviest is to him who most gives way.
Therefore with foresight it is well I arm me.
That, if tlie dearest place be taken from me,
I may not lose the others by my songs.
Down through the world of infinite bitterness.
And o'er the mountain, from whose beauteous summit
The eyes of my own Lady lifted me.
And afterward through heaven from light to light,
I have learned that which, if I tell again.
Will be a savour of strong herbs to many.
And if I am a timid friend to truth,
I fear lest I may lose my life with those
Who will hereafter call this time the olden."
The light in which was smiling my own treasure
Which there I had discovered, flashed at first * %
As in the sunshine doth a golden mirror ;

r\
 PARADISO, XVIIl. 549

Then made reply : "A conscience overcast

Or with its own or with another's shame, i»5
Will taste forsooth the tartness of thy word \
But ne'ertheless, all falsehood laid aside,
Make manifest thy vision utterly.
And let them scratch wherever is the itch ;
For if thine utterance shall offensive be -i-^
At the first taste, a vital nutriment
'Twill leave thereafter, when it is digested.
This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind,
Which smiteth most the most exalted summits,
And that is no slight argument of honour. J3S
Therefore are shown to thee within these wheels.
Upon the mount and in the dolorous valley,
Only the souls that unto fame are known ;
Because the spirit of the hearer rests not,
Nor doth confirm its faith by an example m*
Which has the root of it unknown and hidden,
Or other reason that' is not apparent."

CANTO XVIIL
Now was alone rejoicing in its word
That soul beatified, and I was tasting
My own, the bitter tempering with the sweet,
And the Lady who to God was leading me
Said : " Change thy thought ; consider that I am
Near unto Him who every wrong disburdens."
Unto the loving accents of my comfort
I turned me round, and then what love I saw
Within those holy eyes I here relinquish ;
Not only that my language I distrust,
But that my mind cannot return so far
Above itself, unless another guide it.
Thus much upon that point can I repeat.
That, her again beholding, my affection
From every other longing was released.
While the eternal pleasure, which direct
Rayed upon Beatrice, from her fair face
Contented me with its reflected aspect,
Conquering me with the radiance of a smile.
She said to me, " Turn thee about and listen ;
Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise."

±
5SO THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Even as sometimes here do we behold

The affection in the look, if it be such
That all the soul is wrapt away by it,
So, by the flaming of the effulgence holy
To which I turned, I recognized therein
The wish of speaking to nie somewhat farther.
And it began : " In this fifth resting-place
Upon the tree that liveth by its summit.
And aye bears fruit, and never loses leaf,
Are blessed spirits that below, ere yet
They came to Heaven, were of such great renown
That every Muse therewith would affluent be.
Therefore look thou
He whom I now upon
shall the cross's
name will horns
there ;enact
What doth within a cloud its own swift fire."
I saw athwart the Cross a splendour drawn
By naming Joshua, (even as he did it,)
Nor noted I the word before the deed ;
And at the name of the great Maccabee
I saw another move itself revolving.
And gladness was the whip unto that top.
Likewise for Charlemagne and for Orlando,
Two of them my regard attentive followed
As followeth the eye its falcon flying.
William thereafterward, and Renouard,
And the Duke Godfrey, did attract my sight
Along upon that Cross, and Robert Guiscard.
Then, moved and mingled with the other lights,
The soul that had addressed me showed how great
An artist 'twas among the heavenly singers.
To my right side I turned myself around,
My duty to behold in Beatrice
Either by words or gesture signified ;
And so translucent I beheld her eyes.
So full of pleasure, that her countenance
Surpassed its other and its latest wont.
And as, by feeling greater delectation,
A man in doing good from day to day
Becomes aware his virtue is increasing,
So I became aware that my gyration
With heaven together had increased its arc,
That miracle beholding more adorned.
And such as is the change, in little lapse
Of time, in a pale woman, when her face
Is from the load of bashfulness unladen^
 PARADISO, XVJII. 551

Such was it in mine eyes, when I had turned,

Caused by the whiteness of the temperate star,
The sixth, which to itself had gathered me.
Within that Jovial torch did I behold 70
The sparkling of the love which was therein
Delineate our language to mine eyes.
And even as birds uprisen from the shore.
As in congratulation o'er their food,
Make squadrons of themselves, now round, now long, 75
So from within those lights the holy creatures
Sang flying to and fro, and in their figures
Made of themselves now D, now I, now L.
First singing they to their own music moved ;
Then one becoming of these characters, 80
A little while they rested and were silent.
O divine Pegasea, thou who genius
Dost glorious make, and render it long-lived.
And this through thee the cities and the kingdoms,
Illume me with thyself, that I may bring 8i
Their figures out as 1 have them conceived !
Apparent be thy power in these brief verses !
Themselves then they displayed in five times seven
Vowels and consonants ; and I observed
The parts as they seemed spoken unto me. 9<
Diligite justitiam, these were
First verb and noun of all that was depicted ;
Qui judicatis terram were the last.
Thereafter in the M of the fifth word
Remained they so arranged, that Jupiter 9J
Seemed to be silver there with gold inlaid.
And other lights I saw descend where was
The summit of the M, and pause there singing
The good, I think, that draws them to itself
Then, as in striking upon burning logs too
Upward there fly innumerable sparks,
Whence fools are wont to look for auguries,
More than a thousand lights seemed thence to rise,
And to ascend, some more, and others less.
Even as the Sun that lights them had allotted ; ips
And, each one being quiet in its place,
The head and neck beheld I of an eagle
Delineated by that inlaid fire.
He who there paints has none to be his guide ;
But Himself guides ; and is fi-om Him remembered «<>
That virtue which is form unto the nest
552 THE DIVINE COMEDY. ,
The other beatitude, that contented seemed
At first to bloom a lily on the M, •
By a slight motion followed out the imprint.
O gentle star ! what and how many gems v.%
Did demonstrate to me, that all our justice
Effect is of that heaven which thou ingemmest ! ;
Wherefore I pray the Mind, in which begin \
.Thy motion and thy virtue, to regard
Whence comes the smoke that vitiates thy rays ; lao
So that a second time it now be wroth i
With buying and with selling in the temple j
Whose walls were built with signs and martyrdoms ! ,
O soldiery of heaven, whom I contemplate, ■
Implore for those who are upon the earth »?s j
All gone astray after the bad example ! '
Once 'twas the custom to make war with swords ;
But now 'tis made by taking here and there
The bread the pitying Father shuts from none. .
Yet thou, who writest but to cancel, think 130 '
That Peter and that Paul, who for this vineyard j
Which thou art spoiling died, are still alive ! •
Well canst thou say : " So steadfast my desire \
Is unto him who willed to live alone, 1
And for a dance was led to martyrdom, 131 J
That I know not the Fisherman nor Paul." |

CANTO XIX.

Appeared before me with its wings outspread

The beautiful image that in sweet fruition
Made jubilant the interwoven souls ;
Appeared a little ruby each, wherein
Ray of the sun was burning so enkindled
That each into mine eyes refracted it.
And what it now behoves me to retrace
Nor voice has e'er reported, nor ink written,
Nor was by fantasy e'er comprehended ;
For speak I saw, and likewise heard, the beak,
And utter with its voice both / and My,
When in conception it was We and Our.
And it began : " Being just and merciful
Am I exalted here unto that glory
Which cannot be exceeded by desire \

m
 PARADISO, XIX. SS3

And upon earth I left my memory

Such, that the evil-minded people there
Commend it, but continue not the story."
So doth a single heat from many embers
Make itself felt, even as from many loves »
Issued a single sound from out that image.
Whence I thereafter : " O perpetual flowers
Of the eternal joy, that only one
Make me perceive your odours manifold,
Exhaling, break within me the great fast ^
Which a long season has in hunger held me,
Not finding for it any food on earth.
Well do I know, that if in heaven its mirror
Justice Divine another realm doth make,
Yours apprehends it not through any veil. 30
You know how I attentively address me
To listen ; and you know what is the doubt
That is in me so very old a fast."
Even as a falcon, issuing from his hood.
Doth move his head, and with his wings applaud him, 35
Showing desire, and making himself fine,
Saw I become that standard, which of lauds
Was interwoven of the grace divine,
With such songs as he knows who there rejoices.
Then it began : " He who a compass turned 40
On the world's outer verge, and who within it
Devised so much occult and manifest,
Could not the impress of his power so make
On all the universe, as that his Word
Should not remain- in infinite excess. 4S
And this makes certain that the first proud being.
Who was the paragon of every creature.
By not awaiting light fell immature.
And hence appears it, that each minor nature
Is scant receptacle unto that good so
Which has no end, and by itself is measured.
In consequence our vision, which perforce
Must be some ray of that intelligence
With which all things whatever are replete,
Cannot in its own nature be so potent, ss
That it shall not its origin discern
Far beyond that which is apparent to it.
Therefore into the justice sempiternal
The power of vision that your world receives,
As eye into the ocean, penetrates ; '60
554 THE DIVINE COMEDY. \

Which, though it see the bottom near the shore, i

Upon the deep perceives it not, and yet
'Tis there, but it is hidden by the depth. J
Th^re is no Ught but comes from the serene !
That never is o'ercast, nay, it is darkness 65 '
Or shadow of the flesh, or else its poison. i
Amply to thee is opened now the cavern *
Which has concealed from thee the living justice ■
Of which thou mad'st such frequent questioning. -
For saidst thou : ' Born a man is on the shore 7° i
Of Indus, and is none who there can speak
Of Christ, nor who can read, nor who can write ; I
And all his inclinations and his actions
Are good, so far as human reason sees, i
Without a sin in life or in discourse : • 75 |
He dieth unbaptised and without faith ; ]
Where is this justice that condemneth him ? \
W^here is his fault, if he do not believe ? ' ■
Now who art thou, that on the bench wouldst sit '
In judgment at a thousand miles away, 8« '
With the short vision of a single span ? :
Truly to him who with me subtilizes, -
If so the Scripture were not over you.
For doubting there were marvellous occasion.
O animals terrene, O stolid minds, 8$
The primal will, that in itself is good.
Ne'er from itself, the Good Supreme, has moved.
So much is just as is accordant with it ;
No good created draws it to itself.
But it, by raying forth, occasions that." 90
Even as above her nest goes circling round
The stork when she has fed her little ones.
And he who has been fed looks up at her.
So lifted I my brows, and even such
Became the blessed image, which its wings 9;
Was moving, by so many counsels urged.
Circling around it sang, and said : " As are
My notes to thee, who dost not comprehend them.
Such is the eternal judgment to you mortals."
Those lucent splendours of the Holy Spirit »o"
(Jrew quiet then, but still within the standard
That made the Romans reverend to the world.
It recommenced : " Unto this kingdom never
Ascended one who had not feith in Christ,
Before or since he to the tree was nailed. «<»s
 PARADISO, XIX. 555

But look thou, many crying are, * Christ, Christ ! '

Who at the judgment shall be far less near
To him than some shall be who knew not Christ.
Such Christians shall the Ethiop condemn,
When the two companies shall be divided, »»
The one for ever rich, the other poor.
What to your kings may not the Persians say,
When they that volume opened shall behold
In which are written down all their dispraises ?
There .shall be seen, among the deeds of Albert, "s
That which ere long shall set the pen in motion,
For which the realm of Prague shall be deserted.
There shall be seen the woe that on the Seine
He brings by falsifying of the coin.
Who by the blow of a wild boar shall die. 120
There shall be seen the pride that causes thirst,
Which makes the Scot and Englishman so mad
That they within their boundaries cannot rest ;
Be seen the luxury and effeminate life
Of him of Spain, and the Bohemian, xas
Who valour never knew and never wished ;
Be seen the Cripple of Jerusalem,
His goodness represented by an I,
While the reverse an M shall represent ;
Be seen the avarice and poltroonery 130
Of him who guards the Island of the Fire,
Wherein Anchises finished his long life ;
And to declare how pitiful he is
Shall be his record in contracted letters
Which shall make note of much in little space. 135
And shall appear to each one the foul deeds
Of uncle and of brother who a nation
So famous have dishonoured, and two crowns.
And he of Portugal and he of Norway
Shall there be known, and he of Rascia too, uo
Who saw in evil hour the coin of Venice.
O happy Hungary, if she let herself
Be wronged no farther ! and Navarre the happy.
If with the hills that gird her she be armed I
And each one may believe that now, as hansel ms
Thereof, do Nicosia and Famagosta
Lament and rage because of their own beast.
Who from the others' flank departeth not."

pp
556 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO XX.
When he who all the world illuminates 1
Out of our hemisphere so far descends 5
That on all sides the daylight is consumed, \
The heaven, that erst by him alone was kindled, \
Doth suddenly reveal itself again s ]
By many lights, wherein is one resplendent. \
And came into my mind this act of heaven, i
When the ensign of the world and of its leaders |
Had silent in the blessed beak become; ^
Because those living luminaries all, 10 j
By far more luminous, did songs begin .
Lapsing and falling from my memory. |
0 gentle Love, that with a smile dost cloak thee, ;
How ardent in those sparks didst thou appear, ;
That had the breath alone of holy thoughts ! is
After the precious and pellucid crystals, i
With
Silencewhich begemmed
imposed on the the sixthbells,
angelic light I beheld, j'
1 seemed to hear the murmuring of a river
That clear descendeth down from rock to rock, 2° \
Showing the affluence of its mountain-top. :
And as the sound upon the cithern's neck ■
Taketh its form, and as upon the vent J
Of rustic pipe the wind that enters it, \
Even thus, relieved from the delay of waiting, -ni \
That murmuring of the eagle mounted up \
Along its neck, as if it had been hollow. \
I'here it became a voice, and issued thence ^
From out its beak, in such a form of words [
As the heart waited for wherein I wrote them. • 30 \
" The part in me which sees and bears the sun \
In mortal eagles," it began to me, I
" Now fixedly must needs be looked upon ; I
For of the fires of which I make my figure, I
Those whence the eye doth sparkle in my head as |
Of all their orders the supremest are. 2
He who is shining in the midst as pupil J
Was once the singer of the Holy Spirit,
Who bore the ark from city unto city ;
 PARADISO, XX. 557

Now knoweth he the merit of his song, 40

In so far as effect of his own counsel,
By the reward which is commensurate.
Of five, that make a circle for my brow,
He that approacheth nearest to my beak
Did the poor widow for her son console ; 45
Now knoweth he how dearly it doth cost
Not following Christ, by the experience
Of this sweet life and of its opposite.
He who comes next in the circumference
Of which I speak, upon its highest arc,' s»
Did death postpone by penitence sincere ;
Now knoweth he that the eternal judgment
Suffers no change, albeit worthy prayer
Maketh below to-morrow of to-day.
The next who follows, with the laws and me, 55
Under the good intent that bore bad fruit
Became a Greek by ceding to the pastor ;
Now knoweth he how all the ill deduced
From his good action is not harmful to him.
Although the world thereby may be destroyed, *o
And he, whom in the downward arc thou seest,
Guglielmo was, whom the same land deplores
That weepeth Charles and Frederick yet alive ;
Now knoweth he how heaven enamoured is
With a just king ; and in the outward show 65
Of his effulgence he reveals it still.
Who would believe, down in the errant world,
That e'er the Trojan Ripheus in this round
Could be the fifth one of the holy lights ?
Now knoweth he enough of what the world 70
Has not the power to see of grace divine,
Although his sight may not discern the bottom."
Like as a lark that in the air expatiates,
First singing and then silent with content
r Of the last sweetness that doth satisfy her, 7$
Such seemed to me the image of the imprint
Of the eternal pleasure, by whose will
Doth everything become the thing it is.
And notwithstanding to my doubt I was
As glass is to the colour that invests it, 80
To wait the time in silence it endured not,
But forth from out my mouth, " What things are these ? "
Extorted with the force of its own weight ;
Whereat I saw great joy of coruscation.
p p 2
558 ■ THE DIVINE COMEDY.
Thereafterward with eye still more enkindled 8s
The blessed standard made to me reply,
To keep me not in wonderment suspended :
" I see that thou believest in these things
Because I say them, but thou seest not how ;
So that, although believed in, they are hidden. 90
Thou doest as he doth who a thing by name
Well apprehendeth, but its quiddity
Cannot perceive, unless another show it.
Regnum caeiorum suffereth violence
From fervent love, and from that living hope 9S
That overcometh the Divine volition ;
Not in the guise that man o'ercometh man,
But conquers it because it will be conquered,
And conquered conquers by benignity.
The first life of the eyebrow and the fifth «»
Cause thee astonishment, because with them
Thou seest the region of the angels painted.
They passed not from their bodies, as thou thinkest,
Gentiles, but Christians in the steadfast faith
Of feet that were to suffer and had suffered. ws
For one from Hell, where no one e'er turns back
Unto good will, returned unto his bones,
And that of living hope was the reward, —
Of living hope, that placed its efficacy
In prayers to God made to resuscitate him, wo
So that 'twere possible to move his will.
The glorious soul concerning which I speak.
Returning to the flesh, where brief its stay,
Believed in Him who had the power to aid it ;
And, in believing, kindled to such fire "S
Of genuine love, that at the second death
Worthy it was to come unto this joy.
The other one, through grace, that from so deep
A fountain wells that never hath the eye
Of any creature reached its primal wave, ««o
Set all his love below on righteousness ;
Wherefore from grace to grace did God unclose
His eye to our redemption yet to be,
Whence he believed therein, and suffered not
From that day forth the stench of paganism, «»s
And he reproved therefor the folk perverse.
Those Maidens three, whom at the right-hand wheel
Thou didst behold, were unto him for baptism
More than a thousand years before baptizing.
 PARADISO, XXI. 559

O thou predestination, how remote

Thy root is from the aspect of all those
"WTio the First Cause do not behold entire !
And you, O mortals ! hold yourselves restrained
In judging ; for ourselves, who look on God,
We do not know as yet all the elect ;
And sweet to us is such a deprivation.
Because our good in this good is made perfect,
That whatsoe'er God wills, we also will."
After this manner by that shape divine.
To make clear in me my short-sightedness,
Was given to me a pleasant medicine ;
And as good singer a good lutanist
Accompanies with vibrations of the chords.
Whereby more pleasantness the song acquires,
So, while it spake, do I remember me
That I beheld both of those blessed lights,
Even as the winking of the eyes concords,
Moving unto the words their little flames.

CANTO XXI.

Already on my Lady's face mine eyes

Again were fastened, and with these my mind,
And from all other purpose was withdrawn ;
And she smiled not ; but " If I were to smile,"
She unto me began, " thou wouldst become
Like Semele, when she was turned to ashes.
Because my beauty, that along the stairs
Of the eternal palace more enkindles,
As thou hast seen, the farther we ascend.
If it were tempered not, is so resplendent
That all thy mortal power in its effulgence
Would seem a leaflet that the thunder crushes.
We are uplifted to the seventh splendour,
That underneath the burning Lion's breast
Now radiates downward mingled with his power.
Fix in direction of thine eyes the mind,
And make of them a mirror for the figure
That in this mirror shall appear to thee."
He who could know what was the pasturage
My sight had in that blessed countenance.
When I transferred me to another care.
56o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Would recognize how grateful was to me

Obedience unto my celestial escort,
By counterpoising one side with the other.
Within the crystal which, around the world
Revolving, bears the name of its dear leader,
Under whom every wickedness lay dead,
Coloured like gold, on which the sunshine gleams,
A stairway I beheld to such a height
Uplifted, that mine eye pursued it not.
Likewise beheld I down the steps descending
So many splendours, that I thought each light
That in the heaven appears was there diffused.
And as accordant with their natural custom
The rooks together at the break of day
Bestir themselves to warm their feathers cold ;
Then some of them fly off without return,
Others come back to where they started from.
And others, wheeling round, still keep at home ;
Such fashion it appeared to me was there
Within the sparkling that together came,
As soon as on a certain step it struck,
And that which nearest unto us remained
Became so clear, that in my thought I said,
" Well I perceive the love thou showest me ;
But she, from whom I wait the how and when
Of speech and silence, standeth still ; whence I
Against desire do well if I ask not"
She thereupon, who saw my silentness
In the sight of Him who seeth everything,
Said unto me, " Let loose thy warm desire."
And I began : " No merit of my own
Renders me worthy of response from thee ;
But for her sake who granteth me the asking,
Thou blessed life that dost remain concealed
In thy beatitude, make known to me
The cause which draweth thee so near my side ;
And tell me why is silent in this wheel
The dulcet symphony of Paradise,
That through the rest below sounds so devoutly."
** Thou hast thy hearing mortal as thy sight,"
It
Foranswer madecause
the same to methat; "Beatrice
they singhasnotnothere,
smiled.
Thus far adown the holy stairway's steps
Have I descended but to give thee welcome
With words, and with the light that mantles nie ;
 PARADISO, XXI. 561

Nor did more love cause me to be more ready,

For love as much and more up there is burning,
As doth the flaming manifest to thee.
But the high charity, that makes us servants 70
Prompt to the counsel which controls the world,
AUotteth here, even as thou dost observe."
" I see
Howfull love
well,"unfettered
said I, " inO this
sacred
courtlamp !
sufficeth
To follow the eternal Providence ; 75
But this is what seems hard for me to see,
Wherefore predestinate wast thou alone
Unto this office from among thy consorts."
No sooner had I come to the last word.
Than of its middle made the light a centre, 80
Whirling itself about like a swift millstone.
When answer made the love that was therein :
" On me directed is a light divine.
Piercing through this in which I am embosomed,
Of which the virtue with my sight conjoined 8s
Lifts me above ;nyself so far, I see
The supreme essence from which this is drawn.
Hence comes the joyfulness with which I flame,
For to my sight, as far as it is clear.
The clearness of the flame I equal make. 90
But that soul in the heaven which is most pure.
That seraph which his eye on God most fixes,
Could this demand of thine not satisfy;
Because so deeply sinks in the abyss
Of the eternal statute what thou askest, 9s

And From
to the all created
mortal sightwhen
world, it is thou
cut off".
returnest,
This carry back, that it may not presume
Longer tow'rd such a goal to move its feet.
The mind, that shineth here, on earth doth smoke ; 100
From this observe how. can it do below
That which it cannot though the heaven assume it?"
Such limit did its words prescribe to me,
The question I relinquished, and restricted
Myself to ask it humbly who it was. 105
" Between two shores of Italy rise cliffs.
And not far distant from thy native place.
So high, the thunders far below them sound,
And form a ridge that Catria is called,
'Neath which is consecrate a hermitage "o
Wont to be dedicate to worship only."
562 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thus unto me the third speech recommenced,

And then, continuing, it said : " Therein
Unto God's service I became so steadfast,
That feeding only on the juice of ohves ks
Lightly I passed away the heats and frosts,
Contented in my thoughts contemplative. ;
That cloister used to render to these heavens ,
Abundantly, and now is empty grown, j
So that perforce it soon must be revealed, i"^ \
I in that place was Peter Damiano ; j
And Peter the Sinner was I in the house I
Of Our Lady on the Adriatic shore. . ;
Little of mortal life remained to me,
When I was called and dragged forth to the hat "s
Which shifteth evermore from bad to worse. \
Came Cephas, and the mighty Vessel came I
Of the Holy Spirit, meagre and barefooted,
Taking the food of any hostelry.
Now some one to support them on each side '30
The modern shepherds need, and some to lead them, j
So heavy are they, and to hold their trains. i
They cover up their palfreys with their cloaks,
So that two beasts go underneath one skin ; |
O Patience, that dost tolerate so much ! " »35 ]
At this voice saw I many little flames i
' From step to step descending and revolving, ■
And every revolution made them fairer.
Round about this one came they and stood still, j
And a cry uttered of so loud a sound, 140 J
It here could find no parallel, nor I \
Distinguished it, the thunder so o'ercame rae.

CANTO XXIL

Oppressed with stupor, T unto my guide

Turned like a little child who always runs
For refuge there where he confideth most ;
And she, even as a mother who straightway
Gives comfort to her pale and breathless boy
With voice whose wont it is to reassure him,
Said to me : " Knowest thou not thou art in heaven.
And knowest thou not that heaven is holy ail,
And what is done here cometh from good zeal ?
 PARADISO, XXII. 563

After what wise the singing would have changed thee 10

And I by smiling, thou canst now imagine,
Since that the cry has startled thee so much.
In which if thou hadst understood its prayers
Already would be known to thee the vengeance
Which thou shalt look upon before thou diest. 15
The sword above here smiteth not in haste
Nor tardily, howe'er it seem to him
Who fearing or desiring waits for it.
But turn thee round towards the others now,
For very illustrious spirits shalt thou see, *>
If thou thy sight directest as I say."
As it seemed good to her mine eyes I turned,
And saw a hundred spherules that together
With mutual rays each other more embellished.
I stood as one who in himself represses as
The point of his desire, and ventures not
To question, he so feareth the too much.
And now the largest and most luculent
Among those pearls came forward, that it might
Make my desire concerning it content. 30
Within it then I heard : " If thou couldst see
Even as myself the charity that burns
Among us, thy conceits would be expressed ;
But, that by waiting thou mayst not come late
To the high end, I will make answer even 3S
Unto the thought of which thou art so chary.
That mountain on whose slope Cassino stands
Was frequented of old upon its summit
By a deluded folk and ill-disposed ;
And I am he who first up thither bore 4*
The name of Him who brought upon the earth
The truth that so much sublimateth us.
And such abundant grace upon me shone
That all the neighbouring towns I drew away
From the impious worship that seduced the world. 4s
These other fires, each one of them, were men
Contemplative, enkindled by that heat
• Which maketh holy flowers and fruits spring up.
Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus,
Here are my brethren, who within the cloisters v*
Their footsteps stayed and kept a steadfast heart."
And I to him : " The affection which thou showest
Speaking with me, and the good countenance
Which I behold and note in all your ardours,
564 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

■ In me have so my confidence dilated 55

As the sun doth the rose, when it becomes
As far unfolded as it hath the power.
Therefore I pray, and thou assure me, father, 1
If I may so much grace receive, that I
May thee behold with countenance unveiled." <!o j
He thereupon : " Brother, thy high desire !
In the remotest sphere shall be fulfilled, ;
Where are fulfilled all others and my own. '
There perfect is, and ripened, and complete, ;
Every desire ; within that one alone <s \
Is every part where it has always been ;
For it is not in space, nor turns on poles, ' i
And unto it our stairway reaches up, \
Whence thus from out thy sight it steals away.
Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it 70
Extending its supernal part, what time
So thronged with angels it appeared to him.
But to ascend it now no one uplifts ]
His feet from off the earth, and now my Rule
Below remaineth for mere waste of paper. 75
The walls that used of old to be an Abbey
Are changed to dens of robbers, and the cowls \
Are sacks filled full of miserable flour. \
But heavy usury is not taken up \
So much against God's pleasure as that fruit
Which maketh so insane the heart of monks ;
For whatsoever hath the Church in keeping
Is for the folk that ask it in God's name,
Not for one's kindred or for something worse.
The flesh of mortals is so very soft,
That good beginnings down below suffice not
From springing of the oak to bearing acorns.
Peter began with neither gold nor silver.
And 1 with orison and abstinence.
And Francis with humility his convent.
And if thou lookest at each one's beginning.
And then regardest whither he has run,
Thou shalt behold the white changed into brown.
In verity the Jordan backward turned,
-And the sea's fleeing, when God willed were more
\ wonder to behold, than succour hcte."
Thus unto me he said ; and then withdrew
To his own band, and the band closed together ;
Then like a whirlwind all was upward rapt.
 PARADISO, XXII. 565

The gentle Lady urged me on behind them t^

Up o'er that stairway by a single sign,
So did her virtue overcome my nature ;
Nor here below, where one goes up and down
By natural law, was motion e'er so swift
That it could be compared unto my wing. jos
Reader, as I may unto that devout
Triumph return, on whose account I often
For my transgressions weep and beat my breast, —
Thou hadst not thrust thy finger in the fire
And drawn it out again, before I saw no
The sign that follows Taurus, and was in it.
0 glorious stars, O light impregnated
With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge
All of my genius, whatsoe'er it be.
With you was born, and hid himself with you, «i
He who is father of all mortal life,
When first I tasted of the Tuscan air ;
And then when grace was freely given to me
To enter the high wheel which turns you round,
Your region was allotted unto me. "c
To you devoutly at this hour my soul
Is sighing, that it virtue may acquire
For the stem pass that draws it to itself.
" Thou art so near unto the last salvation,"
Thus Beatrice began, " thou oughtest now J2s
To have thine eyes unclouded and acute ;
And therefore, ere thou enter farther in.
Look down once more, and see how vast a world
Thou hast already put beneath thy feet ;
So that thy heart, as jocund as it may, 130
Present itself to the triumphant throng
That comes rejoicing through this rounded ether."
1 with my sight returned through one and all
The sevenfold spheres, and I beheld this globe
Such that I smiled at its ignoble semblance ; ijs
And that opinion I approve as best
Which doth account it least \ and he who thinks
Of something else may truly be called just.
I saw the daughter of Latona shining
Without that shadow, which to me was cause uc
That once I had believed her rare and dense.
The aspect of thy son, Hyperion,
Here I sustained, and saw how move themselves
Around and near him Maia and Dione.
5t>6 THE DJV/.VE COMEDY.

Thence there appeared the temperateness of Jove

'Tvvixt son and father, and to me was clear
The change that of their whereabout they make ;
And all the seven made manifest to me
How great they are, and eke how swift they are,
And how they are in distant habitations.
The threshing-floor that maketh us so proud,
To me revolving with the eternal Twins,
Was all apparent made from hill to harbour !
Then to the beauteous eyes mine eyes I turned.

CANTO XXIII.

Even as a bird, 'mid the beloved leaves,

Quiet upon the nest of her sweet brood
Throughout the night, that hideth all things from us,
Who, that she may behold their longed-for looks
And find the food wherewith to nourish them,
In which, to her, grave labours grateful are,-
Anticipates the time on open spray
And with an ardent longing waits the sun,
Gazing intent as soon as breaks the dawn :
Even thus my Lady standing was, erect
And vigilant, turned round towards the zone
Underneath which the sun displays less haste ;
So that beholding her distraught and wistful.
Such I became as he is who desiring
For something
But brief yearns,
the space from one and hoping
When is appeased.
to the other ; «•'
Of my awaiting, say I, and the seeing
The welkin grow resplendent more and more.
And Beatrice exclaimed : " Behold the hosts
Of Christ's triumphal march, and all the fruit
Harvested by the rolling of these spheres 1 "
It seemed to me her face was all aflame ;
And eyes she had so full of ecstasy
That I must needs pass on without describing.
As when in nights serene of the full moon
Smiles Trivia among the nymphs eternal
Who paint the firmament through all its gulfs,
Saw I, above the myriads of lamps,
A Sun that one and all of them enkindled,
E'en as our own doth the supernal sights,
 PARADISO, XXIII. 567

And through the Hving Hght transparent shone

The lucent substance so intensely clear
Into my sight, that I sustained it not.
0 Beatrice, thou gentle guide and dear !
To me she said : " What overmasters thee 35
A virtue is from which naught shields itself.
There are the wisdom and the omnipotence
That oped the thoroughfares 'twixt heaven and earth,
For which there erst had been so long a yearning."
As fire from out a cloud unlocks itself, 4«
Dilating so it finds not room therein,
And down, against its nature, falls to earth.
So did my mind, among those aliments
Becoming larger, issue from itself.
And that which it became cannot remember. 4s
" Open thine eyes, and look at what I am:
Thou hast beheld such things, that strong enough
Hast thou become to tolerate my smile."
1 was as one who still retains the feeling
Of a forgotten vision, and endeavours so
In vain to bring it back into his mind,
When I this invitation heard, deserving
Of so much gratitude, it never fades
Out of the book that chronicles the past
Jf at this moment sounded all the tongues 55
That Polyhymnia and her sisters made
Most lubrical with their delicious milk.
To aid me, to a thousandth of the truth
It would not reach, singing the holy smile
And how the holy aspect it illumed. flo
And therefore, representing Paradise,
The sacred poem must perforce leap over,
Even as a man who finds his way cut off;
But whoso thinketh of the ponderous theme.
And of the mortal shoulder laden with it, 65
Should blame it not, if under this it tremble.
It is no passage for a little boat
This which goes cleaving the audacious prow,
Nor for a pilot who would spare himself
" Why doth my face so much enamour thee, * 70
That to the garden fair thou turnest not.
Which under the rays of Christ is blossoming?
There is the Rose in which the Word Divine
Became incarnate ; there the lilies are
By whose perfume the good way was discovered" w
568 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Thus Beatrice ; and I, who to her counsels

Was wholly ready, once again betook me
Unto the battle of the feeble brows.
As in the sunshine, that unsullied streams ■
Through fractured cloud, ere now a meadow of flowers so
Mine eyes with shadow covered o'er have seen,
So troops of splendours manifold 1 saw ;
Illumined from above with burning rays, '
Beholding not the source of the effulgence. '
O power benignant that dost so imprint them ! 85 '
Thou didst exalt thyself to give more scope \
There to mine eyes, that were not strong enough.
The name of that fair flower I e'er invoke i
Morning and evening utterly enthralled
My soul to gaze upon the greater fire. 90 ;
And when in both mine eyes depicted were
The glory and greatness of the living star '
Which there excelleth, as it here excelled, i
Athwart the heavens a little torch descended -j
Formed in a circle like a coronal, 95 i
And cinctured it, and whirled itself about it. ;
Whatever melody most sweetly souhdeth \
On earth, and to itself most draws the soul, i
W^ould seem a cloud that, rent asunder, thunders, I
Compared unto the sounding of that lyre 'oo 1
Wherewith was crowned the sapphire beautiful, J
Which gives the clearest heaven its sapphire hue.
" I am Angelic Love, that circle round
The joy sublime which breathes from out the womb
That was the hostelry of our Desire ; ms
And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while .
Thou followest thy Son, and mak'st diviner
The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there."
Thus did the circulated melody
Seal itself up ; and all the other lights
Were making to resound the name of Mary.
The regal mantle of the volumes all
Of that world, which most fervid is and living
With breath of God and with his works and ways,
Extended over us its inner border.
So very distant, that the semblance of it
There where I was not yet appeared to me.
Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power
Of following the incoronated flame,
Which mounted upward near to its '»w^i4 seed.
 PARADISO, XXIV. 569

And as a little child, that towards its mother

Stretches its arms, when it the milk has taken,
Through impulse kindled into outward flame.
Each of those gleams of whiteness upward reached
So with its summit, that the deep affection 175
They had for Mary was revealed to me.
Thereafter they remained there in my sight,
Regina cceli singing with such sweetness.
That ne'er from me has the delight departed.
O, what exuberance is garnered up 13c
Within those richest coffers, which had been
Good husbandmen for sowing here below !
There they enjoy and live upon the treasure
Which was acquired while weeping in the exile
Of Babylon, wherein the gold was left. 13s
There triumpheth, beneath the exalted Son
Of God and Mary, in his victory,
Both with the ancient council and the new.
He who doth keep the keys of such a glory.

CANTO XXIV.

" O COMPANY elect to the great supper

Of the Lamb benedight, who feedeth you
So that for ever full is your desire,
If by the grace of God this man foretaste
Something of that which falleth from your table,
Or ever death prescribe to him the time,
Direct your mind to his immense desire,
And him somewhat bedew \ ye drinking are
For ever at the fount whence comes his thought"
Thus Beatrice ; and those souls beatified
Transformed themselves to spheres on steadfast poles,
Flaming intensely in the guise of comets.
And as the wheels in works of horologes
Revolve so that the first to the beholder
Motionless seems, and the last one to fly.
So in like manner did those carols, dancing
In different measure, of tljeir affluence
Give me the gauge, as they were swift or slow.
From that one which I noted of most beauty
Beheld I issue forth a fire so happy
That none it left there of a greater brightness ;
570 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And around Beatrice three several times

It whirled itself with so divine a song,
My fantasy repeats it not to me ;
Therefore the pen skips, and I write it not,
Since our imagination for such folds,
Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring.
" O holy sister mine, who us implorest
With such devotion, by thine ardent love
Thou dost unbind me from that beautiful sphere ! "
Thereafter, having stopped, the blessed fire
Unto my Lady did direct its breath.
Which spake in fashion as I here have said.
And she : " O light eteme of the great man
To whom our Lord delivered up the keys
He carried down of this miraculous joy.
This one examine on points light and grave.
As good beseemeth thee, about the Faith
By means of which thou on the sea didst walk.
If he love well, and hope well, and believe.
From thee 'tis hid not ; for thou hast thy sight
There where depicted everything is seen.
But since this kingdom has made citizens
By means of the true Faith, to glorify it
'Tis well he have the chance to speak thereof."
As baccalaureate arms himself, and speaks not
Until the master doth propose the question,
To argue it, and not to terminate it,
So did I arm myself with every reason.
While she was speaking, that I might be ready
For such a questioner and such profession.
" Say, thou good Christian ; manifest thyself;
What is the Faith ? " Whereat I raised my brow
Unto that light wherefrom was this breathed forth.
Then turned I round to Beatrice, and she
Prompt signals made to me that I should pour
The water forth from my internal fountain.
" May grace, that suffers me to make confession,"
Began I, " to the great centurion.
Cause my conceptions all to be explicit ! "
And I continued : " As the truthful pen.
Father, of thy dear brother wrote of it,
Who put with thee Rome into the good way,
Faith is the substance of the things we hope for,
And evidence of those that are not seen ;
And this appears to me its quiddity."
 PARADISO, XXIV. 571

Then heard I : " Very rightly thou perceivest,

If well thou understandest why he placed it
With substances and then with evidences,"
And I thereafterward : " The things profound, ?•
That here vouchsafe to me their apparition,
Unto all eyes below are so concealed,
That they exist there only in belief,
Upon the which is founded the high hope,
And hence it takes the nature of a substance. n
And it behoveth us from this belief
To reason without having other sight,
And hence it has the nature of evidence."
Then heard I : "If whatever is acquired
Below by doctrine were thus understood, »»
No sophist's subtlety would there find place."
Thus was breathed forth from that enkindled love ;
Then added : " Very well has been gone over
Already of this coin the alloy and weight ;
But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse ? " 85
And I : " Yes, both so shining and so round.
That in its stamp there is no perad venture."
Thereafter issued from the light profound
That there resplendent was : " This precious jewel.
Upon the which is every virtue founded, 90
Whence hadst thou it ? " And I : " The large outpouring
Of Holy Spirit, which has been diffused
Upon the ancient parchments and the new,
A syllogism is, which proved it to me
With such acuteness, that, compared therewith, 9s
All demonstration seems to me obtuse."
And then I heard : " The ancient and the new
Postulates, that to thee are so conclusive.
Why dost thou take them for the word divine ? "
And I : " The proofs, which show the truth to me, »<»
Are the works subsequent, whereunto Nature
Ne'er heated iron yet, nor anvil beat."
'Twas answered me : " Say, who assureth thee
That those works ever were ? the thing itself
That must be proved, nought else to thee affirms it." ««
" Were the world to Christianity converted,"
I said, " withouten miracles, this one
Is such, the rest are not its hundredth part ;
Because that poor and fasting thou didst enter
Into the field to sow there the good plant, i«»
Which was a vine and has become a thorn ! **
QQ

L
ff» THE DIVINE COMEDY.

This being finished, the high, holy Court

Resounded through the spheres, " One God we praise ! " i
In melody that there above is chanted.
And then that Baron, who firom branch to branch, "s
Examining, had thus conducted me,
Till the extremest leaves we were approachmg,
Again began : " The Grace that dallying
Plays with thine intellect thy mouth has opened,
Up to this point, as it should opened be, im ;
So that I do approve what forth emerged ; ,
But now thou must express what thou believest,
And whence to thy belief it was presented."
" O holy father, spirit who beholdest \
What thou believedst so that thou o'ercamest, laj \
Towards the sepulchre, more youthful feet," \
Began I, " thou dost wish me in this place
The form to manifest of my prompt belief.
And likewise thou the cause thereof demandest. i
And I respond : In one God I believe, 130 '
Sole and eterne, who moveth all the heavens j
With love and with desire, himself unmoved ; |
And of such faith not only have I proofs \
Physical and metaphysical, but gives them j
Likewise the truth that from this place rains down 135 \
Through Moses, through the Prophets and the Psalms,
Through the Evangel, and through you, who wrote
After the fiery Spirit sanctified you ;
In Persons three eterne believe, and these
One essence I believe, so one and trine uo
They bear conjunction both with sunt and est.
With the profound condition and divine
Which now I touch upon, doth stamp my mind
Ofttimes the doctrine evangelical.
This the beginning is, this is the spark 145
Which afterwards dilates to vivid flame,
And, like a star in heaven, is sparkling in me." ]
Even as a lord who hears what pleaseth him
His servant straight embraces, gratulating \,
For the good news as soon as he is silent ; is* \\
So, giving me its benediction, singing, V;
Three times encircled me, when I was silent, l|
The apostolic light, at whose command *)
I spoken had, in speaking I so pleased him.
 PARADISO, XXV. S73

CANTO XXV. ,

If e'er it happen that the Poem Sacred,

To which both heaven and earth have set their hand,
So that it many a year hath made me lean,
O'ercome the cruelty that bars me out
From the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered,
An enemy to the wolves that war upon it,
With other voice forthwith, with other fleece
Poet will I return, and at my font
Baptismal will I take the laurel crown ;
Because into the Faith that maketh known
All souls to God there entered I, and then
Peter for her sake thus my brow encircled.
Thereafterward towards us moved a light
Out of that band whence issued the first-fruits
Which of his vicars Christ behind him left.
And then my Lady, full of ecstasy,
Said unto me : " Look, look ! behold the Baron
For whom below Galicia is frequented,"
In the same way as, when a dove alights
Near his companion, both of them pour forth,
Circling about and murmuring, their affection,
So one beheld I by the other grand
Prince glorified to be with welcome greeted,
Lauding the food that there above is eaten.
But when their gratulations were complete.
Silently coram me each one stood still,
So incandescent it o'ercame my sight.
Smiling thereafterwards, said Beatrice ;
" Illustrious life, by whom the benefactions
Of our Basilica have been described,
Make Hope resound within this altitude ;
Thou knowest as oft thou dost personify it
As Jesus to the three gave greater clearness." —
" LiftFor
up what
thy head,
comesandhither
makefrom
thyself
the assured ;
mortal world
Must needs be ripened m our radiance,"
This comfort came to me from the second fire ;
Wherefore mine eyes I lifted to the hills.
Which bent them down before with too great weight,

QQ 2
574 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

" Since, through his grace, our Emperor wills that thou
Shouldst find thee face to face, before thy death.
In the most secret chamber, with his Counts,
So that, the truth beholden of this court,
Hope, which below there rightfully enamours,
Thereby thou strengthen in thyself and others,
' Say what it is, and how is flowering with it
Thy mind, and say from whence it came to thee."
Thus did the second light again continue.
And the Compassionate, who piloted
The plumage of my wings in such high flight,
Did in reply anticipate me thus :
" No child whatever the Church Militant
Of greater hope possesses, as is written
In that Sun which irradiates all our band ;
Therefore it is conceded him from Egypt
To come into Jerusalem to see.
Or ever yet his warfare be completed.
The two remaining points, that not for knowledge
Have been demanded, but that he report
How much this virtue unto thee is pleasing,
To him I leave ; for hard he will not find them.
Nor of self-praise ; and let him answer them ;
And may the grace of God in this assist him 1 "
As a disciple, who his teacher follows,
Ready and willing, where he is expert,
That his proficiency may be displayed,
" Hope," said I, " is the certain expectation
Of future glory, which is the effect
Of grace divine and merit precedent.
From many stars this light comes unto me ;
But he instilled it first into my heart
Who was chief singer unto the chief captain.
' Sperent in te^ in the high Theody
He sayeth, ' those who know thy name ; ' and who
Knoweth it not, if he my faith possess?
Thou didst instil me, then, with his instilling
In the Epistle, so that I am full.
And upon others rain again your rain."
While I was speaking, in the living bosom
Of that combustion
Sudden and frequent,quivered an eff"ulgence,
in the guise of lightning ;
Then breathed : " 'I'he love wherewith I am inflamed
Towards the virtue still which followed me
Unto the palm and issue of the fieldj
 PARADISO, XXV. 575

Wills that I breathe to thee that thou delight 8$

In her ; and grateful to me is thy telling
Whatever things Hope promises to thee."
And I : " The ancient Scriptures and the new
The mark establish, and this shows it me,
Of all the souls whom God hath made his friends. 9"
Isaiah saith, that each one garmented
In his own land shall be with twofold garments
And his own land is this delightful life.
Thy brother, too, far more explicitly,
There where he treateth of the robes of white, vs
This revelation manifests to us."
And first, and near the ending of these words,
" Sperent in te " from over us was heard,
To which responsive answered all the carols.
Thereafterward a light among them brightened, ««o
So that, if Cancer one such crystal had,
Winter would have a month of one sole day.
And as uprises, goes, and enters the dance
A winsome maiden, only to do honour
To the new bride, and not from any failing, w>5
Even thus did I behold the brightened splendour
Approach the two, who in a wheel revolved
As was beseeming to their ardent love.
Into the song and music there it entered ;
And fixed on them my Lady kept her look, «?(,
Even as a bride silent and motionless.
" This is the one who lay upon the breast
Of him our Pelican ; and this is he
To the great office from the cross elected."
My Lady thus ; but therefore none the more ««
Did move her sight from its attentive gaze
Before or afterward these words of hers.
Even as a man who gazes, and endeavours
To see the eclipsing of the sun a little,
•And who, by seeing, sightless doth become, i-o
So I became before that latest fire.
While it was said, " Why dost thou daze thyself
To see a thing which here hath no existence ?
Earth in the earth my body is, and shall be
With all the others there, until our number a^
With the eternal proposition tallies.
With the two garments in the blessed cloister
Are the two lights alone that have ascended :
And this shalt ihou take back into your world."
576 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And at this utterance the flaming circle

Grew quiet, with the dulcet intermingling
Of sound that by the trinal breath was made,
As to escape from danger or fatigue
The oars that erst were in the water beaten
Are all suspended at a whistle's sound.
Ah, how much in my mind was I disturbed,
When I turned round to look on Beatrice,
That her I could not see, although I was
Close at her side and in the Happy World !

CANTO XXVI.

While I was doubting for my vision quenched.

Out of the flame refulgent that had quenched it
Issued a breathing, that attentive made me,
Saying : " While thou recoverest the sense
Of seeing which in me thou hast consumed, s
'Tis well that speaking thou shouldst compensate it.
Begin then, and declare to what thy soul
Is aimed, and count it for a certainty,
Sight is in thee bewildered and not dead ;
Because the Lady, who through this divine » !
Region conducteth thee, has in her look
The power the hand of Ananias had." j
I said : " As pleaseth her, or soon or late •
Let the cure come to eyes that portals were j
When she with fire I ever burn with entered. n \
The Good, that gives contentment to this Court,
The Alpha and Omega is of all ■
The writing that love reads me low or loud." |
The selfsame
The terrorvoice,
of thethatsudden
taken dazzlement,
had from me «»^'
To speak still farther put it in my thought ; *
And said : " In verity with finer sieve '
Behoveth thee to sift ; thee it behovetn \
To say who aimed thy bow at such a target." ,
And I : " By philosophic arguments, •»!
And by authority that hence descends, |
Such love must needs imprint itself in me ; |
For Good, so far as good, when comprehended *^
Doth straight enkindle love, and so much greater
As more of goodness in itself it holds ; i» ^
 PARADTSO, XX VL 577

Then to that Essence (whose is such advantage

That every good which out of it is found
Is nothing but a ray of its own hght)
More than elsewhither must the mind be moved
Of every one, in loving, who discerns 3S
The truth in which this evidence is founded.
Such truth he to my intellect reveals
Who demonstrates to me the primal love
Of all the sempiternal substances.
The voice reveals it of the truthful Author, 40
Who says to Moses, speaking of Himself,
' I will make all my goodness pass before thee.'
Thou too revealest it to me, beginning
The loud Evangel, that proclaims the secret
Of heaven to earth above all other edict." 45
And I heard say : " By human intellect
And by authority concordant with it,
Of all thy loves reserve for God the highest.
But say again if other cords thou feelest,
Draw thee towards Him, that thou mayst proclaim so
With how many teeth this love is biting thee."
The holy purpose of the Eagle of Christ
Not latent was nay, rather I perceived
Whither he fain would my profession lead.
Therefore I recommenced : " All of those bites i&
Which have the power to turn the heart to God
Unto my charity have been concurrent.
The being of the world, and my own being.
The death which He endured that I may live,
And that which all the faithful hope, as I do, 60
With the forementioned vivid consciousness
Have drawn me from the sea of love perverse,
And of the right have placed me on the shore.
The leaves, wherewith embowered is all the garden
Of the Eternal Gardener, do I love te
As much as he has granted them of good."
As soon as I had ceased, a song most sweet
Throughout the heaven resounded, and my 1-ady
Said with the others, " Holy, holy, holy ! "
And as at some keen light one wakes from sleep 70
By reason of the visual spirit that nms
Unto the splendour passed from coat to coat,
And he who wakes aHiorreth what he sees,
So all unconscious is his sudden waking,
Until the judgment cometh to his aid, 75
578 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

So from before mine eyes did Beatrice

Chase every mote with radiance of her own, ;
That cast its light a thousand miles and more. ■
Whence better after than before I saw, \
And in a kind of wonderment I asked so ^
About a fourth hght that I saw with us. \
And said my Lady : " There within those rays •
Gazes upon its Maker the first soul
That ever the first virtue did create." i
Even as the bough that downward bends its top ss ;
At transit of the wind, and then is lifted
By its own virtue, which inclines it upward, ;
Likewise did I, the while that she was speaking, i
Being amazed, and then I was made bold j
By a desire to speak wherewith I burned. 90 ;
And I began: "O apple, that mature '
Alone hast been produced, O ancient father, j
To whom each wife is daughter and daughter-in law, )
Devoutly as I can I supplicate thee \
That thou wouldst speak to me ; thou seest my wish ; 95 1
And I, to hear thee quickly, speak it not." i
Sometimes an animal, when covered, struggles j
So that his impulse needs must be apparent,
By reason of the wrappage following it ;
And in like manner the primeval soul
Made clear to me athwart its covering
How jubilant it was to give me pleasure.
Then breathed : " Without thy uttering it to me.
Thine inclination better I discern
Than thou whatever thing is surest to thee ;
For I behold it in the truthful mirror.
That of Himself all things parhelion makes.
And none makes Him parhelion of itself
Thou fain wouldst hear how long ago God placed me
Within the lofty garden, where this Lady
Unto so long a stairway thee disposed.
And how long to mine eyes it was a pleasure.
And of the great disdain the proper cause,
And the language that I used and that I made.
Now, son of mine, the tasting of the tree
Not in itself was cause of so great exile,
But solely the o'erstepping of the bounds.
There, whence thy Lady moved Virgilius,
Four thousand and three hundred and two circtiifs
Made by the sun, this Council I desired ;
 PARADISO, XXVII. 579

And him I saw return to all the lights

Of his highway nine hundred times and thirty,
Whilst I upon the earth was tanying.
The language that I spake was quite extinct
Before that in the work interminable
The people under Nimrod were employed ;
For nevermore result of reasoning
(Because of human pleasure that doth change,
Obedient to the heavens) was durable.
A natural action is it that man speaks ;
But whether thus or thus, doth nature leave
To your own art, as seemeth best to you.
Ere I descended to the infernal anguish,
El was on earth the name of the Chief Good,
From whom comes all the joy that wraps me round
Eli he then was called, and that is proper.
Because the use of men is like a leaf
On bough, which goeth and another cometh.
Upon the mount that highest o'er the wave
Rises was I, in life or pure or sinful,
From the first hour to that which is the second.
As the sun changes quadrant, to the sixth."

CANTO XXVII.

•' Glory be to the Father, to the Son, r

And Holy Ghost ! " all Paradise began^
So that the melody inebriate made me.
What I beheld seemed unto me a smile
Of the universe ; for my inebriation
Found entrance through the hearing and the sight.
O joy ! O gladness inexpressible !
O perfect life of love and peacefulness !
O riches without hankering secure !
Before mine eyes were standing the four torches
Enkindled, and the one that first had come
Began to make itself more luminous ;
And even such in semblance it became
As Jupiter would become, if he and Mars
Were birds, and they should interchange their feathers.
That Providence, which here distributeth
Season and service, in the blessed choir
Had silence upon every side imposed.
58o THE DIVINE COMEDY.

When I heard say : " If I my colour change,

Marvel not at it ; for while I am speaking
Thou shalt behold all these their colour change.
He who usurps upon the earth my place,
My place, my place, which vacant has become
Before the presence of the Son of God,
Has of my. cemetery made a sewer
Of blood and stench, whereby the Perverse One,
Who fell from here, below there is appeased ! "
With the same colour which, through sun adverse,
Painteth the clouds at evening or at morn.
Beheld I then the whole of heaven suffused.
And as a modest woman, who abides
Sure of herself, and at another's failing,
From listening only, timorous becomes,
Even thus did Beatrice change countenance ;
And I believe in heaven was such eclipse.
When suffered the supreme Omnipotence ;
Thereaftervvard proceeded forth his words
With voice so much transmuted from itself,
The very countenance was not more changed.
*• The spouse of Christ has never nurtured been
On blood of mine, of Linus and of Cletus,
To be made use of in acquest of gold ;
But in acquest of this delightful life
Sixtus and Pius, Urban and Calixtus,
After much lamentation, shed their blood.
Our purpose was not, that on the right hand
Of our successors should in part be seated
The Christian folk, in part upon the other ;
Nor that the keys which were to me confided
Should e'er become the escutcheon on a banner.
That should wage war on those who are baptized ;
Nor I be made the figure of a seal
To privileges venal and mendacious,
Whereat 1 often redden and flash with fire.
In garb of shepherds the rapacious wolves
Are seen from here above o'er all the pastures !
O wrath of God, why dost thou slumber still ?
To drink our blood the Caorsines and Gascons
Are making ready. O thou good beginning.
Unto how vile an end must thou needs fall !
But the high Providence, that with Scipio
At Rome the glory of the world defended.
Will speedily bring aid, as I conceive ;
 PARADISO, XXVII. 581

And thou, my son, who by thy mortal weight

Shalt down return again, open thy mouth ; 6s
What I conceal not, do not thou conceal.'
As with its frozen vapours downward falls
In flakes our atmosphere, what time the horn
Of the celestial Goat doth touch the sun.
Upward in such array saw I the ether 70
Become, and flaked with the triumphant vapours,
Which there together with us had remained.
My sight was following up their semblances.
And followed till the medium, by excess.
The passing farther onward took from it ; 75
Whereat the Lady, who beheld me freed
From gazing upward, said to me : *'' Cast down
Thy sight, and see how far thou art turned round."
Since the first time that I had downward looked,
I saw that I had moved through the whole arc 80
Which the first climate makes from midst to end ;
So that I saw the mad track of Ulysses
Past Gades, and this side, well nigh the shore
Whereon became Europa a sweet burden.
And of this threshing-floor the site to me 85
Were more unveiled, but the sun was proceeding
Under my feet, a sign and more removed.
My mind enamoured, which is dallying
At all times with my Lady, to bring back
To her mine eyes was more than ever ardent. 90
And if or Art or Nature has made bait
To catch the eyes and so possess the mind.
In human flesh or in its portraiture.
All joined together would appear as nought
To the divine delight which shone upon me 93
When to her smiling face I turned me round.
The virtue that her look endowed me with
From the fair nest of Leda tore me forth.
And up into the swiftest heaven impelled me.
Its parts exceeding full of life and lofty juo
Are all so uniform, I cannot say
Which Beatrice selected for my place.
But she, who was aware of my desire,
Began, the while she smiled so joyously
That God seemed in her countenance to rejoice : 105
" The nature of that motion, which keeps quiet
The centre, and all the rest about it moves.
From hence begins as from its starting point
582 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And in this heaven there is no other Where _,

I'han in the Mind Divine, wherein is kindled no
The love that turns it, and the power it rains.
Within a circle light and love embrace it, •■
Even as this doth the others, and that precinct
He who encircles it alone controls. ■
Its motion is not by another meted, "s \
But all the others measured are by this,
As ten is by the half and by the fifth.
And in what manner time in such a pot
May have its roots, and in the rest its leaves.
Now unto thee can manifest be made. "o '
O Covetousness, that mortals dost ingulf \
Beneath thee so, that no one hath the power \
Of drawing back his eyes from out thy waves ! '
Full fairly blossoms in mankind the will ; \
But the uninterrupted rain converts laa \
Into abortive wildings the true plums, \
Fidelity and innocence are found
Only in children ; afterwards they both \
Take flight or e'er the cheeks with down are covered. ;
One, while he prattles still, observes the fasts, 13c ;
Who, when his tongue is loosed, forthwith devours I
Whatever food under whatever moon ; , \
Another, while he prattles, loves and listens
Unto his mother, who when speech is perfect
Forthwith desires to see her in her grave. 13s
Even thus is swarthy made the skin so white
In its first aspect of the daughter fair
Of him who brings the morn, and leaves the night.
Thou, that it may not be a marvel to thee,
Think that on earth there is no one who governs ; 140
Whence goes astray the human family.
Ere January be unwintered wholly
By the centesimal on earth neglected,
Shall these supernal circles roar so loud
The tempest that has been so long awaited h$
Shall whirl the poops about where are the prows ;
So that the fleet shall run its course direct,
And the true fruit shall follow on the flower."

I
 PARADISO, XXVIII. S83

CANTO XXVIII.

After the truth against the present Ufe

Of miserable mortals was unfolded
By her who doth imparadise my mind,
As in a looking-glass a taper's flame
He sees who from behind is lighted by it,
Before he has it in his sight or thought,
And turns him round to see if so the glass
Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords
Therewith as doth a music with its metre.
In similar wise my memory recoUecteth
That I did, looking into those fair eyes,
Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me.
And as I turned me round, and mine were touched
By that which is apparent in that volume.
Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent,
A point beheld I, that was raying out
Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles
Must close perforce before such great acuteness.
And whatsoever star seems smallest here
Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it
As one star with another star is placed.
Perhaps at such a distance as appears
A halo cincturing the light that paints it.
When densest is the vapour that sustains it.
Thus distant round the point a circle of fire
So swiftly whirled, that it would have surpassed
Whatever motion soonest girds the world ;
And this was by another circumcinct,
That by a third, the third then by a fourth,
By a fifth the fourth, and then by a sixth the fifth ;
The seventh followed thereupon in width
So ample
Entire now,bethat
would too Juno's
narrow messenger
to contain it.
Even so the eighth and ninth ; and every one
More slowly moved, according as it was
In number distant farther from the first.
And that one had its flame most crystalline
From which less distant was the stainless spark,
I think because more with its truth imbued.
584 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

My Lady, who in my anxiety ^o |

Beheld me much perplexed, said : " From that point \
Dependent is the heaven and nature all. ■
Behold that circle most conjoined to it, .
And know thou, that its motion is so swift -
Through burning love whereby it is spurred on." 45 i
And I to her : " If the world were arranged j
In the order which I see in yonder wheels,
What's set before me would have satisfied me ;
But in the world of sense we can perceive
That evermore the circles are diviner so |
As they are from the centre more remote J
Wherefore if my desire is to be ended
In this miraculous and angelic temple,
That has for confines only love and light, .
To hear behoves me still how the example 55 .
And the exemplar go not in one fashion,
Since for myself in vain I contemplate it." 3
" If thine own fingers unto such a knot \
Be insufficient, it is no great wonder, \
So hard hath it become for want of trying." 60 i
My Lady thus ; then said she : " Do thou take
What I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated,
And exercise on that thy subtlety.
The circles corporal are wide and narrow
According to the more or less of virtue
Which is distributed through all their parts.
The greater goodness works the greater weal,
The greater weal the greater body holds,
If perfect equally are all its parts.
Therefore this one which sweeps along with it
The universe sublime, doth correspond
Unto the circle which most loves and knows.
On which account, if thou unto the virtue
Apply thy measure, not to the appearance
Of substances that unto thee seem round,
Thou wilt behold a marvellous agreement,
Of more to greater, and of less to smaller,
In every heaven, with its Intelligence."
Even as remaineth splendid and serene
The hemisphere of air, when Boreas
Is blowing from that cheek where he is mildest.
Because is purified and resolved the nack
That erst disturbed it, till the welkin laughs
With all the beauties of its pageantry ;
 PARADISO, XXVIIL 585

Thus did I likewise, after that my Lady 8s

Had me provided with her clear response,
And like a star in heaven the truth was seen.
And soon as to a stop her words had come,
Not otherwise does iron scintillate
When molten, than those circles scintillated. 9«
Their coruscation all the sparks repeated,
And they so many were, their number makes
More millions than the doubling of the chess.
I heard them sing hosanna choir by choir
To the fixed point which holds them at the Ubi^ 95
And ever will, where they have ever been.
And she, who saw the dubious meditations
Within my mind, " The primal circles," said,
" Have shown tliee Seraphim and Cherubim.
Thus rapidly they follow their own bonds, 100
To be as like the point as most they can.
And can as far as they are high in vision.
Those other Loves, that round about them go,
Thrones of the countenance divine are called,
Because they terminate the primal Triad. k>s
And thou shouldst know that they all have delight
As much as their own vision penetrates
The Truth, in which all intellect finds rest.
From this it may be seen how blessedness
Ls founded in the faculty which sees, «o
And not in that which loves, and follows next;
And of this seeing merit is the measure,
Which is brought forth by grace, and by good will ; ,
Thus on from grade to grade doth it proceed.
The second Triad, which is germinatmg ns
In such wise in this sempiternal spring,
That no nocturnal Aries despoils,
Perpetually hosanna warbles forth
With threefold melody, that sounds in three
Orders of joy, with which it is intrined. 130
The three Divine are in this hierarchy.
First the Dominions, and the Virtues next ;
And the third order is that of the Powers.
Then in the dances twain penultimate
The Principalities and Archangels wheel ; »5
The last is wholly of angeiic sports.
These orders upward all of them are gazing.
And downward so prevail, that unto God
They all attracted are and all attract
586 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And Dionysius with so great desire

To contemplate these Orders set himself,
He named them and distinguished them as I do.
But Gregory afterwards dissented from him ;
Wherefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes
Within this heaven, he at himself did smile.
And if so much of secret truth a mortal
Proffered on earth, I would not have thee marvel,
For he who saw it here revealed it to him.
With much more of the truth about these circles."

CANTO XXIX.

At what time both the children of Latona,

Surmounted by the Ram and by the Scales,
Together make a zone of the horizon.
As long as from the time the zenith holds them
In equipoise, till from that girdle both
Changing their hemisphere disturb the balance,
So long, her face depicted with a smile,
Did Beatrice keep silence while she gazed
Fixedly at the point which had o'ercome me.
Then she began : " I say, and I ask not
What thou dost wish to hear, for I have seen it
Where centres every When and every Ubi.
Not to acquire some good unto himself,
. Which is impossible, but that his splendour
In its resplendency may say, ' Subsisto^
In his eternity outside of time,
Outside all other limits, as it pleased him.
Into new Loves the Eternal Love unfolded.
Nor as if torpid did he lie before ;
For neither after nor before proceeded
The going forth of God upon these waters.
Matter and Form unmingled and conjoined
Came into being that had no defect,

And E'en
as in asglass,
threein arrows
amber, from
or ina crystal
three-stringed bow. as '%
A sunbeam flashes so, that from its coming
To its full being is no interval.
So from its Lord did the triform effect
Ray forth into its being all together, w
Without discrimination of beginning. ja
 PARADISO, XXIX. 587

Order was con-created and constructed

In substances, and summit of the world
Were those wherein the pure act was produced.
Pure potentiaHty held the lowest part ;
Midway bound potentiality with act 35
Such bond that it shall never be unbound.
Jerome has written unto you of angels
Created a long lapse of centuries
Or ever yet the other world was made ;
But written is this truth in many places 4«
By writers of the Holy Ghost, and thou
Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat.
And even reason seeth it somewhat,
For it would not concede that for so long
Could be the motors without their perfection. 4S
Now dost thou know both where and when these Loves
Created were, and how ; so that extinct
In thy desire already are three fires.
Nor could one reach, in counting, unto twenty
So swiftly, as a portion of these angels . $•
Disturbed the subject of your elements.
The rest remained, and they began this art
Which thou discemest, with so great delight
That never from their circling do they cease.
The occasion of the fall was the accursed si
Presumption of that One, whom thou hast seen
By all the burden of the world constrained.
Those whom thou here beholdest modest were
To recognise themselves as of that goodness
Which made them apt for so much understanding ; 60
On which account their vision was exalted
By the enlightening grace and their own merit,
So that they have a full and steadfast will.
I would not have thee doubt, but certain be,
'Tis meritorious to receive this grace, 65
According as the affection opens to it.
Now round about in this consistory •
Much mayst thou contemplate, if these my words
Be gathered up, without all further aid.
But since upon the earth, throughout your schools, 70
They teach that such is the angelic nature
That it doth hear, and recollect, and will,
More will I say, that thou mayst see unmixed
The truth that is confounded there below,
Equivocating in such like prelections. 7S
588 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

These substances, since in God's countenance

They jocund were, turned not away their sight
From tliat wherefrom not anything is hidden ]
Hence they have not their vision intercepted
By object new, and hence they do not need
To recollect, through interrupted thought
So that below, not sleeping, people dream,
Believing they speak truth, and not believing ;
And in the last is greater sin and shame.
Below you do not journey by one path
Philosophising ; so transporteth you
Love of appearance and the thought thereof.
And even this above here is endured
With less disdain, than when is set aside
The Holy Writ, or when it is distorted.
They think not there how much of blood it costs
To sow it in the world, and how he pleases
Who in humility keeps close to it.
Each striveth for appearance, and doth make
His own inventions ; and these treated are
By preachers, and the Evangel holds its peace.
One sayeth that the moon did backward turn.
In the Passion of Christ, and interpose herself
So that the sunlight reached not down below ;
And lies ; for of its own accord the light
Hid itself; whence to Spaniards and to Indians,
As to the Jews, did such eclipse respond.
Florence has not so many Lapi and Bindi
As fables such as these, that every year
Are shouted from the pulpit back and forth,
In- such wise that the lambs, who do not know,
Come back from pasture fed upon the wind,
And not to see the harm doth not excuse them.
Christ did not to his first disciples say,
' Go forth, and to the world preach idle tales,'
But unto them a true foundation gave ;
And thifi so loudly sounded from their lips,
That, in the warfare to enkindle Faith,
They made of the Evangel shields and lances.
Now men go forth with jests and drolleries
To preach, and if but well the people laugh,
The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.
But in the cowl there nestles such a bird.
That, if the common people were to see it,
'I'hey would perceive what pardons they confide in.
 PAKADISO, XXX. 589

For which so great on earth has grown the folly,

That, without proof of any testimony,
To each indulgence they would flock together.
By this Saint Anthony his pig doth fatten,
And many others, who are worse than pigs, 125
Paying in money without mark of coinage.
But since we have digressed abundantly,
Turn back thine eyes forthwith to the right path.
So that the way be shortened with the time.
This nature doth so multiply itself 130
In numbers, that there never yet was speech
Nor mortal fancy that can go so far.
And if thou notest that which is revealed
By Daniel, thou wilt see that in his thousands
Number determinate is kept concealed. 13s
The primal light, that all irradiates it.
By modes as many is received therein.
As are the splendours wherewith it is mated.
Hence, inasmuch as on the act conceptive
The affection followeth, of love the sweetness uo
Therein diversely fervid is or tepid.
The height behold now and the amplitude
Of the eternal power, since it hath made
Itself so many miiTors, where 'tis broken,
One in itself remaining as before." 14s

CANTO XXX.
Perchance six thousand miles remote from us
Is glowing the sixth hour, and now this world
Inclines its shadow almost to a level,
When the mid-heaven begins to make itself
So deep to us, that here and there a star s
Ceases to shine so far down as this depth.
And as advances bright exceedingly
The handmaid of the sun, the heaven is closed
Light after light to the most beautiful ;
Not otherwise the Triumph, which for ever »•
Plays round about the point that vanquished me,
Seeming enclosed by what itself encloses,
Little by little from my vision faded ;
Whereat to turn mine eyes on Beatrice
My seeing nothing and my love constrained me, R R 2
'5
Sqo THE DIVINE COMEDY.

If what has hitherto been said of her \

Were all concluded in a single praise, i
Scant would it be to serve the present turn. j
Not only does the beauty I beheld j
Transcend ourselves, but truly I believe «o ;
Its Maker only may enjoy it all.
Vanquished do I confess me by this passage ■
More than by problem of his theme was ever
O'ercome the comic or the tragic poet ; !
For as the sun the sight that trembles most, n \
Even so the memory of that sweet smile
My mind depriveth of its very self \
From the first day that I beheld her face \
In this life, to the moment of this look, j
The sequence of my song has ne'er been severed ; y^ y
But now perforce this sequence must desist j
From following her beauty with my verse, '
As every artist at his uttermost. ^
Such as I leave her to a greater fame
Than any of my trumpet, which is bringing 35
Its arduous matter to a final close.
With voice and gesture of a perfect leader
She recommenced : " We from the greatest body
Have issued to the heaven that is pure light ;
Light intellectual replete with love,
Love of true good replete with ecstasy.
Ecstasy that transcendeth every sweetness.
Here shalt thou see the one host and the other
Of Paradise, and one in the same aspects
Which at the final judgment thou shalt see."
Even as a sudden lightning that disperses
The visual spirits, so that it deprives
The eye of impress from the strongest objects
Thus round about me flashed a living light,
And left me swathed around with such a veil
Of its effulgence, that I nothing saw.
* Ever the Love which quieteth this heaven
Welcomes into itself with such salute,
To make
No sooner had the candle
within me ready
these for
briefitswords
flame."
An entrance found, than I perceived myself
To be uplifted over my own power.
And I with vision new rekindled me.
Such that no light whatever is so pure
But that mine eyes were fortified against it
 PARADISO, XXX. 591

And light I saw in fashion of a river

Fulvid with its effulgence, 'twixt two banks
Depicted with an admirable Spring.
Out of this river issued living sparks,
And on all sides sank down into the flowers, 6s
Like unto rubies that are set in gold ;
And then, as if inebriate with the odours,
They plunged again into the wondrous torrent,
And as one entered issued forth another.
" The high desire, that now inflames and moves thee 7<>
To have intelligence of what thou seest,
Pleaseth me all the more, the more it swells.
But of this water it behoves thee drink
Before so great a thirst in thee be slaked."
Thus said to me the sunshine of mine eyes ; 7S
And added : " The river and the topazes
Going in and out, and the laughing of the herbage.
Are of their truth foreshadowing prefaces ;
Not that these things are difficult in themselves,
But the deficiency is on thy side, 80
For yet thou hast not vision so exalted."
There is no babe that leaps so suddenly
With face towards the milk, if he awake
Much later than his usual custom is.
As I did, that I might make better mirrors 8.s
Still of mine eyes, down stooping to the wave
Which flows that we therein be better made.
And even as the penthouse of mine eyelids
Drank of it, it forthwith appeared to me
Out of its length to be transformed to round. 90
Then as a folk who have been under masks
Seem other than before, if they divest
The semblance not their own they disappeared in.
Thus into greater pomp were changed for me
The flowerets and the sparks, so that I saw 95
Both of the Courts of Heaven made manifest.
O splendour of God ! by means of which I saw
The lofty triumph of the realm veracious,
Give me the power to say how it I saw !
There is a light above, which visible »<»
Makes the Creator unto every creature.
Who only in beholding Him has peace,
And it expands itself in circular form
To such extent, that its circumference
Would be too large a girdle for the sun. sog
592 7HE DIVINE COMEDY.

The semblance of it is all made of rays

Reflected from the top of Primal Motion,
Which takes therefrom vitality and power
And as a hill in water at its base
Mirrors itself, as if to see its beauty "«
When affluent most in verdure and in flowers,
So, ranged aloft all round about the light,
Mirrored I saw in more ranks than a thousand
All who above there have from us returned
And if the lowest row collect within it "S
So great a light, how vast the amplitude
Is of this Rose in its extremest leaves !
My vision in the vastness and the height
Lost not itself, but comprehended all
The quantity and quality of that gladness, '20
There near and far nor add nor take away ;
For there where God immediately doth govern,
The natural law in naught is relevant.
Into the yellow of the Rose Eternal
That spreads, and multiplies, and breathes an odour 125
Of praise unto the ever-vernal Sun,
As one who silent is and fain would speak.
Me Beatrice drew on, and said : " Behold „ I
Of the white stoles how vast the convent is ! t^yv^J^-v/^^Jvt^A
Behold how vast the circuit of our city ! 130
Behold our seats so filled to overflowing.
That here henceforward are few people wanting !
On that great throne whereon thine eyes are fixed
For the crown's sake already placed upon it.
Before thou suppest at this wedding feast 13s
Shall sit the soul (that is to be Augustus
On earth) of noble Henry, who shall come
To redress Italy ere she be ready.
Blind covetousness, that casts its spell upon you,
Has made you like unto the little child, ho
And Who
in the dies of hunger
sacred and drives
forum then oft" the nurse.
shall be
A Prefect such, that openly or covert
On the same road he will not walk with him.
But long of God he will not be endured us
In holy oflFice ; he shall be thrust down
Where Simon Magus is for his deserts,
And make him of Alagna lower go ! "
 593
PARADISO, XXXI.

CANTO XXXI.

In fashion then as of a snow-white rose ,,

Displayed itself to me the saintly host, 'f>
Whom Christ in his own blood had made his bride,
But the other host, that flying sees and sings
The glory of Him who doth enamour it,
And the goodness that created it so noble,
Even as a swarm of bees, that sinks in flowers
One moment, and the next returns again
To where its labour is to sweetness turned,
Sank into the great flower, that is adorned
With leaves so many, and thence reascended
To where its love abideth evermore.
Their faces had they all of living flame,
And wings of gold, and all the rest so white
No snow unto that limit doth attain.
From bench to bench, into the flower descending,
They carried something of the peace and ardour
Which by the fanning of their flanks they won.
Nor did the interposing 'twixt the flower
And what was o'er it of such plenitude
Of flying shapes impede the sight and splendour;
Because the light divine so penetrates
The universe, according to its merit.
That naught can be an obstacle against it.
This realm secure and full of gladsomeness,
Crowded with ancient people and with modern,
Unto one mark had all its look and love.
0 Trinal T^ight, that in a single star " -^^ - A^ -
Sparkling upon their sight so satisfies them, / '
Look down upon our tempest here below ! ^
If the barbarians, coming from some region
That every day by Helice is covered.
Revolving with her son whom she delights in,
Beholding Rome and all her noble works,
Were wonder-struck, what time the Lateran 35
Above all mortal things was eminent, —
1 who to the divine had from the human,
From time unto eternity, had come,
From Florence to a people just and sane,
594 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

With what amazement must I have been filled ! 4c j

Truly between this and the joy, it was ;
My pleasure not to hear, and to be mute. \
And as a pilgrim who delighteth him :
In gazing round the temple of his vow,
And hopes some day to retell how it was, 4s j
So through the living light my way pursuing \
Directed I mine eyes o'er all the ranks, :
Now up, now down, and now all round about. ;
Faces I saw of charity persuasive, '
Embellished by His light and their own smile, 50 !
And attitudes adorned with every grace.
The general form of Paradise already \
My glance had comprehended as a whole, \
In no part hitherto remaining fixed, '
And round I turned me with rekindled wish ss ■
My Lady to interrogate of things i
Concerning which my mind was in suspense. ]
One thing I meant, another answered me ; \
I thought I should see Beatrice, and saw \
An Old Man habited like the glorious people. 60 1
O erflowing was he in his eyes and cheeks ■
With joy benign, in attitude of pity j
As to a tender father is becoming. \
And " She, where is she ? " instantly I said ; i
Whence he : " To put an end to thy desire, «s \
Me Beatrice hath sent from mine own place. <
And if thou lookest up to the third round ^
Of the first rank, again shalt thou behold her
Upon the throne her merits have assigned her."
Without reply I lifted up mine eyes,
And saw her, as she made herself a crown
Reflecting from herself the eternal rays.
Not from that region which the highest thunders
Is any mortal eye so far removed.
In whatsoever sea it deepest sinks,
As there from Beatrice my sight ; but this
Was nothing unto me ; because her image
Descended not to me by medium blurred.
" O Lady, thou in whom my hope is strong.
And who for my salvation didst endure
In Hell to leave the imprint of thy feet,
Of whatsoever things I have beheld,
As coming from thy power and from thy goodness
I recognise the virtue and the grace.
 PARADISO, XXXI. S9S

Thou from a slave hast brought me unto freedom, 85

By all those ways, by all the expedients,
Whereby thou hadst the power of doing it.
Preserve towards me thy magnificence,
So that this soul of mine, which thou hast healed.
Pleasing to thee be loosened from the body." ?= j
Thus I implored ; and she, so far away,
Smiled, as it seemed, and looked once more at me ;
Then unto the eternal fountain turned.
And said the Old Man holy : " That thou mayst
Accomplish perfectly thy journeying, 95
Whereunto prayer and holy love have sent me, j
Fly with thine eyes all round about this garden ; ]
For seeing it will discipline thy sight
Farther to mount along the ray divine. /
And Wholly
she, the with
Queenlove,of will
Heaven,
grant for
us whom I burn ^ ■^-'•x-oys^-v./i
every grace, \. iooYv'on^tva^
Because that I her faithful Bernard am."
As he who peradventure from Croatia
Cometh to gaze at our Veronica, J y , ,' .. i
Who through its ancient fame is never sa^a,"^ '""^'■^ «>s.. ' ^
But says in thought, the while it is displayed, "^"^'^P *,^x,^^^ v^w^ J J^j^
"My Lord, Christ Jesus, God of very God, yp^cj \ ^
\ '"^^ •
Even Now was your
such was semblance
I while gazing atmade livingunto this?
the like
Charity of the man, who in this world no
By contemplation tasted of that peace,
"Thou son of grace, this jocund life," began he,
" Will not be known to thee by keeping ever
Thine eyes below here on the lowest place ;
But mark the circles to the most remote, hj j
Until thou shalt behold enthroned the Queen ^
To whom this realm is subject and devoted."
I lifted up mine eyes, and as at morn
The oriental part of the horizon
Surpasses that wherein the sun goes down, iw
Thus, as if going with mine eyes from vale
To mount, I saw a part in the remoteness
Surpass in splendour all the other front.
And even as there where we await the pole
That Phaeton drove badly, blazes more i?5
The Ught, and is on either side diminished,
So likewise that pacific oriflamme
Gleamed brightest in the centre, and each side
In equal measure did the flame abate.
5o6 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

And at that centre, with their wings expanded,

More than a thousand jubilant Angels saw I,
Each differing in effulgence and in kind.
I saw there at their sports and at their songs
A beauty smiling, which the gladness was
Within the eyes of all the other saints ;
And if I had in speaking as much wealth
As in imagining, I should not dare
To attempt the smallest part of its delight
Bernard, as soon as he beheld mine eyes
Fixed and intent upon its fervid fervour,
His own with such affection turned to her
That it made mine more ardent to behold.

CANTO XXXII.

Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator /a^v * iVvy.^,t5.-\ i

Assumed the willing office of a teacher, \
And gave beginning to these holy words :
" The wound that Mary closed up and anointed, !
She at her feet who is so beautiful, 5 \
She is the one who opened it and pierced it. ' , ,^j •
Within that order which the third seats make j
Is seated Rachel, lower than the other, |
With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest. \
Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was ^ a 0 ^ \ t «» I
Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole ^"^^^^^ • >J'— ^ - J
Of the misdeed said, ' Miserere met
Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending ,' ^
j
Down in gradation, as with each one's name /
1 through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf »s |
And downward from the seventh row, even as |
Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women, I
Dividing all the tresses of the flower ; |
Because, according to the view which Faith
In Christ had taken, these are the partition
By which the sacred stairways are divided.
Upon this side, where perfect is the flower
With each one of its petals, seated are
I'hose who believed in Christ who was to come.
Upon the other side, where intersected
With vacant sj)aces are the semicircles,
Are those who looked to Christ already come.

il
 PARADISO, XXXII. 597

And as, upon this side, the glorious seat

Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats
Below it, such a great division make, jo
So opposite doth that of the great John, - } ^^ V»Lt)J|p\A><iA
Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom u
Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell,
And under him thus to divide were chosen
Francis, and Benedict, and Augustine, 33
And down to us the rest from round to round.
Behold now the high providence divine ;
For one and other aspect of the Faith
In equal measure shall this garden fill.
And know that downward from that rank which cleaves 40
Midway the sequence of the two divisions,
Not by their proper merit are they seated ;
But by another's under fixed conditions ;
For these are spirits one and all assoiled
Before they any true election had. 45
Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,
And also in their voices puerile.
If thou regard them well and hearken to them.
Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent ;
But I will loosen for thee the strong bond so
In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.
Within the amplitude of this domain
No casual point can possibly find place.
No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger ;
For by eternal law has been established ss
Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely
The ring is fitted to the finger here.
And therefore are these people, festinate
Unto true life, not sine causa here
More and less excellent among themselves. ^
The King, by means of whom this realm reposes
In so great love and in so great delight
That no Avill ventureth to ask for more,
In his own joyous aspect every mind
Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace 6s
Diversely ; and let here the effect suffice.
And this is clearly and expressly noted
For you in Holy Scripture, in those twins
Who in their mother had their anger roused.
According to the colour of the hair, r>
Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme
Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.
5«)>5' THE DIVINE COMEDY.
Without, then, any merit of their deeds, 1
Stationed are they in different gradations, \
Differing only in their first acuteness. 75 ]
'Tis true that in the early centuries, '
With innocence, to work out their salvation '
Sufficient was the faith of parents only. ;
After the earlier ages were completed, '
Behoved it that the males by circumcision Soj
Unto their innocent wings should virtue add ; j
But after that the time of grace had come i
Without the baptism absolute of Christ, :
Such innocence below there was retained. , |
Look now into the face that unto Christ -^y^/^ory-^ ssi
Hath most resemblance ; for its brightness on^y
Is able to prepare thee to see Christ." ;
On her did I behold so great a gladness \
Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds
Created through that altitude to fly.
That whatsoever I had seen before
Did not suspend me in such admiration.
Nor show me such similitude of God.
And the same Love that first descended there,
''''Ave Maria, gratia plena" singing.
In front of her his wings expanded wide.
Unto the canticle divine responded
From every part the court beatified,
So that each sight became serener for it.
" O holy father, who for me endurest
To be below here, leaving the sweet place
In which thou sittest by eternal lot.
Who is the Angel that with so much joy
Into the eyes is looking of our Queen,
Enamoured so that he seems made of fire ?"
Thus I again recourse had to the teaching
Of that one who delighted him in Mary
As doth the star of morning in the sun.
And he to me : " Such gallantry and grace
As there can be in Angel and in soul,
All is in him ; and thus we fain would have it ;
Because he is the one who bore the palm
Down unto Mary, when the Son of God
To take our burden on himself decreed.
But now come onward with thine eyes, as I
Speaking shall go, and note the great patricians
Of this most just and merciful of empires.

i
 PARADTSO, XXXIL S99

Those two that sit above there most enrapture

As being very near unto Augusta,
Are as it were the two roots of this Rose. «ac
He who upon the left is near her placed .^^^^/j,,,.^^^
The father is, by whose audacious taste ,
The human species so much bitter tastes.

Upon the right thou seest that ancient father '

Of Holy Church, into whose keeping Christ hK •» kKj^''^
The keys committed of this lovely flower.
And he who all the evil days beheld, ^ ^.
Before his death, of her the beauteous bride ^>w->^> -J^-r^X LA>a.'»^V
Who with the spear and with the nails was woHj^
Beside him sits, and by the other rests 130
That leader under whom on manna lived C\''\> %<uw^
The people ingrate, fickle, and stiff-necked. . 4 , L- C\
Opposite
So well content to look upon her daughter,'^^ vvcvs\
Peter seest thou Anna seated, . v^^^sX/WLv k ^-^
Her eyes she moves not while she sings Hosanna. ,13s
And opposite the eldest household father
Lucia sits, she who thy Lady moved
When to rush downward thou didst bend thy brows.
But since the moments of thy vision fly,
Here will we make full stop, as a good tailor uc
\ Who makes the gown according to his cloth, 1
And unto the first I>ove will turn our eyes,
That looking upon Him thou penetrate
As far as possible through his effulgence.
Truly, lest peradventure thou recede, m>
Moving thy wings believing to advance,
By prayer behoves it that grace be obtained ;
Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee ;
And thou shalt follow me with thy aff^ection
That from my words thy heart turn not aside." is*" j
And he began this holy orison.
6po THE DIVINE COMEDY.

CANTO XXXIII.

** Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,

Humble and high beyond all other creature,
The limit fixed of the eternal counsel.
Thou art the one who such nobility
To human nature gave, that its Creator
Did not disdain to make himself its cieature.
Within thy womb rekindled was the love,
By heat of which in the eternal peace
After such wise this flower has germinated.
Here unto us thou art a noonday torch
Of charity, and below there among mortals
Thou art the living fountain-head of hope.
Lady, thou art so great, and so prevailing,
That he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee,
His aspirations without wings would fly.
Not only thy benignity gives succour
To him who asketh it, but oftentimes
Forerunneth of its own accord the asking.
In thee compassion is, in thee is pity,
In thee magnificence ; in thee unites
Whate'er of goodness is in any creature.
Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth
Of the universe as far as here has seen
One after one the spiritual lives,
Supplicate thee through grace for so much power
That with his eyes he may uplift himself
Higher towards the uttermost salvation.
And I, who never burned for my own seeing
More than I do for his, all of my prayers
Proffer to thee, and pray they come not short,
That thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud
Of his mortality so with thy prayers,
That the Chief Pleasure be to him displayed.
Still farther do I pray thee, Queen, who canst \
Whate'er thou wilt, that sound thou mayst preserve ss , \
After so great a vision his affections. -M^
Let thy protection conquer human movements ; wi
See Beatrice and all the blessed ones \
My prayers to second clasp their hands to thee I"
 PARADISO, XXXIII. 6oi

'J'he eyes beloved and revered of God, 40

Fastened upon the speaker, showed to us
How grateful unto her are prayers devout ;
Then unto the Eternal Light they turned,
On which it is not credible could be
By any creature bent an eye so clear. 4»
And I, who to the end of all desires
Was now approaching, even as I ought
The ardour of desire within me ended.
Bernard was beckoning unto me, and smiling,
That I should upward look ; but I already sb
. Was of my own accord such as he wished ;
Because my sight, becoming purified,
Was entering more and more into the ray
Of the High Light which of itself is true.
From that time forward what I saw was greater s
Than our discourse, that to such vision yields,
And yields the memory unto such excess.
Even as he is who seeth in a dream,
And after dreaming the imprinted passion
Remains, and to his mind the rest returns not, «o
Even such am I, for almost utterly
Ceases my vision, and dis^tilleth yet
Within my heart the sweetness bom of it ;
Even thus the snow is in the sun unsealed.
Even thus upon the wind in the light leaves <s
Were the soothsayings of the Sibyl lost.
0 Light Supreme, that dost so far uplift thee
From the conceits of mortals, to my mind
Of what thou didst appear re-lend a little,
And make my tongue of so great puissance, -jo
That but a single sparkle of thy glory
It may bequeath unto the future people ;
For by returning to my memory somewhat,
And by a little sounding in these verses.
More of thy victory shall be conceived ! js
1 think the keenness of the living ray
Which I endured would have bewildered me,
If but mine eyes had been averted from it ;
And I remember that I was more bold
On this account to bear, so that I joined ••
My aspect with the Glory Infinite.
O grace abundant, by which I presumed
To fix my sight upon the Light Eternal,
So that the seeing I consumed therein !
6o2 THE DIVINE COMEDY.

I saw that in its depth far down is lying

Bound up with love together in one volume,
What through the universe in leaves is scattered ;
Substance, and accident, and their operations.
All interfused together in such wise
That what I speak of is one simple light.
The universal fashion of this knot
Methinks I saw, since more abundantly
In saying this I feel that I rejoice.
One moment is more lethargy to me,
Than five and twenty centuries to the emprise
That startled Neptune with the shade of Argo !
My mind in this wise wholly in suspense,
Steadfast, immovable, attentive gazed,
And evermore with gazing grew enkindled.
In presence of that light one such becomes,
That to withdraw therefrom for other prospect
It is impossible he e'er consent ;
Because the good, which object is of will,
Is gathered all in this, and out of it
That is defective which is perfect there.
Shorter henceforward will my language fall
Of what
Who stillI his
yet tongue
remember,
doth than an infant's
moisten at the breast.
Not because more than one unmingled semblance
Was in the living light on which I looked,
For it is always what it was before ;
But through the sight, that fortified itself
In me by looking, one appearance only
, To me was ever changing as I changed.
Within the deep and luminous subsistence
Of the High colour
threefold Light appeared
and of oneto dimension.
me three circles, '.
And by the second seemed the first reflected
As Iris is by Iris, and the third
Seemed fire that equally from both is breathed.
O how all speech is feeble and falls short
Of my conceit, and this to what I saw
Is such, 'tis not enough to call it little !
O Light Eteme, sole in thyself that dwellest,
Sole knowest thyself, and, known unto thyself
And knowing, lovest and smilest on thyself !
That circulation, which being thus conceived
Appeared in thee as a reflected light,
When somewhat contemplated by mine eyes,
 PARADISO, XXXni. 603

Within itself, of its own very colour 130

Seemed to me painted with our effigy,
Wherefore my sight was all absorbed therein.
\s the geometrician, who endeavours
To square the circle, and discovers not,
By taking thought, the principle he wants, 135
Even such was I at that new apparition ;
I wished to see how the image to the circle
Conformed itself, and how it there finds place ;
But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote mo
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.
Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy :
But now was turning my desire and will.
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars. «45
NOTES TO PARADISO.
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

CANTO I. the second is that where Mercury is ;

the third is that where Venus is ; the
I. Dante's theory of the universe is fourth is that where the Sun is ; the
the old one, which made the earth a fifth is that where Mars is ; the sixth
stationary central point, around which is that where Jupiter is ; the seventh is
all the heavenly bodies revolved ; a that where Saturn is ; the eighth is that
theoiy, that, according to Milton, Par. of the Stars ; the ninth is not visible,
Lost, VIII. 15, astonished even Adam save by the motion mentioned above,
in Paradise :—
and is called by many the Crystalline :
" When I behold this goodly frame, this world, that is, diaphanous, or wholly trans-
Of heaven and earth consisting, and compute parent. Beyond all these, indeed, the
Their magnitudes ; this earth, a spot, a grain, Catholics place the Empyrean Heaven ;
An atom, with the firmament compared
And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll that is to say, the Heaven of flame, or
• Spaces incomprehensible (for such luminous ; and this they suppose to be
Their distance argues, and their swift return immovable, from having within itself,
DiurnaP, merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot, in every part, that which its matter de-
One day and night ; in all their vast survey mands. And this is the cause why the
Useless besides ; reasoning I oft admire. Pritnum Mobile has a very swift mo-
How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit tion ;from the fervent longing which
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create. each part of that ninth heaven has to be
Greater so manifold, to this one use. conjoined with that Divinest Heaven,
For aught appears, and on their orbs impose the Heaven of Rest, which is next to
Such restless revolution day by day
Repented ; while the sedentary earth, it, it revolves therein with so great
That better might with far less compass move. desire, that its velocity is almost in-
Served by more noble than herself, attains comprehensible and
; quiet and p>eace-
Her end without least motion, and receives, ful is the place of that supreme Deity,
As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light, — who alone doth perfectly see himself."
Speed, to describe whose swiftness number Of the symbolism of these Heavens
fails." he says, Convito, H. 14: "As narrated
above, the seven Heavens nearest to us
The reply that Raphael makes to are those of the Planets ; and above
'•our general ancestor," may be ad- these are two movable Heavens, and
dressed to every reader of the Para-
dise—: one motionless oyer all. To the first
seven correspond the seven sciences of
" Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, the Trivium and Ouadrivium ; that is.
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun ;
He from the east his flaming road begin. Grammar, Dialectics, Rhetoric, Arith-
Or she from west her silent course advance, metic, Music, Geometry, and Astro-
With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps logy. To the eighth, that is, to the
On her soft axle ; while she paces even. starry sphere, Natural Science, called
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along ;
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid." Physics, corresponds, and the first
science which is called Metaphysics ;
Thus, taking the earth as the central and to the ninth sphere corresponds
f)mt, and speaking of the order of the Moral Science ; and to the Heaven of
en Heavens, Dante says, Convito, II. 4: Rest, the Divine Science, which is
" The first is that where the Moon is ; called Theology."
6o8 NOTES TO PARADISO.

The details of these correspondences X. 2. From Canto X. to Canto XXIII.

will be given later in iheir appropriate 3. From Canto XX II I. to the end.
places.
These Ten Heavens are the heavens 2. Wisdom of Solomon, i. 7 : " For the
of the Paradiso ; nine of them revolv- spirit of the Lord filleth the world " ;
and Ecclesiasticus, xlii. 16 : " The sun
ing about the earth as a central point, thatgiveth light looketh upon all things,
and the motionless Empyrean encircling and the work thereof is full of the glory
and containing all.
In the first Heaven, or that of the of 4. the TiieLord."Empyrean. Milton, Par.
Moon, are seen the spirits of those Lost, III. 57 : —
who, having taken monastic vows, were
forced to violate them. In the second, " From the pure Empyrean where he sits
or that of Mercury, the spirits of those High throned above all highth."
whom desire of fame, incited to noble 5. 2 Corinthians, xii. 2 : "I knew
deeds. In the third, or that of Venus, a man in Christ about fourteen years
the spirits of Lovers. In the fourth, ago, (whether in the body, I cannot
or that of the Sun, the spirits of Theo- tell ; or whether out of the body, I can-
logians and Fathers of the Church. not tell : God knoweth ;) such an one
In the fifth, or that of Mars, the spirits caught up to the third heaven. And
of Crusaders and those who died for I knew such a man, (whether in the
the true Faith. In the sixth, or that body, or out of the body, I cannot tell ;
of Jupiter, the spirits of righteous Kings God knoweth :) how that he was caught
and Ruiers. In the seventh, or that of up into paradise, and heard unspeakable
Saturn, the spirits of the Contemplative. words, which it is not lawful for a man
In the eighth, or that of the Fixed Stars
the Triumph of Christ. In the ninth, to 7. utter."Convito, III. 2 : " Hence the
or Primum Mobile, the Angelic Hier- human soul, which is the noblest form
archies. Inthe tenth, or the Empyrean, of those created under heaven, receiveih
is the Visible Presence of God. more of the divine nature than any other.
It must be observed, however, that And inasmuch as its being
the lower spheres, in which the spirits depends upon God, and is preserved by
appear, are not assigned them as their him, it naturally desires and wishes
places or dwellings. They show them- to be united with God, in order tO'
selves in these different places only to strengthen its being." l
indicate to Dante the different degrees And again, Convito, III. 6 : " EachT
of glory which they enjoy, and to show thing chiefly desireth its own perfection,
that while on earth they were under the and in it quieteth every desire, and for
influence of the planets in which they it is each thing desired. And this is
here appear. Dante expressly says, in the desire which always maketh each
Canto IV. 28: — delight seem insufl^cient ; for in this
life is no delight so great that it can
** He of the Seraphim most absorWd in God,
Moses, and Samuel, and whichever John satisfy the thirst of the soul, so that the
Thou inayst select, I say, and even Mary, desire I speak of shall not remain in
Have not in any otiier heaven their thrones
Than thee,
have those spirits that just ap|>eared to our13.thoughts."
Chaucer, House of Fame, III
Nor of existence more or fewer years
But all make beautiful the i>rimal circle, ' God of science and of light,
And have sweet life in different decrees,
By feeling more or less the eternal breath, I : — Apollo I thorough thy grete might
This litel last boke now thou gye.
They showed
lotted themselves here, not because al-
Aiid if that divine virtue thou
This sphere has been to them, but to give sign
Of the celestial which is least exalted. Wilte helpen me to showen now
That ill my hed ymarked is.
The threefold main division of the
Paradiso, indicated by a longer prelude, Thou shah yse mc go as blive
Unto the next laurer I »e,
or by a natural pause in the action of the And kysse it for ii is thy tre.
poem, is : — i. From Canto I. to Canto Nowe entrc in my brest anone>"
 NOTES TO PARADISC.

19. Chaucer, Ballade in Commen- " Restless I grew, and every place forsook,
And still upon the seas I bent my look.
iacion of Our Ladie, 12 :— Farewell for ever ! Farewell, land ! I said ;
And plungedamidst the waves my sinking head.
" OO winde
annate oflicour
grace of! now
Clio blowe unto my saile ;
! to write The gentle powers, who that low empire keep.
Received me as a brother of the deep ;
My penne enspire, of that I woU indite." To Tethys, and to Ocean old, they pray
To purge my mortal earthy parts away."
20. Ovid, Met., VI., Croxall's Tr. :—
" As Glaucus," says Buti, , " was
" When straight another pictures to their view changed from a fisherman to a sea-god
The Satyr's fate, whom angry Phoebus slew ; by tasting of the grass that had that
Who, raised with high conceit, and puffed
with pride. power, so the human soul, tasting of
At his own pipe the skilful God defied.
Why do you tear me from myself, he cries ? things divine, becomes divine."
Ah, cruel ! must my skin be made the prize?
73. Whether I were spirit only. 2
This for a silly pipe ? he roaring said, Corinthians, xii. 3: "Whether in the
Meanwhile the skin from off his limbs was body, or out of the body, I cannot tell ;
flayed." God knoweth."
One of the questions which exercised
And Chaucer, House of Fame, 139, the minds of the Fathers and the School-
changing the sex of Marsyas :— men was, whether the soul were created
before the body or after it. Origen,
"And Mercia that lost hire skinne,
Bothe in the face, bodie, and chinne. following Plato, supposes all souls to
For that she would envyen, lo ! have been created at once, and to await
To pipen bette than Apollo." their bodies. Thomas Aquinas combats
36. A town at the foot of Parnassus, this opinion. Sum. Theol., I. Quaest.
dedicated to Apollo, and here used for cxviii. 3, and maintains, that "creation
Apollo. and infusion are simultaneous in regard
Cliaiicer, Quene Annelida and False to the soul." This seems also to be
Arcite, 15 : — Dante's belief. See Ptirg. XXV. 70: —
" The primal Motor turns to it well pleased
" Be favorable eke thou, Polymnia ! At so great art of nature, and inspires
On Parnassus that, with thy .susters glade
A spirit new, with virtue all replete."
By Helicon,
Singed, with and
voicenotmemoriall,
I'erre fromin Cirrha,
the shade
76. It is a doctrine of Plato that the
heavens are always in motion, seeking
Under the laurer, which that male not fade."
the Soul of the World, which has no
39. That point of the horizon where determinate place, but is everywhere
the sun rises at the equinox ; and where diffused. See also Note i.
the Equator, the Zodiac, and the equi- 78. The music of the spheres.
noctial Coiure meet, and form each a Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, V.
cross with the Horizon.
41. The world is as wax, which the
" Look, how the floor of heaven
sun softens and stamps with his seal. Is
I :thick
— inlaid with patines of bright gold ;
44. "This word nhnost," says Buti, There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st.
But in his motion like an angel sings,
" gives us to understand that it was not
the exact moment when the sun enters Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins
Such harmony is in immortal souls ;
Aries. " But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
60. Milton, Par. Lost, III. 593 : — Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."
" Not all parts like, but all alike informed And Milton, Hymn on Chrisfs Na-
With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire."
tivity—:
6i. Milton, Par. Lost, V. 310: — " Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
Once bless our human ears,
" Seems another mom If ye have power to touch our senses m .
Risen on mid-noon." And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time ;
68. Glaucus, changed to a sea-god Andblow
let ;the bass of Heaven's deep orgai
by eating of the salt-meadow grass. And, with your ninefold harmony,
Ovid, Met., XIII. , Rowe's Tr. :— Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.'

i.
6io NOTES TO PARADISO.

Rixner, Handbuch der Geschichte der all your senses it is the most blunted.
Pfiilosophie, I. lOO, speaking of the ten Thus, the people who live near the place
heavens, or the Lyre of Pythagoras, where the Nile rushes down from very
says: "These ten celestial spheres are high mountains to the parts which are
arranged among themselves in an order called Catadupa, are destitute of the
so mathematical and musical, that is so sense of hearing, by reason of the great-
harmonious, that the sphere of the fixed ness of the noise. Now this sound,
stars, which is above the sphere of which is effected by the rapid rotation
Saturn, ^ives forth the deepest tone in of the whole system of nature, is so
the music of the universe (the World- powerful that human hearing cannot
Lyre strung with ten strings), and that comprehend it, just as you cannot look
of the Moon the highest. " directly upon the sun, because your
Cicero, in his Vision of Scipio, inverts sight and sense are overcome by his
the tones. He says, Edmonds's Tr. :—
' ' Which as I was gazing at in amaze- 92. The region of fire. Brunetto
ment, I said, as I recovered myself, "
beams.' Tresor,
Latini, Ch. CVIIL : "After the
from whence proceed these sounds so zone of the air is placed the fourth
strong, and yet so sweet, that fill my element. This is an orb of fire with-
ears? ' The melody,' replies he, 'which out any moisture, which extends as far
you hear, and which, though composed as the moon, and surrounds this atmos-
phere in which we are. And know
in unequal time', is nevertheless divided that above the fire is first the moon,
into regular harmony, is effected by the
impulse and motion of the spheres and the other^stars, which are all of the
themselves, which, by a happy temper
nature of fire. "
of sharp and grave notes, regularly pro- 109. Milton, Par. Lost. V. 469 :—
duces various harmonic effects. Now
it is impossible that such prodigious " One Almighty is, from whom
All things proceed, and up to him return.
movements should pass in silence ; and If not depraved from good ; created all
nature teaches that the sounds which Such to perfection, one first matter all,
the spheres at one extremity utter must Endued with various forms, various degrees
Of substance, and, in things that live, ol life ;
be sharp, and those on the other ex- But more refined, more spiritous, and pure.
tremity must be grave ; on which ac- As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending
count, that highest revolution of the Each in their several active spheres assigned,
star-studded heaven, whose motion is 'I'lU body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
more rapid, is carried on with a sharp Sprmgsleaves
lighter the green stalk ; from thence the
and quick sound ; whereas this of the
moon, which is situated the lowest, and More aery ; last, the bright consummate flower
Spirits odorous breathes ; flowers and their fruit,
at the other extremity, moves with the
Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed.
gravest sound. For the earth, the ninth To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
sphere, remaining motionlese, abides in- To intellectual ; give both life and sense.
Fancy and understanding : whence the soul
variably inthe innermost position, occu- Reason receives, and reason is her being,
pying the central spot in the universe.
Discursive or intuitive."'
" ' Now these eight directions, two
of which have the same powers, effect 121. Filicaja's beautiful sonnet
seven sounds, differing in their modula- Providence is thus translated by Leigh
tions, which number is the connecting
Hunt : —
principle of almost all things. Some
learned men, by imitating this harmony " Just as seat.
a nother, with sweet, pious face.
Yearns towards her little children fVom her
with strings and vocal melodies, have
opened a way for their return to this Gives one a kiss, another an embrace,
place : as all others have done, who, Takeswill,
this upon her knees, that on her feet :
And while from actions, looks, complaints
endued with pre-eminent qualities, have pretences,
cultivated in their mortal life the pursuits She learns their feelings and their various
of heaven.
To this a look, to that a word, dispenses.
'* ' The ears of mankind, filled with And, whether stern or smiling, loves them
these liounds, have become deaf, fur of
still :—
 6ii
NOTES ro PARADISO.

So Providence for us, high, infinite, Life and Times of Dante, II. Ch. 15,
Makes our necessities its watchful task,
Hearkens to all our prayers, helps all our Mrs. Bunbury's Tr., says :—
wants,
" The last part of the Commedia,
And even if it denies what seems our right. which Dante finished about this time
Either denies because 'twould have us ask, (1320) is said to be the most
Or seems but to deny, or in denying grants." diflkult and obscure part of the whole
122. The Empyrean, within which poem. And it is so ; and it would be in
the Primum Mobile revolves "with so vain for us to attempt to awaken in the
great desire that its velocity is almost generality of readers that attention which
Dante has not been able to obtain for
incomprehensible. "
141. Convito, III. 2: "The human himself. " Readers in general will always
soul, ennobled by the highest power, be repulsed by the difficulties of its
that is by reason, partakes of the divine numerous allegories, by the series of
nature in the manner of an eternal In- heavens, arranged according to the now
telligence because
; the soul is so en- forgotten Ptolemaic system, and more
nobled by that sovereign power, and than all by disquisitions on philosophy
denuded of matter, that the divine light and theology which often degenerate into
shines in it as in an angel ; and there- mere scholastic themes. With the ex-
fore man has been called by the philo- ception of the three cantos relating to
sophers adivine animal." Cacciaguida, and a i&vr other episodes
which recall us to earth, as well as those
verses in which frequently Dante's love
for Beatrice shines forth, the Paradiso
CANTO II.
must not be considered as pleasant read-
I. The Heaven of the Moon, in which ing for the general reader, but as an
are seen the spirits of those who, having especial recreation for those who find
taken monastic vows, were forced to there, expressed in sublime verse, those
violate them. contemplations that have been the sub-
In Dante's symbolism this heaven re- jects oftheir philosophical and theological
presents the first science of the Trivium. studies But few will always be
Convito, II. 14 : "I say that the heaven the students of philosophy and theology,
of the Moon resembles Grammar ; be- and much fewer those who look upon
cause itmay be compared therewith ; for these sciences as almost one and the same
if the Moon be well observed, two things thing, pursued by two different methods ;
are seen peculiar to it, which are not seen these, if I am not mistaken, will find in
in the other stars. One is the shadow Dante's Paradiso, a treasure of thought,
in it, which is nothing but the rarity of and the loftiest and most soothing words
its body, in which the rays of the sun of comfort, forerunners of the joys of
cannot terminate and be reflected as in Heaven itself. Above all, the Paradiso
the other parts. The other is the varia- will delight those who find themselves,
tion of its brightness, which now shines when they are reading it, in a somewhat
on one side, and now upon the other, similar disposition of mind to that of
according as the sun looks upon it. And Dante when he was writing it ; those in
Grammar has these two properties ; short who, after having in their youth
since, on account of its infinity, the rays lived in the world, and sought happiness
of reason do not terminate in it in any in it, have now arrived at maturity, old
special part of its words ; and it shines age, or satiety, and seek by the means of
now on this side, and now on that, inas- philosophy and theology to know as far
much as certain words, certain declina- as possible of that other world on which
tions, certain constructions, are in use their hopes now rest. Philosophy is the
which once were not, and many once romance of the aged, and Religion the
were which will be again. " only future history for us all. Both these
For the influences of the Moon, see subjects of contemplation we find in
Canto III. Note 30. Dante's Paradiso, and pursued with a
The introduction to this canto is at rare modesty, not beyond the limits ot
8oce a warning and an invitation. Balbi, our understanding, and with due sub-
6l2 NOTES TO PARADISO.

mission to the Divine Law which placed 59. The spots in the Moon, whicn
these limits." Dante thought were caused by rarity o;
8. In the other parts of the poem "one density of the substance of the planet.
summit of Parnassus" has sufficed ; but Convito, II. 14 : " The shadow in it,
in this Minerva, Apollo, and the nine which is nothing but the rarity of its body,
Muses come to his aid, as wind, helms- in which the rays of the sun cannot ter-
man, and compass. minate and be reflected, as in the other
1 1. The bread of the Angels is Know-
ledge or Science, which Dante calls the Milton, Par. Lost, V. 419 :—
"ultimate perfection." Convito, I. i :— " Whence in her visage round those spots un-
" Everything, impelled by the provi- purged,
dence of its own nature, inclines towards Vapours not yet into her substance turned."
its own perfection ; whence, inasmuch parts."
64. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars.
as knowledge is the ultimate perfection 73. Either the diaphanous parts must
of our soul, wherein consists our ultimate run through the body of the Moon, or
felicity, we are all naturally subject to its the rarity and density must be in layers
desire O blessed those few who one above the other.
sit at the table where the bread of the
90. As in a mirror, which Dante else-
Angels is eaten." where. Inf. XXIII. 25, csWs impiombato
i6. The Argonauts, when they saw vetro, leaded glass.
their leader Jason ploughing with the 107. The subject of the snow is what
wild bulls of ^etes, and sowing the land
lies under it ; "the mountain that remains
with serpents' teeth. Ovid, Met., VII., naked," says Buti. Others give a schol-
Tate's Tr. :— astic interpretation to the word, defining
" To unknown yokes their brawny necks, they it "the cause of accident," the cause of
yield, colour and cold.
And, like tame oxen, plough the wondering
field. 111. Shall tremble like a star. "When
The Colchians stare ; the Grecians shout, and
raise a man looks at the stars," says Buti, " he
sees their effulgence tremble, and this is
Their champion's courage with inspiring because their splendour scintillates as fire
praise. does, and moves to and fro like the flame
Emboldened now, on fresh attempts he goes,
With serpents' teeth the fertile furrows sows ;
of the fire." The brighter they burn, the
The glebe, fermenting with enchanted j uice.
more they tremble.
Makes the snakes' teeth a human crop pro- 112. The Primum Mobile, revolving
19.duce."
This is in the Empyrean, and giving motion to
generally interpreted as all the heavens beneath it.
referring to the natural aspiration of the
soul for higher things ; characterized in 115. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars.
Purg. XXI. I, as Greek Epigrams, III. 62 :—
" If I were heaven,
" The natural tliirst that ne'er is satisfied, With all the eyes of heaven would I look down
Excepting with the water for whose grace
The woman of Samaria besought."
Also onCatullus,
thee." Carm., V. : —
But Venturi says that it means the "being
liome onward by the motion of the Pri- " How many stars, when night is silent.
mum Mobile, and swept round so as to Look on the furtive loves of men."

find himself directly beneath the moon." And Milton, Par. Lost, V. 44 : —
23. As if looking' back upon his jour- " Heaven wakes with all his eyes
ney through the air, Dante thus rapidly
describes it in an inverseorder, the arrival, Whom to behold but thee, nature's desire? "
the ascent, the departure ; — the striking 131, The Intelligences, ruling and
of the shaft, the flight, the discharge guiding the several heavens (receiving
from the bow-string. Here again we power from above, and distributing it
are reminded of the arrow of Pandarus, downward, taking their impression froni
Iliad, IV. 120. God and stamping it like a seal upon the
51. Cain with his bust- of thorns. See spheres below), according to Dionysiuj
Inf. XX. Note 126. the Areopagite are as follows :—
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

The Seraphim, Primum Mobile. 41. Your destiny ; that is, of yourself
The Cherubim, The Fixed Stars. and the others with you.
The Thrones, Saturn. 49. Piccarda was a sister of Forese
and Corso Donati, and of Gemma,
The Dominions, Jupiter. Dante's wife. In Purg. XXIV. 13,
The Virtues, Mars. Forese says of her :—
The Powers, The Sun.
" My sister, who, 'twixt beautiful and good,
joicingnot which was more, triumphs re-
I know
The Principalities, Venus.
The Archangels, Mercury. Already m her crown on high Olympus."
The Angels, The Moon.
She was a nun of Santa Clara, and was
See Canto XXVIII. Note 99, ana dragged by violence from the cloister by
also the article Cabala at the end of the
volume. her brother Corso Donati, who married
her to Rosselin della Tosa. As she
147. The principle which gives being
to all created things. herself says : —
"God knows what afterward my life became."
It was such that she did not live long.
CANTO III.
For this crime the "excellent Baron,"
I. The Heaven of the Moon continued. according to the Ottimo, had to do pen-
Of the influence of this planet, Buti, ance in his shirt.
' ' Add Love,
quoting the astrologer Albumasar, says : 70. Milton, Par. Lost, XII. 583 :—
"The Moon is cold, moist, and phleg-
matic, sometimes warm, and gives light- By name to come called Charity, the soul
ness, aptitude in all things, desire of joy, Of all the rest."
of beauty, and of praise, beginning of all
works, knowledge of the rich and noble, 118. Constance, daughter of Roger of
prosperity in life, acquisition of things Sicily. She was a nun at Palermo, but
was taken from the convent and married
desired, devotion in faith, superior
sciences, multitude of thoughts, necro- to the Emperor Henry V. , son of Barba-
rossa and father of Frederic II. Of
mancy, acuteness of mind in things, geo-
metry, knowledge of lands and waters these "winds of Suabia," or Emperors
of the house of Suabia, Barbarossa was
and of their measure and number, weak-
ness of the sentiments, noble women, the first, Henry V. the second, and
Frederic II. the third, and, as Dante
marriages, pregnancies, nursings, em-
bassies, falsehoods, accusations ; the calls him in the Convito, IV. 3, "the
being lord among lords, servant among last of the
the last Roman
of the Emperors,"
Suabian line. meaning
servants, and conformity with every man
of like nature, oblivion thereof, timid, of
simple heart, flattering, honourable to-
wards men, useful to them, not betraying CANTO IV.
secrets, a multitude of infirmities and the
care of healing bodies, cutting hair, 1. The Heaven of the Moon con-
liberality of food, chastity. These are tinued.
the significations (influences) of the Moon
2. Montaigne says : " If any oiie should
upon the things it finds, the blame and place us between the bottle and the
honour of which, according to the astro- bacon (entre la bouteille et le jatnbon),
logers, belong to the planet ; but the with an equal appetite for food and drink,
wise man follows the good influences, and there would doubtless be no remedy but
leaves the bad ; though all are good and
to die of thirst and hunger. "
necessary to the life of the universe." 6. Ovid, Alet. , V. , Maynwaring's Tr. :—
18. Narcissus mistook his shadow for
a. substance ; Dante, falling into the " As when a hungry tiger near him hears
opposite error, mistakes these substances Two lowing herds, awhile' he both forbears ;
Nor can his hopes of this or that renounce,
for shadows.
So strong he lusts to prey on both at once."
6i4
NOTES TO PARADISO.

9. " A similitude," says Venturi, " of 49. Plato's Dialogue, entitled Timceus^
great poetic beauty, but of little philo- the name of the philosopher of Locri.
51. Plato means it literally, and the
sophic soundness."
13. When he recalled and interpreted Scriptures figuratively.
the forgotten dream of Nebuchadnezzar, 54. When it was infused into the body,
Daniel, ii. lO : "The Chaldeans an- or the body became informed with it.
swered before the king, and said, There Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., I.,
is not a man upon the earth that can QuEest. LXXVI. I, says : " Form is that
show the king's matter : therefore there by which a thing is This prin-
is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked ciple therefore, by which we first think,
such things at any magician, or astrologer, whether it be called intellect, or intellec-
or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that tual soul, is the form of the body. "
the king requireth : and there is none And Spenser, Hymne in Honour oj
other that can show it before the king Beaiitie, says :—
except the gods, whose dwelling is not
" For of the soule the bodie forme doth take.
with flesh. " For soule is forme and doth the bodie make.""
24. Plato, Timaus, Davis's Tr. , says :
" And after having thus framed the 63. Joachim di Flora, Dante's " Ca-
universe, he allotted to it souls equal in labrian Abbot Joachim," the mystic ot
number to the stars, inserting each in the twelfth century, says in his Exposi-
each And he declared also, that tion of the Apocalypse: "The deceived
after living well for the time appointed Gentiles believed that the planets to
to him, each one should once more re- which they gave the names of Jupiter,
turn to the habitation of his associate Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Mars, the Moon,
star, and spend a blessed and suitable and the Sun, were gods."
existence. " 64. Stated in line 20 :—
26. The word "thrust," pontano, is " The violence of others, for what reason
here used in its architectural sense, as in
Doth it decrease the measure of my merit?"
Inf. XXXII. 3. There it is literal, here
figurative. 83. St. Lawrence. In Mrs. Jameson's
Sacred and Legendary Art, II. 156, his
28. Ckepiu j' india, that most in-God's
himself. As in Canto IX. 81, S' to ni" martyrdom is thus described :—
intuassi come tu t imtnii, ' if I could in- "The satellites of the tyrant, hearing
that the treasures of the church liad been
thee myself as thou dost in-me thyself" ; confided to Lawrence, carried him before
and other expressions of a similar kind.
42. The dogma of the Peripatetics, the tribunal, and he was questioned, but
that nothing is in Intellect which was replied not one word ; therefore he was
not first in Sense. put into a dungeon, under the charg-i of
a man named Hippolytus, whom with
48. Raphael, " the affable archangel," his whole family he converted to the
of whom Milton says, Par. Lost, V.
220: — faith of Christ, and baptized ; and when
he was called again before the Prefect,
" Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deigned
To travel with Tobias, and secured and required to say where the treasures
were concealed, he answered that in
His marriage with the seven-times-wedded
three days he would show them. The
maid." third day being come, St. Lawrence
See Tobit xii. 14 : " And now God gathered together the sick and the poor,
hath sent me to heal thee and Sara thy to whom he had dispensed alms, and,
daughter-in-law. I am Raphael, one of placing them before the Prefect, said,
the seven holy angels which present the ' Behold, here are the treasures of Christ's
prayers of the saints, and which go in Church.' Upon this the Prefect, thinking
and out before the glory of the Holy he was mocked, fell into a great rage,
and ordered St. Lawrence to be tortured
Dante say.s in this line Tobia, be- till he had made known where the trea-
One."
cause in the Vuls^nte both father and sures were concealed ; but no suffering
»on are called Tobias. could subdue the patience and constancy
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

of the holy martyr. Then the Prefect to the enterprise, was not sorry that he
commanded that he sliould be carried by had miscarried in it, because so brave
night to the baths of Olympias, near the and good a man deserved rather to be a
villa of Sallust the historian, and that a
friend to the Romans than an enemy. "
new kind of torture should Idc prepared 103. Alcmaeon, who slew his mother
for him, more strange and cruel than had Eriphyle to avenge his father Amphia-
ever entered into the heart of a tyrant to raiis
conceive ; for he ordered him to be Note the
50. soothsayer. See Ping. XII.
.stretched on a sort of bed, formed of iron
Ovid, Met., IX. :—
bars in the manner of a gridiron, and a
fire to be lighted beneath, which should " Theblood
son shall bathe his hands in parent's
gradually consume his body to ashes :
And in one act be both unjust and good."
and the executioners did as they were
commanded, kindling the fire and adding 1 18. Beatrice, beloved of God ; " that
coals from time to time, so that the vic- blessed Beatrice, who lives in heaven
tim was in a manner roasted alive ; and with the angels and on earth with my
those who were present looked on with
horror, and wondered at the cruelty of 131. Lessing, Theol. Sckriji., I. 108 :
the Prefect, wh.o could condemn to such "If God held all Truth shut up in his
torments a youth of such fair person and soul."hand, and in his left only the ever
right
courteous and gentle bearing, and all for restless instinct for Truth, .... and
the lust of gold." said to me. Choose ! I should humbly
84. Plutarch thus relates the story of fall down at his left, and say, Father,
Mutius Scsevola, Dryden'sTr. :— give ! Pure Truth ie for Thee alone ! "
"The story of Mutius is variously 139. It must not be forgotten, that
given ; we, like others, must follow the Beatrice is the symbol of Divine Wisdom.
commonly received statement. He was Dante says, Convito, III. 15: "In her
a man endowed with every virtue, but countenance appear things which display
most eminent in war; and resolving to some of the pleasures of Paradise ;" and
kill Porsenna, attired himself in the Tus- notes particularly "the eyes and smile."
can habit, and using the Tuscan language, He then adds : "And here it should be
came to the camp, and approaching the known that the eyes of Wisdom are its
seat where the king sat amongst his demonstrations, by which the truth is
nobles, but not certainly knowing the most clearly seen ; and its smile the per-
king, and fearful to inquire, drew out his suasions, in which is displayed the in-
sword, and stabbed one who he thought terior light of Wisdom under a veil ; and
had most the appearance of king. Mutius in these two things is felt the exceeding
was taken in the act, and whilst he was pleasure of beatitude, which is the chief
under examination, a pan of fire was good in Paradise. This pleasure cannot
brought to the king, who intended to exist in anything here below, except in
sacrifice ; Mutius thrust his right hand
into the flame, and whilst it burnt stood beholding these eyes and this smile."
looking at Porsenna with a steadfast and
undaunted countenance ; Porsenna at last CANTO V.
in admiration dismissed him, and returned
his sword, reaching it from his seat ; I. The Heaven of Mercury, where are
Mutius received it in his left hand, which seen the spirits of those who for the love
occasioned the name of Scaevola, left- of fame achieved great deeds. Of its
handed, and said, ' I have overcome the symbolism Dante says, Convito, II. 14 :
terrors of Porsenna, yet am vanquished " The Heaven of Mercury may be com-
by his generosity, and gratitude obliges pared to Dialectics, on account of two
me to disclose what no punishment could properties ; for Mercury is the smallest
extort ;' and assured him then, that three star of heaven, since the quantity of its
hundred Romans, all of the same resolu- diameter is not more than two thousand
tion, lurked about his camp only waiting and thirty-two miles, according to the
for an opportunity ; he, by lot appointed estimate of Alfergano- who declares it to
6i6 NOTES TO PARADISO.

be one twenty-eighth part of the diameter be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the
of the Earth, which is six thousand and doors of my house to meet me, when I
fifty-two miles. The other property is, return in peace from the children of
that it is more veiled by the rays of the Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and
Sun than any other star. And these two I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. . , .
properties are in Dialectics ; for Dialec- And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his
tics are less in body than any Science ; house, and, behold, his daughter came
since in them is perfectly compiled and out to meet him with timbrels and with
bounded as much doctrine as is found in dances ; and she was his only child : be-
ancient and modem Art ; and it is more sides her he had neither son nor daughter."
veiled than any Science, inasmuch as it 69. Agamemnon.
proceeds by more sophistic and probable 70. Euripides, Jphigenia in Taitris, I.
arguments than any other." I, "Buckley's Tr. :rulest
—
For the influences of Mercury, see O thou who over this Grecian
Canto VI. Note 114. expedition, Agamemnon, thou wilt not
10. Burns, The Vision : — lead forth thy ships from the ports of this
land, before Diana shall receive thy
" I saw thy pulse's maddening play daughter Iphigenia as a victim ; for thou
Wild send thee pleasure's devious way, didst vow to sacrifice to the liglit-bearirg
Misled by fancy's meteor ray,
By passion driven ; Goddess whatsoever the year should bring
And yet the light that led astray forth most beautiful. Now your wife
Was light from heaven." Clytaemnestra has brought forth a daugh-
24. Milton, Par. Lost, V. 235 :— ter in your house, referring to me the
title of the most beautiful, whom thou
" Happiness in his power left free to will, must needs sacrifice. And so, by the
Left to his own free will, his will though free. arts of Ulysses, they drew me from my
Yet mutable." mother under pretence of being wedded
33. In illustration of this line, Venturi to Achilles. But I wretched coming to
quotes the following epigram :— Aulis, being seized and raised aloft above
the pyre, would have been slain by the
" This hospital a pious person built. sword ; but Diana, giving to the Greeks
But first he made the poor wherewith to fiU't. " a stag in my stead, stole me away, and,
sending me through the clear ether, she
And Biagioli this :— settled me in this land of the Tauri,
" C'est un homme d'honneur, de pi^ttf profonde, where barbarian Thoas rules the land."
Et qui veut rendre \ Dieu ce qu'il a pris au 80. Dante, Convito, I. ii: "These
should be called sheep, and not men ;
monde.''
52. That which is sacrificed, or of for if one sheep should throw itself down
which an offering is made. a precipice of a thousand feet, all the
57. Without the permission of Holy others would follow, and if one sheep, in
Church, symbolized by the two keys ; passing along the road, leaps from any
the silver key of Knowledge, and the cause, all the others leap, though seeing
golden key of Authority. See Purg. no cause for it. And I once saw several
IX. n8:- leap into a well, on account of one that
had leaped in, thinking perhaps it was
" One was of gold, and the other was of silver ; leaping over a wall ; notwithstanding
that the shepherd, weeping and wailing,
. More precious one is, but the other needs
More art and intellect ere it unlock, opposed them with arms and breast."
For it is that which doth the knot unloose." 82. Lucretius, Nature of Things, II.

60. The thing substituted must be 324, Good's Tr. :—

greater than the thing relinquished. dew,
" The fleecy flocks, o'er yonder hill that browse,
66. ytidi^es xi. 30: " And Jephthah From glebe to glebe, where'er, impcarled with
vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If
thou shalt without fail deliver the children The jocund clover call them, and the lambs
That round them gambol, saturate with milki
uf Amnion into my hands, then it shall Proving their frontlets in the mimic fray."
 NOTES TO FARAD ISO.

87. Towards the Sun, where the heaven 4. From 324, when the seat of empire
is brightest. was transferred to Constantinople by
95. The Heaven of Mercury. Constantine, to 527, when the reign of
97. Brunetto Latini, Trewr, I., Ch. Justinian began.
5. The mountains of Asia, between
3, says, the planet Mercury "is easily
moved according to the goodness or Constantinople and the site of Troy.
malice of the planets to which it is 10. Csesar, or Kaiser, the general
joined." Dante here represents himself title of all the Roman Emperors.
as being of a peculiarly mercurial tem- The character of Justinian is thus
perament. sketched by Gibbon, Decline and Fall,
108. The joy of spirits in Paradise is Ch. XLIII. :-
shown by greater brightness. "The Emperor was easy of access,
121. The spirit of Justinian. patient of hearing, courteous and affable
129. Mercuiy is the planet nearest the in discourse, and a master of the angry
Sun, and being thus "veiled with alien passions, which rage with such destruc-
rays," is only visible to the naked eye at tive violence in the breast of a despot.
the time of its greatest elongation, and Procopius praises his temper to reproach
then but fpr a few minutes. him with calm and deliberate cruelty ;
Dante, Convito, II. 14, says, that Mer- but in the conspiracies which attacked
cury "is more veiled by the rays of the his authority and person, a more candid
Sun than any other star." And yet it judge will approve the justice or admire
will be observed that in his planetary the clemency of Justinian. He excelled
system he places Venus between Mercury in the private virtues of chastity and tem-
and the Sun. perance ;but the impartial love of
133. Milton, Par. Lost, III. 380 :— beauty would have been less mischievous
"Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear, than' his conjugal tenderness for Theo-
Yet dazzle heaven." dora ;and his abstemious diet was regu-
lated, not by the prudence of a philo-
And again, V. 598 :— sopher, but the superstition of a monk.
His repasts were short and fnigal ; on
" A flalning mount, whose top solemn fasts he contented himself with
Brightness had made invisible." water and vegetables ; and such was his
strength as well as fervour, that he fre-
quently passed two days, and as many
CANTO VI. nights, without tasting any food. The
measure of his sleep was not less rigo-
I. The Heaven of Mercury continued. rous ;after the repose of a single hour the
In the year 330, Constantine, after his body was awakened by the soul, and, to
conversion and baptism by Sylvester (77tf. the astonishment of his chamberlain, Jus-
XXVII. Note 94), removed the seat of tinian walked or studied till the morning
empire from Rome to Byzantium, which light. Such restless application pro-
received from him its more modem name longed his time for the acquisition of
of Constantinople. He called it also knowledge and the despatch of business ;
New Rome ; and, having promised to and he might seriously deserve the re-
the Senators and their families that they proach of confounding, by minute and
should «oon tread again on Roman soil, preposterous diligence, the general order
he had the streets of Constantinople of his administration. The Emperor
strewn with earth which he had brought professed himself a musician and archi-
from Rome in ships. tect, a poet and philosopher, a lawyer
The transfer of the empire from west and theologian ; and if he failed in the
to east was turning the imperial eagle enterprise of reconciling the Christian
against the course of heaven, which it sects, the review of the Roman jurispru-
had followed in coming from Troy to dence is a noble monument of his spirit
Italy with ^neas, who married Lavinia, and industry. In the government of the
daughter of King Latinus, and was the empire he was less wise or less success-
founder of the Roman Empire. ful :the age was unfortunate ; the people
6i8 NOTES TO PARADISO.

was oppressed and discontented ; Theo- ' With the Bishop of Trebiz.ond,' replied
dora abused her power ; a succession of the unawed ecclesiastic, ' when he luis
bad ministers disgraced his judgment ; and returned to his diocese, and accepted the
Justinian was neither beloved in his life, Council of Chalcedon and the letters of
nor regretted at his death. The love of Leo,' The Emperor in a louder voice
fame was deeply implanted in his breast, commanded him to acknowledge the
but he condescended to the poor ambition Bishop of Constantinople on pain of
of titles, honours, and contemporary immediate exile. ' I came hither in my
praise ; and while he laboured to fix the old age to see, as I supposed, a religious
admiration, he forfeited the esteem and and a Christian Emperor ; I find a new
affection of the Romans." Diocletian. But I fear not kings' me-
12. Of the reform of the Roman Laws, naces, Iam ready to lay down my life
by which they were reduced from two for the truth.' The feeble mind of Jus-
thousand volumes to fifty. Gibbon, De- tinian passed at once from the height of
clitie and Fall, Ch. XLIV., says : " The arrogance to admiration and respect ; he
vain titles of the victories of Justinian are listened to the charges advanced by Aga-
crumbled into dust ; but the name of the petus against the orthodoxy of Anthimus.
legislator is inscribed on a fair and ever- In his turn the Bishop of Constantinople
lasting monument. Under his reign, was summoned to render an account of
and by his care, the civil jurisprudence his theology before the Emperor, con-
was digested in the immortal works of victed of Eutychianism, and degraded
the Code, the Pandect, and the Insti-
tutesthe
; public reason of the Romans from
25.the see."
Belisarius, the famous general, to
has been silently or studiously transfused whom Justinian gave the leadership of
into the domestic institutions of Europe, his armies in Africa and Italy. In his
and the laws of Justinian still command old age he was suspected of conspiring
the respect or obedience of independent against the Emperor's life ; but the accus-
nations. Wise or fortunat? is the prince ation was not pioved. Gibbon, Decline
who connects his own reputation with and Fall., Ch. XLI., speaks of him thus :
the honour and interest of a perpetual " The Africanus of new Rome was born,
order of men." and perhaps educated, among the Thra-
This is what Dante alludes to, Turg. cian peasants, without any of those advan-
VI. 89 :— tages which had formed the virtues of the
elder and the younger Scipio, — a noble
" What boots it, that for thee Justinian origin, liberal studies, and the emulation
The bridle mend, if empty be the saddle ? "
of a free state. The silence of a loqua-
14. The heresy of Eutyches, who main- cious secretaiy may be admitted, to prove
tained that only the Divine nature existed that the youth of Belisarius could not
in Christ, not the human ; and conse- afford any subject of praise : he served,
auently that the Christ crucified was not most assuredly with valour and reputation
le real Christ, but a phantom, among the private gtiards of Justinian ;
16. Agapetus was Pope, or Bishop of and when his patron became Emperor,
Rome, in the year 515, and was compelled the domestic was promoted to military
by King Theodotus the Ostrogoth, logo
upon an embassy to the Emperor Jus- coniimand, And of "his last years as follows, Ch,
tinian at Constantinople, where he re- XLIII. ; "Capricious pardon and arbi-
fused to hold any communication with trary punishment embittered the irksome-
Anthimus, Bishop of Trebizond, who, ness and discontent of a long reign ; a
against the canon of the Churcb, had been conspiracy was formed in the palace, and,
transferred from his own see to that of unless we are deceived by the names of
Constantinople, Milman, Hist. iMtin Marccllus and Sergius, the most virtuous
Christ., I. 460, says ; " Agaj>«tus, in a and the most profligate of the courtiers
conference, condescended to satisfy the were associated in the same designs.
F-mperor as to his own unimpeachable They had fixed the time of the execution i
orthodoxy. Justinian sternly commanded their rank gave them access to the roynl
bim to communicnte with Anthimus, banquet, and their black slaves were
 619

NOTES TO PARADISO.

stationed in the vestibule and porticoes obtained credit, or rather favour, as a

to announce the death of the tyrant, and strange example of the vicissitudes of
to excite a sedition in the capital. But
the indiscretion of an accomplice saved 36. The son of Evander, sent to assist
fortune."
the poor remnant of the days of Justinian. iEneas, and slain by Turnus. Virgil,
The conspirators were detected and seized, ALueid, X., Davidson's Tr. : "Turnus,
with daggers hidden under their gar- long poising a javelin tipped with sharp-
ments Marcellus
; died by his own hand, ened steel, darts it at Pallas, and thus
and Sergius was dragged from the sanc- speaks : See whether ours be not the
tuary. Pressed by remorse, or tempted more penetrating dart. He said ; and
by the hopes of safety, he accused two with a quivering stroke the point pierces
officers of the household of Belisarius ; through the mid-shield, through so many
and torture forced them to declare that plates of iron, so many of brass, while
they had acted according to the secret the bull's hide so many times encompasses
instructions of their patron. Posterity it, andtransfixes
through histhebreast
corslet's
will not hastily believe that a hero who, folds with cumbrous
a hideous
in the vigour of life, had disdained the gash. He in vain w renches out the reek-
fairest offers of ambition and revenge, ing weapon from the wound ; at one and
should stoop to the murder of his prince, the same passage the blood and soul issue
whom he could not long exjject to sur- forth. Down on his wound he falls :
vive. His followers were impatient to over him his armour gave a clang ; and
fly ; but flight must have been supported in death with bloody jaws he bites the
by rebellion, and he had lived enough
hostile ground."
for natuie and for glory. Belisarius ap- 37. In Alba Longa, built by Ascanius,
peared before the council with less fear son of ^neas, on the borders of the
than indignation ; after forty years' ser- Alban Lake. The period of three hundred
vice, the Emperor had prejudged his years is traditionary, not historic.
guilt ; and injustice was sanctified by the 39. The Horatii and Curatii.
presence and authority of the patriarch. 40. From the rape of the Sabine
The life of Belisarius was graciously women, in the days of Romulus, the
spared ; but hisfortunes were sequestered, first of the seven kings of Rome, down
and from December to July he was to the violence done to Lucretia by Tar-
guarded as a prisoner in his own palace. quinius Superbus, the last of them.
At length his innocence was acknow- 44. Brennus was the king of the Gauls,
ledged ;his freedom and honours were who, entering Rome unopposed, found
restored ; and death, which might be the city deserted, and the Senators seated
hastened by resentment and grief, re- in their ivory chaiis in the Forum, so
moved him from the world about eight silent and motionless that his soldiers
months after his deliverance. The name took them for the statues of gods. He
of Belisarius can never die ; but instead burned the city and laid siege to the
of the funeral, the monuments, the sta- Capitol, whither the people had fled for
tues, so justly due to his memory, I only safety, and which was preserved from
read that his treasures, the spoils of the surprise by the cackling of the sacred
Goths and Vandals, were immediately geese in the Temple of Juno, Finally
confiscated for the Emperor. Some de- Brennus and his army were routed by
cent portion was reserved, however, for Camillus, and tradition says that not one
the use of his widow ; and as Antonina escaped.
had much to repent, she devoted the last Pyrrhus was a king of Epims, who
remains of her life and fortune to the boasted his descent from Achilles, and
foundation of a convent. Such is the whom Hannibal called " the greatest of
simple and genuine narrative of the fall commanders." He was nevertheless
af Belisarius and the ingratitude of Jus- driven out of Italy by Curius, his army
tinian. That he was deprived of his eyes, of eighty thousand being routed by thirty
md reduced by envy to beg his bread, — thousand Romans ; whereupon he said
' Give a penny to Belisarius the general ' ' that, " if he had soldiers like the Romans,
—is a fiction of later times, which has or if the Romans had him for a general,

T T
 620 NOTES TO PARADISO.

he would leave no corner of the earth when Caesar took from him the kingdom
unseen, and no nation unconquered." of Egypt, and gave it to Cleopatra.
46. Titus Manlius, surnamed Tor- 70. Juba, king of Numidia, who pro-
quatus, fsom the collar {torques) which he tected Pompey, Cato, and Scipio after
took from a fallen foe; and Quinctius, the battle of Pharsalia. Being conquered
surnamed Cincinnatus, or "the curly by Caesar, his realm became a Roman
" province, of which .Sallust the historian
haired.
47. Three of the Decii, father, son, was the first governor.
and grandson, sacrificed their lives in Milton, Sams. Agon., 1695: —
battle at different times for their country. " But as an eagle
The Fabii also rendered signal services
to the state, but are chiefly known in His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads."
history through one of their number, 71. Towards Spain, where some rem-
Quinctius Maximus, surnamed Cunctator,
or the Delayer, from whom we have "the under nants
hisof Pompey's
two soiTS.army stillthese
When remained
were
subdued the civil war was at an end.
Fabian policy."
53. The hill of Fiesole, overlooking 73. Octavius Augustus, nephew of
Florence, where Dante was bom. Fie- Julius Caesar. At the battle of Philippi
sole was destroyed by the Romans for he defeated Brutus and Cassius, and
giving refuge to Catiline and his fellow established the Empire.
conspirators. 75. On account of the great slaughter
55. The birth of Christ. Milton, made by Augustus in his battles witli
Hymn on the Morning of Chrisfs Na- Mark Antony and his brother Lucius, in
tivity, 3,4 :— the neighbourhood of these cities.
81. Augustus closed the gates of the
>" But he, her fears to cease, temple of Janus as a sign of universal
Sent down the meek-eyed Peace :
She,sliding
crowned with oUve-green, came softly peace, in the year of Christ's birth.
86. Tiberius Caesar.
Down through the turning sphere. 90. The crucifixion of Christ, in which
His ready harbinger,
With turtleviding ; wmg the amorous clouds di-
the Romans took part in the person of
Pontius Pilate.
And, waving wide her myrtle wand, 92. The destruction of Jerusalem under
She strikes a universal peace through sea and
land. Titus, which avenged the crucifixion.
94. When the Church was assailed by
"No war or battle's sound
Was heard the world around :
the Lombards, who were subdued by
Charlemagne.
Thehung
idle ; spear and shield were high up
The hooked chariot stood
98. Referring back to line 31 :—
Unstained with hostile blood : " In order that thou see with how great reason
The trumpet spake not to the arm^d throng ; Men move against the standard sacrosanct.
And kings sat still with awful eye. Both who appropriate and who oppose it."
As it they surely knew their sovran Lord was
100. The Golden Lily, or Fleur-de-lis
of France. The Guelfs, uniting with the
65. Durazzo in Macedonia, and Phar- French, opposed the Ghibeliines, who
salia in Thessaly.
by."
had appropriated the imperial standard
66. Gower, Conf. Amant., II. :— to their own party purposes.
*' That one sleeth, and that other stervcth. 106. Charles II. of Apulia, son of
But aJxjven all his prise dcscrveth Charles of Anjou. •
ThU knightly Romain ; where he rode 1 1 1. Change the imperial eagle for the
His dedly swerd no man alx)dc, lilies of France.
Ayen the which w.is no defence :
Kgipte fledde in his presence."
112. Mercury is the smallest of the
planets, with the exception of the Aste-
67. Antandros, a city, and Simois, a roids, being sixteen times smaller than
river, near Troy, whence came the Roman the Earth.
eagle with /Eneas into Italy. 114. Speaking of the planet Mercury,
69. It was an evil hour for Ptolemy, Buti says : " We are now to consider (h«
 NOTES TO PARADISO. 621

eflfects which Mercury produces upon us 128. Villani, VI. Ch. 90, relates the
in the world below, for which honour story of Romeo (in Italian Romeo) as
and blame are given to the planet ; for follows, though it will be observed that
as Albumasar says in the introduction to he uses the word romeo not as a proper,
his seventh treatise, ninth division, where but as a common noun, in its sense of
he treats of the nature of the planets and pilgrim : ' ' There arrived at his court a
of their properties. Mercury signifies pilgrim, who was returning from St.
these twenty-two things among others, James ; and hearing of the goodness of
namely, desire of knowledge and of seeing Count Raymond, he tarried in his court,
secret things ; interpretation of the Deity, and was so wise and worthy, and found
of oracles and prophecies; foreknowledge such favour with the Count, that he made
of things future ; knowledge and pro- him master and director of all things.
fundity ofknowledge in profound books ; He was always clacl in a decent and
study of wisdom ; memoiy ol stones and clerical habit, and in a short time, by
tales ; eloquence with polish ol language; his dexterity and wisdom, increased the
subtilty of genius ; desire of lordship ; income of his lord threefold, maintaining
appetite of praise and fame ; colour and always a grand and honourable court.
subtilty of speech ; subtilty of genius in . . . . Four daughters had the Count,
ever)'thing to which man betakes him- and no son. By the wisdom and address
self ;desire of perfection ; cunning of of the good pilgrim, he first married the
hand in all aits ; practice of trade ; selling, eldest to the good King Louis of France
buying, giving, receiving, stealing, cheat- by means of money, saying to the Count,
ing ;concealing thoughts in the mind ; ' Let me manage this, and do not be
change of habits ; youthfulness, lust, troubled at the cost ; for if thou marrj'
abundance, murmurs, lies, false testimony, the first well, on account of this relation-
and many other things as being therein ship thou wilt marry all the others better,
contained. And therefore our author
and at less cost.' And so it came to
feigns, that those who have been active pass ; for straightway the King of Eng-
in the world, and have lived with politi- land, in order to be brother-in-law of the
cal and moral virtues, show themselves King of France, took the second for a
in the sphere of Mercury, because Mer- small sum of money ; then his brother,
cury exercises such influence, according being elected King of the Romans, took
to the astrologers, as has been shown ; the third ; and the fourth still remaining
but it is in man's free will to follow the to be married, the good pilgrim said,
good influence and avoid the bad, and ' With this one I want thee to have a
hence springs the merit and demerit." brave son, who shall be thy heir ;' and
Milton, Lycidas, 70': — so he did. Finding Charles, Count of
" Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise, Anjou, brother of King Louis of France,
(That last infirmity of noble mind,) he said, 'Give her to this man, for he
To scorn delights, and live laborious days ;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, will be the best man in the world ;' pro-
And think to burst out into sudden blaze, phesying concerning him, and so it was
Comes the blind Furj' with the abhorred shears done. Then it came to pass through
And slits the thin-spun life. ' But not the envy, which spoils eveiygood thing, that
Phoeprbuaisse,'replied, and touched my trembling the barons of Provence accused the good
ears : pilgrim of having badly managed the
' Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, treasury of the Count, and had him
Nor in the glistering foil called to a reckoning. The noble pilgrim
Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies ;
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes. said : ' Count, I have served thee a long
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove : time, and brought thee from low to high
As he pronounces lastly on each deed. estate, and for this, through false counsel
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.
of thy folk, thou art little grateful. I
came to thy court a poor pilgrim, and
121. Piccarda, Canto III. 70, says: — have lived modestly on thy bounty.
* Brother, our will is quieted by virtue Have my mule and my staff and scrip
Of charity, that makes us wish alone
For what we have, nor gives us thirst for given back to me as when I came, and I
more."
ask no further wages.' The Count
T T :

r'y
622 NOTES TO PARADISO.

would not have him go ; but on no ac- might not appear outwardly, as Statius
count would he remain ; and he departed the poet relates of Theban CEdipus,
as he had come, and never was it known when he says, that in eternal night he
whence he came, nor whither he went. hid his shame accursed. She shows
Many thought that his was a sainted herself in the mouth, as colour behind
glass. And what is laughter but a co-
soul."
142. Lord Bacon says in his Essay on ruscation ofthe delight of the soul, that
Adversity: "Prosperity is the blessing is, a light appearing outwardly, as it
of the Old Testament ; adversity is the exists within ? And therefore it beho-
blessing of the New, which cafrieth the veth man to show his soul in moderate
greater benediction and the clearer reve- joy, to laugh moderately with dignified
lation ofGod's favour. Yet, even in the severity, and with slight motion of the
arms ; so that the Lady who then shows
Old Testament, if you listen to David's herself, as has been said, may appear
harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like
airs as carols ; and the pencil of the Holy modest, and not dissolute. Hence the
Ghost hath laboured more in describing Book of the Four Cardinal Virtues com-
the afflictions of Job than the felicities of mands us, ' Let thy laughter be without
cachinnation, that is to say, without
Solomon. "
cackling like a hen.' Ah, wonderful
laughter of my Lady, that never was
CANTO VII.
perceived but by the eye ! "
20. Referring back to Canto VI.
I. " Hosanna, holy God of Sabaoth,
illuminating with thy brightness the " To do vengeance
story
happy fires of these realms." Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin.'
Dante is still in the planet Mercury,
which receives from the sun six times 27. Milton, Par. Lost, I. i, the
more light and heat than the earth. 92:—
5. By Substance is here meant spirit, " Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
or angel ; the word having the sense of Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
Subsistence. See Canto XIII. Note 58. With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
7. The rapidity of the motion of the
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat."
flying spirits is beautifully expressed in
these lines. 36. Sincere in the sense of pure.
10. Namely, the doubt in his mind. 65 Plato, Timcctis, Davis's Tr., X. :
14. Bice, or Beatrice. " Let us declare then on what account
17. Convilo, III. 8 : " And in these the framing Artificer settled the forma-
two places I say these pleasures appear, tion of this universe. He was good ;
saying. In her eyes and in her sweet and in the good envy is never engen-
smile ; which two places by a beautiful dered about anything whatever. Hence,
similitude may be called balconies of being free from this, he desired that all
the Lady who inhabits the edifice of things should as much as possible re-
the body, that is, the Soul ; since here,
semble himself,"
although as if veiled, she often shows Also Milton, Par. Lost, I. 259: —
herself. She shows herself in the eyes " The Almighty hath not built
so manifestly, that he wlio looks care- Here for his envy."
fully can recognize her present passion.
Hence, inasmuch as six passions are And again, VHI. 491 :—
peculiar to the human soul, of which " Thou hast fulfilled
the Philosopher makes mention in his Thy words. Creator bounteous and benign,
Giver of all things fair ! b>it fairest this
Rhetoric, tnat is, grace, zeal, mercy,
envy, love, and shame, with none of Of .ill thy gifts ! nor enviest."
these can the .Soul be impassioned, with- 67. Dante here discriminates between
out its semblance coming to the window the direct or immediate inspirations (A
of the eyes, unless it be kept within by God, and those influences that come
great effort. Hence one of old plucked indirectly through the stars. In th«
out his eyes, so that his inward shame Cottvito, VII. 3, he says . " The good*
 fi^^

NOTES TO PARADISO.

ness of God is received in one manner

by disembodied substances, that is, by CANTO VIII.
the Angels (who are without material 1. The ascent to the Third Heaven,
grossness, and as it were diaphanous on or that of Venus, where are seen the
account of the purity of their form), and spirits of Lovers. Of this Heaven Dante
in another manner by the human soul,
which, though in one part it is free from says, Convito, II. 14 :—
matter, in another is impeded by it ; (as " The Heaven of Venus may be com-
pared to Rhetoric for two properties ;
a man who is wholly in the water, the first is the brightness of its aspect,
except his head, of whom it cannot be which is most sweet to look upon, more
said he is wholly in the water nor wholly than any other star ; the second is its
out of it ; ) and in another manner by
the animals, whose soul is all absorbed appearance, now in the morning, now in
the evening. And these two properties
in matter, but somewhat ennobled ; and
are in Rhetoric, the sweetest of all the
in another manner by the metals, and in
another by the earth ; because it is the sciences, for that is principally its inten-
most material, and therefore the most tion. It appears in the moming when
the rhetorician speaks before the face of
remote from and the most inappropriate his audience ; it appears in the evening,
for the first most simple and noble
that is, retrograde, when the letter in
virtue, which is solely intellectual, that
partForremote speaks forof the
the influences rhetorician."
Venus, see Canto
is, God."
And in Canto XXIX. 136 :— IX. Note 33.
" The primal light, that all irradiates, 2. In the days of " the false and lying
By modes as many is received therein.
gods," when the world was in peril of
As are the splendours wherewith it is mated." damnation for misbelief. Cypria, or
Cyprigna, was a title of Venus, from the
76. Convito, VII. 3 : " Between the place of her birth, Cyprus.
angelic nature, which is an intellec- 3. The third Epicycle, or that ot#
tual thing, and the human soul there is
Venus, the third planet, was its sup-
no step, but they are both almost con- posed motion from west to east, while
tinuous in the order of gradation the whole heavens were swept onward
Thus we are to suppose and firmly to from east to west by the motion of the
believe, that a man may be so noble, Primum Mobile.
and of such lofty condition, that he shall In the Convito, 11. 4, Dante says :
be almost an angel." " Upon the back of this circle (the
130. The Angels, and the Heavens, Equatorial) in the Heaven of Venus,
and the human soul, being immediately of which we are now treating, is a little
inspired by God, are immutable and in- sphere, which revolves of itself in this
destructible. But the elements and the
heaven, and whose orbit the astrologers
souls of brutes and plants are controlled
by the stars, and are mutable and perish- call this Epicycle."
heaven movesAndandagain, II. 7:
revolves "All
with its
able.
Epicycle from east to west, once every
142. See Purg. XVI. 85 :— natural day ; but whether this movement
' Fortli from the hand of Him, who fondles it be by any Intelligence, or by the sweep
Before it is, like to a little girl of the Primum Mobile, God knoweth ;
Weeping and laughing in her childish sport. in me it would be presumptuous to
Issues the simple soul, that nothing knows,
Save that, proceeding from a joyous Maker,
Gladly it turns to that which gives it iJca- Milton, Par. Lost, VIII. 72 :—
" From man or angel the great Architect
And. also Purg. XXV. 70 :— judge."
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
His secrets to be scanned by them who ought
Rather admire ; or, if they list to try
" ITie primal Motor turns to it well pleased
At so great art of nature, and inspires Conject\ire, He his fabric of the heavens
Hath left to their disputes ; perhaps to move
A spirit new with virtue all replete." His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model heaven
And calculate the stars ; how they will wield

fe
624
NOTES TO PARADISO.

The mighty frame: how build, unbuild, contrive, " This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward |
To save appearances ; how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er, This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid ; '
boy of:
Regent love-rhymes, lord of folded arms, 1
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb."
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
See also Nichol, Solar System, p. 7 :
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents." '
" Nothing in later times ought to ob-
scure the glory of Hipparchus, and, as
9. Cupid in the semblance of Asca- i
some think, the still greater Ptolemy.
Amid the bewilderment of these plane- nius. ALneid, I. 718, Davidson's Tr. : |
" She clings to him with her eyes, her \
tary motions, what could they say, ex- whole soul, and sometimes fondles him 1
cept that the 'gods never act without in her lap. Dido not thinking what a j
design ; ' and thereon resolve to discern powerful god is settling on her, hapless
it ? The motion of the Earth was con-
cealed from them : nor was aught intel- one. Meanwhile he,* mindful of his Aci- j
dalian mother, Ijegins insensibly to efface 1
ligible or explicable concerning the the memory of Sichseus, and with a j
wanderings of the planets, except the
grand revolution of the sky around the living flame tries to prepossess her Ian- 1
guid affections, and her heart, chilled i
Earth. That Earth, small to us, they
therefore, on the ground of phenomena, by 10.
long Venus,
disuse." with whose name this
considered the centre of the Universe, — canto begins. j
thinking, perhaps, not more confinedly 12. Bnmetto Latini, Tresor, I. Ch. 3, 1
than persons in repute in modem days.
Around that centre all motion seemed says that Venus " always follows the '
sun, and is beautiful and gentle, anJl is f
to pass in order the most regular ; and
if a few bodies appeared to interrupt the called the Goddess of Love." \
regularity of that order, why not conceive Dante says, it plays with or caresses '
the existence of some arrangement by the sun, " now behind and now in .
which they might be reconciled with it ? front." When it follows, it is Hespe- '
rus, the Evening Star; when it precedes, 1
it was a strange, but most ingenious it is Phosphor, the Morning Star. ^
idea. They could not tell how, by any 21. The rapidity of the motion of the ^
simple system of circular and uniform spirits, as well as their brightness, is in
motion, the ascertained courses of the
planets, as directly observed, were to be proportion to their vision of God. Com-
accounted for ; but they made a most pare Canto XIV. 40 : —
artificial scheme, that still saved the im- " Its brightness is proportioned to the ardour,
The ardour to the vision ; and the vision
mobility ofthe Earth. Suppose a person
passing around a room holding a lamp, Equals what grace it has above its worth."
and all the while turning on his heel. 23. Made visible by mist and cloud-
If he turned round uniformly, there rack.
would be no actual interruption of the 27. Their motion originates in the
uniform circular motion both of the Primiim Mobile, whose Regents, or In-
carrier and the carried ; but the light, m telligences, are the Seraphim.
seen by an obsei ver in the interior, would 34. The Regents, or Intelligences, of
make strange gyrations. Unable to ac- Venus are the Principalities.
count otherwise for the irregularities of 37. This is the first line of the first
the planets, they mounted them in this canzone in the Convito, and in his com-
manner, on small circles, whose centres mentary upon it, II. 5, Dante says :
only revolved regularly around the Earth, "In the first place, then, be it known,
but which, during their revolutionary that the movers of this heaven are sub-
motion, also revolved around their own stances separate from matter, that is.
centres. Styling these cycles and epi- Intelligences, which the common people
cycles, the ancient learned men framed call Angels." And farther on, II. 6:
that grand system of the Heavens con- "It is reasonable to believe that the
cerning which Ptolemy composed his motors of the Heaven of the Moon are
' Syntax. ' " of the order of the Angels ; and those
7. Shakespeare, Lovis Labour's Lost, of Mercury are the Archangels ; and
III. I :— those of Venus are the Thrones." D
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

will be observed, however, that in line the north by the Tronto emptying into
34 he alludes to the Principalities as the the Adriatic, and the Verde (or Garig-
Regents of Venus ; and in Canto IX. 61, liano) emptying into the Mediterranean.
speaks of the Thrones as reflecting the 65. The kingdom of Hungary.
justice of God :— 67. Sicily, called of old Trinacria,
" Above from its three promontories Peloro, Pa-
them, us there are mirrors. Thrones you call chino, and Lilibeo.
From which shines out on us God Judicant ;" 68. Pachino is the south-eastern pro-
thus referring the Thrones to a higher montory of Sicily, and Peloro the north-
heaven than that of Venus. eastern. Between them lies the Gulf of
40. After he had by looks asked and Catania, receiving \yith open arms the
east wind. Horace speaks of Eurus as
gained assent from Beatrice.
46. The spirit shows its increase of " riding the Sicilian seas."
70. Both Pindar and Ovid speak ot
joy by increase of brightness. As Picar-
da in Canto III. 67 : — the giant Typhoeus, as struck by Jove's
thunderbolt, and lying buried under
" First with those other shades she smiled a MXw^. Virgil says it is Enceladus, a
little ;
brother of Typhceus. Charles Martel
Thereafter answered me so joyous'.y,
She seemed to burn in the first fire of love.'* here gives the philosophical, not the
poetical,
of the bay. cause of the murky atmosphere
And Justinian, in Canto V. 133 :—
" Even as the sun, that doth conceal himself 72. Through him from his grand-
Byaway
too much light, when heat has worn father Charles of Anjou, and his father-
The tempering influence of the vapoursdense. in-law the Emperor Rudolph.
By greater rapture thus concealed itself 75. The Sicilian Vespers and revolt
In its own radiance the figure saintly." of Palermo, in 1282. Milman, Hist.
49. The spirit who speaks is Charles Latin Christ., VI. 155 : " It was at a
festival on Easter Tuesday that a multi-
Martel of Hungary, tlie friend and bene- tude of the inhabitants of Palermo and
factor of Dante. He was the eldest son
of Charles the Lame (Charles II. of the neighbourhood had thronged to a
church, about half a mile out of the
Naples) and of Mary of Hungary. He town, dedicated to the Holy Ghost.
was born in 1272, and in 1 291 married
The religious service was over, the mer-
the "beautiful Clemence," daughter of riment begun ; tables were spread, the
Rudolph of Hapsburg, Emperor of Ger- amusements of all sorts, games, dances
many, He died in 1295, at the age of under the trees, were going gaily on ;
twenty-three, to which he alludes in the
words, when the harmony was suddenly inter-
rupted and the joyousness chilled by
" The world possessed me the appearance of a body of French
Short time below. "
soldiery, under the pretext of keeping
58. That part of Provence, embra- the peace. The French mingled fami-
cing Avignon, Aix, Aries, and Mar- liarly with the people, paid court, not in
seilles, of which his father was lord, and tlie most respectful manner, to the
which he would have inherited had he women ; the young men made sullen
lived. This is " the great dowry of remonstrances, and told them to go their
Provence," which the daughter of Ray- way. The Frenchmen began to draw
mond Berenger brought to Charles of together. 'These rebellious Paterins
Anjou in marriage, and which is men- must have arms, or they would not ven-
tioned in Purg. XX. 61, as taking the
sense of shame out of the blood of the searchture onsome
such ofinsolence.' They began
them for arms. to
The two
Capets. parties were already glaring at each
01. The kingdom of Apulia in Au- other in angry hostility. At that mo-
sonia, or Lower Italy, embracing Bari ment the beautiful daughter of Roger
on the Adriatic, Gaeta in the Terra di Mastrangplo, a maiden of exquisite love-
Lavoro on the Mediterranean, and Cro- liness and modesty, with her bridegroom,
tona in Calabria ; a region bounded on approached the church. A Frenchman,
626 NOTES TO PA RAD ISO.

named Drouet, either in wantonness or me, that thou seest in God, that I be-
insult, came up to her, and, under the
pretence of searching for arms, thrust 97.lieveCoHvito,\l\.
it." 14: "The first agent,
his hand into her bosom. The g^irl that is, God, sends his influence into
fainted in her bridegroom's arms. He some things by means of direct rays, and
uttered in his agony thf fatal cry, ' Death into others by means of reflected splen-
to tlie French ! ' A youth rushed for- dour. Hence into the Intelligences the
ward, stabbed Drouet to the heart with divine light rays out immediately ; in
his own sword, was himself struck down. others it is reflected from these Intelli-
The cry, the shriek, ran through the gences first illuminated. But as mention
crowd, ' Death to the French ! ' Many is here made of light and splendour, in
Sicilians fell, but, of two hundred on the order to a perfect understanding, I will
spot, not one Frenchman escaped. The show the difference of these words,
cry spread to the city : Mastrangelo according to Avicenna. I say, the cus-
took t!ie lead ; every house was stormed, tom of the philosophers is to call the
every hole and corner searched ; their Heaven light, in reference to its existence
dress, their speech, their persons, their in its fountain head ; to call it ray, in
manners, denounced the French. The reference to its passing from the fountain-
palace was forced ; the Justiciary, being head to the first body, in which it is
luckily wounded in the face, and rolled arrested ; to call it splendour, in refer-
in the dust, and so undetected, mounted ence to its reflection upon some other
a horse, and fled with two followers.
Two thousand French were slain. They part116. If men lived isolated from each
illuminated."
denied them decent burial, heaped them other, and not in communities.
together in a great pit. The horrors of 120. Aristotle, whom Dante in the
the scene were indescribable ; the insur- CoHvito, III. 5, calls " that glorious
gents broke into the convents, the philosopher to whom Nature most laid
churches. The friars, especial objects open her secrets ; " and in Jnf. IV. 131,
of hatred, were massacred ; they slew "the master of those who know."
the French monks, the French priests. 124. The Jurist, the Warrior, the
Neither old age, nor sex, nor infancy Priest and the Artisan are here typified
in Solon, Xerxes, Melchisedec, and
was spared."
76. Robert, Duke of Calabria, third Daedalus.
son of Charles II. and younger brother 129. Nature, like death, makes no
of Charles Martel. He was King of distinction between palace and hoveL
Sicily from 1309 to 1343. He brought Her gentlemen are born alike in each,
with him from Catalonia a band of and so her churls.
needy adventurers, whom he put into 130. Esau and Jacob, though twin
high offices of state, " and like so many brothers, differed in character, Esau
leeches," says Biagioli, " they filled being warlike and Jacob peaceable.
themselves with the blood of that poor Genesis xxv. 27: " And the boys grew :
people, not dropping off so long as there and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man
remained a drop to suck." cf the field ; and Jacob was a plain man,
80. Sicily already heavily laden with
taxes of all kinds. dwelling in tents. '
131. Romulus, called Quirinus, be-
82. Born of generous ancestors, he cause he always carried a spear {(/uiris),
was himself avaricious. was of such obscure birth, that the
84. Namely, ministers and officials Romans, to dignify their origin, preten-
who were not greedy of gain. ded he was born of Mars.
87. In (lod, where all things are 141. Cottvito, III. 3 : " Animate
reflected as in a mirror. Rev. xxi. 6 : plants have a very manifest affection for
" I am Alpha and Omega ; the begin- certain places, according to their cha-
ning and the end." Buti interprets racter ; and therefore we see certain
thus : " Because I believe ihat thou plants rooting themselves by the water-
«ce«t my joy in God, even as I see it, I side, and others upon mountainouj
am pleased ; and this also is dear to places, and others on the slopes and at
 NOTES TO TARADISO.

the foot of the mountains, which, if they did before the birth of Paris, Althaea
are transplanted, either wholly perish, before the birth of Meleager, and the
or live a kind of melancholy life, as mother of St. Dominic before the birth of
things separated from what is friendly to " The amorous paramour
them." Of Christian Faith, the athlete consecrate,
145. Another allusion to King Robert Kind to his own and cruel to his foes."
of Sicily. Villani, XII. 9, says of him :
32. Cunizza was the sister of Azzolino
" This king Robert was the wisest king di Romano. Her story is told by Ro-
that had been known among Christians
for five hundred years, both in natural landino. Liber Chronicorum, in Muratori,
ability and in knowledge, being a very Rer. Ital. Script., VIII. 173. He says
that she was first married to Richard of
great master in theology, and a consum-
St. Boniface ; and soon after had an
mate philosopher." And the Postillatore
of the Monte Cassino Codex: "This intrigue with Sordello, as already men-
King Robert delighted in preaching and tioned, Purg. VI Note 74. Afterwards
she wandered about the world with a
studying, and would have made a better
monk than king." soldier of Treviso, named Bonius, "tak-
ing much solace," says the old chronicler,
"and spending much money," — multa
CANTO IX. habendo solatia, et tnaximas faciendo ex-
pensas. After the death of Bonius, she
1. The Heaven of Venus is continued was married to a nobleman of Braganzo ;
in this canto. The beautiful Clemence and finally and for a third time to a
here addressed is the daughter of the gentleman of Verona
Emperor Rudolph, and wife of Charles The Ottimo alone among the commen-
Martel. Some commentators say it is tators takes up the defence of Cunizza,
his daughter, but for what reason is not and says: "This lady lived lovingly in
apparent, as the form of address would dress, song, and sport ; but consented
rather indicate the wife than the not to any impropriety or unlawful act ;
daughter ; and moreover, at the date of and she passed her life in enjoyment, as
the poem, 1300, the daughter was only Solomon says inEcclesiastes," — alluding
six or seven years old. So great was the probably to the first verse of the second
affection of this "beautiful Clemence" chapter, " I said in my heart. Go to now,
for her husband, that she is said to have I will prove thee with mirth ; therefore
fallen dead on hearing the news of his enjoy pleasure ; and, behold, this is also
death.
3. Charles the Lame, dying in 1309, 33. Of the influences of the planet
vanity."
gave the kingdom of Naples and Sicily Venus, quoting Albumasar, as before,
to his third son, Robert, Duke of Ca- Buti says : "Venus is cold and moist, and
labria, thus dispossessing Carlo Roberto of phlegmatic temperament, and signifies
(or Caroberto) son of Charles Martel beauty, liberality, patience, sweetness,
and Clemence, and rightful heir to the dignity of manners, love of dress and
throne. ornaments of gold and silver, humility
22. Unknown to me by name. towards friends, pride and adjunction,
25. The region here described is the delectation and delight in singing and use
Marca Trivigiana, lying between Venice of ornaments, joy and gladness, dancing,
(here indicated by one of its principal song with pipe and lite, bridals, orna-
wards, the Rialto) and the Alps, dividing ments and precious ointments, cunning
Italy from Germany. in the composition of songs, skill in the
28. The hill on which stands the Cas- game of chess, indolence, drunkenness,
tello di Romano, the birthplace of the lust, adultery, gesticulations, and lasci-
tyrant Ezzelino, or Azzolino, whom, for viousness of courtesans, abundance of
his cruelties, Dante punished in the river perjuries, of lies and all kinds of wanton-
of boiling blood. Inf. XII. no. Before ness, love of children, delight in men,
his birth his mother is said to have strength of body, weakness of mind,
dreamed of a lighted torch, as Hecuba abundance of food and corporal delights,
628 NOTES TO PARADISO.

observance of faith and justice, traffic in stained with blood is the Bacchiglione, j
odoriferous merchandise ; and as was said on which Vicenza stands.
of the Moon, all are not found in one 49. In Treviso, where the Sile and j
man, but a part in one, and a part in Cagnano unite, !
another, according to Divine Providence ; 50, Riccardo da Camino, who was (
and the wise man adheres to the good,
assassinated while playing at chess. He '
and overcomes the others." was a son of the " good Gherardo, " and i
34. Since God has pardoned me, I am brother of the beautiful Gaja, mentioned \
no longer troubled for my past errors, Purg. XVI. 40. He succeeded his i
on account of which I attain no higher father as lord of Treviso; but carried on \
glory in Paradise. She had tasted of his love adventures so openly and with 1
the waters of Lethe, and all the ills and so high a hand, that he was finally assas- ;
errors of the past were forgotten. Purg. sinated by an outraged husband. The i
XXXIII. 94 :— story of his assassination is told in the ]
" ' And if thou art not able to remember,' Hist. Cartusiorum in Muratori, XII. '
Smiling she answered, ' recollect thee now 784. _ ]
How thou this very day hast drunk of
53. A certain bishop of the town of '
Feltro in the Marca Trivigiana, whose
HugoLethe.'" of St. Victor, in a passage name is doubtful, but who was lx)th lord
quoted by Philalethes in the notes to his spiritual and temporal of the town, broke
translation of the Divina Commedia, says : faith with certain gentlemen of Ferrara, ;
" In that city .... there will be Free guilty of political crimes, who sought \
Will, emancipated from all evil, and refuge and protection in his diocese. '
filled with all good, enjoying without in- They were delivered up, and executed in ;
terruption the delight of eternal joys, Ferrara, Afterward the Bishop himself ;
oblivious of sins, oblivious of punish- came to a violent end, being beaten to
ments ;yet not so oblivious of its libera- death with bags of sand.
tion as to be ungrateful to its liberator. 54. Malta was a prison on the shores >
So far, therefore, as regards intellectual of Lake Bolsena, where. priests were in-
Ifnowledge, it will be mindful of its carcerated for their crimes. There Pope :
past evils ; but wholly unmindful, as Boniface VIII. imprisoned the Abbot of i
regards any feeling of what it has passed
Monte Cassino
Celestine V. escajie for from
letting
his the fugitive
convent. '
through."
37. The spirit of Folco, or FoVchetto, 58. This "courteous priest" was a i
of Marseilles, as mentioned later in this Guelph, and showed his zeal for his party j
canto ; the famous Troubadour whose in the persecution of the Ghibellines, j
renown was not to perish for five cen- 60. The treachery and cruelty of this
turies, but is small enough now, save in man will be in conformity to the customs i
the literary histories of Millot and the of the country. i
Benedictines of St. Maur. 61. Above in the Crystalline Heaven, :
44- The Marca Trivigiana is again or Primutn Mobile, is the Order of Angels
alluded to, lying between the Adige, that called Thrones. These are mirrors
empties into the Adriatic south of Venice, reflecting the justice and judgments of ■
and the Tagliamento to the north-east, God. \
towards Trieste. This region embraces 69. The Balascio (in French ruhi ]
the cities of Pac^a and Vicenza in the balais) is supposed to take its name '
south, Trevi.so in the centre, and Feltro from the place in the East where it wtu> 5
in the north. found.
46. The rout of the Paduane near
Vicenza, in those endless quarrels that "NoChaucer, Court 0/ Love, 78 :—
Kaphire of Inde, no rube riche of price,
'
j
run through Italian history like the roll I'here lacked then, nor emcraude so grene, ,
of a drum. Three times the Paduan Balais TurkiB, ne thing to my devise /
Guelphs were defeated by the Ghibel- That may the cantel maken ior to (bene. " 1
lines, — in 1311, in 1314, and in 1318, The mystic virtues of this stone arc '
when Can Grande della Scala was chief thus enumerated by Mr. King, Atttiqui ,.
of the Ghibclline league. The river Gems, p. 419 : " The BaUxis Ruby \
 629

NOTES TO PARADISO.

represses vain and lascivious thoughts, 93. The allusion here is to the siege
appeases quarrels between friends, and of Marseilles by a portion of Caesar's
gives health of body. Its povt^der taken army under Tribonius, and the fleet under
in water cures diseases of the eyes, and Bmtus. Purg. XVIII. loi :—
pains in the liver. If you touch with this
gem the four comers of a house, orchard, " And Cae.sar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into
or vineyard, they will be safe fron) light-
ning, storms, and blight." Lucan, who describes the siege and
70. Joy is shown in heaven by greater
light, as here on earth by smiles, and as sea-fightSpain."
in the third book of his Phar-
in the infernal regions the grief of souls salia, says ; —
in torment is by greater darkness. " Meanwhile, impatient of the lingering war,
73. In Him thy sight is ; in the original, The chieftain to Iberia bends afar,
tuo veder / inluia, thy sight in-Hitns- And gives the leaguer to Tribonius' care."
Uself. 94. Folco, or Folchetto, of Marseilles
76. There is a similar passage in one (Folquet de Marseilles) was a noted Trou-
of the Troubadours, who, in an Elegy, badour, who flourished at the end of the
commends his departed friend to the twelfth century. He was the son of a
Virgin as a good singer. " He sang so rich merchant of Marseilles, and after
well, that the nightingales grew silent
with admiration, and listened to him. his father's death, giving up business for
Therefore God took him for his own pleasure and poetry, became a frequenter
of courts and favourite of lords and princes.
service If the Virgin Mary is Among his patrons are mentioned King
fond of genteel young men, I advise her Richard of England, King Alfonso of
to take him." Aragon, Count Raymond of Toulouse,
77. The Seraphim, clothed with six and the Sire Barral of Marseilles. The
wings, as seen in the vision of the Prophet old Proven9al chronicler in Raynouard,
Isaiah vi. 2 : " Above it stood the sera-
phims : each one had six wings ; with V. 150, says : "He was a good Trouba-
dour, and very attractive in person. He
twain he covered his face, and with twain paid court to the wife of his lord. Sire
he covered his feet, and with twain he Barral, and besought her love, and made
did fly." songs about her. But neither for prayers
81. In the original, S' io nC intuassi nor songs could he find favour with her
come til fimmii ; if I in-theed myself as so as to procure any mark of love, of
thou in-meest thyself. Dantesque words, which he was always complaining in his
like inluia. Note 73.
82. The Mediterranean, the greatest Nevertheless this Lady Alazais listened
of seas, except the ocean, surrounding with pleasure to his songs and praises ;
the earth. songs."
and was finally moved to jealousy, if not
Bryant, Thanatopsis :— to love. The Troubadour was at the
" And poured round all
same time paying his homage to the two
sisters of the Sire Barral, Lady Laura
Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste."
and Lady Mabel, both beautiful and de
85. Extending eastward between Eu- gran valor, and being accused thereof,
rope and Africa. Dante gives the length fell into disfavour and banishment, the
of the Mediterranean as ninety degrees. Lady Alazais wishing to hear no more
Modem geographers make it less than his prayers nor his songs. In his despair
fifty. he took refuge at the court of William,
89, Marseilles, about equidistant from Lord of Montpellier, whose wife, daugh-
the Ebro, in Spain, and the Magra, which ter of the Emperor Manuel, ' ' comforted
divides the Genoese and Tuscan terri- him a little, and besought him not to be
tories. Being a small river, it has but a downcast and despairing, but for love of
short journey to make. her to sing and make songs. "
92. Buggia is a city in Africa, on nearly And now a great change came over
the same parallel of longitude as Mar- him. The old chronicler goes on to say :
seilles. " And it came to pass that the Ladj
 630 NOTES TO FARAD ISO.

Alazais died ; and the Sire Barral, her 1 20. The first soul redeemed when
husband and his lord, died ; and died Christ descended into Limbo. " The
the good King Richard, and the good first shall be last, and the last first."
Count Raymond of Toulouse, and King 123. The Crucifixion. If any one is
Alfonso of Aragon : whereat, in grief for disposed to criticise the play upon words
his lady and for the princes who were in this beautifid passage, let him remem-
dead, he abandoned the world, and re- ber the Tues Petrus et super hanc petram
tired to a Cistercian convent, with his edificabo ecclesiam meatn.
wife and two sons. And he became
124. Hebrews xi. 31 : "By faith the
Abbot of a rich abbey in Provence, harlot Rahab perished not with them that
called Torondet, and afterwards Bishop believed not, when she had received the
of Toulouse, and there he died." spies
It was in I2CX3 that he became a Cis- 1 25.with peace." that it was in the hands
Forgetful
tercian, and he died in 1233. It would of the Saracens.
be pleasant to know that he atoned for 127. The heathen Gods were looked
his youthful follies by an old age of vir- upon by the Christians as demons. Hence
tues. But unfortunately for his fame, the Florence was the city of Satan to Dante
old nightingale became a bird of prey. in his dark hours, when he thought of
He was deeply implicated in the persecu- Mars ; but in his better moments, when
tions of the Albigenses, and the blood of he remembered John the Baptist, it was
those "slaughtered saints" makes a " the fairest and most renowned daughter
ghastly rubric in his breviary.
97. Dido, queen of Carthage. The of 130. The Lily on the golden florin of
Rome."
Florence.
Ottimo says : " He seems to mean, that
Folco loved indifferently married women, 133. To gain the golden florin the
study of the Gospels and the Fathers was
virgins, and widows, gentle and simple. " abandoned, and the Decretals, or books
100. Phillis of Thrace, called Rodopeia
from Mount Rodope near which she of Ecclesiastical Law, sodiligently conned,
lived, was deserted by her Athenian lover that their margins were worn and soiled
Demophoon, of whom Chaucer, Legende with thumb-marks. The first five books
of Good Women, 2442, gives this por- of the Decretals werecompiled by Gregory
trait :— IX., and the sixth by Boniface VIII.
" Men knewe him well and didden hym honour, 138. A prophecy of the death of Boni-
For at Athenis duke and lorde was he, face VIII. in 1303, and the removal of
As Theseus his father hath ibe, the Holy See to Avignon in 1305.
That in his tyme was of grete renown,
No man so grete in all his regioun,
And like his father of face and of stature ;
And false of love, it came hym of nature ; CANTO X.
As doeth the foxe, Rcnarde the foxes sonne.
Of kinde, he coulde his olde father wonne,
Withouten lore ; as can a drake swmime. I. The Heaven of the Sun, " a good
When it is caught and caried to the brimme." planet and imperial," says Brunette
Latini. Dante makes it the symbol of
loi. Hercules was so subdued by love
for lole, that he sat among her maidens Arithmetic. Convito, II. 14: "The
Heaven of the Sun may be compared
spinning with a distaff. to Arithmetic on account of two proper-
103. See Note 34 of this caiito. ties; the first is, that with its light all
106. Tile ways of Providence, the other stars are informed ; the second
" From seeming evil still educing good."
is, that the eye caimot behold it. And
these two properties are in Arithmetic,
116. Rahab, who concealed the spies for with its light all the sciences are
of Joshua among the rtax-stalks on the illuminated, since their subjects are all
roof of her* house. Joshua, ii. 6. considered under some number, and in
118. Milton, Par. Lost, IV. 776 :— the consideration thereof we always pro-
ceed with numbers ; as in natural science
" Now
cone hid night measured with her shadowy the subject is the movable body, which
Half-way up hill this vast sublunar rault." movable body has in it ratio of con>
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
631

tinuity, and this has in it ratio of infinite " Some

more.say, he bid his angels turn askance
number. And the chief consideration of The poles of earth, twice ten degrees and
natural science is to consider the prin- From the sun's axle ; they with labour pushed
ciples ofnatural things, which are three, Oblique the centric globe : some say, the sun
namely, matter, species, and form ; in Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road
Like-distant breadth to Taurus with the seven
which this number is visible, not only in Atlantic Sisters, and the Spartan twins,
all together, but, if we consider well, in Up to the tropic Crab : thence down amain
each one separately. Therefore Pytha- By Leo, and the Virgin, and the Scales,
goras, according to Aristotle in the first As deep as Capricorn ; to bring in change
Of seasons to each clime : else had the spring
book of his Physics, gives the odd and Perpetual smiled on earth with vemant floorers.
even as the principles of natural things, Equal in days and nights, except to those
considering all things to be number. The Beyond the polar circles ; to them day
Had unbenighted shone ; while the low sun,
other property of the Sun is also seen in To recompense his distance, in their sight
number, to which Arithmetic belongs, for Had rounded still the horizon, and not known
the eye of the intellect cannot behold it, Or east or west ; which had forbid the snow
for number considered in itself is infinite ; From cold Estotiland, and south as far
Beneath Magellan."
andIn this
this weHeaven cannot ofcomprehend."
the Sun are seen the 28. The Sun.
spirits of theologians and Fathers of the 31. The Sun in Aries, as indicated in
Church ; and its influences, according to line 9 ; that being the sign in which the
Albumasar, cited by Buti, are as follows : Sun is at the vernal equinox.
*' The Sun signifies the vital soul, light 32. Such is the apparent motion of the
and splendour, reason and intellect, Sun round the earth, as he rises earlier
science and the measure of life ; it sig- and earlier in .Spring.
nifies kings, princes and leaders, nobles 48. No eye has ever seen any light
and magnates and congregations of men, greater than that of the Sun, nor can we
strength and victory, voluptuousness, conceive of any greater.
beauty and grandeur, subtleness of mind, 51. How the Son is begotten of the
pride and praise, good desire of kingdom Father, and how from these two is
and of subjects, and gi"eat love of gold, breathed forth the Holy Ghost. The
and aflHuence of speech, and delight in Heaven of the Sun being the Fourth
neatness and beauty. It signifies faith Heaven, the spirits seen in it are called
and the worship of God, judges and wise the fourth family of the Father ; and to
men, fathers and brothers and mediators ; these theologians is revealed the mystery
it joins itself to men and mingles among of the Trinity.
them, it gives what is asked for, and is 67. The moon with a halo about her.
strong in vengeance, that is to say, it 82. The spirit of Thomas Aquinas.
punishes rebels and malefactors." 87. The stairway of Jacob's dream,
2. Adam of St. Victor, Hymn to the with its angels ascending and descending.
Holy Ghost: — 89. Whoever should refuse to gratify
thy desire for knowledge, would no more
" Veni, Creator Spiritus, follow his natural inclination than water
Spiritus recreator,
I'u dans, tu datus coelitus,
which did not (low downward.
Tu donum, tu donator ;
Tu lex, tu digitus, 98. Albertus Magnus, at whose twenty-
Alens et alitus, one ponderous folios one gazes with awe
Spirans et spiritus, and amazement, was bom of a noble
Spiratus et spirator." Swabian family at the beginning of the
thirteenth century. In his youth he
9. Where the Zodiac crosses the Equa- studied at Paris and at Padua ; became
tor, and the motion of the planets, which a Dominican monk, and, retiri.ig to a
is parallel to the former, comes into convent in Cologne, taught in the schools
apparent collision with that of the fixed of that city. He became Provincial of
stars, which is parallel to the latter. his Order in Germany ; and was after-
14. The Zodiac, which cuts the Equa- ward made Grand-Master of the Palace
tor obliquely. at Rome, and then Bishop of Ratisbon.
16. Milton. Par. Lost, X. 668 :— Resigning his bishopric in 1262, he re
632
NOTES TO PARADISO.

turned to his convent in Cologne, where Norman kings ; his brothers, Reginald
he died in 1280, leaving behind him great and Landolph, held high rank in the
fame for his learning and his labour. Imperial armies. His family was con-
Milman, Hist. Latin Christ., VIII. 259, nected by marriage with the Hohen-
says of him : " Albert the Great at once staufens ; they had Swabian blood in
awed by his immense erudition and ap- their veins, and so the great schoolman
palled his age. His name, the Universal was of the race of Frederick II. Monasti-
Doctor, was the homage to his all-em- cism seized on Thomas in his early youth ;
bracing knowledge. Hequotes, as equally he became an inmate of Monte Casino ;
familiar, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Jewish at sixteen years of age he caught the
philosophers. He was the first School- more fiery and vigorous enthusiasm of
man who lectured on Aristotle himself, the Dominicans. By them he was sent
on Aristotle from Graeco- Latin or Arabo- — no unwilling proselyte and pupil — to
Latin copies. The whole range of the France. He was seized by his worldly
brothers, and sent back to Naples ; he
Stagirite's physical and metaphysical
philosophy was within the scope of Al- was imprisoned in one of the family
bert's teaching. In later days he was castles, but resisted even the fond en-
called the Ape of Aristotle ; he had dared treaties ofhis mother and his sisters. He
to introduce Aristotle into the Sanctuary Eersisted in his pious disobedience, his
itself. One of his Treatises is a refuta- oly hardness of heart ; he was released
tion of the Arabian Averrhoes. Nor is
after two years' imprisonment — it might
it Aristotle and Averrhoes alone that seem strange — at the command of the
come within the pale of Albert's erudi- Emperor Frederick II. The godless
tion ;the commentators and glossators Emperor, as he was called, gave Thomas
of Aristotle, the whole circle of the Arab- to the Church. Aquinas took the ine-
ians, are quoted ; their opinions, their vocable vow of a Friar Preacher. He
reasonings, even their words, with the became a scholar of Albert the Great at
utmost familiarity. But with Albert, Cologne and at Paris. He was dark,
Theology was still the master-science. silent, unapproachable even by his bre-
The Bishop of Ratisbon was of unim- thren, perpetually wrapt in profound me-
Ecached orthodoxy ; the vulgar only, in ditation. He was called, in mockery, the
is wonderful knowledge of the secrets great dumb ox of Sicily. Albert ques-
of Nature, in his studies of Natural His- tioned the mute disciple on the most
tory, could not but see something of the deep and knotty points of theology ; he
magician. Albert had the ambition of found, as he confessed, his equal, his
reconciling Plato and Aristotle, and of superior. ' That dumb ox will make the
reconciling this harmonized Aristotelian world resound with his doctrines.' With
and Platonic philosophy with Christian Albert the faithful disciple returned to
Divinity. He thus, in some degree, Cologne. Again he went back to Paris,
misrepresented or misconceived both the received his academic degrees, and taught
Greeks ; he hardened Plato into Aris- with universal wonder. Under Alex-
totelism, expanded Arisfotelism into Pla- ander IV. he stood up in Rome in de-
tonism ; and his Christianity, though fence of his Order against the eloquent
Albert was a devout man, while it con- William de St. Amour ; he repudiated
stantly subordinates, in strong and fervent for his Order, and condemned by his
language, knowledge to faith and love, authority, the prophesies of the Abbot
became less a religion than aphilosophy." Joachim. He taught at Cologne with
99. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doc- Albert the Great ; also at Paris, at Rome,
tor of the Schools. Milman, Hist. Latin at Orvieto, at Viterbo, at Perugia. Where
Christ., VIII. 265, gives the following he taught, the world listened in respectful
sketch of him : — silence. He was acknowledged by two
" Of all the schoolmen Thomas Aquinas Popes, Urban IV. and Clement IV., as
has left the greatest name. He was a the first theologian of the age. He re-
son of the Count of Aouino, a rich fief in fused the Archbishopric of Naples. He
the kingdom of Naples. His mother, was expected at the Council of Lyons, as
Theodora, was of the line of the old the authority before whom all Christen-
 NOTES TO i'ARADISO.

doin niij^ht be expected to bow down. atheist, as he is a divine and theologian.

He died ere be had passed the borders of Secure, as it should seem, in impene-
Naples, at the Abbey of Rcssa Nuova, trable armour, he has not only no appre-
near Terracina, at the age of forty-eight. hension, but seems not to suppose the
Dark tales were told of his death ; only ])ossibility of danger ; he has nothing of
the wickedness of man could deprive the the boastfulness of self-confidence, but,
workl so early of such a wonder. The in calm assurance of victory, gives eveiy
University of Paris claimed, but in vain, advantage to his adversary. On both
the treasure of his mortal remains. He sides of every question he casts the
was canonized by John XXII. argument into one of his clear, distinct
"Thomas Aquinas is throughout, syllogisms, and calmly places himself as
above all, the Theologian. God and Arbiter, and passes judgment in one or
the soul of man are the only objects a series of still more unanswerable
truly worthy of his philosophic inves- syllogisms. He has assigned its un-
tigation. This is the function of the assailable province to Church authority,
Angelic Doctor, the mission of the to tradition or the Fathers, faith and
Angel of the Schools. In his works, works ; but beyond, within the proper
or rather in his one great work, is sphere of philosophy, he asserts full
the final result of all which has been freedom. There is no Father, even St.
decided by I-'ope or Council, taught by Augustine, who may not be examined
the Fathers, accepted by tradition,
by 104.
the fearless
Gratian intellect." was a Franciscan friar,
argued in the schools, inculcated in the
confessional. The Sum of Theology and teacher in the school of the convent
is the authentic, authoritative, acknow- of St. Felix in Bologna. He wrote the
ledged code of Latin Christianity. We Decretum Gratiaui, or "Concord of the
cannot but contrast this vast work with Discordant Canons," in which he
the original Gospel : to this bulk has brought into agreement the laws of the
grown the New Testament, or rather courts secular and ecclesiastical.
the doctrinal and moral part of the New 107. Peter Lombard, the " Master of
Testament. But Aquinas is an intellec- Sentences," so called from his Libri
tual theologian : he approaches more Seiitentiarum. In the dedication of this
nearly than most philosophers, certainly work to the Church he says that he
than most divines, to pure embodied wishes " to contribute, like the poor
intellect. He is perfectly passionless ; widow, his mite to the treasury of the
he has no polemic indignation, nothing Lord." The following account of him
and his doctrines is from Milman, Hist.
of the Churchman's jealousy and sus-
picion he
; has no fear of the result of Latin Christ., VIII. 238 : " Peter the
any investigation ; he hates nothing, Lombard vi'as born near Novara, the
hardly heresy ; loves nothing, unless native place of Lanfranc and of Anselm.
perhaps naked, abstract truth. In his He was Bishop of Paris in 1 159. His
serene confidence that all must end in famous Book of the Sentences was in-
good, he moves the most startling and tended to be, and became to a great
even perilous questions, as if they were extent, the Alanual of the Schools.
the most indifferent, the very Being of Peter knew not, or disdainfully threw
God. God must be revealed by syllo- aside, the philosophical cultivation of
gistic process. Himself inwardly con- his day. He adhered rigidly to all
scious of the absolute harmony of his which passed for Scripture, and was ;
own intellectual and moral being, he the authorized interpretation of the
places sin not so much in the will as in Scripture, to all which had become the
the understanding. The perfection of creed in the traditions, and law in the
man is the perfection of his intelligence. decretals, of the Church. He seems to
He examines with the same perfect self- have no apprehension of doubt in his
command, it might almost be said apa- stem dogmatism ; he will not recognir.e
thy, the converse as well as the proof of any of the difficulties suggested by philo-
the most vital religious truths. He is sophy he
; cannot, or will not, perceive
nearly as consummate a sceptic, almost the weak pouits of his own system. He
0^4
NOTES TO PARADISO.

has the great merit that, opposed as he was Dionysius the Areopagite." A
was to the prevailing Platonism, through- book attributed to him, on the "Ce-
out tlie Sentences the ethical principle lestial Hierarchy," was translated into
predominates ; his excellence is per- Latin by Johannes Erigena, and became
spicuity, simplicity, definiteness of moral
in the Middle Ages the text-book of
purpose. His distinctions are endless, angelic lore. " The author of those
subtile, idle ; but he wrote from conflict- extraordinary treatises," says Milman,
ing authorities to reconcile writers atHist. Latin Christ., VIIL 189, "which,
war with each other, at war with them- from their obscure and doubtful parent-
selves. Their quarrels had been wrought
age, now perhaps hardly maintain their
to intentional or unintentional antago- fame for imaginative richness, for the
occasional beauty of their language, and
nism in the ' Sic et Non ' of Abelard.
That philosopher, whether Pyrrhonist or their deep piety, — those treatises which,
more tiian Pyrrhonist, had left them all widely popular in the West, almost
in the confusion of strife ; he had set created tlie angel-worship of the popular
Fathers against Fathers, each Father creed, and were also the parents of
against himself, the Church against the Mystic Theology and of tlie higher
(Jhurch, tradition against tradition, law Scholasticism, — this Poet -Theoioginii
against law. The Lombard announced was a Greek. The writmgs which bear
himself and was accepted as the me- the venerable name of Dionysms the
diator, the final arbiter in this endless
Areopagite, the ])roselyte of St. Paul,
litigation; he would sternly fix the first appear under a suspicious and sus-
positive, proscribe the negative or scep- pected form, as authorities cited by the
tical view in all these questions. Theheterodox .Severians in a conference at
litigation might still go on, but within Constantinople. The orthodox stood
the limits which he had rigidly estab- aghast : how was it that writings of the
holy convert of St. Paul had never been
lished ;he had determined those ulti-
mate results against which there was no
heard of before? that Cyril of Alexan-
appeal. The mode of proof might be dria, that Athanasius himself, were
interminably contested in the schools ; ignorant of their existence? But these
the conclusion was already irrefragably writings were in themselves of too great
fixed. On the sacramental system Peter power, too captivating, too congenial to
the I^ombard is loftily, severely hier- the monastic mind, not to find bold
archical. Yet he is moderate on the
defenders. Bearing this venerable name
power of the keys ; he holds only a in their front, and leaving behind them,
declaratory power of binding and loosing, in the East, if at first a doulnful, a
— of showing how the souls of men were growing faith in their authenticity, they
to be bound and loosed. " appeared in the West as a precious gift
Peter Lombard was born at the be- from the Byzantine Emperor to the
Emperor Louis the Pious. France in
S'nning of the twelfth century, when the
ovarese territoiy, his birth])lace, was a that age was not likely to throw cold
fart of Lombardy, and hence his name. and jealous doubts on writings which
ie studied at the University of Paris, bore the hallowed name of that great
under Abelard ; was afterwards made Saint, whom she had already boasted to
Professor of Theologv in the University, have left his primal Bishopric of Athens
and then Bishop of Paris. He died to convert her forefathers, whom Paris
in 1 164. already held to be her tutelar patron,
109. Solomon, whose Song of Songs the rich and powerful Abbey of St.
breathes such impassioned love. Dcnys to be her founder. There was
lit. To know if he were saved or living in the West, by happy coinci-
not, a grave <|Ui'stion having been raised dence, the one man who at that period,
upon that point by theologians. by his knowledge of (jreek, by the con-
115. Dionysius the Areopagite, who genial speculativeness of his mind, by
was converted by .St. Paul. Acts xvii. the vigour and richness of his imagina-
34 : " n()wl)eit, certain men clave unto tion, was(]ualified to translate into Latin
him, and Ijclicvcd : among the which the mysterious doctrints of the Areopft-
 NOTES TO PA RAD/SO.

gite, both as to the angelic world and pulsed the Gauls from the Capitol, and
the subtile theology. John Erigena sacrificed their sons to the discipline of
hastened to make known in the West the Republic. In the youth of Boethius,
the 'Celestial Hierarchy,' the treatise the studies of Rome were not totally
'on the Name of God,' and the brief abandoned ; a Virgil is now extant,
chapters on the ' Mystic Philosophy.'" corrected by the hand of a consul ; and
119. Paul Orosius. He was a Spanish the professors of grammar, rhetoric, and
presbyter, born at Tarragona near the jurisprudence were maintained in their
close of the fourth century. In his youth privileges and pensions by the liberality
he visited St. Augustine in Africa, who of the Goths. But tlie erudition of the
in one of his books describes him thus : Latin language was insufficient to satiate
" There came to me a young monk, in his ardent curiosity ; and Boethius is
the catholic peace our brother, in age said so have employed eighteen laborious
our son, in honour our fellow-presl)yter, years in the schools of Athens, which
Orosius, alert in intellect, ready of were supported by the zeal, the learning,
speech, eager in study, desiring to be a and the diligence of Proclus and his dis-
us'eful vessel in the house of the Lord ciples. The reason and piety of their
for the refutation of false and pernicious Roman pupil were fortunately saved
doctrines, which have slain the souls of from the contagion of mystery and
the Spaniards much more unhappily magic, which polluted the groves of the
than the sword of the barbarians their Academy ; but he imbibed the spirit,
and imitated the method of his dead and
bodies."
On leaving St. Augustine, he went to living masters, who attempted to recon-
Palestine to complete his studies under cile the strong and subtle sense of Aris-
St. Jerome at 15ethlehem, and while totle with the devout contemplation and
there arraigned Palagius for heresy be- sublime fancy of Plato. After his re-
fore the Bishop of Jerusalem. The turn to Rome, and his marriage with
work by which he is chiefly known is the daughter of his friend, the patrician
his "Seven Books of Histories;" a Symmachus, Boethius still continued in
world-chronicle from the creation to his a palace of ivory and marble to prose-
own time. Of this work St. Augustine cute the same studies. The Church was
availed himself in writing his " City of edified by his profound defence of the
God ; " and it had also the honour of orthodox creed against the Arian, the
being translated into Anglo- Saxon by Eutychian, and the Nestorian heresies :,
King Alfred. Dante calls Orosius " the and the Catholic unity was explained or
advocate of the Christian centuries," exposed in a formal treatise by the
because this work was written to refute indifference of three distinct, though con-
the misbelievers who asserted that Chvis- substantial persons. For the benefit of
tianity had done more harm to the his Latin readers, his genius submitted
world than good. to teach the first elements of the arts*
125. Severinus Boethius, the Roman and sciences of Greece. The geometry
Senator and philosopher in the days of of Euclid, the music of Pythagoras, tlte
Theodoric the Goth, born in 475, and arithmetic of Nicomachus, the mechanics
put to death in 524. His portrait is of Archimedes, the astronomy of Pto-
thus drawn by Gibbon, Decline and lemy, the theology of Plato, and tlie
Fall, Ch. XXXIX.: "The Senator logic of Aristotle, with the commentary
Boethius is the last of the Romans
erf Porphyiy, were translated and illus-
whom Cato or Tully could have ac- trated by the indefatigable pen of the
knowledged for their countryman. As Roman Senator. And he alone was
a wealthy orphan, he inherited the esteemed capable of describing the won-
patrimony and honours of the Anician ders of art, a sun-dial, a water-clock, or
family, a name ambitiously assumed by a sphere which represented the motion-*
the kings and emperors of the age ; and of the planets. From these abstru^
the appellation of Manlius asserted his speculations Boethius stooped, or, to
genuine or fabulous descent from a race speak more truly, he rose to the social
of consuls and dictators, who had re- '
duties of public and private u u life : the
636 NOTES TO PARADISO.

indigent were relieved by his liberality ; work, the various riches of philosophy,
and his eloquence, which flattery might poetry, and eloquence, must already
compare to the voice of Demosthenes or have possessed the intrepid calmness
Cicero, was uniformly exerted in the which he affected to seek. Suspen e,
cause of innocence and humanity. Such the worst of evils, was at length deter-
conspicuous merit was felt and rewarded mined by the ministers of death, who
by a discerning prince ; the dignity of executed, and perhaps exceeded, the
Poethius was adorned with the titles of inhuman mandate of Theodoric. A
Consul and Patrician, and his talents strong cord was fastened round the head
•were usefully employed in the important of Boethius, and forcibly tightened, till
station of Master of the Offices." his eyes almost started from their
Being suspected of some participation sockets ; and some mercy may be dis-
in a plot against Theodoric, he was covered inthe milder torture of beating
confined in the tower of Pavia, where he him with clubs till he expired. But his
wrote the work which has immortalized genius survived to diffuse a ray of know-
his name. Of this Gibbon speaks as ledge over the darkest ages of the Latin
follows: "While Boethius, oppressed world ; the writings of the philosopher
M'ith fetters, expecf^ed each moment the were translated by the most glorious of
sentence or the stroke of death, he com- the English kings, and the third Em-
posed in the tower of Pavia the Consola- peror of the name of Otho removed to a
tion ofPhilosophy ; a golden volume not more honourable tomb the bones of a
unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Catholic saint, who, from his Arian
Tully, but which claims incomparable persecutors, had acquired the honours
merit from the barbarism of the times of martyrdom, and the fame of mira-
and the situation of the author. The
celestial guide whom he had so loig 128. Boethius was buried in the
invoked at Rome and Athens now con- church of San Pietro di Cieldauro in
Pavia.
descended to illumine his dungeon, to
revive his courage, and to pour into his cles."
131. St. Isidore, a learned prelate
wounds her salutaiy balm. She taught of Spain, was born in Cartagena, date
him to compare his long prosperity and unknown. In 600 he became IJishop
his recent distress, and to conceive new of Seville, and died 636. He was inde-
hopes from the inconstancy of fortune. fatigable in converting the Visigoths
Reason had informed him of the pre- from Arianism, wrote many theological
carious condition of her gifts ; experience and scientific works, and finished the
had satisfied him of their real vali\e ; he Mosarabic missal and breviary, begun
had enjoyed them without guilt ; he by his brother and predecessor, St.
might resign them without a sigh, and Leander.
calmly disdain the impotent malice of "The Venerable Bede," or Beda, an
his enemies, who had left him happi- Anglo-Saxon monk, was born at Wear-
ness, since they h.ad left him virtue. mouth in 672, and in 735 died and was
From the earth Boethius ascended to buried in the monastery of Yairow,
heaven in search of the sih'Rf.me good; where he had been educated and had
explored the meatphysical labyrinth of passed his life. His bones were after-
chance and destiny, of' prescience and ward removed to the Cathedral of
free-will, of time and eternity ; and Durham, and placed in the same coffin
generously attempted to reconcile tlie with those of .St. Cuthbert. He was
perfect attributes of the Deity with the the author of more than forty volumes ;
apparent disorders of his moral and among which his KccUsiastical History of
))hysical government. Such topics of Eii}^UiH(i is the most known and valued,
consolation, so obvious, so vague, or so and, like the Histories of Orosius, had
ab.struse, are ineffectual to subdue the the honour of being translated by King
feelings of human nature. Yet the Alfred from the Latin into Anglo-.Saxon.
sense of misfortune may be diverted On his death-bed he dictated the close
l>y the labour of thought ; and the sage of Iiis translation of the Gospel of John.
who could artfully combine, in the same " Dearest master," said his scribe^
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

"one chapter still remains, but it is uttered the concluding phrase, Per om-
difficult for thee to speak." The dying nia sa:cula sicailonim, to the great ad-
monk replied, " Take thy pen and miration of his disciple, the stones, we
write quickly." Later the scribe said, are told, cried out aloud, ' Amen, Vene-
" Only one sentence remains ; " and the rabilis Beda ! ' There is also a third
monk said again, *' Write quickly." legend on this subject which informs us
And writing, the scribe said, " It is that, soon after Bede's death, one of his
done." "Thou hast said rightly," disciples was appointed to compose an
answered Bede, "it is done;" and epitaph in Latin Leonines, and carve it
died, repeating the Gloria Patri, closing on his monument, and he began thus,
the service of his long life with the
closing words of the service of the ' Hac sunt in fossa Bedae ossa,'
Church. The following legend of him
intending to introduce the word sancti
is from Wright's Bios^. Britan. Lit., I. or presbyteri ; but as neither of these
269 : " The reputation of Bede in- words would suit the metre, whilst he
creased daily, and we find him spoken
was puzzling himself to find one more
of by the title of Saint very soon after
his death. Boniface in his epistles convenient, he fell asleep. On awak-
describes him as the lamp of the ing he prepared to resume his work,
when to his great astonishment he found
Church. Towards the ninth century he
that the line had already been com-
received the appellation of The Vener- pleted on the stone (by an angel, as he
able, which has ever since been attached
to his name. As a specimen of the supposed), and that it stood thus :
fables by which his biography was ' Hac sunt in fossa Bedae Venerabilis ossa.'"
gradually obscured, we may cite the
legends invented to account for the Richard of St. Victor was a monk in
origin of this latter title. According to the monastery of that name near Paris,
one, the Anglo-Saxon scholar was on a "and wrote a book on the Trinity,"
visit to Rome, and there saw a gate of says the Ottimo, "and many other
iron, on which were inscribed the letters beautiful and sublime works" ; praise
P.P.P.S.S.S.R.R.R.F.F.F., which no
which seems justified by Dante's words,
one was able to interpret. Whilst Bede if not suggested by them. Milman,
was attentively considering the inscrip- Hist. Latin Christ., VIII. 241, says of
tion, aRoman who was passing by said him and his brother Hugo: "Richard
to him rudely, ' What seest thou there, de St. Victor was at once more logical
English ox?' to which Bede replied, and more devout, raising higher at once
'I see your confusion;' and he im- the unassisted power of man, yet with
mediately explained the characters thus: even more supernatural interference, —
Pater Patria Perditus, Sapientia Secum less ecclesiastical, more religious. Thus
Sitl'lata, Kiiet Regnum Komce, Ferro the silent, solemn cloister was, as it
F'amma Fame. The Romans were as- were, constantly balancing the noisy and
tonished at the acuteness of their Eng- pugnacious school. The system of the
lish visitor, and decreed that the title of St. Victors is the contemplative phi-
Venerable should be thenceforth given losophy of deep-thinking minds m their
to him. According to another story, profound seclusion, not of intellectual
Bede, having become blind in his old gladiators : it is that of men following
age, was walking abroad with one of out the train of their own thoughts, not
his disciples for a guide, when they perpetually crossed by the objections of
arrived at an open place where there subtle rival disputants. Its end is not
was a large heap of stones ; and Bede's the victory, but the inward satisfaction of
companion persuaded his master to soul. It is not so much conscious
preach to the people who, as he pre- of ecclesiastical restraint, it is rather
tended, were assembled there and wait- self-restrained by its inborn reverence;
ing in great silence and expectation. it has no doubt, therefore no fear ; it is
Bede delivered a most eloquent and bold from the inward consciousness of
moving discourse, and when he had \
its orthodoxy."
u U a
638 NOTES TO PARA DISC.

135. As to many other life-weary men, Paris — Straw Street (Rue du Fouarre)
like those mentioned in Furg. XVI. — into the midst of a description of
122 :— the highest heavens What did it
" And laic they deem it
matter to Dante, up in heaven there,
That God restore them to the better life." whether the mob below thought hiin
vulgar or not ! Sigier had read in Straw
136. "This is Master Sigier," says Street ; that was the fact, and he had to
the Ottimo, "who wrote and lectured say so, and there an end.
on Logic in Paris." Very liltie more is " There is, indeed, perhaps, no
known of him than this, and that he was greater sign of innate and real vulgarity
supposed to hold some odious, if not of mind or defective education, than
heretical opinions. Even his name has the want of power to understand the
perished out of literary history, and sur- universality of the ideal truth ; the
vives only in the verse of Dante and the absence of sympathy with the colossal
notes of his commentators. grasp of those intellects, which have in
137. The Rue du Fouarre, or Street them so much of divine, that nothing is
of Straw, originally called Rue de I'Ecole, small to them, and nothing large ; but
is famous among the old streets of Paris, with equal and unoffended vision they
as having been the cradle of the Uni- take in the sum of the world, Straw
versity. Itwas in early times a hay and Street and the seventh heavens, in the
straw market, and hence derives its same instant. A certain portion of thi.s
name. In the old poem of Les Rties de divine s])irit is visible even in the lower
Paris, Barbazan, II. 247, are these examples of all the true men ; it is,
lines : — indeed, perhaps the clearest test of their
belonging to the true and great group,
" Enpres est nie de I'F.cole, that they are continually touching what
L?i demeure Dame Nicole ;
En celle rue, ce me samble, to the multitude appear vulgarities. The
Vent-on et fain et fuerre ensatnble." higher a man stands, the more the word
'vulgar' becomes unintelligible to him."
Others derive the name from the fact, The following sketch from the note-
that the students covered the benches of book of a recent traveller shows the
their lecture-rooms with straw, or used Street of Straw in its present condition :
it instead of benches ; which they would " I went yesterday in search of the Rue
not have done if a straw-market had not du Fouarre. I had been hearing Wil-
been near at hand.
liam Guizot's lecture on Montaigne, and
Dante, moved perhaps by some plea- from the College de France went down
sant memory of the past, pays the old the Rue St. Jacques, passing at the back
scholastic street the tribute of a verse. of the old church of St. Severin, whose
The elegant Petrarca mentions it fre- gargoyles still stretch out their long
quently inhis Latin writings, and always necks over the street. Turning into the
'vith a sneer. Me remembers only "the Rue Gal.ande, a few steps brought me to
Hispulatious city of Paris, and the noisy the Fouarre. It is a short and narrow
Street of Straw " ; or " the plaudits of street, with a scanty footway on one
the Petit Pont and the Rue du Fouarre, side, on the other only a gutter. The
the most famous places on earth." opening at the farther end is filled by a
Rabelais s])eaks of it as the place pictures(iue vista of the transept gable
where Pantagriiel first held disputes and great rose-window of Notre Dame,
with the learned dfx:toi-s, "having posted over the river, with the slender centr.tl
up his nine thousand seven hundred and spire. Some of the houses on either
sixty-four theses in all the carrefouns of side of the street were evidently of a
the city " ; and Ruskin, Mod. Painters, comparatively modern date ; but others
III. 85, justifies the mention of it in were of the oldest, and the sculpture')
Paradise as follows : — stone wreaths over the doorways, and
" A common idealist would have the remains of artistic iron-work in the
been rather alarmed at the thought of balconies, showed them to have been
introducing the name of a street in once of some consideration. Some
 639

NOTES TO PA RAD ISO.

dirty chilchen were playing at the door were odious to somebody ; which inter-
of a shop where fi'^ots and charbon iie pretation issupported by the fact that
terre de Paris were sold. A coachman Sigier was summoned before the primate
in glazed hat sat asleep on his box before of the Dominicans on suspicion of heresy,
the shop of a Maitc/iissciise de Jin. A but not convicted.
woman in a bookbinder's window was 147. Milton, At a Solemn Mustek: —
folding the sheets of a French grammar.
In an angle of the houses under the high " Blest pair of Sirens, pledges of Heaven's
wall of the hospital garden was a cob- Sphere-born
Verse ; harmonious sisters. Voice and
bler's stall. A stout, red-faced woman, employ
Wed your divine sounds, and mixed power ,
standing before it, seeing me gazing
round, asked if Monsieur was seeking Dead things with inbreathed sense able to
anything in special. I said I was only
pierce ;
looking at the old street ; it must be And to our high-raised fantasy present
That undisturbed song of pure concent.
very old. ' Yes, one of the oldest in Aye sung before the sapphire-coloured throne ,
Paris.' 'And why is it called " du To Him that sits thereon,
Fouarre " ? ' ' O, that is the old French With saintly shout, and solemn jubilee;
{ox foin ; and hay used to be sold here. Where the bright Seraphim, in burning row,
Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow :
Then, there were famous schools here in And the cherubic host, in thousand qu res,
the old days ; Abelard used to lecture Touch their inmiortal harps of golden wires.
With those just spirits that wear victorious
here.' 1 was delighted to find the tra-
ditions ofthe place still surviving, though palms,
Hymns devout and holy psalms
I cannot say whether she was right about Smging everlastingly :
Abelard, whose name may have become That we on earth, with undiscording voice.
merely typical ; it is not improbable, May rightly answer that .melodious noise ;
As once we did, till disproportioned sin
however, that he may have made and
annihilated many a man of straw, after Jarred against Nature's chime, and with harsh
the fashion of the doctors of dialectics, Brokedinthe fair music that all creatures made
in the Fouarre. His house was not far To their
swayedgreat Lord, whose love their motion
off on the Quai Napoleon in the Cite ; In perfect
and that of the Canon Fulbert on the long diapason, whilst they stood
In first obedience, and their sL-ite of good.
corner of the Rue Basse des Ursins. O, may we soon again renew that song.
Passing through to the Pont au Double, And keep in tune with Heaven, till God ere-
I stopped to look at the books on the To his celestial concert us unite.
To live w.th him, and sing in endless morn of
parapet, and found a voluminous Dic-
tioiuiaire Uistorique, but, oddly enough,
it contained neither Sigier's name, nor
Abelard's. I asked a ruddy-cheeked light!" CANTO XL
boy on a doorstep if he went to school.
He said he worked in the day-time, and 1. The Heaven of the Sun continued.
went to an evening school in the Rue du
Fouarre, No. 5. That primary night The prflise of St. F"rancis by Thomas
school seems to be the last feeble de- Aquinas, a Dominican.
4. Lucretius, Nature of T/tin^s, Book
scendant of the ancient learning. As to
straw, I saw none except a kind of rude H. I, Good's Tr. :—
straw matting placed round the corner " How mam.
sweet to stand, when tempests tear the
of a wine-shop at the entrance of the
street ; a sign that oysters are sold within, On the firm ciiflT, and mark the seaman's toil !
they being brought to Paris in this kind Not that ano
But from such her's danger
toil how soothes
sweet to feelthesecure
soul. !
How sweet, at dist.anre from the strife, to view
of matting." Contend ng hosts, and hear the clash of war !
138. Buti interprets thus : "Lecturing But sweeter far on Wisdom's heights serene,
on the Elenchi of Aristotle, to prove Upheld by Truth, to fix our firm alx)de ;
some truths he formed certain syllogisms To watch the giddy crowd that, deep below,
For ever wander in pursuit of bliss :
so well and artfully, as to excite envy." To mark the strife for honours and renown.
Others interpret the word iuvidiosi m For wit and wealth, insatiate, ceaseless :irged
the Latin sense of odious, — truths that
Day after day, with labour unrestrained."
 640 NOTES TO PAKADISO.

' La cui mirabil vita

16. Thomas Aquinas.
20. The spirits see the thoughts of Meglio in gloria del ciel si canterebbe,'
men in God, as in Canto VIII. 87 : —
was inspired by love for all created
" Because I am assured the lofty joy things, in the most insignificant of
Thy speech infuses into ine, my Lord,
Where every good thing doth begin and end, which he recognized a common origin
Thou seest as 1 see it." with himself. The little lambs hung up
for slaughter excited his pity, and the
25. Canto X. 94 :— captive birds his tender sympathy ; the
" The holy flock swallows he called his sisters, sororcu/,v
Which Dominic conducteth by a road mccE, when he begged thein to cease
Where well one fattens if he strayeth not." their twitterings while he preached ;
26. Canto X. 112 :— the worm he carefully removed from
his path, lest it should be trampled on
" Where knowledge
by a less careful foot ; and, in love
, So deep was put, that, i( the true be true.
To see so much there never rose a second." with poverty, he lived upon the sim-
plest food, went clad in the scantiest
32. The Church. Luke xxiii. 46 : garb, and enjoined chastity and obedi-
"And when Jesus had cried with a loud ence upon his followers, who within
voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I four years numbered no less than fifty
commend my spirit ; and having said thousand ; but St. Dominic, though
thus, he gave up tlie gliost." originally of a kind and compassionate
nature, sacrificed whole hecatombs of
34. A'oiiiaiis viii. 38: "For I am victims in his zeal for the Church,
persuaded, tliat neither death, nor Hfe,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor pow- showing how far fanaticism can change
ers, nor things present, nor things to the kindest heart, and make it look
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any with complacency upon deeds which
other creature, sliall be able to separate would have formerly excited its ab-
us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord." 37. The Seraphs love most, the
horrence."
35. St. Francis and St. Dominic. Cherubs know most. Thomas Aqui-
Mr. Perkins, Tuscan Sculptors, I. 7, nas, Sum. TheoL, I. Quscst. cviii. 5,
s.nys : " In warring against Frederic, says, in substance, that the Seraphim are
whose courage, cunning, and ambition so called from burning; according to the
gave them ceaseless cause for alarm, three properties of fire, namely, con-
and in strengthening and extending the tinual motion upward, excess of heat,
influence of the Church, much shaken and of light. And again, in the same
by the many heresies which had sprung article, that Cherubim, being interpre-
up in Italy and France, the Popes re- ted, is plenitude of knowledge, which
ceived invaluable assistance from the in them is fourfold ; namely, perfect
Minorites and the Preaching Friars, vision of God, full reception of divine
wliose ortlers had been established by light, contemplation of beauty in the
Pope Innocent III. in the early part of order of things, and copious effusion
the century, in consequence of a vision, of the divine cognition upon others.
in which he saw the tottering walls of 40. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican,
the Latcran basilica supported by an here celebrates the life and deeds of St.
Italian and a Spaniard, in whom he Francis, leaving the praise of his own
afterwards recognized their respective Saint to Bonaventura, a Franciscan, to
founders, SS. Francis and Dominic. show that in heaven there are no ri-
Nothing could be more opposite than valries nor jealousies between the two
the means which these two celebrated orders, as there were on earth.
mm employed in the work of conver- 43. The town of Ascesi, or Assisi,
sion ;for while St. Francis used persua- as it is now called, where St. Francis
»ir)n and tenderness to melt the hard- was born, is situated between the rivers
hearted, .St. Dominic forced and crushed Tu])ino and Chiasi, on the slope of
them into submission. St. Francis, Monte Subaso, where St. Ubald had
 NOTES TO PARADISO. 641

his hermitage. From this mountain and saw visions. In the church of
the summer heats are reflected, and the St. Damiano he heard a voice say three
cold winds of winter blow through the times, " Francis, re])air. my house,
Porta Sole of Perugia. The towns of which thou seest falling." In order
Nocera and Gualdo are neighbouring to do this, he sold his father's horse
towns, that suffered under the oppres- and some cloth at Poligno, and took
sion of the Perugians. the money to the priest of St. Da-
Ampere, Voyaf^e Dautcsqtte, p. 256, miano, who to his credit refused to
says: "Having been twice at Perugia, receive it. Through fear of his father,
I have experienced the double effect he hid himself; and when he re-
of Mount Ubaldo, which the poet says appeared in the streets was so ill-clad
makes this city feel the cold and heat. that the boys pelted him and called him
mad. His father shut him up in his
' Onde Perugia sente freddo e caldo,' house ; his mother set him free. In the
that is, which by turns reflects upon it presence of his father and the Bishop
the rays of the sun, and sends it icy he renounced all right to his inherit-
winds. I have but too well verified ance, even giving up his clothes, and
the justice of Dante's observation, par- putting en those of a servant which
ticularly as regards the cold tempera- the Bishop gave him. He wandered
ture, which Perugia, when it is not about the country, singing the praises
burning hot, owes to Mount Ubaldo. of the Lord aloud on the highways.
I arrived in front of this city on a bril- He met with a band of robbers, and
liant autumnal night, and had time to said to them, "I am the herald of the
comment at leisure upon the winds of Great King." They beat him and
the Ubaldo, as I slowly climbed the threw him into a ditch filled with snow.
winding road which leads to the gates He only rejoiced and sang the louder.
of the city fortified by a Pope." A friend in Gubbio gave him a suit of
50. Rci'elation vii. 2 : " And I saw clothes, which he wore for two years,
another angel ascending from the east, with a girdle and a staff. He washed
having the seal of the living God." the feet of lepers in the hospital, and
These words Bonaventura applies to kissed their sores. He begged from
St. Francis, the beautiful enthusiast and door to door in Assisi for the repairs
Pater Seraphicus of the Church, to fol- of the church of St. Damiano, and car-
low out whose wonderful life through ried stones for the masons. He did
the details of history and legend would the same for the church of St. Peter ;
be too long for these notes. A few he did the same for the church of Our
hints must suflice. Lady of Angels at Portiuncula, in the
St. Francis wai the son of Peter Ber- neighbourhood of Assisi, where he re-
nadone, a wool-merchant of Assisi, and mained two years. Hearing one day in
was born in I182. The first glimpse church the injunction of Christ to his
we catch of him is that of a joyous Apostles, " Provide neither gold nor sil-
youth in gay apparel, given up to plea- ver, nor brass in your purse, nor scrip
sure, and singing with his companions for your journey, neither two coats,
through the streets of his native town,
neither shoes, nor yet staves," he left
like St. Augustme in the streets of Car- off shoes and staff and girdle, and girt
thage. He was in the war between himself with a cord, after the manner
Assisi and Perugia, was taken prisoner, of the shepherds in that neighbourhood. "-
and passed a year in confinement. On This cord became the distinguishing
his return home a severe illness fell mark of his future Order. He kissed
upon him, which gave him more seri- the ulcer of a man from Spoleto, and
ous thoughts. He again appeared in healed him ; and St. Bonaventura says,
the streets of Assisi in gay apparel, but " I know not which I ought most to
meeting a beggar, a fellow-soldier, he admire, such a kiss or such a cure."
changed clothes with him. He now be- Bernard of Quintavalle and others as-
gan to visit hospitals and kiss the sores sociated themselves with him, and the
of lepers. He prayed in the churches, Order of the Benedictines was founded.
642 NOTES TO PARADISO.

As his convent increased, so did his his sacred wounds. His body was
humility and his austerities. He sewed buried in the church of St. George
his rough habit with pack-thread to at Assisi, but four years afterwards re-
make it rougher ; he s!e])t on the ground moved to a church outside the walls.
with a stone for his pillow ; he drank See Note 1 17 of this canto.
M'ater ; lie ate bread ; he fasted eight In the life of St. Francis it is some-
lents in the year ; he called his body times difficult to distinguish between
" Brother Ass," and bound it with a the facts of history and the myths of
haher, the cord of his Order ; but tradition ; but through all we see the
a few days before his death he begged outlines of a gentle, beautiful, and noble
pardon of his body for having treated character. All living creatures were
it so harshly. As a penance, he rolled his brothers and sisters. To him the
himself naked in the snow and among lark was an emblem of the Cheru-
brambles ; he commanded Ivis friars bim, and the lamb an image of the
Lamb of God. He is said to have
to revile him, and when he said, "O
Brother Francis, for thy sins thou hast preached to the birds ; and his sermon
deserved to be plunged into hell ; " was, " Brother birds, greatly are ye
Brother Leo was to answer "It is bound to praise the Creator, who
true ; thou hast deserved to be buried clotheth yon with feathers, and givelh
in the very bottom of hell." you wings to fly with, and a purer air
In 1215 his, convent was removed to to breathe, and who careth for yon,
Alvemia, among the solitudes of the
who have so little care for yourselves.''
Apennines. In 1219 he went to Egypt Foi-syth, describing his visit to La
to convert the Sultan, and preached to Verna, Italy, p. 123, says: "Francis
liini in his camp near Damietta, but appears to me a genuine hero, original,
vfithout the desired effect. He re- independent, magnanimous, incorrupt-
turned to the duties of his convent with ible. His powers seemed designed to
unabated zeal ; an<l was sometimes seen regenerate society ; l>ut, taking a wrong
by his followers lifted from the ground direction, they sank men into beggars."
by the fervour of his prayers ; and here Finally, the phrase he often uttered
he received in a vision of the Cruci- when others praised him may be here
fixion the slii^tnata in his hands and repeated, " \Vhat every one is in the
feet and side. Butler, Lives of the eyes of God, that he is and no more."
Saints, X. 100, says: "The marks of 51. Namely, in winter, when the sun
nails began to appear on his hands and is far south ; or, as Biagioli prefers,
feet, resembling those he had seen in glowing with unwonted splendour.
tiie vision of the man crucified. His 53. It will be noticed that there is a
hands and feet seemed bored through play of words on the name Ascesi (I
in the middle with four wounds, and ascended), which Padre Venturi irreve-
these holes appeared to be pierced rently calls a concetto di tre (juattrini.
with nails of hard flesh ; the heads 59. His vow of jioverty, in opposition
were round and black, and were seen to the wishes of his father.
in the paln.'s of his hands, and in his 61. In the presence of his father and
feet in the upper i)art of the instep. of the Bishop of the diocese.
The points wcie long, and ap)ieared 65. After the death of Christ, she
beyond the skin on the other side, and waited eleven, hundred years and more
were turned back as if they had been till St. Francis came.
clenched with a hauimei. Tliere was
67. The story of Caesar's waking the
also in his right side a red wound, as fisherman Amyclas to take him across
if made by the piercing of a lance ; the Adriatic is told by Lucan, Phar-
and this often threw out blood, which salia, V. :—
stained the tunic and drawers of the
"There through the gl(x<m hia searching eyes
explored.
saint."
Two years afterwards St. Francis Where to the mouldering rock a bark wai
niocred.
died, exclaiming, " Welcome, .Sister The mij{hiy m.ister of this little boat
Death ; " and multitudes came tu kiss Securely slept \t ith.ii d neighbouring cot :
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

No massy beams support his humble hall, counsels. Seeing the extraordinary
Hut reeds and marshy rushes wove the wall ; conduct of St. Francis, he invited him
Old, shattered planking for a roof was spread,
And covered in from rain the needy shed. to sup at his house, and had a good bed
Thrice on the feeble door the warrior struck, made ready for him near his own.
Beneath the blow the trembling dwelling shook. When Bernard seemed to be fallen
' What wretch forlorn,' the poor Amvclas cries, asleep, the servant of God arose, and
' Driven by the raging seas, and stormy skie.s,
To my poor lowly roof for slielter flies?' falling on his knees, with his eyes lifted
up, and his arms across, repeated veiy
Bestowed by Heaven, but seldom understood ! slow, with abundance of tears, the
' O happy poverty ! thou greatest good,
Here nor the cruel spoiler seeks his prey, whole night. Dens mens et Omnia, ' My
Nor ruthless armies take their dreaclful way :
Security thy narrow limits keeps, God and my AIL' .... Bernard secretly
Safe are thy cottages, and sound thy sleeps.
watched the saint all night, by the light
Behold ! ye dangerous dwellings of the great, of a lamp, saying to himself, ' This man
Where gods and godlike princes choose their is truly a servant of God ; ' and admiring
seat ;
the happiness of such a one, whose
See in what peace the poor Amyclas lies,
heart is entirely filled with God, and to
Nor starts, though Caesar's call commands to whom the whole world is nothing.
rise." After many other proofs of the sincere
Dante also writes, Convito, IV. 13 : and admirable sanctity of Francis, being
"And therefore the wise man says, that charmed and vanquished by his example,
the traveller empty-handed on his way he begged the saint to make him his
would sing in the very presence of companion. Francis recommended the
robbers. And that is what Liican refers matter to God for some time ; they both,
to in his fifth book, when he commends heard mass together, and took advice
the security of poverty, saying : O safe that they might learn the will of God.
condition of poverty ! O narrow habi- The design being approved, Bernard
tations and hovels ! O riches of the sold all his effects, and divided the sum
(lods not yet understood ! At what
aipong the poor in one day."
times and at what walls could it happen, 83. Giles, or Egidius, the second
the not being afraid of any noise, when follower of St. Francis, died at Perugia,
the hand of Cnesar was knocking? And in 1272. He was the author of a book
this says Lucan, M'hen he describes how called Verba Attrea, Golden Words.
Caesar came by night to the hut of the Butler, Lives of the Saints, VH. 162,
fisherman Amyclas, to pass the Adrian note, says of him: "None among the
Sea." first disciples of St. Francis seems to
74. St. Francis, according to Butler, have been more perfectly replenished
I^ives of the Saints, X. 78, used to say with his spirit of perfect charity, humi-
that "he posses.sed nothing of earthly lity, meekness, and simplicity, as
goods, being a disciple of Him who, for appears from the golden maxims and
our sakes, was born a stranger in an lessons of piety which he gave to
open stable, lived without a place of
his own wherein to lay his head, sub- He gives also this anecdote of him on
sisting by the charily of good people, others."
and died naked on a cross in the close p. 164: "Brother Giles said, 'Can a
dull idiot love God as perfectly as a
embraces of holy poverty." great scholar?' St. Bonaventure re-
79. Bernard of Quintavalle, the first
plied,A' poor old woman may love
follower of St. Francis. Butler, Live: of him more than the most learned master
the Saints,
admire the X. 75, says:
heroic " Many began
and uniform virtue to
of and doctor in theology.' At this
Brother Giles, in a sudden fervour and
this great servant of God, and some jubilation of spirit, went into a garden,
desired to be his companions and dis- and, standing at a gate toward the city
ciples. The first of these was Bernard (of Rome), he looked that way, ami
of Quintaval, a rich tradesman of cried out with a loud voice, ' Come, the
Assisium, a person of singular prudence, poorest, most smiple, and most illiterate
and of great authority in tiiat city, old woman, love the Lord our (jod, and
which had been long directed by his vou may attain to an higher degree of
644 NOTES TO PARADISO.

eminence and happiness than Brother gular convent, which stands on the cliflFs
Bonaventure with all his learning.' of a lofty Apennine. was built by St.
After this he fell into an ecstacy, in Francis himself, and is celebrated for
which he continued in sweet contempla- the miracle which the motto records.
tion without motion for the space of Here reigns all the terrible of nature, —
three hours." a rocky mountain, a ruin of the ele-
Sylvester, the third disciple, was a ments, broken, sawn, and piled in
priest who sold stone to St. Francis for sublime confusion, — precipices crowned
the repaire of the church of St. Da- with old, gloomy, visionary woods, —
miano. Some question arising about black chasms in the rock where curi-
the payment, St. Francis thrust his osity shudders to look down, — haunted
hand into Bernard's bosom and drew caverns, sanctified by miraculous crosses,
forth a handful of gold, which he added — long excavated stairs that restore you
to the previous payment. Sylvester, to daylight On entering the Chapel
smitten with remorse that he, an old of the Stigmata, we caught the religion
man, should be so greedy of gold, while of the place ; we knelt round the rail,
a young man despised it for the love of and gazed with a kind of local devotion
(.Jod, soon after became a disciple of the at the holy spot where St. Francis
saint. received the five wounds of Christ.
89. Peter Bernadone, the father of The whole hill is legendary ground.
St. Francis, was a wool-merchant. Of Here the Seraphic Father was saluted
this humble origin the saint was not by two crows which still haunt the
ashamed. convent ; there the Devil hurled him
93. The permission to establish his down a precipice, yet was not permitted
religious Order, granted by Pope In- to bruise a bone of him."
nocent III., in 1 2 14. 117. When St. Francis was dying, he
96. Better here in heaven by the desired to be buried among the male-
.Angels, than on earth by Franciscan factors at the place of execution, called
friars in their churches, as the custom the CoUe if Inferno, or Hill of Hell.
was. Or perliajw, as Buti interjirets it, A church was afterwards built on this
better above in the glory of Paradise, spot ; its name was changed to Colic Ui
" where is the College of all the Paradiso, and the body of the saint
Saints," than here in the Sun. transferred thither in 1230. The po-
98. The permission to found the pular tradition is, that it is standing
Order of Minor Friars, or Franciscans, upright under the princi})al altar of the
granted by Pope Innocent III., in 12 14, chapel devoted to the saint.
was confirmed by Pope Ilonorius HI., 118. If .St. Francis were as here de-
in 1223. scribed, what must his companion, St.
99. The title of Archimandrite, or Dominic, have been, who was Patriarch,
Patriarch, was given in the Greek or founder of the Order to which
Church to one who had supervision Thomas Aquinas belonged. To the
over many convents. degeneracy of this Order the remainder
loi. Namely, before the Sultan of of the canto is devoted.
E'jypt in his camp near Damietta. 137. The Order of the Dominicans
104. In the words of Ben Jonson, diminished in numbers, by its members
going in search of prelacies and other
" Potential merit stands for actual, ecclesiastical othces, till it is like a tree
Where only oppirtunity doth want, hacked and hewn.
Not will nor power."
138. Buti interprets this passage dif-
lo6. On Mount Alvernia, St. Fran- ferently. He says : " Vedrai 'I cor-
cis, absorbed in prayer, received in his rci^gcr ; that is, thou, Dante, shalt see
hands and feet and breast the stifrniata St. Dominic, whom he calls corres^ger,
of Christ, that is, the wounds of the because he wore about his waist the
nails and the spear of the crucifixion, correi^i^a, or leatheni thong, and made
the final seal of the Order. his friars wear it, as St. Francis made
Forsyth, Italy^ p. 122: "This sin- his wear the cord ;— che argotnenta, that
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

is, who proves by ti'ue arguments in his 34. As in Canto XI. 40 :—

constitutions, that his friars ought to
study sacred theology, studying which " OneIn will I speak of, for of both is spoken
praising one, whichever may be taken.
their souls will grow fat with a good Because unto one end their labours were."
fatness ; that is, with the grace of God,
and the knowledge of things divine, if 38. The Church rallied and re-armed
they do not go astray after the other
by the death of Christ against "all evil
sciences, which are vanity, and make and mischief," and "the crafts and
the soul vain and proud." assaults of the Devil."
43. In Canto XI. 35 :—
" Two Princes did ordain in her behoof,
CANTO XII. Which on this side and that might be her
I. The Heaven of the Sun continued.
The praise of St. Dominic by St. Bona- 46. In the west of FLurope, namely in
ventura, a Franciscan.
3. By this figure Dante indicates that Spain. guide."
52. The town of Calahorra, the birth-
the circle of spirits was revolving hori- place of St. Dominic, is situated in the
zontally, and not vertically. In the province of Old Castile.
Convito, III. 5, he makes the same 53. In one of the quarterings of the
comparison in speaking of the apparent arms of Spain the Lion is above the
motion of the sun ; noii a modo di mola, Castle, in another beneath it.
ma di rota, not in fashion of a mill-
stone, but of a wheel. 55. St. Dominic.
58. Dante believed with Thomas
II. Ezekiel i. 28: "As the appear- Aquinas, that " the creation and infu-
ance of the bow that is in the cloud in sion "of the soul were simultaneous.
the day of rain, so was the appearance 60. Before the birth of St. Dominic,
of the brightness round about." his mother dreamed that she had brought
12. Iris, Juno's messenger. forth a dog, spotted black and white,
14. Echo. Ovid, Met., III., Ad- and bearing a lighted torch in his mouth;
dison's Tr. :— symbols of the black and white habit of
the Ordei, and of the fiery zeal of its
*' The move,
Nymph, when nothing could Naicissus founder. In art the dog has become the
Still 'lashed with blushes for her slighted love, attribute of St. Dommic, as may be seen
Lived in the shady covert of the woods,
in many paintings, and m the statue over
In solit.'iry caves and dark abodes ;
Where pining wandered the rejected fair, the portal of the convent of St. Mark at
Till harassed out, and worn away with car , Florence.
'J'he sounding skeleton, of blood bereft,
Besides her bones and voice had nothing left. 64. The godmother of St. Dominic
Her bones are petrified, her voice is found dreamed that he had a star on the fore-
In vaults, where still it doubles every sound." head, and another on the back of his
head, which illuminated the east and the
west.
16. Genesis ix. 13 : "I do set my
bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a 69. Dominicus, from Dominus, the
token of a covenant betweeirme and the Lord.
earth. " 70. St. Dominic, Founder of the
And Campbell, To the Rainbow : — Preaching Friars, and Persecutor of
Heretics, was born in the town of Cal-
" When o'er the green undeluged earth aroga, now Calahona, in Old Castile,
Heaven's covenant thou didst shine,
How came the grey old fathers forth in the year 11 70, and died in Bologna
in 1 22 1. He was of the illustrious
To watch thy sacred sign."
family of the Guzmans ; in his youth he
31. It is the spirit of St. Bonaventura, studied ten years at the University of
a Franciscan, that speaks. Palencia; was devout, abstemious, cha-
32. St. Dominic, by whom, through ritable sold
; his clothes to feed the poor,
the mouth of his follower, St. Francis and even offered to sell himself to the
has been eulogized. Moors, to ransom the brother of a poor
 64^ NOTES TO PARADISO.

woman who sought his aid. In his though he was a Florentine, and our
twenty-fiftii year he became a canon fellow -citizen ; he was the greatest
under the Bishop of Osma, preaching in
physicist in all Christendom."
The allusion here is to the pursuit
the various churches of the province
for nine years, and at times teaching of worldly things, instt-ad of divine,
theology at Palencia. In 1203 he ac- the same as in the introduction to
companied his Bishop on a diplomatic Canto XI. :—
. mission to Denmark ; and on his return
" One after laws and one to aphorisms."
• stopped in Languedoc, to help root out
the Albigensian ^>eresy ; but how far he 88. Buti says that in early times the
authorized or justified the religious cru- prelates used to divide the incomes of
sades against these persecuted people, the Church into four parts ; " the first,
and what part he took in them, is a for the prelate personally ; the second,
contested point, — enough it would seem for the clergy who performed tiie ser-
to obtain for him, from the Inquisition vices ;the third, for the embellisliment
of Toulouse, the title of the Persecutor of the Church ; the fourth, for Christ's
of Heretics. poor ; which division is now-a-days little
In 1215, St. Dominic founded the
Order of Preaching Friars, and in the 90. Pope
observed. " Boniface VIII., whom
year following was made Master of the Dante never forgets, and to whom he
Sacred Palace at Rome. In 1219 the never fails to deal a blow.
centre of the Order was established at 91. He did not ask of the Holy See
Bologna, and there, in 1221, St. Domi- the power of grasping six, and giving
nic died, and was buried in the Church but two or three to pious uses ; not the
of St. Nicholas. first vacant benefice ; nor the tithes that
It has been generally supposed that belonged to God's poor ; but the right
St. Dominic founded the Inquisition. to defend the faith, of which the four-
It would apjjear, however, that the and-twenty spirits in the two circles
special guardianship of that institution around them were the seed.
was not intrusted to the Dominicans till 106. One wheel of the chariot of the
the year 1233, o"" twelve years after the Church Militant, of which St. Francis
death of their founder. was the other.
75. Matthew xix. 21 : "Jesus said 1 12. The track made by this wheel of
unto him. If thou wilt be perfect, go the chariot ; that is, the strict rule ot
and sell that thou hast, and give to the .St. Francis, is now abandoned by his
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in followers.
heaven : and come and follow me." 1 14. Good wine produces crust in the
While still a young man and a stu- cask, bad wine mould.
dent, in a season of great want, St. 117. Set the points of their feet upon
Dominic sold his books, and all that he the heel of the footprints, showing tiiat
possessed, to feed the poor. they walked in a direction directly op-
79. Felix signifying happy, and Jo- posite to that of their founder.
anna, full of grace. 120. When they find themselves in
83. Henry of Susa, Canlinal, and Hell, and not in Paradise. Matthew
Bishop of Ostia, and thence called xiii. 30 : " Let both grow together until
Ostiense. He lived in the thirteenth the harvest : and in the time of harvest
century, and wrote a commentary on I will say to the reapers. Gather ye
the Decretals or Books of Ecclesiastical together first the tares, and bind them
Law. in bundles to burn them : but gather
Taddeo Alderotti was a distinguished the wheat into my Vmrn."
physician and Professor of Bologna, 121. Whoever examines one by one
who flourished in the thirteenth century, the members of our Order, as he would
and translated the Ethics of Aristotle. turn over a book leaf by leaf, will find
Villani, VHI. 66, says of him : "At some as good and faithful as the fii-st.
this tinie (1303) died in Bologna Maes- 124. In 1287, Matteo d' Acouasparta,
tro Taddeo, surnamed the Bolognese, general of the Franciscans, relaxed th«
 «4y

NOTES TO PARADISO.

severities of the Order. Later a re- Among these may be mentioned the
action followed ; and in 13 lo Frate Legend of St. Francis ; the Itinerary of
Ubaldino of Casale became the head the Mind towards God ; the Ecclesias-
of a party of zer.lots among the Francis- tical Hierarchy ; the Bible of the Poor,
cans who took the name of Spiritualists,
which is a volume of essays on moral"
and produced a kind of schism in the and religious subjects ; and Meditations
Order, by narrower or stricter interpre- on the Life of Christ. Of others the
tation of#the Scriptures. mystic titles are, The Mirror of the
127. In this line Dante uses the word Soul; The Mirror of the Blessed Virgin ;
life for spirit. On the Si.x Wings of the .Seraphim ;
John of Fidanza, sumamed Bonaven- On the Six Wings of the Clierubim ;
tura, — who "postponed considerations On the Sandals of the Apostles. One
sinister," or made things temporal sub- golden sentence of liis cannot be too
servient to things spiritual, and of whom often repeated ; "The best perfection of
one of his teachers said that it seemed a religious man is to do common things
as if in him " Adam had not sinned," — in a perfect manner. A constant fidelity in
was born in 1221 at Bagnoregio, near
small things Hist.
Milman, is a great and Christ.,
Latin heroic virtue."
VHI.
Orvieto. In his childhood, being ex-
tremely ill,he was laid by his mother at
the feet of St. Francis, and healed by 274, 276, says of him : " In Bonaven-
tura the philosopher recedes; religious
the prayers of the Saint, who, when he edification is his mission. A much
beheld him, exclaimed " O buotia Ven- smaller proportion of his volun^inous
tura !^^ and works is pure .Scholasticism ; he is
dedicated her by son this name He
to God. the lived
motherto
teaching by the Life of his Holy Foun-
become a F"ranciscan, to be called the der, St. Francis, and by what may be
"Seraphic Doctor," and to write the called a new Gospel, a legendary Life of
Life of St. Francis ; which, according the Saviour, which seems to claim, with
to tl)e Spani'ih legend, being left un- all its wild traditions, equal right to the
finished at his deatii, he was allowed to belief with that of the Evangelists.
return to earth for three days to com- Boiiaventura himself seems to deliver it
plete it. There is a strange picture in as his own unquestioning faith. Bona-
the Louvre, attributed to Murillo, repre- ventura, if not ignorant of, feared or
.seiiting this event. Mrs. Jameson gives disdained to know much of Aristotle or
an engraving of it in her Legends of the the Arabians : he philosophizes only
Monastic Orders, p. 303. because in his age he could not avoid
St. Bonaventura was educated in
philosophy The raptures of
Paris unfler Alexander Hales, the Irre- Bonaventura, like the raptures of all
fr.iga!)Ie Doctor, and in 1245, at the age Mystics, tremble on the borders of
of twenty-four, became a Professor of Pantheism : he would still keep up the
Theology in the University. In 1256 distinction between the soul and God ;
he was made General of his Order ; in but the soul must aspire to absolute
1273, Cardinal and Bishop o( Albano. unity with God, in whom all ideas are
The nunciis of Pope Gregory, who in reality one, though many according
were sent to carry him his cardinal's to human thought and speech. But
hat, found him in the garden of a the soul, by contemplation, by beatific
convent near Florence, washing the vision, is, as it were, to be lost and
dishes ; and he requested them to hang
the hat on a tree, till he was ready to merged in that Unity."
130. Of these two barefooted friars
take it. nothing remains but the name and the
St. Bonaventura was one of the great good report of holy lives. The Ottimo
Schoolmen, and his works are volu- savs they were authors of l)ooks.
minous, consisting of seven imposing Bonaventura says that Illuminate ac-
folios, two of which are devoted to companied St. Francis to Egypt, and
txpositions of tlie .Scriptures, one to was present when he preached in the
Sermons, two to Peter l.ond)ard's Book camp .of the Sultan. Later he over-
of Sentences, and two lo minor works. came the scruples of the Saint, and per-
«48 NOTES TO PARADISO.

suaded him to make known to the under the title of John XIX. In the
world tlie miracle of the stigmala. following year he was killed by the fall
Agostiiio became the liead of his of a portion of the Papal palace at
Order in the Terra di Lavoro, and there Viterbo.
received a miraculous revelation of the 136. Why Nathan the Prophet should
death of St. Francis. He was lying ill be put here is a great puzzle to the com-
in his bed, when suddenly he cried out, mentators. Bit07i
" salto ! a good leap,"
" Wait for me ! Wait for me ! I am says Venturi. Tombardi thinks it is no
coming with thee ! " And when asked leap at all. Tiie only reason given is,
to whom he was speaking, he answered, that Nathan said to David, "Thou art
" Do ye not see our Father Francis as- the man." As Buti says : "The author
cending into heaven ? " and immediately puts him among these Doctors, because
expired. he revealed his sin to David, as these
133. Hugh of St. Victor was a monk revealed the vices and virtues in their
in the monastery of that name near
Paris. Milman, Hist. Latin Christ., writings."
137. John, surnamed from his elo-
VHI. 240, thus speaks of him : "The quence Chrysostom, or Golden Mouth,
mysticism of Hugo de St. Victor with- was born in Antioch, about the year
drew the conten)piator altogether from 344. He was first a lawyer, then a
the outward to the inner world, — from monk, next a popular preacher, and
Clod in the works of nature, to God in finally metropolitan Bisiiop of Constan-
his w*)rkings on the soul of man. ']'his in Antioch tinople. His whole life, fiom his boyhood
conteinplation of God, the consunmiate to his death in banishment
perfection of man, is immediate, not on the borders of the Black Sea, — his
ine<liate. Through the Angels and the austerities as a monk, his fame as a
Celestial Hierarchy of the Areopagite it preacher, his troubles as Bisliop of Con-
aspires to one (jod, not in his Theo- stantino]>!e, his controversy with Theo-
])hany, but in his inmost essence. All philus of Alexandria, his exile by the
ideas and forms of things are latent in Kmperor Arcadius and the earthquake
the human soul, as in God, only they that followed it, his triumphant return,
are manifested to the soul by its own his second banishment, and his death, —
activity, its meditative power. Vet St. is more like a romance than a narrative
Victor is not exempt from the grosser of facts.
phraseology of the Mystic, — the tasting " The monuments of that eloquence,"
God, and other degrading images from says (iijjbon, Diriinc and Fall, Ch.
the senses of men. The ethical system XXXII. , "which was admired near
of Hugo de St. Victor is that of the twenty years at Antioch and Constan-
Church, more free and lofty than the tinople, have been carefully preserved ;
dry an('. barren discipline of Peter and the possession of near one thousand
sermons or homilies has authorized the
I^ombard."
134. Peter Mangiadore, or Peter critics of succeeding ti.nes to appreciate
Comestor, as he is more genei-ally the genuine merit of Chrysostom. They
called, was bom at Troves in France, unanimously attribute to the Christian
and became in 1164 Chancellor of the orator the free conmiand of an elegant
University of Paris. He w.as the author and copious language ; the judgment to
of a work on Kcclesiastical History, conceal the advantages wlwch he derived
" from the beginning of the world to the from the knowledge of rhetoric and
times of the Ajwstles ;" and died in the philosophy ; an inexhaustible fund of
monastery of .St. Victor in 1198. He metajihors and similitudes, of ideas and
was surnamed Comestor, the Kater, be- images, to vary and illustrate the most
cause he was a great devourer of books. familiar to])ics ; the happy art of en-
Peter of Sjiain was the son of a phy- gaging the passions in the service of
sician of Lisbon, and was the author of virtue ; arnl of ex]iosing the folly, as
a work on Logic. He was Bishop of well as the turpitude, of vice, almost
Braga, afterwards Cardinal and Bishop with the truth and spirit of a dramatic
of Tusculum, and in 1276 became Pope,
representation. "
 649

NOTES TO PARADISO.

Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, Alcuin. He became a teacher at Fulda,

was born at Aost in Piedmont, about then Abbot, then Bishop of Mayence.
the year 1033, and was educated at the He left behind him works that fill six
abbey of Bee in Normandy, where, in folios. One of them is entitled "The
the year 1060, he became a monk, and Universe, or a Book about All Things;"
afterwards prior and abbot. In 1093 he but they chiefly consist of homilies, and
was made Archbisliop of Canterbury by commentaries on the Bible.
King William Rufus ; and after many 140. This distinguished mystic and
troubles died, and was buried in his enthusiast of the twelfth century was
cathedral, in 1 109. His life was written born in 1 130 at the village of Celio,
by the monk Eadmer of Canterbury. near Cosenza in Calabria, on the river
Wright, Biog. Briian. Lit., Anglo- Busento, in whose bed the remains of
Norman Period, p. 59) says of him :
Attila were buried. A part o'' his youth
" Anselm was equal to Lanfranc in was passed at Naples, where his father
learning, and far exceeded him in piety. held some office in the court of King
In his private life he was modest, hum- Roger ; but from the temptations of this
ble, and sober in the extreme. He was gay capital he escaped, and, like St.
obstinate only in defending the interests Francis, renouncing the world, gave
of the Church of Rome, and, however himself up to monastic life.
we may judge the ,claims themselves, we " A tender and religious soul," says
must acknowledge that he supported Rousselot in his Hist, de /' Eva7igile
them from conscientious motives. Read-
Eternel, p. 15, "an imagination ardent
ing and contemplation were the favourite and early turned towards asceticism, led
occupations of his life, and even the time him from his first youth to embrace the
required for his meals, which were ex- monastic life. His spirit, naturally
tremely frugal, he employed in discussing
exalted, must have received the most
philosophical and tlieological questions." lively impressions from the spectacle
ililius Donatus was a Roman gram- offered him by the place of his birth :
marian, who flourished about the middle mountains arid or burdened with forests,
of the fourth century. He had St. deep valleys furrowed by the waters of
Jerome among his pupils, and was torrents ; a soil, rough in some places,
immortalized by his Latin Grammar, and covered in others with a brilliant
which was used in all the schools of the vegetation ; a heaven of fire ; solitude,
Middle Ages, so that the name passed so easily found in Calabria, and so dear
into a proverb. In the Vision of Pia-s to souls inclined to mysticism, — all com-
Plotighmait, 2889, we find it alluded bined to exalt in Joachim the religious
to,— sentiment. There are places where life
" Then drewe I me among drapers is naturally poetical, and when the soul,
My donet to lerne ;" thus nourished by things external, plunges
into the divine world, it produces men
and Chaucer, Testament of Love, says, like St. Francis of Accesi and Joachim
of Flora.
" No passe I to vertues of this Marguerite
But therein all my donet can I lerne." "On leaving Naples he had resolved
to embrace the monastic life, but he was
According to the note in Warton, F.ng. unwilling to do it till he had visited the
Poet., Sect. VIII., to which I owe these Holy Land. He started forthwith, fol-
quotations, Bishop Pecock wrote a work lowed by n.any pilgrims whose expenses
with the title of ■" Donat into Christian he paid ; and as to himself, clad in a
white dress of some coarse stuff, he made
Religion," using the word in the sense
of Introduction. a great part of the journey barefootetl.
139. Rabanus Maurus, a learned In order to stop in the Thebaid, the
theologian was born at Mayence in 786, first centre of Christian asceticism, he
and died at Winfel, in the same neigh- suffered his companions to go on before ;
bourhood, in 856. He studied first at and there he was nigh perishing from
the abbey of Fulda, and then at St. thirst. Overcome by the heat in a desert
Martin's of Tours, under the celebrated place, where he could not find a drop of
6so NOTES TO PAR AD ISO.

water, he dug a grave in the sand, and century, some such book existed, and
lay down in it to die, hoping that his was attributed to John of Parma. In
body, soon Innied by the sand heaped ihe Romance 0/ the Rose, Chaucer's Tr.,
up l)y the wind, woukl not fall a prey to 1798, it is thus spoken of : —
wild beasts. Barius attributes to him a
" ■ A thou^ande and two hundred yere
dream, in which he thouglit lie was Five-and-fifte. ferther ne nere,
drinking copiously ; at all events, after Broughten a boke with sorie grace,
sleeping some hours he awoke in con- To yeveii ensample in common place, —
That sayed thus, though it were fable,
dition to continue his journey. After 'J'kis is the Gosfiell pardurable
visiting Jerusalem, he went to Mount Tliat/j-o the Holie Glwsi is sent.
Tabor, where he remained forty days. Well were it worthy to be ybrent.
Entitled was in soche manere.
He there lived in an old cistern ; and it This boke of whiche I tell here ;
was amid watchings and prayers on the There n'as no wight in al Paris,
scene of the Transfiguration that he con- Be/orne on?- Luiiie at Pnt-ins
ceived the idea of his principal writings : That thei ne might the boke by.

' The Harmony of the Old and New

" The Universite, that was a sbpe,
Testaments ' ; ' The Exposition of the Gin for to braied. and taken kepe ;
Apocalyiwe ' ; and ' The Psalter of Ten And at the noise the hedde up cast ;
Ne never, sithen, slept it [so) fast :
On his return to Italy, Joachim became
Strings.'" But up it stert, and amies toke
Ayenst th.s false horrible boke.
a Cistercian monk in the monastery of All redy battaile for to make.
Corazzo in Calabria, of which ere long And to the judge the boke thei take."
he became Abbot ; but, wishing for
greater seclusion, he soon withdrew to The Eternal Gospel taught that there
Flora, among the mountains, where he were three epochs in the history of tiie
founded another monastery, and passed world, two of which were already pnss.'d,
the remainder of his life in study and and the third about to begin. The fir.st
contemplation. He died in 1202, being was that of the Old Testament, or the
seventy-two years of age. reign of the Father ; the second, that of
the New Testament, or the reign of the
" His renown was ^reat," , says
Son ; and the third, that of Love, or the
Rousselot, Hist, dc /' Evaiig. Eteniel,
p. 27, " and reign of the Holy Spirit. To use his
nevertheless his his dutiesas numerous
functions Abbot of; own words, ,as quoted by Rous.selot,
the monastery which he had founded Hist,letter
de /' ofEva7tg. Eteniel, p. 78 :seems
"As
did not prevent him from giving himself the the Old Testament
up to the composition of the writings to belong to the Father, by a certain
which he had for a long time meditated. peculiarity of resemblance, and the letter
This was the end he had proposed to of the New Testament to the Son ; so
himself ; it was to attain it that he had the spiritual intelligence, which proceeds
wished to live in solitude. If his desire from both, belongs to the Holy .S])irit.
was not wholly realized, it was so in .\ccordingly, the age when men were
great ]wrt ; and Joachim succeeded in joined in marriage was the reign of the
laying the foundations of the Eternal Father ; that of the Preachers is the
Gospel. He passsd his days and nights reign of the Son ; and the age of Monks,
in writing and in dictating. ' I used to ordo nioiuu/ipriiin, the last, is to be that
write,' says his secretary Lucas, 'day of the Holy Spirit. The first before
and night in copy-i)ooks, what he dic- the law, the second under the law, the ■
tated and corrected on scraps of pajier,
with two other monks whom he em- third
Thewith germ grace."
of this doctrine, says the
ployed in the same work.' It was in same authority, p. 59, is in Origen, who
llie nuddle of these labours that death had said before the Abbot Joachim,
" We must leave to believers the his-
surprised him." toric Christ and the Gospel, the Gospel
In Ahl)ot Joachim's time at least, this of the letter ; but to the Cinostics alone
Eternal Gospel was not a book, but a
doctrine, jiervading all his writings. belongs the Divine Word, the Fiternal
Later, in the middle of the. thirteenth
Gospel, the Gospel of the Spirit."
 NOTES TO PARADISO. ^
X.
was 96,
in regard to the expression in Canto
CANTO XIII.
I. The Heaven of the Sun continued.
Let the reader imagine fifteen of the "Where well one fattens if he strayeth not,"
largest stars, and to these add the seven which was explained by Thomas Aqui-
of Charles's Wain, and the two last stars nas in Canto XL The second, which
of the Little Bear, making in all twenty- he nowX. prepares
Canto 114, to thresh out, is in
four, and let him arrange them in two
concentric circles, revolving in opposite
directions, and he will have the image " To see so much there never rose a second,"
of what Dante now beheld.
referring to Solomon, as being peerless
7. Iliad, XVIII. 487 : " The Bear, in knowledge.
which they also call by the appellation
of the Wain, which there revolves and 37. Adam.
40. Christ.
watches Orion ; but it alone is free from 48. Solomon.
the baths of the ocean. " 52. All things are but the thought of
10. The constellation of the Little God, and by Him created in love.
Bear' a asbear.
does milch Ofresembles
this horn atheHorn
Pole asStarit 55. The ceeding fromliving Light, the
the Father, is notW^ord, pro-
separated
forms the smaller end. from Him nor from his I^ove, the Holy
14. Ariadne, whose crown was, at
her death, changed by Bacchus into a Spirit. 58. Its rays are centred in the nine
constellation.
choirs of Angels, ruling the nine hea-
Ovid, Met., VIIL, Croxall's Tr. :— vens, here called subsistences, according
to the definition of Thomas Aquinas,
" And bids her crown among the stars be placed.
With an eternal constellation graced. Sum. Theol., I. Qusest. xxix. 2: "What
The golden circlet mounts ; and, as it flies, exists by itself, and not in anything else,
Its diamonds twinkle in the distant skies ;
There, in their pristine form, the gemmy rays is called subsistence."
61. From those nine heavens it de-
Between Alcides and the dragon blaze."
scends to the elements, the lowest po-
Chaucer, Legende of Good Women: — tencies, till it produces only imperfect
and perishable results, or mere contin-
" And in the sygne of Taurus men may se
The stones of hire corowne shyne clerc." gencies.
64. These contingencies are animals,
And Spenser, Faerie Queene, VI. x. plants, and the like, produced by the
influences of the planets from seeds, ana
13:— certain insects and plants, believed of
" Looke ! how the crowne which Ariadne wore old to be born without seed.
Upon her yvory forehead that same day
That Theseus her untp his bridale bore, 67. Neither their matter nor the
Whenfraythe bold Centaures made that bloudy influences of the planets being immu-
table, the stamp of the divinity is more
With the fierce Lapithes which did them
dismay. or less clearly seen in them, and hence
Being now placed in the firmament. the varieties in plants and animals.
Through the bright heaven doth her beams 73. If the matter were perfect, and
display,
And is unto the starres an ornament,
the divine influence at its highest power,
Which round about her move in order excellent."
the result would likewise be perfect ;
but by transmission through the planets
23. The Chiana empties into the it becomes more and more deficient, the
Amo near Arezzo. In Dante's time it hand of nature trembles, and imperfec-
was a sluggish stream, stagnating in the tion is the result.
marshes of Valdichiana. See Inf. 79. But if Love (the Holy Spirit)
XXIX. Note 46. and the Vision (the Son), proceeding
24. The Prinmm Mobile. from the Primal Power (the Father), act
32. St. Thomas Aquinas, who had immediately, then the work is perfect,
related the life of St. Francis. as in Adam and the human nature of
34. The first doubt in Dante's mind Christ.
652 NOTES TO PARADISO.

89. Then how was Solomon so peer- ' Wholemitable,

and self-generate, unchangeable, illi-
less, that none like him ever existed ? already
Never was nor yet shall be its birth ; All is
93. I Kings iii. 5: "In Gibeon the
Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream
by night : and God said, Ask what I One from eternity.'"
shall give thee Give therefore And farther on : " It is but a mere
thy servant an understanding heart to human opinion that things are produced
judge thy people, that I may discern and decay, are and are not, and change
between go<id and bad : for who is able place and colour. The whole has its
to judge this thy so great a people ? principle in itself, and is in eternal rest ;
And the speech pleased the Lord, that for powerful necessity holds it within
Solomon had asked this thing. And the bonds of its ovvn limits, and en-
God said unto him. Because thou hast closes it on all sides : being cannot be
asked this thing, and hast not asked for imperfect ; for it is not in want of any-
thyself long life, neither hast asked thing,— for if it were so, it would be in
riches for thyself, nor hast asked the
life of thine enemies, but hast asked for Melissus
want of all."of Samos was a follower of
thyself understanding to discern judg- Parmenides, and maintained substan-
ment. Behold, 1 have done according to tially the same doctrines.
thy words : lo, I have given thee a wise Brissus was a philosopher of les? note.
and an understanding heart ; so that Mention is hardly made of him in the
there was none like thee before thee, histories of philosophy, except as one of
neither after thee shall any arise like those who pursued that Pata Morgana
unto thee." of mathematicians, the quadrature of
98. The number of the celestial In- the cfrcle.
tel igences, orRegents of the Planets. 127. "Infamous heresiarchs," ex-
99. Whether from two premises, one claims Venturi, "put as an example of
of which is necessary, and the other innumerable others, who, having erred
contingent, or only possible, the conclu- in the understanding of the Holy Scrip-
sion drawn will be neces.sary ; which
tures, persevered
Sabellius was in
by their
birtherrors."
an African,
Buti says is a question belonging to
" the and flourished as Presbyter of Ptole-
100.garrulity
Wlietherof dialectics." the existence of a first
mais, in the third century. He denied
motion is to be conceded. the three persons in the Godhead, main-
102. That is, a triangle, one side taining that the .Son and Holy Ghost
of which shall be the diameter of the were only temporary manifestations of
circle. God in creation, redemption, and sanc-
103. If thou notest, in a word, that tification, and would finally return to
Solomon did not ask for wisdom in as- the Father.
trology, nor in dialects, nor in meta- Arius was a Presbyter of Alexandria
physics, nor in geometry. in the fourth century. He believed the
104. The peerless seeing is a refer- Son to be e(iual in power with the
ence to Canto X. 114 : — Father, but of a different essence or
nature, a doctrine which gave rise to the
" To see so much there never rose a second." famous Heterousian and Homoiousian
contioversy, that distracted the Church
It will !>e observed that the word "rose" for three hundred years.
is the Bii)lical word in the phrase These dnctrines of Sabellius and oC
" neither after thee shall any rise like Arius are both heretical, when tried by
unto thee," as given in note 93. the stanilard of the QuicutKjnc vult, the
authoritative formula of the Catholic
125. c'armenides was an Eieatic phi-
losopher, and pupil of Xenophanes, faith ; "which faith, except every one
According to Kitter, Ilist. Ane. Phil., do keep whole and undefiled, without
I. 450, Morri.son's Tr., his theory was, doubt he shall perish everlastingly," says
that, " Being is uncreated and unchange- St. Athanasius, or some one in his
able,— name.
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

128. These men, say some of the Amidst the glorious brightness where thou
commentators, were as swords that Throned
sitt'stinaccessible ; but when thou shadest
mutilated and distorted the Scriptures. The full blaze of thy beams, and througli a
Others, that in them the features of the cloud
Scriptures were distorted, as the features Drawn round about thee like a radiant shrine,
Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.
of a man reflected in the grooved or Yet dazzle heaven ; that brightest seraphim
concave surface of a sword. Approach not, but with both wings veil their
139. Names used to indicate any
Thee eyes.
ne.ft they sang of all creation first.
common simpletons and gossips. Begotten Son, Divine Similitude,
I41. In writing this line Dante had In whose conspicuous countenance, without
evidently in mind the beautiful wise cloud
Made visible, the Almi^ty Father shines,
words of St. Francis : " What every Whom else no creature can behold : on thee
one is in the eyes of God, that he is, Impressed the effulgence of his glory abides ;
and no more." Transfused on thee his ample Spirit rests."
Mr. Wright, in the notes to his trans-
lation, here quotes ths w«ll-known lines 35. The voice of Solomon.
of Bums, Address to the Unco Guid :— 73. According to Buti, " Spirits
newly amved ; " or Angels, such being
" Then gently scan your brother man. the interpretation given by the School-
Still gentler sister woman ;
men to the word Subsistences. See
Though they may gang a kennin' wrang,
I'o step aside is human : Canto XIII. Note 58.
One point must still be greatly dark.
The moving why they do it : 86. The planet Mars. Of this planet
And just as lamely can ye mark Brunette Latini, Tresor, I. iii. 3, say.> :
How far perhaps they rue it. " Mars is hot and warlike and evil, and
is called the God of Battles."
" Who made the heart, 'tis He alone Of its symbolism Dante, Convito, II.
Decidedly can try us ;
He knows each chord — its various tone. 14, says : "The Heaven of Mars may
Each spring — its various bias. be compared to Music, for two proper-
Then at the balance let's be mute ;
We never can adjust it ; ties. The first is its very beautiful
What's done we partly may compute. relation [to the others] ; for, enumerat-
But know not what's resisted." ing the moveable heavens, from which-
soever you begin, whether from the
lowest or the highest, the Heaven of
CANTO XIV. M.^rs is the fifth ; it is the centre of
all The other is, that Mars dries
1. The ascent to the planet Mars, up and bums things, because its heat is
where are seen the spirits of Martyrs, like to thdt of the fire ; and this is the
and Crusaders who died fighting for the reason why it appears fiery in colour,
Faith. sometimes more, and sometimes less,
2. In this similitude Dante describes according to the density and rarity of
the effect of the alternate voices of St. the vapours which follow it, which
Tliomas Aquinas in the circumference of sometimes take fire of themselves, as is
the circle, and of Beatrice in the centre. declared in the first book of Meteors.
6. Life is here used, as before, in the (And therefore Albumasar says, that
sense of spirit. the ignition of these vapours signifies
28. Chaucer, Troil. and Cres., the death of kings, and change of empires,
last stanza :— being effects of the dominion of Mars.
And accordingly Seneca says that at the
" Thou
live,One, and Two, and Thre ! eteme on death of the Emperor Augustus a ball of
That raignest aie in Thre, and Two, and One, fire was seen in the heavens. And in
Uncircumscript, and all maist circumscrive 1" Florence, at the beginning of its down-
Also Milton, Par. Lost, III. 372:— fall, a great quantity of these vapours,
which follow Mars, were seen in the air
" Thee, Father, first they sung, Omnipotent, in the form of a cross.) And these two
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,
Eternal King; thee, Author of all being, properties are in Music, which is wholly
Fountain of light, thyself invisible relative, as may be seen XinX harmonized
2
65* I^OTES TO PARADISO.

words, and in songs, in which the more who fight and conquer the three enemies
beautiful the relation, the sweeter the mentioned above [the world, the flesh,
harmony, since such is chiefly its intent. and the devil], than in those who exer-
Also Music attracts to itself the spirits cise themselves with the Scriptures."
of men, which are principally as it were 88. The silent language of the heart.
vapours of the heart, so tliat they almost 96. In Hebrew, El, Eli, God, from
cease from any operation ; so entire is which the Greeks made Helios, the
the soul when it listens, and the power Sun. As in St. Hildebert's hymn Ad
of all as it were runs to the sensible
Patreni : —
spirit that hears the sounds." " Alpha et Omega, magne Deus,
Of the influences of Mars, Buti, as
Heli, Heli, Deus meus."
usual following Albumasar, writes: "Its
nature is hot, igneous, dry, choleric, of 99. Dante, Cotwito, II. 15, says :
a bitter savour, and it signifies youth, " It must be known that philosophers
strength, and acuteness of mind ; heats, have different opinions concerning this
fires, and burnings, and every sudden Galaxy. For the Pythagoreans said
event ; powerful kings, consuls, dukes, that the .Sun once wandered out of his
and knights, and companies of soldiery ; way, and passing through other regions
desire of praise and memory of one's not adapted to his heat, he burned the
name ; strategies and instruments of place through which he passed, and
battle ; robberies and machinations, and traces of the burning remained. I
scattering of relations by plunderings think they took this from the fable of
and highway robberies ; boldness and Phaeton, which Ovid narrates in the
anger ; the unlawful for the lawful ; beginning of the second book of the
torments and imprisonments ; scourges Metamorphoses. Others, and among
and bonds ; anguish, flight, thefts, pil- them Anaxagoras and Democritus, that
fering of servants, fears, contentions, it was the light of the Sun reflected in
insults, acuteness of mind, impiety, in- that part. And these opinions they
constancy, want of foresight, celerity prove by demonstrative reasons. What
and anticipation in things, evil eloquence Aristotle says of this we cannot well
and ferocity of speech, foulness of words, know ; for his opinion is not the same
incontinence of tongue, demonstrations in one translation as in the other. And
of love, gay ajiparel, insolence and I think this was an error of the trans-
falseness of words, swiftness of reply lators for
; in the new one he appears to
and sudden penitence therefor, want of say, that it was a gathering of vapours
religion, unfaithfulness to promises, under the stai-s of that region, for they
mujtitude of lies and whisperings, de- always attract them; and this does, not
ceits and perjuries ; machinations and appear to be the true reason. In the
evil deeds ; want of means ; waste of old, it says, that the Galaxy is only a
means ; multitude of thoughts about multitude of fixed stars in that region,
things ; instability and change of opinion so small that they cannot be distin-
in things, from one to another ; haste to guished here below ; but from them is
return ; want of shame ; multitude of apparent that whiteness which we call
toils and cares ; peregrinations, solitaiy the Galaxy. And it may be that the
existence, bad comjiany ; . . . . break - heaven in that part is more dense, and
i;ig open of tombs, and spoliations of therefore retains and reflects that light ;
the dead." and this opinion seems to h.ave been
87. Kuti interprets this, as redder entertained by Aristotle, Avicenna, and
than the Sun, to whose light Dante had
become accustomed, and continues : Milton, Par. Lost, VII. 577 :—
Ptolemy."
"Literally, it is true that the splendour, " A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,
of Mars is more fiery than that of the And pavement stars, as stars to thee appear,
Sun, because it is red, and the .Sun is Seen in the Galaxy, that Milky Way,
yellow ; but allcgorically we are to Which nightly, as a circKng «oiie, thou seest
understand, th.it a greater ardour of Powdered with stars."
love, that is, more burning, is in those loi. The sign of the cross, drawn
 NOTES TO PAR A DISC.

upon the planet Mars, as upon the maladies with which whole nations were
breast of a cnisader. The following afflicted, extinguished conflagrations, and
Legend of the Cross, and its signifi- calmned the fury of the raging waves.
cance, is from Didron, Chrislian Icono- "The wood of the cross was bom
graphy, Millington's Tr., I. 367 : — with the world, in the terrestial para-
" The cross is more than a mere dise ;it will reappear in heaven at the
figure of Christ ; it is in Iconography end of time, borne in the arms of
either Christ himself or his symbol. A Christ or of his angels, when the Lord
day.
legend has, consequently, been invented, descends to judge the world at the last
giving the history of the cross, as if it
had been a living being. It has been "After reading this history, some
made the theme and hero of an epic conception may be formed of the im-
poem, the germ of which may be dis- portant place held by the cross in
covered in books of apocryphal tradi- Christian Iconography. The cross, as
tion. This story is given at lengtli in has been said, is not merely the instru-
the Golden Legend, Legenda Aurea, ment of the punishment of Jesus Christ,
and is detailed and completed in works but is also the figure and symbol of the
of painting and sculpture from the four- Saviour. Jesus, to an Iconologist, is
teenth century down to the sixteenth. present in the cross as well as in the
.... After the death of Adam, Seth lamb, or in the lion. Chosroes flat-
planted on the tomb of his father a tered himself that, in possessing the
shoot from the Tree of Life, which cross, he possessed the Son of God,
grew in the terrestrial Paradise. From and he had it enthroned on his right
it sprang three little trees, united by one hand, just as the Son is enthroned by
single trunk. Moses thence gathered God the Father. So also the earliest
the rod with which he by his miracles Christian artists, when making a repre-
astonished the people of Egypt, and the sentation of the Trinity, placed a cross
inhabitants of the desert. Solomon de- beside the Father and the Holy Spirit ;
sirefl to convert that same tree, which a cross only, without our cnicified Lord.
had become gigantic in size, into a The cross did not only recall Christ to
column for his palace ; being either too mind, but actually showed him. In
short or too long, it was rejected, and Christian Iconography, Christ is actu-
served as a bridge over a torrent. The allyblancepresent
Queen of Sheba refused to pass over on of the under cross. the form and sem-
that tree, declaring that it would one " The cross is our crucified Lord in
day occasion the destruction of the Jews. person. Where the cross is, there is
Solomon commanded that the predes- the martyr, says St. Paulinus. Con-
tined beam should be thrown into the sequently itworks miracles, as does
probationary pool (Pool of Bethesda), Jesus himself: and the list of wonders
and its virtues were immediately com- operated by its power is in truth im-
municated to tlie waters. When Christ mense
had been condfemned to suffer the death "The world is in the form of a
of a malefactor, his cross was made of cross ; for the east shines above our
the wood of that very tree. It was heads, the north is on the right, the
buried on Golgotha, and afterwards dis- south at the left, and the west stretches
covered bySt. Helena. It was carried out beneath our feet. Birds, that they
into captivity by Chosroes, king of may rise in air, extend their wings in
Persia, delivered, and brought back in the form of a cross : men, when pray-
triumph to Jerusalem, by the Emperor ing, or when beating aside the water
Heraclius. Being afterwards dispersed while swimming, assume the form of a
in a multitude of fragments throughout cross. Man differs from the inferior
the Christian universe, countless miracles animals, in his power of standing erect,
Were performed by it ; it restored the and extending his arms.
dead to life, and gave sight to the blind, " A vessel, to fly upon the seas, dis-
cured the paralytic, cleansed lepers, put plays her yard arms in the form of a
demons to flight, and dispelled various cross, and cannot cut the waves unlesB .
656 NOTES TO PARADISO.

her mast stands cross-like, erect in air ; splendours that surround him. He ex-
finally, the ground cannot be tilled cuses himself by saying that he does not
without the sacred sign, and the iaii, speak of them, well knowing that they
the cruciform letter, is tne letter of have grown more beautiful in ascending.
salvation. He describes them in line 33 of the next
" The cross, it is thus seen, has been
the object of a worship and adoration canto : —
resembling, if not equal to, that offered " ForThat in her eyes was burning such a smile
with mine own methought I touched
to Christ. That sacred tree is adored the bottom
almost as if it were equal with God Both of my grace and of my Paradise ! "
himself; a number of churches have
been dedicated to it under the name of 139. Sincere in the sense of pure ; as
the Holy Cross. In addition to this, in Dryden's line, —
most of our churches, the greatest as
well as the smallest, cathedrals as well " A joy which never was sincere till now."
as chapels, present in their ground plan
he form of a cross." CANTO XV.
104. Chaucer, Lament of Marie Mag-
daleine, 204 :— I. The Heaven of Mars continued.
22. This star, or spirit, did not, in
" I, loking lip unto that riiftiU rode,
Sawe first the visage pale of that figure ; changing place, pass out of the cross,
P.ut so pitous a sight spotted with blode but along the right arm and down the
Sawe never, yet, no living creature ; trunk or body of it.
So it exceded the boiindes of mesure.
That inanncs minde with al his wittes five 24. A light in a vase of alabaster.
Is nothing able that paine to discrive." 25. ALiteid, VI., Davidson's Tr. :
" But father Anchises, deep in a ver-
109. From arm to arm of the cross, dant dale, was surveying with studious
and from top to lx)ttom. care the souls there enclosed, who were
112. Mr. Carv here quotes Chaucer, to revisit the light above ; and happened
Wife/ Bath's Tale, 6540 :— to be reviewing the whole number of
his race, his dear descendants, their
" As thikke as motes n the sonnebeme."
fates and fortunes, their manners and
And Milton, Penseroso, 8 : — achievements. As soon as he beheld
/Eneas advancing toward him across
" As thick and numberless
the meads, he joyfully stretched out
As the gay motes that people the sunbeam." both his hands, and tears poured down
To these Mr. Wright adds the following his cheeks, and these words dropped
from his mouth : Are you come at
from Lucretius, II. 113, which in Good's
Tr. runs as follows : — length, and has that piety experienced
by your sire surmounted the arduous
" Not unrcsembling, if aright I deem,
Those motes minute, that, when the obtrusive
sun 28. Biagioli and Fraticelli think that
Peeps through some crevice in the shutteredthis ancestor
journey ?" of Dante, Cacciagnida,
shade
who is speaking, makes use of the Latin
The d.-iy-dark hall illuming, float amain
language because it was the language
In his bright beam, and wage eternal war."
of his day in Italy. It certainly gives
125. Words from a hymn in praise of to the passage a certain gravity and tinge
Christ, say the commentators, but they of antiquity, which is in keeping with
do not say from what hymn. this antique spirit and with what he
133. The living seals are the celestial afterwards says. His words may be thus
spheres, which impress themselves on all translated : —
beneath them, and increase in power as " O blood of mine ! O grace of God infused
they are higher. Superlative ! To whom as unto thee
135. That is, to the eyes of Bea- Were ever twice the gates of heaven u»
trice, whose beauty he may seem to
postpone, ur rejjard as inferior lo the 49. His longing to see Dante.
closed."
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
^T
50. The mighty volume of the Di- " See how he scorns all human arguments,
vine Mind, in which the dark or written So that nor oar he wants, nor other sail
Than his own wings, between so distant
parts are not changed by erasures, nor
the white spaces by interlineations.
56. The Pythagorean doctrine of 85. shores."
Dante calls the spirit of Caccia-
numbers. Ritter, Hist. Aiic. Phil., guida a living topaz set in the celestial
Morrison's Tr., \. 361, says :— cross, probably from the brilliancy and
" In the Pythagorean doctrine, num- golden light of this precious stone. He
ber comprises within itself two species, may also have had in his mind the many
— odd and even ; it is therefore the wonderful qualities, as well as the beauty,
unity of these two contraries ; it is the of the gem. He makes use of the same
odd and the even. Now the Pythago- epithet in Canto XXX. 76.
reans said also that one, or the unit, is The Ottimo says, that he who wears
the odd and the even ; and thus we the topaz cannot be injured by an
arrive at this result, that one, or the enemy ; and Mr. King, Antique Gems,
unit, is the essence of number, or num-
ber absolutely. As such, it is also the p. 427, says: "If thrown into boiling
water, the water cools immediately ;
ground of all numbers, and is therefore hence this gem cools lust, calms mad-
named the first one, of whose origin
ness and attacks of frenzy." In the
nothing further can be said. In this same work he gives a translation of the
respect the Pythagorean theory of num- Lafidarium of Marbodus, or Marboeuf,
bers is merely an expression for 'all Bikhop of Rennes in 1081. Of the
is from the original one,' — from one chrysolite, which is supposed to be the
being, to which they also gave the same as the topaz, this author says :—
name of God; for in the words of
" The golden Chrysolite a fiery blaze
Philolaus, ' God embraces and actuates Mixed with the hua of ocean's green displays ;
all, and is but one.' .... Enchased in gold, its strong protective might
"But in the essence of number, or Drives far away the terrors of the night ;
in the first original one, all other num- Strung on a hair plucked from an ass's tail.
bers, and consequently the elements of The mightiest demons 'neath its influence
numljers, and the elements of the whole
world, and all nature, are contained. 89. He had been waiting for the
The elements of number are the even
coming of Dante, with the "hunger
and the odd ; on this account the first
long andquail."grateful " spoken of in line 49.
one is the even-odd, which the Pytha- 91. The first of the family who bore
goreans, in their occasionally strained the name of Alighieri, still punished in
mode of symbolizing, attempted to the circle of Pride in Purgatory, and .
prove thus ; that one being added to the needing the prayers and good offices of
Dante to set him free.
even makes odd, and to the odd, even."
Cowley, Rural Solitude: — 97. Barlow, Study of Div. Com., p.
" Before the branchy head of Number's tree " The
Sprang from the trunk of one." 441, says :name — of Florence has been
variously explained. With the old
61. All the spirits of Paradise look chroniclers, the prevalent opinion was,
upon God, and see in him as in a mirror that it was derived from Fiorino, the
even the thoughts of men. Praetor of Metellus, who during the
74. The firs' Equality is God, all long siege of Fiesole by the Romans
whose attributes are equal and eternal ; commanded an intrenched camp be-
and living in Him, the love and know- tween the River and the Rock, and
\edge of spirits are also equal. was here surprised and slain iiy the
79. Will and power. Dante would enemy. The meadows abounded in
fain thank the spirit that has addressed flowers, especially lilies, and the an-
him, but knows not how. He has the cient ensign, a white lily on a red
will, but not the power. Dante uses the ground, subsequently reversed (XVI.
word argument in this sense of power, 154), and similar to the form on the
or means, or appliance, Purg. II. 31 ;— florin [fiorino], with the name given
658 NOTES TO PARADISO.

to the Duomo, St. Maria del Fiore, 99. Napier, Floreut. Hist., I. 572,
tend to show that the name was taken writes as follows: "The simplicity of
from the flowery mead, rather than Florentine manners in 1260, described
from the name of a Roman praetor. by Villani and Malespini, justifies a
Leonardo Aretino states that the name similar picture as drawn by their great
of tlie city o.iginally was Fluentia, so poet. 'Then,' say these writers, 'the
called because situated between the Ar- Florentines lived soberly on the sim-
no and the Mugnone : and that subse- plest food at little expense ; many of
quently, from the flourishing state of the their customs were rough and rude, and
colony, it was called Ftorentia. Sci- both men and women went coarsely
pione Ammiraio affirms that its name clad ; many even wearing plain leather
from the first was Floreuzia. garments without fur or lining : they
"The form and dimensions of the wore boots on their feet and caps on
original city have not been very accu- their heads : the women used unorna-
rately recorded. In shape, probably, mented buskins, and even the most
it resembled a Roman camp. Male- distinguished were content with a close
spini says that it was 'quasi a simili- gown of scarlet serge or camlet, confined
tudine di bastie.' The wall was of by a leathern waist-belt of the ancient
burnt bricks, with solid round towers fashion, and a hooded cloak lined with
at intervals of twenty cubits, and it had miniver ; and the poorer classes wore
four gates, and six posterns. The Cam- a coarse green cloth dress of the same
pidoglio, where now is the Mercato form. A hundred lire was the common
Vecchio, was an imitation of that of the dowry of a giri, and two and three
parent city, Rome, whose fortunes her hundred were then considered splendid
daughter for many centuries shared. . . . fortunes : most young women waited
"The cerchia anlica of Cacciaguida until they were twenty years old and
was the first circle of the new city, which upwards before they married. And such
arose from the ruins of the Roman one was the dress, and such the manners
destroyed by Totila ; it included the and simple habits of the Florentines of
Badia, which the former did not; Dante, that day ; but loyal in heart, faithful
therefore, in mentioning this circum- to each other, zealous and honest in
stance, shows how accurately he had in- the execution of public duties ; and with
formed himself of the course of the pre- their coarse and homely mode of life,
vious wall. The walls of Dante's time they gained more virtue and honour for
were begim in 1284, but not finished themselves and their country than they
until nine years after his death ; they who now live so delicately are able to
are those of the present day."
98. Tierce, or Terza, is the first divi- "
What Florence
accomplish.' had become in Dante's
sion of the canonical day, from six to time may be seen from the following
nine; Nones, or IVona, the third, from extract from Frate Francesco Pippino,
twelve to three in the afternoon. See who wrote in 13 13, and whose account
//// XXXIV. Note 95. The bells of is thus given by Napier, II. 542 : " Now
the Abbey within the old walls of Flo- indeed, in the present luxurious age,
rence still rang these hours in Dante's many shameful practices are introduced
time, antl measured the day of the instead of the former customs ; many
Florentines, like the bells of morning, indeed to the injury of people's minds,
noon, and night in our New England because frugality is exchanged for mag-
towns. In the Convito, IV. 23, Dante nificence ;the clothing bemg now re-
says; "The service of the first part of markable for its exquisite materials,
the day, that is, of Tierce, is said at the workmanship, and su])erfluous orna-
end of it ; and that of the third and ments of silver, g(»ld, and i)earls; admir-
fourth, at the beginning And able fabrics ; wide-spreading embroi-
therefore be it known unto all, that dery ;silk for vests, painted or variously
proiK-'rly Nones should always ring at coloured, and lined with divers precious
the beginning of the seventh hour of the furs from foreign countries. Excitement
to gluttony is not wanting ; foreign winei
■day."
 659;

NOTES TO PAR AD ISO.

are much esteemed, and almost all the Arabetes, among a herd cf courtesans,
people drink in public. The viands are clad in female attire. "
sumptuous ; the chief cooks are held in 109. Montemalo, or Montemario,
great honour ; provocatives of the palate is the hill from which the traveller
are eagerly sought after ; ostentation coming from Viterbo first catches sight
increases ; money-makers exert them- of Rome. The Uccellatojo is the hill
selves to supply these tastes ; hence from which the traveller coming from
usuries, frauds, rapine, extortion, pillage, Bologna first catches sight of Florence.
and contentions in the commonwealth : Here the two hills are used to signify
also unlawful taxes ; oppression of the what is seen from them ; namely, the
innocent ; banishment of citizens, and two cities ; and Dante means to say,
the combinations of rich men. Our true
that Florence had not yet sui-passed
god is our belly ; we adhere to the Rome in the splendour of its buildings ;
pomps which were renounced at our but as Rome would one day be surpassed
baptism, and thus desert to the great by Florence in its rise, so would it be in
enemy of our race. Well indeed does its downfall.
Seneca, the instructor of morals, in his Speaking of the splendour of Florence
book of orations, curse our times in the
in Dante's age, Napier, Florent. Hist.,
following words : ' Daily, things grow II. 581, says :—
"worse because the whole contest is for " Florence was at this period well
dishonourable matters. Behold ! the studded with handsome dwellings ; the
indolent senses of youth are numbed, citizens were continually building, re-
nor are they active in the pursuit of any pairing, altering, and embellishing their
one honest thing. Sleep, languor, and houses ; adding every day to their ease
a carefulness for bad things, worse than and comforts, and introducing improve-
sleep and languor, have seized upon ments from foreign nations. Sacred
their minds ; the love of singing, dancing, architecture of every kind partook of
arid other unworthy occupations possesses this taste; and there was no popular
citizen or nobleman but either had built
them to
hair, ': they
lower are the
effeminate
tone of :their
to soften
voice the
to or was building fine country palaces and
female compliments ; to vie with women villas, far exceeding their city residence
in effeminacy of person, and adorn in size and magnificence ; so that many
themselves with unbecoming delicacy, were accounted crazy for their extrava-
is the object ot our youth.' "
lOO. Villani, Cronica, VI., 69, as " ' And so magnificent was the sight,'
gance.
quoted in Note 99 : " The women used says Villani, ' that strangers unused to
unornamented buskins, and even the Florence, on coming from abroad, when
most distinguished were content with they beheld the vast assemblage of rich
a close gown of scarlet serge or camlet, buildings and beautiful palaces with
confined by a leathern waist-belt of the which the country was so thickly studded
ancient fashion, and a hooded cloak for three miles round the ramparts, be-
lined with miniver; and the poorer classes lieved that all was city like that within
wore a coarse green cloth dress of the the Roman walls ; and this was inde-
same form." pendent of the rich jialaces, towers,
102. Dante, Convito, I. 10 : " Like courts, and walled gardens at a greater
the beauty of a woman, when the orna- distance, which in other countries would
ments of her apparel cause more admi-
be denominated castles. In short,' he
ration than she herself." continues, ' it is estimated that within a,
108. Eastern effeminacy in general ; circuit of six miles round the town there
what Boccaccio calls the morbidezze (T are rich and noble dwellings enough to
Egitto. Paul Orosius, "the advocate make two cities like Florence.' And
of the Christian centuries," as quoted by Ariosto seems to have caught the same
the Ottimo, says: "The last king of idea when he exclaims, —
Syria was Sardanapalus, a man more
corrupt than a woman, {corroitv piu eke ■ While
'Twould
gazing on thy villa-sUidded hills
^mmina,) who was seen by his prefect laces seem as though the earth grew pa-
660 NOTES TO PARADISO.

As she is wont by nature to bring forth citizen to a king, and boasted that her
Young <Oioots, and leafy plants, ana flowery children were her only jewels.
shrubs :
And if within one wall and single name Shakespeare, Tit. Andron., IV. I : —
Could be collected all thy scattered halls,
" Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care
Two Romes would scarcely form thy parallel.'" Read to her sons, than she hath read to thee
no. The "which " in this line refers Sweet poetry, and TuUy's Orator."
to Montenialo of the preceding. 133. The Virgin Mary, invoked in
112. Bellincion Berti, whom Dante the pains of childbirth, as mentioned
selects as a type of the good citizen of
Florence in the olden time, and whom Purg. XX. 19 :—
Villani calls "the best and most honoured "AndUttered I by perad venture
in front of us heard ' Sweet
amid the Mary ! '
weeping.
gentleman of Florence," was of the noble Even as a woman does who is in child-birth."
family of the Ravignani. He was the
134. The baptistery of the church ,of
father of the "good Gualdrada," whose St. John in Florence ; // tnio hel San
story shines out so pleasantly in Boc- Giozauiti, my beautiful St. John, as
Note 37. caccio's commentary. See Inf. XVI. Dante calls it. Iiif. XIX. 17.
135. Of this ancestor of Dante,
115. "Two ancient houses of the Cacciaguida, nothing is known but
city," says the Ottimo ; " and he saw the
chiefs of these houses were content with what the poet here tells us, and so
leathern jerkins without any drapery ; clearly that it is not necessary to repeat
he who should dress so now-a-davs it in prose.
would be laughed at : and he saw their 137. Cacciaguida's wife came from
dames spinning, as who should say, F'errara in the Val di Pado, or Val di
Po, the Valley of the Po. She was of
' Now-a-days not even the maid will the Aldighieri or Alighieri family, and
spin, much less the lady.' " And Buti from her Dante derived his surname.
upon the same text : " They wore
leathern dresses without any cloth over 139. The Emperor Conrad III. of
them ; they did not make to themselves .Swabia, uncle of Frederic Barbarossa.
long rolies, nor cloaks of scarlet lined In 1 143 he joined Louis VII. of France
in the Second Crusade, of which St.
with vaire, as they do now."
120. They were not abandoned by Bernard was the great preacher. He
their husbands, who, content with little, died in 1 152, after his return from this
crusade.
did not go to traffic in France.
128. Monna Cianghella della Tosa 140. Cacciaguida was knighted by
was a gay widow of Florence, who led the Emperor Conrad.
such a life of pleasure that her name has 143. The law or religion of Mahomet.
pa.ssed into a proverb, or a common
name for a dissolute woman.
CANTO XVI.
Lapo Salterello was a Florentine
lawyer, and a man of dissipated habits ; I. The Heaven of Mars continued.
and Crescimbeni, whose mill grinds Boethius, De Cons. Phil., Book III.
everything that comes to it, counts him
Prgsa 6, Ridpath's Tr. : " But who is
among the poets, I'olffar Poesia, III. ness there that does not perceive tiie euipti-
82, and calls him a Rimatore di von poco and futility of what men dignify
grido, a rhymer of no little renown. with the name of high extraction, or
Unluckily he quotes one of his sonnets. nobility of birth ? The splendour you
129. Quinctius, surnamed Cincin- attribute to this is quite foreign to you :
natus from his neglected locks, taken for nobility of descent is notliiiig else but
from his plough and made Dictator by the credit derived from the merit of your
the Roman Senate, and, after he had ancestors. If it is the applause of man-
defeated the Volsciaiis and saved the kind, and nothing besides, that illustrates
city, returning to his plough again. and confers fame upon a person, no
Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africa- others can be celebrated and famous, but
nuB, and mother of the Gracchi, who such as are universally applauded. If
preferred for her husband a Roman you are not therefore esteemed illustriom
 j66ii
NOTES TO PARADISO.

from your own worth, you can derive no being had to the leap-years) 1090 years
real splendour from the merits of others : and not quite four months. Cacciaguida,
so that, in my o])inion, nobility is in no therefore, at the time of the Second Cru-
other respect good, than as it imposes an sade, was in his fifty-seventh year."
obligation upon its possessors not to Pietro di Dante (the poet's son and
degenerate from the merit of their an- commentator, and who, as Biagioli, with
cestors. " rather gratuitous harshness, says, was
lo. The use of You for Thou, the " smaller compared to his father than a
plural for the singular, is said to have point is to the universe ") assumed two
been introduced in the time of Julius years as a revolution of Mars ; but as this
Caesar. Lucan, V., Rowe's Tr. ; — made Cacciaguida bom in 1160, twelve
years after his death, he suggested the
" Then was the time when sycophants began
To heap all titles on one lordly man." reading of " three," instead of "thirty,"
in the text, which reading was adopted
Dante uses it by way of compliment to by the Cruscan Academy, and makes the
his ancestor ; though he says the de- year of Caccinguida's birth 1106.
scendants of the Romans were not so But that Dante computed the revolu-
persevering in its use as other Italians. tion of Mars at less than two years is
14. Beatrice smiled to give notice to evident from a passage in the Convtto,
Dante that she observed his flattering H. 15, referred to by Philalethes, where
style of address ; as the Lady of Male- he speaks of half a revolution of this
hault coughed when she saw Launcelot planet as vn anno quasi, almost a year.
kiss Queen Guinevere, as related in the The common reading of " thirty " is
old romance of Launcelot of the Lake. undoubtedly then the true one.
20. Rejoiced within itself that it can In Astrology, the Lion is the House
endure so much joy. of the Sun ; but Mars, as well as the
25. The city of Florence, which, in Sun and Jupiter, is a Lord of the Lion ;
Canto XXV. 5, Dante calls " the fair and hence Dante says " its Lion."
sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered." 41. The house in which Cacciaguida
It will be remembered that St. John was born stood in the Mercato Vecchio,
the Baptist is the patron saint of Flor- or Old Market, at the beginning of the
ence. last ward or sesto of Florence toward the
33. Not in Italian, but in Latin, east, called the Porta San Pietro.
which was the language of cultivated The city of Horence was originally
divided into Quarters or Gates, which
people in Cacciaguida's time.
34. From the Incarnation of Christ were, San Pancrazio on the east, San
down to his own birth, the planet Mars Pietro on the west, the Duomo on the
had returned to the sign of the Lion five north, and Santa Maria on the south.
hundred and eighty times, or made this Afterwards, when the new walls were
number of revolutions in its orbit. Bru- built and the city enlarged, these Quar-
netto Latini, Dante's schoolmaster, Tre- ters were changed to Sesti, or Sixths, by
sor, I. Ch. cxi., says, that Mars "goes dividing Santa Maria into the Borgo and
through all the signs in ii. years and i. San Pietro Scheraggio, and adding the
month and xxx. days." This would southern Oltrarno (beyond the Arno) on the
make Cacciaguida born long after the bank.
crusade in which he died. But Dante, 42. The annual races of Florence on
who had perhaps seen the astronomical the 24th of June, the festival of St. John
tables of King Alfonso of Castile, knew the Baptist. The prize was the Pallio,
more of the matter than his schoolmaster, or mantle of " crimson silk velvet," as
and-was aware that the period of a revo- Villani says ; and the race was run from
lution of Mars is less than two years. San Pancrazio, the western ward of the
Witte, who cites these tables in his city, through the Mercato Vecchio, to
notes to this canto, says they give "686 the eastern ward of San Piero. Accord-
days 22 hours and 24 minutes " ; and ing to Benvenuto, the Florentine races
continues : ' ' Five hundred and eighty were hoise-races ; but the Pallio of Ve-
such revolutions gi\'e then (due regard rona, where the prize was the ' ' Green
662 NOTES TO PARADfSO.

Mantle," was manifestly a foot-race. See " The Arte dd Cambio, or money-trade,
Inf. XV. 122. in which Florence shone pre-eminent,
47. Between the Ponte Vecchio, soon made her bankers known and al-
where once stood the statue of Mars, and most necessary to all Europe. . . . But
the church of St. John the Baptist. amongst all foreign nations they were
50. Campi is a village between Prato justly considered, according to the ad-
and Florence, in mission of their own countrymen, as
" The valley whence Bisenzio descends."
hard, griping, and exacting ; they were
called Lombard dogs ; hated and insulted
Certaldo is in the Val d'Elsa, and is by nations less acquainted with trade and
chiefly celebrated as being the birthplace certainly less civilized than themselves,
of Boccaccio, — "true Bocca (fOro, or when they may only have demanded a
Mouth of Gold," says Benvenuto, with fair interest for money lent at a great
enthusiasm, " my venerated master, and risk to lawless men in a foreign country.
a most diligent and familiar student of . . . All counting-houses of Florentine
Dante, and who wrote a certain book bankers were confined to the old and new
that greatly helps us to understand him." allowed market-places, where alone they were
Figghine, or Figline, is a town in the to transact business : before the
Val d'Arno, some twelve miles distant door was placed a bench, and a table
from Florence ; and hateful to Dante as covered with carpet, on which stood
the birthplace of the "ribald lawyer, their money-bags and account-book for
Ser Dego," as Campi was of another the daily transactions of trade."
ribald lawyer, Ser Fozio ; and Certaldo 62. .Simifonte, a village near Certaldo.
of a certain Giacomo, who thrust • the It was captured by the Florentines, and
Podesta of Florence from his seat, and made part of their territory, in 1202.
imdertook to govern the city. These 64. In the valley of the Ombrone,
men, mingling with the old Florentines, east of Pistoia, are still to be seen the
corrupted the simple manners of the ruins of Montemurlo, once owned by the
town. Counts Guidi, and by them sold to the
53. Galluzzo lies to the south of Flor- Florentines in 1203, because they could
ence on the road to Siena, and Tres- not defend it against the Pistoians.
piano about the same distance to the 65. The Pivier d^ Acone, or parish of
north, on the road to Bologna. Acone, is in the Val di Sieve, or Valley
56. Aguglione and Signa are also of the Sieve, one of the affluents of the
Tuscan towns in the neighbourhood of Arno. Here the powerful family of the
Florence. According to Covino, De- Cerchi had their castle of Monte di
scriz. Geoo. deW Itnlia^ p. 18, it was a Croce, which was taken and destroyed
certain Baldo d' Aguglione, who con- by the Florentines in 1053, and the
demned Dante to be burned ; and Boni- Cerchi and othei-s came to live in Flor-
ence, where they became the leaders of
'fazio da Signa, according to Buti, " ty- 65.
rannized over the city, and sold the the Parte Biauca. See Itif. VI. Note
favours and offices of the Commune."
58. The clergy. " Popes, canlinals, 66. The Buondelmonti were a wealthy
bishops, and archbishops, who povern and powerful family of Valdigrievc, or
the Holy Church," says Buti ; and con- Valley of the Grieve, which, like the
tinues : "If the Church had been a .Sieve, is an affluent of the Anio. They
mother, instead of a step-mother to the too, like the Cerchi, came to Florence,
Emperors, and had not excommunicated, when their lands were taken by the
and |)ersecuted, and published them as Florentines, and were in a certain sense
heretics, Italy would have been well the cause of Guelph and Ghibelline quar-
governed, and there would have been rels in the city. See Inf. X. Note 51,
none of tliose civil wars, that dismantled 70. The downfall of a great city is
and devastated the smaller towns, and more swift and terrible than that of a
drove their inhabitants into Florence, to smaller one ; or, as Venturi interprets,
trade and discount." " The size of the body and greater ro-
Napier, Fhrent. Hist,, I. 597, says : bustness of strength in a city and state
 NOTES TO TARADISO.

are not helpful, but injurious to their tell us how we may be buried in our
preservation, unless men live in peace survivors. Grave-stones tell truth scarce
and without the blindness of the pas- forty years. Generations pass while
sions, and Florence, more poor and some trees stand, and old families last
not three oaks. . . . Oblivion is not to
humble, would have flourished longer."
Perhaps the best commentary of all be hired. The greater part must be
is that contained in the two lines of content to be as though they had not
Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, II. been, to be found in the register of God,
1385, — aptly quoted by Mr. Cary :— not in the record of man. Twenty-seven
names make up the first story, and the
" For swifter course coineth thing that is of recorded names ever since contain not
wight,
Whan it descendeth, than done thinges light." one living century. The number of the
dead long exceedeth all that shall live.
72. In this line we have in brief The night of time far surpasseth the
Dante's
in detail political faith, which
in his treatise is given day; and who knows when was the
De Monarchia.
equinox? Every hour adds unto that
Sec illustrations
the article "ofDante's current arithmetic, which scarce stands
the Vol. II.Creed," among
73. Luni, an old Etruscan city in the one moment."
I-unigiana ; and Urbisaglia, a Roman 79, Shirley, DeatKs Final Con-

city in the Marca d'Ancona.

75. Chiusi is in the Sienese territory, "quest The glories of our birth and state
Are : —shadows, not substantial things :
and Sinis^aglia on the Adriatic, east of There is no armour against Fate ;
Rome. This latter place has somewhat Death lays his icy hand on kings ;
revived since Dante's time. Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
76. Boccaccio seems to have caught And in the dust be equal made
something of the spirit of this canto, With the poor crooked scythe and spade."
when, lamenting the desolation of Flor- 81. The lives of men are too short for
ence by the plague in 1348, he says in them to measure the decay of things
the Introduction to the Decamerone: around them.
" How many vast palaces, how many 86. It would be an unprofitable task
beautiful houses, how many noble dwell-
ings, aforetime filled with lords and to repeat in notes the names of these
ladies and trains of servants, were now " Great Flordntines
untenanted even by the lowest menial ! Of whom the fame is hidden in the Past,"
How many memorable families, how and who flourished in the days of Cac-
many ample heritages, how many re- ciaguida and the Emperor Conrad. It
nowned possessions, were left without will be better to follow Villani, as he
an heir ! How many valiant men, how points out with a sigh their dwellings in
many beautiful women, how many gen- the old town, and laments over their
tle youths, breakfasted in the morning decay. In his Cronica, Book IV., he
with their relatives, companions, and
friends, and, when the evening came, speaks as follows :—
"Ch. X. As already mentioned, the
supped with their ancestors in the other first rebuilding of Little Florence was
world ! " divided by Quarters, that is, by four
78. Lowell, To the Past:— gates ; and that we may the better
make known the noble races and houses,
" Still as a city buried 'neath the sea. which in those times, after Fiesole was
Thy courts and temples stand ;
Idle as forms on wind-waved tapestry destroyed, were great and powerful in
Of saints and heroes grand, Florence, we will enumerate thera by
Thy phantasms grope and shiver,
Or watch the loose shores crumbling silently the quarters where they lived.
Into Time's gnawing river." "And first those of the Porta del
Duomo, which was the first fold and
' ' Our fathers, " says Sir Thomas habitation of the new Florence, and the
Browne, [/rn Burial, V., "find their place where all the noble citizens re-
graves in our short memories, and sadly sorted and met together on Sunday, and
^ NOTES TO PA/? AD/SO.

where all marriages were made, and all and although they are now the prin-
reconciliations, and all pomps and so- cipal family of that ward of Florence,
lemnities ofthe Commune. ... At the in those days they were not of the
Porta del Duomo lived the descendants oldest.
of the Giovanni and of the Guineldi, who "Ch. XII. At the Porta San Pan-
were the first ihat rebuilt the city of crazio, of great rank and power were
Florence, and from whom descended the Lamberti, descended from the Delia
many noble families in Mugello and in Magna ; the Ughi were very ancient,
Valdarno, and many in the city, who and built -Santa Maria Ughi, and all the
now are common people, and almost hill of Montughi belonged to them, and
come to an end. Such were the now they have died out ; the Catellini
Karucci, who lived at Santa Maria Mag- were very ancient, and now they are for-
giore, who are now extinct ; and of gotten. It is said that the Tieri were
their race were the Scali and Palermini. illegitimate descendants of theirs. The
In the same quarter were also the Arri- Pigli were great and noble in those
gucci, the Sizii, and the sons of Delia times, and the Soldanieri and Vecchietti.
Tosa ; and the Delia Tosa were the Very ancient were the Dell' Area, and
same race as the Bisdomini, and custo- now they are extinct ; and the Migli-
dians and defenders of the bishopric ; orelli, who now are naught ; and tiie
but one of them left his family at the Trinciavelli da Mosciano were very
Porta San Piero, and took to wife a lady ancient.
named Delia Tosa, wlio had the inheri- "Ch. XIII. In the quarter of Porta
tance, whence the name was derived. Santa Maria, which is now in the ward
And there were the Delia Pressa, who of San Piero Scheraggio and of Borgo,
lived among the Chiavaiuoli, men of there were many powerful and ancient
gentle birth. families. The greatest were the U berti,
"Ch. XI. In the quarter of Porta whose ancestors were the Delia Magna,
San Piero were the Bisdomini, who, as and who lived where now stand the
above mentioned, were custodians of the Piazza de' Priori and the Palazzo del
bishopric ; and the Alberighi, to whom Popolo ; the Fifanti, called Bogolesi,
belonged the church of Santa Maria lived at the corner of Porta Santa Maria ;
Alberighi, of the house of the Donati, the Galli, Cappiardi, Guidi, and Filippi,
and now they are naught. The Rovig- who now are nothing, were then great
nani were very great, and lived at the and powerful, and lived in the Mercato
Porta .San Pietro ; and then came the Nuovo. Likewise the Greci, to whom
bouses of the Counts Cuidi, and then of all the Borgo de' Greci belonged, have
the Cerchi, and from them in the female now perished and passed away, except
line were born all the Counts Guidi, as some of the race in Bologna ; and the
before mentioned, of tlie daughter of Ormanni, who lived where now stands
gootl Messer Bellincion Berti ; in our the forementioned Palazzo del Popolo,
day all this race is extinct. The Galli- and are now called Foral)oschi. And
gari and Chiarmontesi and Ardinghi, behind San Piero Scheraggio, where are
who lived in the Orto San Michele, now the houses of the Petri, lived the
were very ancient ; and so were the Delia Pera, or Peruzza, and from them
Giuochi, who now are />o/>o/aui, living at the postern gate there was called Porta
.Santa Margherita ; the lilisei, who like- Peruzza. Some say that the Peruzzi of
wise are now popolaiii, living near the the present day are of that family, but I
Mercato Vecchio. And in that place do not aflfirm it. The Sacchetti, who
lived the Caponsacchi, who were nobles lived in the Garbo, were very ancient ;
of Fiesole ; the Donati, or Calfucci, for around the Mercato Nuovo the liostichi
they were all one race, but the Calfucci were great people, and the Delia Sanella,
are extinct ; and the Delia Bella of San and Giandonati and Infangati ; great in
Martino, also hccome /wpolani ; and the Borgo Santi Apostoli were the Gualter-
Adiniari, who descended from the house otli and Ini|X)rtuni, who now are popO'
of Cosi, who now live at Porta Rossa, iaiii. The Buondelmonti were noble
and who built Santa Maria Nipoteco&a ; and ancient citizens in the rural districts,
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

and Montebuoni was their castle, and tno, " as who should say, as the ball is
many others in Valdigrieve ; at first they the symbol of the universe, and gold
lived in Oltramo, and then came to the surpasses every other metal, so in good-
Borgo. The Pulci, and the Counts of ness and valour these surpassed the other
Gangalandi, Ciuffagni, and Nerli of citizens." Dante puts Mosca d^' Lam-
Ohrarno were at one time great and berti among the Schismatics in Inf.
powerful, together with the Giandonati XXVIII. 103, with both hands cut off,
and Delia Bella, named above ; and and
from the Marquis Hugo, who built the
Abbey, or Badia, of Florence, received " The stumps uplifting through the dusky air.'
arms and knighthood, for they were very
112. Thecustodians
Cortigiani, Vidomini,andTosinghi,
defendersandof '
great around him."
To the better understanding of this the Bishopric of Florence. Their fathers
extract from Villani, it must be borne in were honourable men, and, like the
mind that, at the time when he wrote, Lamberti, embellished the city with their
the population of Florence was divided good name and deeds ; but they, when
into three classes, the Nobles, the Popo- a bishop died, took possession of the
lani, or middle class, and the Plebeians. episcopal palace, and, as custodians and
93. Gianni del Soldanier is put among defenders, feasted and slept there till his
the traitors "with Ganellon and Tebal- successor was appointed.
dello," /;// XXXII. 121. 115. The Adimari. One of this
95. The Cerchi, who lived near the family, Boccaccio Adimari, got posses-
Porta San Piero, and produced dissen- sion of Dante's property in Florence
sion in the city with their White and when he was banished, and always bit-
Black factions ;— such a cargo, that it terly opposed his return.
must be thrown overboard to save the 119. Ubertin Donato, a gentleman of
ship. See Inf. VI. Note 65. Florence, had married one of the Ravig-
98. The County Guido, for Count nani, and was offended that her sister
Guido, as in Shakespeare the County should be given in marriage to one of
Paris and County Palatine, and in the the Adimari, who were of ignoble origin.
old song in Scott's Qtientin Dwward : — 121. The Caponsacchi lived in the
Mercato Vecchio, or Old Market. One
" Ah, County Guy, the hour is nigh, of the daughters was the wife of Folco
The sun has left the lea." Portinari and mother of Beatrice.
99. Bellincion Berti. See Canto XV. 124. The thing incredible is tha'i
112, and Inf. XVI. Note 87. there should have been so little jealousy
102. The insignia of knighthood. among the citizens of Florence as to
103. The Billi, or Pigli, family ; their suffer one of the city gates, Porta Pe-
arms being "a Column Vair in a red nizza, to be named after a particular
family.
field." The Column Vair was the bar
of the shield " variegated with argent 127. Five Florentine families, accord-
and azure." The vair, in Italian vajo, ing to Benvenuto, bore the arms of the
is a kind of squirrel ; and the heraldic Marquis Hugo of Brandenburg, and re-
mingling of colours was taken from its ceived from him the titles and privileges
spotted skin. of nobility. These were the Pulci,
105. The Chiaramontesi, one of whom, Nerli, Giandonati, Gangalandi, and
a certain Ser Durante, an officer in the Delia Bella.
customs, falsified the bushel, or stajo, of This Marquis Hugo, whom Dante
Florence, by having it made one stave here calls " the great baron," was Vice-
less, so as to defraud in the measure. roy of the Emperor Otho III. in Tus-
Dante alludes to this in Purg. XII. 105. cany. Villani, Cronica, IV., Ch. 2,
109. The Uberti, of whom was Fari- relates the following story of him :— "It
nata. See Inf. X. 32. came to pass, as it pleased God, that,
1 10. The Balls of Gold were the arms while hunting in the neighbourhood of
of the Lamberti family. Dante men- Bonsollazzo, he was lost in the forest,
lions them by their arms, says the Otti- and came, as it seemed to him, to a
666 NOTES TO PARADISO.

smithy. Finding there men swarthy themselves above all law. Giano deter- .
and hideous, who, instead of iron, mined that their nobility itself should be
seemed to be tormenting human beings a title of exclusion, and a commencement
with fire and hammers, he asked the of punishment ; a rigorous edict, bearing
meaning of it. He was told that these the title of 'ordinance of justice,' first
were lost souls, and that to a like punish- ! designated thirty-seven Giielf families of
ment' was condemned the soul of the Florence, whom it declared noble and
Marquis Hugo, on account of his worldly ; great, and on this account excluded for-
life, unless he repented. In great terror • ever from the sigtioria ; refusing them
he commended himself to the Virgin ^ at the same time the privilege of re-
Mary ; and, when the vision vanished, nouncing their nobility, in order to place
remained so contrite in spirit, that, themselves on a footing with the other
having returned to Florence, he had all citizens. When these families troubled
his patrimony in Germany sold, and the public peace by battle or assassina-
ordered seven abbeys to be built ; the tion, a summary information, or even
fi :"st of which was the Badia of Florence, common report, was sufficient to induce
in honour of .Santa Maria ; the second, the gonfalonier to attack them at the
that of Bonsoliazzo, where he saw the head of the militia, raze their houses to
the ground, and deliver their persons to
vision."
The Marquis Hugo died on St. the Podesti, to be punished according
Thomas's day, December 31, ick)6, and to their crimes. If other families com-
was buried in the Badia of Florence, mitted the same disorders, if they
where every year on that day the monks, troubled the state by their private feuds
in grateful memory of him, kept the and outrages, the signoria was autho-
anniversary of his death with great rized to ennoble them, as a punishment
solemnity. of their crimes, in order to subject them
130. Giano della Bella, who disguised to the same summary justice. "
the arms of Hugo, quartered in his own, Dino Compagni, a contemporary of
with a fringe of gold. A nobleman l>y Giano, Cronica Fiorentina, Book I., says
birth and education, he was by convic- of him : " He was a manly man, of
tion afriend of the people, and espoused great courage, and so bold that he de-
their cause against the nobles. By re- fended those causes which others aban-
forming the abuses of both parties, he doned, and said those things which
gained the ill-will of both ; and in 1294, others kept silent, and did all in favour
after some popular tumult which he in of justice against the guilty, and was so
vain strove to quell, went into voluntary much feared by the magistrates that they
exile, and died in France. were afraid to screen the evil-doers.
The great began to speak against him,
Sismondi, //rtf/. Nep.,^. 113 (Lardner's
Cyclopcedia), gives the following succinct threatening him, and they did it, not
account of the abuses which Giano strove for the sake of justice, but to destroy
to reform, and of his summary manner their enemies, abominating him and the
of doing it : " The arrogance of the
nobles, their quarrels, and the dis- Villani, Cronica, VIII. ch. 8, says :
turbance of the public peace by their " Giano della Bella was condemned and
frequent battles in the streets, had, in banished laws." for contumacy, .... and all
1292, irritated the whole population his possessions confiscated, .... whence
against them. Giano della Bella, him- great mischief accnied to our city, and
self a noble, but sympathizing in the chiefly to the people, for he was the
passions and resentment of the people, most loyal and upright popolatw and
proposed to bring them to order by lover of the public good of any man in
summary justice, and to confide the
execution of it to the gonfalonier whom Florence. And finally " . Macchiavelli, Istorie Fio-
he caused to be elected. The Guelfs
renliiie, Book II., calls him "a lover of
had l)een so long at the head of the the liberty of his country," and says,
republic, that their noble families, whose "he was hated by the nobility for
wealth had immensely increased, placed ' undermining their authority, and envied
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

by the richer of the commonalty, who And afterwards, in reply to Brunette

were jealous of his power ; " and that he Latini, Dante says, Inf. XV. 88 :—
went into voluntary exile in order " to
deprive his enemies of all opportunity of " What you narrate of my career I write.
And keep it for a lady, who will know,
injuring him, and his friends of all To gloss with other text, if e'er I reach her."
opportunity of injuring the country ; "
and that " to free the citizens from the The time for this revelation has now
fear they had of him, he resolved to come ; but it is made by Cacciaguida,
leave the city, which, at his own charge not by Beatrice.
and danger, he had liberated from the 3. Phaeton, having heard from Epa-
phus that he was not the son of Apollo,
servitude of the powerftil."
134. The Borgo Santi Apostoli would ran in great eagerness and anxiety to his
be a quieter place, if the Buondelmonti mother, Clymene, to ascertain the truth.
had not moved into it from Oltramo.
Ovid, Met., I., Dryden's Tr. :—
136. The house of Amidei, whose
quarrel with the Buondelmonti was the " Mother, said he, this infamy was thrown
By Epaphus on you, and me your son.
origin of the Guelf and Ghibelline par- He spoke in public, told it to my face ;
ties in Florence, and put an end to the Nor durst I vindicate the dire disgrace :
joyous life of her citizens. See Inf. X. Even I, the bold, the sensible of wrong.
Restrained by shame, was forced to hold my
Note 51. tongue.
140. See the story of Baondelmonte, To hear an open slander, is a curse :
as told by Giovanni Fiorentino in his But not to find an answer, is a worse.
Pecorone, and quoted Inf. X. Note 51. If I am heaven-begot, assert your son
By known.
some sure sign ; and make my father
142. Much sorrow and suffering
would have been spared, if the first To right my honour, and redeem your own.
Buondelmonte that came from his castle He said, and, saying, cast his arms about
of Montebuono to Florence had been Her neck, and begged her to resolve the doubt "
drowned in the Ema, a small stream he The disaster that befell Phaeton while
had to cross on the way. driving the steeds of Apollo, makes
145. Young Buondelmonte was mur- fathers chary of granting all the wishes
dered at the foot of the mutilated statue of children.
of Mars on the Ponte Vecchio, and 16. Who seest in God all possible
after this Florence had no more p)eace. contingencies as clearly as the human
153. The banner of Florence had
mind perceives the commonest geome-
never been reversed in sign of defeat. trical problem.
154. The arms of Florence were a
white lily in a field of red ; after the 18. God, "whose centre is every-
expulsion of the Ghibellines, the Guelfs where, whose circumference nowhere. "
20. The heavy words which Dante
changed them to a red lily in a field of heard on the mount of Purgatory, fore-
white.
shadowing his exile, are those of Cur-
rado Malaspina, Purg. VIII. 133 :—
CANTO XVII. " For the sun shall not lie
Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram
r. The Heaven of Mars continued. With all his four feet covers and bestrides,
Before that such a courteous opinion
The prophecy of Dante's banishment. Shall in the middle of thy head be naileed
In Inf. X. 127, as Dante is meditating
on the dark words of Farinata that fore- With greater nails than of another's speech,
Unless the course of justice standeth still : "
shadow his exile, Virgil says to him :—
" ' Let memory preserve what thou hast heard
and those of Oderisi d'Agobbio, Purg.
Against thyself,' that Sage commanded me, XI. 139:-
' And now attend here ; ' and he raised his
finger. " I say no more, and know that I speak darkly ;
■ When thou shalt be before the radiance sweet Yet little time shall pass before thy neighbours
Of her Will so demean themselves that thou canst
hold.whos6 beauteous eyes all things be-
From her thou'lt learn the journey of thy 21.
The words he heard " wl.eii
life.'" gloss it." T Y
c^ NOTES TO PARADTSO.

the truth of the opinion may be the

descending into the dead world,"' are
those of Farinata, Inf. X. 79 ; — effect of the person taking a seat, there
is nevertheless a necessity common to
" But fifty times shall not rekindled be both. The same method of reasoning,
The here,
countenance oi the Lady who reigns
1 think, should be employed with regard
Ere thou shalt know how heavy is that art , to the prescience of God, and future
contingencies ; for allowing it to be true,
and those of Brunetto Latini, Inf. XV. that events are foreseen because they are
61: - to happen, and that they do not befall
because they are foreseen, it is still neces-
" But that ungrateful and malignant people, sary, that what is to happen must be
Wliich from Fiesole of old descended,
And smacks still of the mountain and the foreseen by God, and that what is fore-
granite.
seen must take place."
Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe.'" And again, in Prosa 4 of the same
24. Aristotle, Ethics, I. ch. 10 : Book : " But how is it possible, said I,
that those things which are foreseen
" Always and everywhere the virtuous should not befall Y— I do not say, replied
man bears prosperous and adverse for- she, that we are to entertain any doubt
tune prudently, as a perfect tetragon." but the events will take place, which
28. To the spirit of Cacciaguida. Providence foresees are to happen ; but
31. Not like the ambiguous utter- we are rather to believe, that although
ance of oracles in Pagan times.
they do happen, yet that there is no
35. The word here rendered Lan- necessity in the events themselves, which
guage is in the original Latin ; used as constrains them to do so. The tnith of
in Canto XII. 144. which I shall thus endeavour to illustrate.
37. Contingency, accident, or casu- We behold many things done under our
alty, belongs only to the material world,
view, such as a coachman conducting
and in the spiritual world finds no place. his chariot and governing his horses, and
As Dante makes St. Bernard say, in other things of a like nature. Now, do
Canto XXXII. 53 :— you suppose these things are done by
" Within the amplitude of this domain the compulsion of a necessity? — No,
No casual point can possibly find place, answered I ; for, if everything were
No more than sadness can, or thirst, or
hunger ; moved by compulsion, the effects of art
For by eternal law has been established would be vain and fruitless. — If things
Whatever thou beholdesL" then, which are doing under our eye,
added she, are under no present necessity
40. Boethius, Consol. Phil. , V. Prosa of happening, it must be admitted that
3, Ridpath's Tr. : " But I shall now these same things, before they befell,
endeavour to demonstrate, that, in what- were under no necessity of taking place.
ever way the chain of causes is disposed, It is plain, therefore, that some things
the event of things which are foreseen is befall, the event of which is altogether
necessary ; although prescience may not unconstrained by necessity. For I do
appear to be the necessitating cause of not think any person will say that such
their befalling. For example, if a per- things as are at present done, were not
son sits, the opinion formed of him that to happen before they were done. Why,
he is seated, is of necessity true ; but by therefore, may not things be foreseen,
inverting the phrase, if the opinion is and net necessitated in their events ? As
true that he is seated, he must necessarily the knowledge then of what is present
sit. In both cases then there is a neces- imposes no necessity on things now done,
sity ;in the latter, that the person sits ; so neither does the foreknowledge of
in the former, that the opinion concern- what is to hnppen in future necessitate
ing him is true : but the person doth the things whicn are to take place."
not sit, because the opinion of his sitting Also Chaucer, Trot/, and Cres., IV.,
is true ; but the opinion is rather true,
because the action of his being seated " Eke, this is an opinion of some
WM antecedent in time. Thus though That have hir top fuf high and smoth ichore ;

995:—
 669

NOTES TO PARADISO.

Thei sain right thus ; that thing is nat to come could have had no part, as he was then
For-that the prescience hath sene before. absent on an embassy to Rome.
That it shal come : but thei sain that therefore
That it shall come, therefore the purveiaunce Dino Compagni, Cron. Flor., II.,
Wote it beforne withouten ignoraunce. gives a list of many of the exiles.
Among them is " Dante Aldighieri, am-
" And in this maner, this necessite, bassador at Rome ; " and at the end of
Retoumeth in his place contrary^, againe ;
For nedefully, behoveth it nat be. the names given he adds, "and many
That thillce thinges fallen in certaine more, as many as six hundred men, who
That ben purveyed ; but, nedefully, as thei saine, wandered here and there about the
Behoveth it, that thinges which that fall,
That thei in certaine ben purveyed all : world, suffering much want." At firet,
the banishment- was for two years only,
" I mene, as though I laboured me in this. but a second decree made it for life,
To enquire which thing cause of which thing be. with the penalty that, if any one of the
As whether that the prescience of God is exiles returned to Florence, he should
The certaine cause of the necessite
Of thinges that to comen be, parde,
be burned to death.
Or, if necessite of thing coming On the exile of Dante, M. Ampere
Be the cause certaine of the purveying ? has written an interesting work under
the title of Voyage Dantesque, from which
" But, now, ne enforce I me not, in shewing frequent extracts have been made in these
MoiN the order of the causes stant ; but wot I,
That it behoveth that the befalling notes. " 1 have followed him, step by
Of thinges, wistfe before certainly,
Be necessarie — al seme it not therby step," he says, "in the cities where he
That prescience put falling necessayre lived, in the mountains where he wan-
To thing to come, al fal it foule or faire : dered, in the asylums that welcomed
him, always guided by the poem, in
" For, which he has recorded, with all tiie
ITian by if there sitbehoveth
necessite a man yonde
it on a see, —
That, certes, thine opinion sothe be sentiments of his soul and all the specu-
That wenest or conjectest that he sit lations of his intelligence, all the recol-
And, furtherover, now ayenwarde yet, — lections of his life ; a poem which is no
Lo, right so is it on the part contrarie ;
As thus ; now herken, for I wol nat tarie : less a confession than a vast encyclo-
See also the Letter of Frate Ilario, the
" I say, that if the opinion of the
Be sothe, for-that he sit ; than say I this.
That he mote sitten, by necessite. passage from the Convito, ^and Dante's
And thus necessite, in either, is.
paedia."to a Friend, among the Illustra-
Letter
For in him nede of sitting is, iwis ; tions to Inferno.
And in the, nede of sothe : and thus, forsothe, 52. Boethius, Cons. Phil., I. Prosa 4,
There mote necessite ben in you bodie.
Ridpath's Tr. : *' But my miseries are
complete, when I reflect that the majority
" But thou maist saine, the man sit nat therefore of mankind attend less to the merit of
That thine opinion of his sitting soth is :
But, rather, for the man sate there before, things, than to their fortuitous event ;
Therefore is thine opinion sothe iwis : and believe that no undertakings are
And I say, Though the cause of sothe of this crowned T/ith success, but such as are
Cometh of his sitting ; yet necessite
Is enterchaunged bothe in him and the." formed with a prudent foresight. Hence
it is, that the unprosperous immediately
46. As Hippolytus was banished lose, the good opinion of mankind. It
from Athens on the false and cruel accu- would give me pain to relate to you the
sations of Phcedra, his step-mother, so ruiaours that are flying among the
Dante shall be from Florence on accu- people, and the variety of discordant
sations equally false and cruel. and inconsistent opinions entertained
50. By instigation of Pope Boniface
VIII. in Rome, as Dante here declares. concerning
53. At the me."beginning of Inf. XXVI.
In April, 1302, the Bianchi were ban- Dante foreshadows the vengeance of
ished from Florence on account or under God that is to fall on Florence, and ex-
pretext of a conspiracy against Charles claims :—
of Valois, who had been called to Flo-
" And if it now were, it were not too soon ;
rence by the Guelfs as pacificator of Would that it were, seeing it needs must be.
Tuscany. In this conspiracy Dante For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age.
y y 2
670 NOTES TO PA RAD/SO.

For an account of these disasters see

tyrant," says Benvenuto, "he was re-
Inf. XXVI. Note 9.
58. Upon this passage Mr. Wright, 76. putedCan
just andGrande
prudent."
della Scala, at this
in the notes to his translation, makes time only nine years old, but showing,
the following extracts from the Bible, says Benvenuto, "that he would be a
Shakespeare, and Spenser :— true son of Mars, bold and prompt in
Ecclesiasticus xxix. 24 and xl. 28, 29 :
battle, and victorious exceedingly." He
" It is a miserable thing to go from was a younger brother of Bartolommeo,
house to house ; for where thou art a and became sole Lord of Verona in 131 1.
stranger, thou darest not open thy He was the chief captain of the Ghibel-
mouth. Thou shalt entertain, and feast, lines, and his court the refuge of some of
and have no thanks : moreover, thou the principal of the exiles. Dante was
shalt hear bitter words These there in 1317 with Guido da Castello
things are grievous to a man of under- and Uguccione della Faggiuola. To
standing, — the upbraiding of house- Can Grande he dedicated some cantos
room, and reproaching of the lender." of the Paradiso, and presented them with
" My son, lead not a beggar's life, for that long Latin letter so difficult to
better it is to die than to beg. The life associate with the name of Dante.
of him that dependeth on another man's At this time the court of Verona
table is not to be counted for a life." seems to have displayed a kind of bar-
Richard II., III. i :- baric splendour and magnificence, as if
" Myself in imitation of the gay court of Fre-
Have stooped my neck under your inj uries, derick II. of Sicily. Arrivabene, Comento
And sighed my English breath in foreign clouds, Storico, III. 255, says: "Can Grande
Eating the bitter bread of banishment.' gathered around him those distipguished
personages whom unfortunate raverses
Spenser, Mother Hubberd^s Tale, had driven from their country ; but he
also kept in his pay buffoons and mu-
895:- sicians, and other merry persons, who
" Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried,
What Hell it is, in suing long to bide : were more caressed by the courtiers
■To lose good days, that might be better spent ; than the men famous for their deeds
To waste long /lights, in pensive discontent ; and learning. One of the guests was
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; Sagacio Muzio Gazzata, the historian
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow ;
To have thy Prince's grace, yet want her Peer's, of Reggio, who has left us an account
To have thy asking, yet wait many years ; of the treatment which the illustrious
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares ;
To eat thy heart with comfortless despairs ; and unfortunate exiles received. Va-
To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run. rious apartments were assigned to them
To spend, to give, — to want, — to be undone." in the palace, designated by various
symbols ; a Triumph for the warriors ;
62. Among the fellow-exiles of Dante, Groves of the Muses for the poets ;
as appears by the list of names preserved, Mercury for the artists ; Paradise for
was Lapo Salterello, the Florentine the preachers ; and for all, inconstant
lawyer, of whom Dante speaks so con- Fortune. Can Grande likewise re-
temptuously in Canto XV. 128. Ben- ceived at his court his illustrious pri-
venuto says he was "a litigious and soners of war, Giacomo di Carrara,
loquacious man, and very annoying to Vanne Scornazano, Albertino Mussato,
Dante during his exile. Altogether the and many others. All had their pri-
company of his fellow-exiles .seems to vate attendants, and a table equally well
have Ijeen disagreeable to him, and it served. At times Can Grande invited
l)etter suited him to "make a party by some of them to his own table, par-
himself." ticularly Dante, and Guido di Castel
66, Shall blush with shame. of Reggio, exiled from his country with
71. Bartolommeo della Scala, I-ord the friends of liberty, and who for his
of Verona. The arms of the Scaligers simplicity was called 'the simple
were a golden ladder in a red field, sur-
mounted by a black eagle. "For a The harmony of their intercourse
Lombard.' "
 671

NOTES TO PARADISO.

seerps finally to have been intenupteil, is founded on similarity of habits and

and Dante to have fallen into that dis-
favour, which he hints at below, hoping "It is also 'related, that at his table,
dispositions."
that, having been driven from Flo- which was too indiscriminately hos-
rence, he may not also be driven from pil.'ible, where buffoons sat down with
Verona :— Dante, and where jests passed which
must have been offensive to every per-
" That, if the dearest place be taken from me, son of refinement, but disgraceful when
I may not lose the others by my sonjjs."
uttered by the superior in rank to his
inferior, a boy was once concealed
Balbo, Life of Dante, Mrs. Bunbury's
Tr., II. 207, says: "History, tradi- under the table, who, collecting the
tion, and the after fortunes of Dante, bones that were thrown there by the
all agree in proving that there was a guests, according to the custom of those
rupture between him and Cane ; if it times, heaped them up at Dante's feet.
did not amount to a quarrel, there When the tables were removed, the
seems to have been some misunder- great heap appearing. Cane pretended
standing between the magnificent pro- to show much astonishment, and said,
tector and his haughty client. But ' Certainly, Dante is a great devourer
which of the two was in fault ? I have of meat.' To which Dante readily re-
collected all the memorials that remain plied,My
' lord, you would not have
relating to this, and let every one judge seen so many bones had I been a dog
for himself. But I must warn my
readers that Petrarch, the second of the Can Grande died in the midst of his
three fathers of the Italian language, wars, (cane).in' " July, 1329, from drinking at a
showed much less veneration than our fountain. A very lively picture of his
good Boccacci(} for their common pre- court, and of the life that Dante led
decessor Datite. Petrarch speaks as there, is given by Ferrari in his conied}-
of Dante a Verona.
follows : ' My fellow-citizen, Dante
Alighieri, was a man highly distinguished 82. The Gascon is Clement V.,
in the vulgar tongue, but in his style Archbishop of Bordeaux, and elected
and speech a little daring and rather Pope in 1305. The noble Henry is
freer than was pleasing to delicate the Emperor Henry of Luxemburg,
and studious ears, or gratifying to the who, the Oltimo says, " was valiant in
princes of our times. He then, whiie arms, liberal and courteous, compas-
banished from his country, resided at sionate and gentle, and the friend of
the court of Can Grande, where the virtue." Pope Clement is said to have
afflicted universally found consolation been secretly his enemy, while pub-
and an asylum. He at first was held licly he professed to be his friend ; and
in much honour by Cane, but after- finally to have instigated or connived
wards he by degrees fell out of favour, at his death by poison. See Turg. VI.
and day by day less pleased that lord. Note 97. Henry came to Italy in 1310,
Actors and parasites of every descrip- when Can Grande was about nineteen
tion used to be collected together at the years of age.
same banquet ; one of these, most im- 94. The commentary on the things
pudent in his words and in his obscene told to Dante in the Inferno and Pui-
gestures, obtained much importance and gatorio. See Note i.
favour with many. And Cane, suspect- 128. Habakknk ii. 2: "Write the
ing that Dante disliked this, called the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
man before him, and, having greatly that he may run that readeth it."
praised him to our poet, said; "I 129. Shakespeare, Hamlet, III. 2 :
wonder how it is that this silly fellow "Let the galled jade wince, our withers
should know how to please all, and
should be loved by all, and that thou are unwrung."
canst not, who art said to be so wise ! " CANTO XVIII.
Dante answered: "Thou wouldst not
wonder if thou knewest that friendship I. The Heaven of Mars continued ;
672 NOTES TO PAR AD/SO.

and the ascent to the Heaven of Jupiter, der the twisted lash, which boys intent
where are seen the spirits of righteous on their sport drive in a large circuit
kings and rulers. round some empty court, the engine
2. Enjoying his own thought in si- driven about by the scourge is hurried
lence. round and round in circling courses ;
Shakespeare, Sonnet XXX :— the unpractised throng and beardless
band are lost in admiration of the voluble
'When to the sessions of sweet silent thought box-wood : they lend their souls to the
I summon up remembrance of things past."
9. Relinquish the hope and attempt of 43. The form in which Charle-
expressing. stroke.."
magne presented himself to the imagi-
II. Wordsworth, Excursio?i, Book nation ofthe Middle Ages may be seen
IV. :—
by the following extract from Turpin's
" Tis by comparison an easy task Chrpiiicle, Ch. XX. : "The Emperor
Eaith to despise ; but to converse with heaven, — was of a ruddy complexion, with l)rown
That is not easy : - to rehnquish all hair ; of a well made, handsome form,
We have, or hope, of happiness and joy,
And stand in freedom loosened from this world, but a stern visage. His height was
I deem not arduous ; but must needs confess about eight of his own feet, which were
That 'tis a thing impossible to frame very long. He was of a strong, robust
< Conceptions equal to the soul's desires ; make ; his legs and thighs very stout,
And the most difficult of tasks to kee/>
Heights which the soul is competent to gain. and his sinews firm. His face was
— Man is of dust : ethereal hopes are his, thirteen inches long ; his beard a palm ;
Which, when they should sustain themselves
aloft. his nose half a palm ; his forehead a
Want due consistence ; like a pillar of smoke, foot over. His lion-like eyes flashed
That with majestic energy from earth fire like carbimcles ; his eyebrows were
Rises : but, having reached the thinner air, half a palm over. When he was angry,
Melts, and dissolves, and is no longer seen." it was a terror to look upon him. He
And again in Tint er 71 Abbey -.— required eight spans for his girdle, be-
" That blessed mood,
sides what hung loose. He ate sparingly
In which the burden of the mystery, of bread ; but a whole quarter of lamb,
In which the heavy and the weary weight two fowls, a goose, or a large por-
Of all this unintelligible world
tion of pork ; a peacock, a crane, or
Is lightened." a whole hare. He drank moderately
29. Paradise, or the system of the of wine and water. He was so strong,
heavens, which lives by the divine in- that he could at a single blow cleave
fluences from above, and whose fruit asunder an armed soldier on horse-
and foliage are eternal. The fifth rest- back, from the head to the waist, and
ing-place or division of this tree is the the horse likewise. He easily vaulted
planet Mars. over four horses harnessed together,
38. Joshua, the leader of the Israel- and could raise an armed man from the
ites after the death of Moses, to whom ground to his head, as he stood erect
God said, Joshua i. S : " As I was with
Moses, so will I be with thee : I will upon his hand."
Orlando, the famous paladin, who
not fail thee, nor forsake thee." died at Roncesvalles ; the hero of Pulci's
40. The great Maccabee was Judas Morgante Maggiore, Bojardo's Orlando
Macca1)a"us, who, as is stated in Hib- Innamorato, and Ariosto's
rioso. His sword Durandel Orlando Fu-
is renowned
lical history, 1 Maccabees iii. 3, "gat his
people great honour, and put ou a in fiction, and his ivory horn Olivant
nreast- plate as a giant, and girt his war- could be heard eight miles.
like harness about him, and he made 46. "This William," says Buti, being
battles, protecting the host with his obliged to say something, ' ' was a great
sword. In his acts he was like a lion, prince, who fought and died for the
faith of Christ ; I have not been able
and like a lion's whelp roaring for his
to find out distinctly who he was,"
42. yJittcid, VII., Davidson's Tr. : The Oltimo says it is William, Count
prey."
"As at times a whip-top whirling un- of Orange in Provence ; who, after
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

fighting for the faith against the Sara- had trusted themselves to the sole con-
cens, "took the cowl, and finished his duct of that accomplished hero, a worthy
life holily in the service of God ; and representative of Charlemagne, from
he is called Saint William of the whom he was descended in the female
line. His father was of the noble race
Desert."
He is the same hero, then, that fi- of the Counts of Boulogne ; Brabant, the
gures in the old romances of the Twelve lower province of Lorraine, was the inhe-
Peers of France, as Guillaume au Court ritance of his mother ; and by the Em-
Nez, or William of the Short Nose, peror's ducal
bounty he title
was which
himself has
invested
so called from having had his nose cut with that been
off by a Saracen in battle. In the improperly transferred to his lordship of
monorhythmic romance which bears his Bouillon in the Ardennes. In the service
name, he is thus represented : — of Henry IV. he bore the great standard
of the Empire, and pierced with his lance
" Great was the court in the hall of Lo6n,
The tables were full of fowl and venison,
the breast of Rodolph, the rebel king ;
On flesh and fish they feasted every one ; Godfrey was the first who ascended the
But Guillaume of these viands tasted none, walls of Rome ; and his sickness, his
Brown crusts ate he, and water drank alone. vow, perhaps his remorse for bearing
When had feasted every noble baron.
The cloths were removed by squire and scullion. arms against the Pope, confinned an
Count Guillaume then with the king did thus early resolution of visiting the holy
reason :
sepulchre, not as a pilgrim, but a de-
' WhatCharlonthinketh ? now,' quoth he, ' the gallant liverer. His valour was matured by
prudence and moderation ; his piety,
Will he aid me against the prowess of Mahon ? '
Quoth Loeis, ' We will take counsel thereon, though blind, was sincere; and, in the
To-morrow in the morning shalt thou conne, tumult of a camp, he practised the real
If aught by us in this matter can be done.' and fictitious virtues of a convent. Su-
Guillaume heard this, — black was he as carbon.
He louted low, and seized a baton. perior to the private factions of the
And said to the king, ' Of your fief will I none, chiefs, he reserved his enmity for the
I will friend
Your not keep and sovassalmuch I ascease
a spur's
to beiron
anon; ; enemies of Christ; and though he
But come you shall, whether you will or non.' "
gained a kingdom by the attempt, his
pure and disinterested zeal was acknow-
He is said to have been taken prisoner ledged byhis rivals. Godfrey of Bouil-
and carried to Africa by the Moorish lon was accompanied by his two brothers,
King Tobaldo, whose wife Arabella he — by Eustace, the elder, who had suc-
first converted to Christianity, and then ceeded to the county of Boulogne, and
eloped with. by the younger, Baldwin, a character of
And who was Renouard? He was more ambiguous virtue. The Duke of
a young Moor, who was taken prisoner Lorraine was alike celebrated on either
and brought up at the court of Saint side of the Rhine ; from his birth and
Louis with the king's daughter Alice, education he was equally conversant with
whom, after achieving unheard of won- the French and Teutonic languages ; the
ders in battle and siege, he, being duly barons of France, Germany, and Lorraine
baptized, married. Later in life he also assembled their vassals ; and the confe-
became a monk, and frightened the bro- derate force that marched under his ban-
therhood byhis greediness, and by going ner was composed of four-score thousand
to sleep when he should have gone to foot and about ten thousand horse. "
mass. So say the old romances. 48. Robert Guiscard, foundkr of the
47. Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of kingdom of Naples, was the sixth of the
Lorraine, and leader of the First Cru- twelve sons of the Baron Tancred de
sade. He was bom in 1061, and died, Hauteville of the diocese of Coutance
king of Jerusalem, in 1109. Gibbon in Lower Normandy, where he was born
thus sketches his character, Decline and in the year 1015. In his youth he left
Fall, Ch. LVHL : "The first rank his father's castle as a military adven-
both in war and council is justly due to turer, and crossed the Alps to join the
Godfrey of Bouillon ; and happy would Norman anny in Apulia, whither three
it have been for the Crusaders, if they of his brothers had gone before him, and
674
NOTES TO PARADISO.

whither at different times six others founded with the practice of dissimula-
followed him. Here he gradually won tion and deceit ; and Robert is praised
his way by his sword ; and having ren- by the Apulian poet for excelling the
dered some signal service to Pope cunning of Ulysses and the eloquence ot
Nicholas II., he was made Duke of Cicero. Yet these arts were disguised
Apulia and Calabria, and of the lands by an appearance of military frankness ;
in Italy and Sicily which he wrested in his highest fortune he was accessible
■Vom the Greeks and Saracens. Thus and courteous to his fellow-soldiers ; and
from a needy adventurer he rose to be while he indulged the prejudices of his
the founder of a kingdom. "The Italian new subjects, he affected in his dress and
manners to maintain the ancient fashion
conquests of Robert," says Gibbon,
" correspond with the innits of the of his country. He grasped with a rapa-
present kingdom of Naples ; and the cious, that he might distribute with a
countries united by his arms have not liberal hand ; his primitive indigence
been dissevered by the revolutions of had taught the habits of frugality ; the
gain of a merchant was not below his
seven hundred years."
The same historian, Rise and Fall, attention ; and his prisoners were tor-
Ch. LVL, gives the following character tured with slow and unfeeling cruelty to
of Guiscard. "Robert was the eldest of force a discovery of their secret treasure.
the seven sons of the second marriage ; According to the Greeks, he departed
and even the reluctant praise of his foes from Normandy with only five followers
has endowed him with the heroic quali- on horseback and thirty on foot ; yet
ties of a soldier and a statesman. His even this allowance appears too bounti-
lofty stature surpassed the tallest of his ful ;the sixth son of Tancred of Haute-
army ; his limbs were cast in the true ville passed the Alps as a pilgrim ; and
proportion of strength and gracefulness ; his first military band was levied among
and to the decline of life, he maintained the adventurers of Italy. His brothers
the patient vigour of health and the and countrymen had divided the fertile
commanding dignity of his form. His lands of Apulia ; but they guarded their
complexion was ruddy, his shoulders shares with the jealousy of avarice ; the
were broad, his hair and beard were aspiring youth was driven forwards to
long and of a flaxen colour, his eyes the mountains of Calabria, and in his
sparkled with fire, and his voice, like first exploits against the Greeks and the
that of .\chilles, could impress obedience natives it is not easy to discriminate the
and terror amidst the tumult of battle. hero from the robber. To surprise a
In the ruder ages of chivalry, such quali- castle or a convent, to ensnare a wealthy
fications are not below the notice of the citizen, to plunder the adjacent villages
poet or historian ; they may observe that for necessary food, were the obscure
Robert, at once, and with equal dexterity, labours which formed and exercised the
could wield in the right hand his sword, powers of his mind and body. The
his lance in the left ; that in the battle of volunteers of Normandy adhered to his
Civiteila he was thrice unhorsed ; and standard ; and, under his command, the
that in the close of that memorable day peasants of Calabria assumed the name
he was adjudged to have borne away the and character of Normans. "
prize of valour from the warriors of the Robert died in 1085, on an expedition
two armies. His boundless ambition agaiiist Constantinople, undertaken at
was founded on the consciousness of the venerable age of seventy-five. Such
superior worth ; in the pursuit of great- was the career of Robert the Cunning,
ness he was never arrested by the scruples this being the meaning of the old Nor-
of justice, and seldom moved by the man word guiscard, or guischard. For
feelings of humanity ; though not msen- an instance of his cunning see Inf.
XXVIII. Note 14.
sible of fame, the choice of open or clan-
destine means was determined only by 63. The miracle is Beatrice, of whom
his present advantage. The surname of Dante says, in the Vita Nuova: "Many,
Guucard was applied to this master of when she had passed, said, 'This is not
political wisdom, which is too often con> a woman, rather is she one of the most
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

beautiful angels of heaven.' Others said, observation, and perhaps also to it belong
' She is a miracle. Blessed be the Lord, swiftness of mind, improvidence and
who can perform such a marvel ! ' " boldness m dangers, and patience and
67. The change from the red light of delay, and it signifies beatitude, and
Mars to the white light of Jupiter. "This acquisition, and victory, , . . , and vene-
planet," says Brunetto Latini, Tresor, I. ration, and kingdom, and kings, and
Ch. CXI., "is gentle and piteous,. and rich men, nobles and magnates, hope and
full of all good things." Of its symbol- joy, and cupidity in commodities, also
ism Dante, Cenvito, II. I4, says: "The of fortune, in new kinds of grain, and
heaven of Jupiter may be compared to harvests, and wealth, and security in all
Geometry on account of two properties. things, and good habits of mind, and
The first is, that it moves between two liberality, command and goodness, boast-
heavens repugnant to its good temperate- ing and bravery of mind, and boldness,
ness, as are that of Mars and that of true love and delight of supremacy over
Saturn ; whence Ptolemy says, in the the citizens of a city, delight of poten-
book cited, that Jupiter is a star of a tates and magnates, .... and beauty
temperate complexion, midway between and ornament of dress, and joy and
the coldness of Saturn and the heat of laughter, and affluence of speech, and
Mars. The second is, that among all glibness of tongue, .... and hate of
the stars it shows itself white, almost evil, and attachments among men, and
silvery. And these two things are in command of the known, and avoidance
Geometry. Geometry moves between of the unknown. These are the signifi-
two opposites ; as between the point and cations of the planet Jupiter, and such
the circle (and I call in general every- the influences it exerts."
thing round, whether a solid or a surface, way,
75. Milton, Par. Lost, VII. 425 :—
a circle) ; for, as Euclid says, the point
" Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
is the beginning of Geometry, and, as In common, ranged in figure, wedj?e their
he says, the circle is its most perfect
figure, and may therefore be considered Intelligent of seasons, and set forth
Their aery caravan, high over seas
its end ; so that between the point and Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing
the circle, as between beginning and end. Easing
cranetheir flight ; — so steers the prudent
Geometry moves. And these two are
opposed to its exactness ; for the point, Her annual voyage, borne on winds ;— the air
Hoats as they pass."
on account of its indivisibility, is immea-
surable ;and the circle, on account of 78. The first letters of the word
its arc, it is impossible to square, and Diligite, completed afterward.
therefore it is impossible to measure it 82. Dante gives this title to the Muse,
exactly. And moreover Geometry is because from the hoof-beat of Pegasus
very white, inasmuch as it is without spot sprang the fountain of the Muses, Hip-
of error, and very exact in itself and its pocrene. The invocation is here to
handmaiden, which is called Perspective." Calliope, the Muse of epic verse.
Of the influences of Jupiter, Buti, 91, 93. Wisdom of Solomon i. i ;
quoting as usual Albumasar, speaks "Love righteousness, ye that be judges
thus : " The planet Jupiter is of a cold, of the earth."
humid, airy, temperate nature, and sig- 100, Tennyson, Morte d* Arthur: —
nifies the natural soul, and life, and
" And drove his heel into the smouldered log,
animate bodies, children and grand-
children, and beauty, and wise men and That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue."
doctors of laws, and just judges, and 103. Divination by fire, and other
firmness, and knowledge, and intellect, childish fancies about sparks, such as
and interpretation of dreams, truth and wishes for golden sequins, and nuns
divine worship, doctrine of law and faith, going into a chapel.
religion, veneration and fear of God, Cowper, Names of Little Note in the
unity of faith and providence thereof,
Biogr. Brit. : —
and regulation of manners and behaviour, " So when a child, as playful children use,
and will be laudable, and signifies patient Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news.
676 NOTES TO PARADISO.

The flame extinct, he views the roving fire, — 32. Whether a good life outside the
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire. pale of the holy Catholic faith could lead
There goes the parson, O illustrious spark !
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the
to Paradise.
37. Dante here calls the blessed
clerk ! "
107. In this eagle, the symbol of sptrits lauds, or "praises of the grace
Imperialism, Dante displays his political divine," as in Inf. II. 103, he calls Bea-
faith. Among just rulers, this is the trice "the true praise of God."
shape in which the true government of 40. Mr. Cary quotes. Proverbs viii.
the world appears to him. In the invec- 27 : " When he prepared the heavens,
tive against Pope Boniface VIII., with I was there ; when he set a compass
which the canto closes, he gives still upon the face of the depth, .... then
further expression of his intense Impe- I was by him. "
rialism. And Milton, Par. Lost, VII. 221 : —
"And in his hand
111. The simplest interpretation of He took the golden compasses, prepared
this line seems to me preferable to the
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
mystic meaning which some commen- This Universe, and all created things.
tators lend it. The Architect who built One foot he centred, and the other turned
the heavens teaches the bird how to Round through the vast profundity obscure.
build its nest after the same model ;— And said : ' Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds.
This be thy just circumference, O World !' "
" The high.
Power which built the starry dome on
44. The Word or Wisdom of the
And poised the vaulted rafters of the sky,
Teaches the linnet with unconscious breast
Deity far exceeds any manifestation of it
in the creation.
To round the inverted heaven of her nest."
48. Shakespeare, Henry VIIL, III.
112. The other group of beatified
spirits. " Fling away ambition,
123. As Tertullian says: " The blood By that sin fell the angels."
of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
126. The bad example of the head of 2:49. — Dryden, Religio Laid, 39 :—
the Church. " How can the less the greater comprehend f
Or finite reason reach infinity ?
128. By excommunication, which shut
out its victims from the table of the For what could fathom God is more than He.''
Lord. 54. Milton, Par. Lost, VII. 168 :—
130. Pope Boniface VIII., who is
" Boundless the deep, because I Am, who fill
here accused of dealing out ecclesiasti- Infinitude, nor vacuous the space."
cal censures only to be paid for revoking
them. . 55. The human mind can never be
'.35' John the Baptist. But here is so powerful but that it will perceive the
meant his image on the golden florin of Divine Mind to be infinitely beyond its
Florence. comprehension ; or, as Buti interprets,
— reading _^// e/rt;T'^«/<i', which reading I
CANTO XIX. have followed, — " much greater than
what appears to the human mind, and
I. The Heaven of Jupiter continued.
12. The eagle speaks as one person, what the human intellect sees."
though composed of a multitude of 65. Milton, Par. Lost, I. 63 :—
spirits. Here Dante's idea of unity " No light, but rather darkness visible."
under the Empire finds expression.
28. This Mirror of Divine Justic? is 104, Galatians iii. 23 : " But before
faith came, we were kept under the law,
the planet Saturn, to which Dante al- shut up unto the faith which should
ludes in Canto IX. 61, where, speak-
ing of the Intelligences of Saturn, he afterwards be revealed."
106. Matthew vii. 21 : "Not every
says: — one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
" Above them,
us there arc mirrors, Thrones you call shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ;
From which shines out on us Cod Judi- but he that doeth the will of my Fathei
which is in heaven."
cant"
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

108. Dryden, Rcligio Laid, 208 : — From this event he received the surname
oi El Emplazado, the Summoned. It is
" Then those who followed Reason's dictates
right. said that his death was caused by intem-
Lived up, and lifted high her natural light,
With Socrates may see their Maker's face, perance.
The Bohemian is Winceslaus II., son
While thousand rubric martyrs want a place."of Ottocar. He is mentioned, Purg.
109. Matthew xii. 41 : "The men of VII. loi, as one "who feeds in luxury
Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this
and127.
ease."Charles II., king of Apulia,
generation, and shall condemn it." whose virtues may be represented by a
1 10. The righteous and the unright-
eous at the day of judgment. unit and his vices by a thousand. He
113. Revelation xy.. 12: "And I saw on was called the " Cripple of Jerusalem,"
the dead, small and great, stand before account of his lameness, and because
God ; and the books were opened : and as king of Apulia he also bore the title of
another book was opened, which is the Note King 79. of Jemsalem. See Purg. XX.
book of life : and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in 131. Frederick, son of Peter of Ara-
gon, and king, or in some form ruler
the books, according to their works." of Sicily, called from Mount Etna the
115. This is the "German Albert " " Island of the Fire." The Ottimo com-
of Pwg. VI. 97 :—
" O German Albert, who abandonest her ments thus : " Peter of Aragon was
That has grown savage and indomitable. liberal and magnanimous, and the author
And oiightest to bestride her saddle-bow. says that this man is avaricious and
May a just judgment from the stars down fall
Upon thy blood, and be it new and open pusillanimous." Perhaps his greatest
That thy successor may have fear thereof ; crime in the eyes of Dante was his aban-
Because thy father and thyself have suffered, doning the cause of the Imperialists.
By greed of those transalpine lands dis- 132. According to Virgil, Anchises
trained,
died in Sicily, " on the joyless coast of
The garden of the empire to be waste."
The deed which was so soon to move Drepanum." ALneid, III 708, David-
son's Tr. : " Here, alas ! after being
the pen of the Recording Angel was the tossed by so many storms at sea, I lose
invasion of Bohemia in 1303. my sire Anchises, my solace in every care
120. Philip the Fair of France, who, and suffering. Here thou, best of fathers,
after his deieat at Courtray in 1302, fal- whom in vain, alas ! I saved from so
sified the coin of the realm, with which great dangers, forsakest me, spent with
he paid his troops. He was killed in
1314 by a fall from his horse, caused by 134. 'In diminutive letters, and not in
the attack of a wild boar. Dante uses Romanfcapitals, like the Diligite Jus-
toils."
the word coteiina, the skin of the wild TITIAM of Canto XVIII. 91, and the
boar, for the boar itself. record of the virtues and vices of the
122. The allusion here is to the border
wars between John Baliol of Scotland, " Cripple of Jerusalem."
137. The uncle of Frederick of Sicily
and Edward I. of England. was James, king of the Balearic Islands.
125. Most of the commentatoi"s say He joined Philip the Bold of France in
that this king of Spain was one of the his disastrous invasion of Catalonia ; and
Alphonsos, but do not agree as to which in consequence lost his own crown.
one. Tommaseo says it was Ferdinand The brother of Frederick was James
IV. (1295- 13 1 2), an^ he is probably of Aragon, who, on becoming king of
right It was this monarch, or rather that realm, gave up Sicily, which his
his generals, who took Gibraltar from father had acquired.
the Moors. In 13 12 he put to death By these acts they dishonoured their
unjustly the brothers Carvajal, who on native land and the crowns they wore.
the scaffold summoned him to appear 139. Dionysius, king of Portugal, who
before the judgment-seat of God within reigned from 1279 to 1325. The Ottimo
thirty days ; and before the time had says that, "given up wholly to the ac-
expired he was found dead upon his sofa. quisition of wealth, he led the life of a
678 NOTES TO FARAD/SO.

merchant, and had money dealings with well he may call him beast," says the
all the great merchants of his reign ; no- Ottimo, " for he was wholly given up to
thing regal, nothing magnificent, can be lust and sensuality, which should be far
recorded of him." removed from every king."
Philalethes is disposed to vindicate 148. Upon this line Benvenuto com-
the character of Dionysius against these ments with unusual vehemence. "This
aspersions, and to think them founded king," he says, "does not differ nor
only in the fact that Dionysius loved depart from the side of the other beasts ;
the arts of peace better than the more that is, of the other vicious kings. And
shining art of war, joined in no crusade of a truth, Cyprus with her people dif-
against the Moors, and was a patron of fereth not, nor is separated from the
manufactures and commerce. bestial life of the rest ; rather it stir-
The Ottimd's note on this nameless passeth and exceedeth all peoples and
Norwegianat isthecurious : "As extremities
his islands are kings of the kingdoms of Christendom
situated uttermost of in superfluity of luxury, gluttony, ef-
the earth, so his life is on the extreme of feminacy, and every kind of pleasure.
reasonableness and civilization." But to attempt to describe the kinds,
Benvenuto remarks only that " Nor- the sumptuousness, the variety, and the
way is a cold northern region, where the frequency of their banquets, would be
days are very short, and whence come disgusting to narrate, and tedious and
excellent falcons." Buti is still more harmful to write. Therefore men who
brief. He says : " That is, the king of live soberly and temperately should avert
Norway." Neither of these commenta- tiieir eyes from beholding, and their ears
tors, nor any of the later ones, suggest from hearing, tlie meretricious, lewd,
the name of this monarch, except the and fetid manners of that island, which,
Germans, Philalethes and Witte, who
with God's permission, the Genoese have
think it may be Eric the Priest-hater, or now invaded, captured, and evil en-
Hakon Longshanks. treated and laid under contribution."
140. Rascia or Ragusa is a city in
Dalmatia, situated on the Adriatic, and
capital of the kingdom of that name. CANTO XX.
The king here alluded to is Uroscius II.,
I. The Heaven of Jupiter continued.
who married a daughter of the Emperor
Michael Palaeologus, and counterfeited 3. Coleridge, Ancient Mariner :—
the Venetian coin.
' The sun's rim dips ; the stars rush out ;
141. In this line I have followed the At one stride comes the dark,"
reading male ha vislo, instead of the more
common one, male aggiustb. 5. Blanco White, M^/tt ;—
142. The Ottimo comments as fol- ' Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew
Thee,name, from report divine, and heard th>
lows :"Here he reproves the vile and
unseemly lives of the kings of Hungary, Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,
down to Andrea " (Dante's contempo- This glorious canopy of light and blue?
rary), "whose life tlie Hungarians Yet 'neath a curtain of translucent dew,
Bathed in the rays of the creat setting flame,
praised, and whose death they wept." Hesperus with the host ot neaven came,
144. If it can make the Pyrenees a
WhoAnd could
lo ! creation widened in man's view.
bulwark to protect it against the invasion find. have thought such darkness lay
concealed
of Philip the Fair of France. It was not
till four centuries later that Louis XIV. Within thy beams, O Sun I or who could
vealed,
Whilst fly, and leaf, and insect stood re-
niade his famous boast, '■'■ Iln'y a plusde
Pyrenees. " lliat to such countless orbs thou mad'st us
145. In proof of this prediction the blind ?
examj)lc of Cyprus is given. Why do we, then, shun death with anxious
146. Nicosia and Famagosta are cities strife ?
of Cyprus, here taken for the whole If Light can thus deceive, wherefore not
island, in 1300 badly governed by Henry
II. of the house of the Lusignaui. "And 37. King David, who carried the Arl^

Life f '■
 NOTES TO FARAD ISO.

of the Covenant from Kirjath-jearim to gifts .md robes, so that he might have a
the house of Obed-Edom, and thence to cause to depart. If he was wise, he de-
Jerusalem. See 2 Samuel vi. parted ;if not, he was politely dis-
41. In so far as the Psalms were the missed." The Vicar of Wakefield seems
result of his own free will, and not of to have followed the example of the good
divine inspiration. As in Canto VI. King William, for he says : " When
118:— any one of our relations was found to be
a person of very bad character, a trouble-
" But in commensuration of our wages
With our desert is portion of our joy,
some guest, or one we desired to get rid
Because we see them neither less nor of, upon his leaving my house I ever
took care to lend him a riding-coat, or a
greater." pair of boots, or sometimes a horse of
44. The Emperor Trajan, whose soul small value, and I always had the satis-
was saved by the prayers of St. Gregory. faction of finding he never came back to
For the story of the poor widow, see
Purg. X. 73, and note. return
68. Athem."
Trojan hero slain at the sack of
49. King Ilezekiah.
Troy, ALiieid, II. 426 : " Ripheus also
51. 2 Kings XX. II :— "And Isaiah falls, the most just among the Trojan?,
the prophet cried unto the Lord ; and
and most observant of the right."
he brought the shadow ten degrees back- Venturi thinks that, if Dante must
ward, bywhich it had gone down in the needs introduce a Pagan into Paradise,
dialofAhaz." he would have done better to have
55. Constantine, who transferred the chosen ^neas, who was the hero of his
seat of empire, the Roman law^s, and the master, Virgil, and, moreover, the
Roman standard to Byzantium, thus in founder of the Roman empire.
a poetic sense becoming a Greek.
56. This refers to the supposed gift of 73, The word " expatiate" is here
used in the sense given it by Milton in
Constantine to Pope Sylvester, known the following passage. "Par.
As bees,Lost. I.
in ecclesiastical history as the patrimony
of Saint Peter, Inf. XXI, 115 :—
In spring-time when the sun with Taurus rides,
" Ah, Constantine ! of how much woe was Pour forth their populous youth about the hive
768:—
mother, In clusters ; they, among fresh dews and flowers,
Not thy conversion, but that marriage- Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,
dower
Which the first wealthy Father took from The
New suburb
rubbed ofwith
theirbalm,
straw-'.tuilt
expatiatecitadel,
and confer
thee ! " Their state-affairs."
See also the note, Landor, Pentameron, p. 92, says :
62. William the Second, sumamed " All the verses that ever were written
the Good, son of Robert Guiscard, and on the nightingale are scarcely worth the
king of Apulia and Sicily, which king- beautiful triad of this divine poet on the
doms were then lamenting the living lark. In the first of them, do not you
presence of such kings as Charles the see the twinkling of her wings against
Lame, "the Cripple of Jerusalem," the sky ? As often as I repeat them, my
king of Apulia, and Frederick of Ara- ear is satisfied, my heart (like hers) con-
gon, king of Sicily.
" King Guilielmo," says the Ottinio, 92, In scholastic language the quid-
tented."
dity of a thing is its essence, or that by
" was just and reasonable, loved his sub-
jects, and kept them in such peace, that which it is what it is.
living in Sicily might then be esteemed 94. Matthew xi. 12 : " And from the
living in a terrestrial paradise. He was days of John the Baptist until now the
liberal to all, and proportioned his kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
bounties to the virtue [of the receiver]. and the violent take it by force."
And he had this rule, that if a vicious or 100, Trajan and Ripheus,
evil-speaking courtier came to his court, 105, Ripheus lived before Christ, and
he was immediately noticed by the Trajan after.
masters of ceremony, and provided with Shakespeare, King Henry IV., I. I :—
68o NOTES TO PARADISO.

" In those holy fields of time passes ; both on acco^tr.t of it\-

Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, demonstrations, which are more than in
\Vhich fourteen hundred years ago were nailed,
For our advantage, on the bitter cross." any of the above-mentioned sciences,
and on account of the experience whicli
1 06. Trajan. is necessary to judge rightly in it. And,
111. Being in hell, he could not re- moreover, it is the highest of all ; for, as
pent ;being resuscitated, his inclinations Aristotle says at the beginning of his
could turn towards good. treatise on the Soul, Science is of higli
112. The legend of Trajan is, that by
nobility, from the nobleness of its sub-
the prayers of St. Gregory the Great he ject, and from its certainty ; and this
was restored to life, after he had been
more than any of the above-mentioned
dead four hundred years ; that he lived is noble and high, from its noble and
long enough to be baptized, and was then high subject, which is the movement of
received into Paradise. See Ptfg. X. the heavens ; and high and noble from
Note 73. its certainty, which is without any defect,
118. Ripheus. "This is a fiction of as one that proceeds from a most perfect
our author," says Buti, "as the intelli- and regular source. And if any one
gent reader may imagine ; for there is thinks there is any defect in it, the defect
no proof that Ripheus the Trojan is is not on the side of the Science, but, as
saved." Ptolemy says, it comes from our negli-
127. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
gence, and to that it should be attri-
Pu?g. XXIX. 121 :—
" Three ladies at the right wheel in a circle Of the influences of Saturn, Buti,
Came onward dancing ; one so very red
That in the fire she hardly had been noted.quoting
buted." Albumasar, says : "The nature
The second was as if her flesh and bones of Saturn is cold, dry, melancholy,
Had all been fashioned out of emerald ; sombre, of grave asperity, and may be
The third appeared as snow cold and moist, and of ugly colour, and
but newly
is of much eating and of true love. . . .
fallen."
And it signifies ships at sea, and jour-
F30. Romans ix. 20: "Nay but, O neyings long and perilous, and malice,
man, who art thou that repliest against
God ? Shall the thing formed say to and envy, and tricks, and seductions,
him that formed it. Why hast thou made and boldness in dangers, . . . and sin-
me thus ? Had not the potter power gularity, and little companionship of
over the clay, of the same lump to make men, and pride and magnanimity, and
one vessel unto honour, and another unto simulation and boasting, and servitude
of rulers, and every deed done with force
dishonour ?"
and malice, and injuries, and anger, and
CANTO XXL strife, and bonds and imprisonment,
truth in words, delight, and beauty, and
I. The Heaven of Saturn, where are intellect ; experiments and diligence in
seen the Spirits of the Contemplative. cunning, and affluence of thought, and
"This planet," says Brunetto Latini, profoundness of counsel. , . . And it
" is cruel, felonious, and of a cold signifies old and ponderous men, and
nature." Danle, Convito, H. 14, makes gravity and fear, lamentation and. sad-
it the symbol of Astrology. "The ness, embarrassment of mind, and fraud,
and affliction, and destruction, and loss,
Heaven of Saturn," he says, "has two
l)roperties by whicii it may be compared and dead men, and remains of the dead ;
to Astrology. The first is the slowness weeping and orphanhood, and ancient
of its movement through the twelve things, ancestors, uncles, elder brothers,
signs ; for, according to the writings of servants and muleteers, and men de-
Astrologers, its revolution requires spised, and robbers, and those who dig
twenty-nine years and more. The graves, and those who steal the garments
second is, that it is the highest of all the of the dead, and tanners, vituperators,
planets. And these two properties are magicians, and warriors, and vile men."
m Astrology ; for in completing its 6. Semele, the daughter of Cadmus,
circle, that is, in learning it, a great space who besought her lover, Jupiter, to come
 68i
NOTES TO PARADISO.

to her, as he went to Juno, "in all the Times of Dante, Mrs. Bunbury's Tr.,
pomp of his divinity." Ovid, Alet., II. 218, describes this region as follows:
III., Addison's Tr. :- "The monastery is built on the steepest
mountains of Umbria. Catria, the giant
" The mortal dame, too feeble to engage
of the Apennines, hangs over it, and so
The lightning's
Consumed amidstflashes and theshethunder's
the glories desired, rage, overshadows it that in some months of
And in the terrible embrace expired." the year the light is frequently shut out.
13. To the planet Saturn, which was A difficult and lonely path through the
now in the sign of the Lion, and sent forests leads to the ancient hospitium of
down its influence warmed by the heat these courteous hermits, who point out
of tliis constellation. the apartments where their predecessors
lodged Alighieri. We may read his
27. I'he peaceful reign of Saturn, in name repeatedly on the walls ; the
the Age of Gold.
marble effigy of him bears witness to the
29. "As in Mars," comments the honourable care with which the memory
Ottimo, " he placed the Cross for a stair- of the great Italian is preserved from age
way, to denote that through martyrdom
the spirits had ascended to God ; and in to age in that silent retirement. The
Prior Moricone received him there in
Jupiter, the Eagle, as a sign of the
1318, and the annals of Avellana relate
Empire ; so here he places a golden
stairway, to denote that the ascent of this event with pride. But if they had
been silent, it would be quite sufficient
these souls, which was by contemplation, to have seen Catria, and to liave read
is more supreme and more lofty than any
other." Dante's description of it, to be assured
that he ascended it. There, from the
35. Shakespeare, Macbeth, III. 2 :— woody summit of the rock, he gazed
"The crow
upon his country, and rejoiced in the
Makes wing to the rooky wood." thought that he was not far from her.
He struggled with his desire to return to
Henry Vaughan, The Bee :— her ; and when he was able to return, he
" And hard by shelters on some bough banished himself anew, not to submit to
Hilarion's servant, the wise crow." dishonour. Having descended the moun-
And Tennyson, Locksley Hall : — tain, he admired the ancient manners
of the inhabitants of Avellana, but he
" As the many-wintered crow that leads the showed little indulgence to his hosts,
clanging rookery home."
who appeared to him to have lost their
43. The spirit of Peter Damiano. old virtues. At this time, and dunng
46. Beatrice. his residence near Gubbio, it seems that
63. Because your mortal ear could not he must have written the five cantos of
endure the sound of our singing, as your the Paradiso after the twentieth ; because
mortal eye could not the splendour of when he mentions Florence in the twenty-
Beatrice's smile. first canto he speaks of Catria, and in
81. As in Canto XII. 3 :— what he says in the twenty-fifth, of wish-
ing to receive his poetic crown at his
" Began the holy millstone to revolve." baptismal font, we can perceive his hope
90. As in Canto XIV. 40 :— to be restored to his country and his
beautiful fold (ovile) when time should
" Its brightness is proportioned to its ardour. have overcome the difficulties of the
The ardour to the vision ; and the vision
Equals what grace it has above its worth." manner of his return."
Ampere, Voyage Dantesqite, p. 265,
106. AmonjT the Apennines, east of describes his visit to the monastery of
Arezzo, rises Mount Catria, sometimes Fonte Avellana, and closes thus : —
called, from its forked or double sum- " They took particular pleasure in
mit, the Forca di Fano. On its slope leading us to an echo, the wonder of
stands the monastery of Santa Croce di Avellana, and the most powerful I ever
Fonte Avellana. Troya, in his Veltro heard. It repeats distinctly a whole line
Alkgorico, as quoted in Balbo's Life and of verse, and even a line and a half. I
682 NOTES TO PAR A DISC.

amused myself in making the rocks 1072, being "fourscore and three years
address to the great poet, whom they old," died on his way to Rome, in the
had seen wandering among their sum- convent of our Lady near Faenza.
mits, what he said of Homer, — Of his life at Fonte Avellana, Butler,
Lwes of the Saints, (Feb. 23,) II. 217,
" Onorate l' altissimo poeta."
says : " Whatever austerities he pre-
The Une was distinctly articulated by scribed to others he was tlie fii'st to
the voice of the mountain, which seemed practise himself, remitting nothir^ of
to be the far-off and mysterious voice of them even in his old age. He lived
the poet hjmsel£ .... shut up in his cell as in a prison, fisted
" In order to find the recollection of every day, except festivals, and allowed
Dante more present tlian in the cells, himself no other subsistence than coai"se
and even in the chamber of the inscrip- bread, bran, herbs, and water, and this
tion, Iwent out at night, and sat upon a he never drank fresh, but what he had
jgtone a little above the monastery. The kept from the day before. He tortured
moon was not visible, being still hidden his body with iron girdles and frequent
by the immense peaks ; but I could see disciplines, to render it more obedient to
some of the less elevated summits struck the spirit. He passed the three first
by her first glimmerings. The chants of days of every Lent and Advent without
the monks came up to me through the taking any kind of nourishment whatso-
darkness, and mingled with the bleating ever ; and often for forty days together
of a kid lost in the mountains. I saw lived only on raw herbs and fruits, or on
through the window of the choir a white pulse steeped in cold water, without
monk prostrate in prayer. I thought touching so much as bread, or anything
that perhaps Dante had sat upon that which nad passed the fire. A mat
stone, that he had contemplated those spread on tlie floor was his bed. He
rocks, that moon, and heard those chants used to make wooden spoons and such
always the same, like the sky and the like useful mean things to exercise him-
mountains." self at certain hours in manual labour."
no. This hermitage, according to 122. It is a question whether Peter
Butler, Lives of the Saints, IL 2I2, was Damiano and Peter the Sinner are the
founded by the blessed Ludolf, about same person, or whether by the latter
twenty years before Peter Damiano came is meant Peter Onesti of Ravenna ; for
to it. both in their humility took that name.
1 1 2. Thus it began speaking £or the The solution of the question depends
third time, upon the reading fui or fu in this line ;
121. St, Peter Damiano was bom of and of twenty-eight printed editions con-
a poor family at Ravenna, about 988 ; sulted byBarlow, fourteen were for fui,
and, being left an orphan in his child- and fourteen for fu. Of the older com-
hood, went to live with an elder brother, mentators, the Ottimo thinks two distinct
who set him to tending swine. Another persons are meant ; Benvenuto and Buti
brother, who was a priest at Ravenna, decitle in favour of one,
took compassion on him, and educated
him. He in turn became a teacher ; trjaBenvenuto I was called interprets thusj "In andCa-I
Peter Damiano,
and, being of an ascetic turn of mind, he was Peter the Sinner in the monastery of
called himself Peter the .Sinner, wore a Santa Maria in Porto at Ravenna on the
hair shiit, and was assiduous in fasting shore of the Adriatic. Some persons
and prayer. Two Benedictine monks of maintain, that this Peter the Sinner was
the monastery of Fonte Avellapa, pass- another monk of the order, which is
ing through Ravenna, stopped at the evidently false, because Damiano gives
house wliere lie lodged ; and he resolvefl his real name in Catria, and here names
to join their brotherhood, which he did himself [Sinner] from humility "
soon afterward. In 1041 he became Buti says; " I was first a friar called
Abbot of the monastery, and in 1057, Peter the Sinner, in the Order of Santa
Cardinal. Bishop of Ostia. In 1062 he Maria And aftei-wards he went
returned to Fonte Avellana ; and in from tliere to the monastery at the
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

hermitage of Catria, having become a for their mantles are so long, ample, and
monk." capacious, that they cover man and horse.
Hence, he says,
125. In 1057, when he was made Car-
dinal-Bishop ofOstia.
127. Cephas is St. Peter. John i. ' So that two beasts go underneath one skin ' ;
42 : " Thou art Simon the son of Jona ; that is the beast who carries, and he who
Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is,
is carried, and is more beastly than the
by interpretation, a stone." The Ottimo beast himself. And, truly, had the author
seems to have forgotten this passage of
lived at the present day he might have
Scripture when he wrote: "Cephas, changed this phrase and said,
that is, St. Peter, so called from the
large head he had (cephas, that is to say, ' So that three beasts go underneath one skin ' ;
head)."
The mighty Vessel of the Holy Spirit namely, cardinal, concubine, and horse ;
is St. Paul. Acts ix. 15 : " He is a as I have heard of one, whom I knew
chosen vessel unto me." well, who used to carry his concubine to
129. Luke X. 1 : "And in the same hunt on the crupper of his horse or mule.
house remain, eating and drinking such And truly he was like a horse or mule,
things as they give : for the labourer is in which there is no understanding j
worthy of his hire." that
God, is, without reason. On account oi
130. The commentary of Benvenuto these things, Peter in anger cries out to
da Imola upon this passage is too strik-
ing to be omitted here. The reader may
imagine the impression it produced upon ' O Patience, that dost tolerate so much !' "
the audience when the Professor first
read it publicly in his lectures at Bologna, 142. A cry so loud that he could
not distinguish the words these spirits
in 1389, eighty-eight years a'fter Dante's uttered.
death, though this impression may have
been somewhat softened by its being de-
livered inLatin :— CANTO xxn.
" Here Peter Damiano openly rebukes
the modern shepherds as being the oppo- I. The Heaven of Saturn continued ;
site of the Apostles before-mentioned, and the ascent to the Heaven of the
saying, — Fixed Stars.
' Now some one to support them on each side 31. It is the spirit of St. Benedict that
The modem shepherds need ' ;
speaks.
37. Not far from Aquinum in the
that is to say, on the right and on the Terra di Lavoro, the birthplace of Juve-
left;
nal and of Thomas Aquinas, rises Monte
' And some to lead them, Cassino, celebrated for its Benedictine
So heavy are they' ; monastery. The following description
that is, so fat and corpulent. I have of the spot is from a letter in the London
seen many such at the Court of Rome. Daily Nnw, February 26, 1866, in which
And this is in contrast with the lean- the writer pleads earnestly that this mo-
ness of Peter and Paul before men- nastery may escape the doom of all the
tioned. Religious Orders in Italy, lately pro-
' And to hold their trains," nounced bythe Italian Parliament.
" The monastery of Monte Cagsino
because they have long cloaks, sweeping stands exactly half-way between Rome
the ground with their trains. And this and Naples, From the top of the Monte
too is in contrast with the nakedness of Cairo, which rises immediately above it,
the afore-mentioned Apostles. And can be seen to the north the summit ol
therefore, stung with grief, he adds, Monte Cave, so conspicuous from Rome ;
and to the south, the hill of the Neapo-
' They cover up their palfreys with their cloaks,' litan Camaldoli. From the terrace ol
fat and sleek, as they themselves are ; the monastery the eye rr. :es£ t)\er 2 the
684
NOTES TO PARADISO.

richest and most beautiful valley of Italy, harder than any body of Oxford or Cam-
the bridge fellows I am acquainted with ;
' Rura quae Liris qiiieta they educated two hundred boys, and
Mordet aqua tacitumus amnis. ' fifty novices; they kept up all the ser-
The river can be traced through the lands vices of their cathedral ; the care of the
of Aquinum and Pontecorvo, till it is lost archives included a laborious correspon-
in the haze which covers the plain of dence with literary men of all nations ;
Sinuessa and Minturnae ; a small strip they entertained hospitably any visitors
of sea is visible just beyond the mole of who came to them ; besides this, they
Gaeta had just completed a fac-simile of their
" In this interesting but little known splendid manuscript of Dante, in a large
and uncivilized country, the monastery folio volume, which was edited and
has been the only centre of religion and printed by their own unassisted labour.
intelligence for nearly 1350 years. It This was intended as an offering to the
wjs founded by St. Benedict in 529, and kingdom of Italy in its new capital, and
is the parent of all the greatest Bene- rumour says that they have incurred the
dictine monasteries in .the world. In displeasure of the Pope by their liberal
589 the monks, driven out by the Lom- opinions. On eveiy ground of respect
bards, took refuge in Rome, and re- for prescription and civilization, it would
mained there for 130 years. In 884 the nastery.
be a gross injustice to destroy this mo-
monasteiy was burned by the Saracens,
but it was soon after restored. With " ' If we are saved,' one of the monks
these exceptions it has existed without a said to me, 'it will be by tlie public
break from its foundation till the present opinion of Europe.' It is the most en-
day. lightened part of that opinion which I am
" There is scarcely a Pope or Emperor anxious to rouse in their behalf. "
of importance who has not been per- In the palmy days of the monastery
sonally connected with its history. From the Abbot of Monte Cassino was the
its mountain crag it has seen Goths, Lom- First Baron of the realm, and is said to
bards, Saracens, Normans, Frenchmen, have held all the rights and privileges
Spaniards, Germans, scour and devastate of other barons, and even criminal juris-
the land which, through all modem his- diction inthe land. This the inhabitants
tory, has attracted every invader. of the town of Cassino found so intoler-
"It is hard that, after it has escaped able, that they tried to buy the right
the storms of war and rapine, it should with all the jewels of the women and all
be destroyed by peaceful and enlightened the silver of their households. When
legislation. the law for the suppression of the con-
" I do not, however, wish to plead its vents passed, they are said to have cele-
cause on sentimental grounds. The mo- brated the event with great enthusiasm ;
nastery contains a library which, in spite but the monks, as well they might, sang
of the pilfering of the Popes, and the wan- an Oremtis in their chapel, instead of a
ton burnings of Championnet, is still one Te Deum.
of the richest in Italy ; while its archives For a description of the library of
are, I believe, unequalled in the world. Monte Cassino in Boccaccio's time, see
Letters of the Lombard kings who Note 75 of this canto.
reigned at Pavia, of Hildebrand and the 40. St. Benedict was born at Norcia,
Countess Matilda, of Gregory and Char- in the Duchy of Spoleto, in 480, and
lemagne, are here no rarities. Since died at Monte Cassino in 543. In his
the days of Panlus Diaconus in the eighth early youth he was sent to school in
century, it has contained a succession Rome ; but being shocked at the wild
of monks devoted to literature. His life of Roman school-boys, he fled from
mantle has descended in these later days the city at the age of fourteen, and hid
to Abate Tosti, one of the most accom- himself among the mountains of Subiaco,
flished of contemporary Italian writers, some forty miles away. A monk from a
n the Easter of last year, I found twenty neighbouring convent gave him a mo-
nastic dress, and pointed out to him a
iBonkv in the monastery : they worked'
 NOTES TO PAR AD ISO.

cave, in which he lived for three years, the roses, which the legend says have
the monk supplying him with food, been propagated from the briers in which
which he let down to him from above by the saint rolled himself as a penance.
a cord.
But he had outward foss, as well as in-
In this retreat he was finally discovered ward, to contend with, and they finally
by some shepherds, and the fame of his drove him from Subiaco to Monte Cas-
sanctity was spread through the land. sino.
The mojiks of Vicovara chose him for Montalemlyert, Monks of the West,
their Abbot, and then tried to poison Authorised Tr., II., 16, says :—
him in his wine. He left them and
"However, Benedict had the ordinary
returned to Subiaco ; and there built fate of great men and saints. The g;reat
twelve monasteries, placing twelve monks number of conversions worked by the
with a superior in each. example and fame of his austerity, awak-
Of the scenery of Subiaco, Lowell, ened a homicidal envy against him. A
Fireside Travels, p. 271, gives the fol- wicked priest of the neighbourhood at-
lowing sketch : " Nothing can be more tempted first to decry and then to poison
lovely than the scenery about Subiaco. him. Being unsuccessful in both, he
The town itself is built on a kind of cone endeavoured, at least, to injure him in
rising from the midst of a valley abound- the object of his most tender solicitude —
ing in olives and vines, with a superb in the souls of his young disciples. For
mountain horizon around it, and the that purpose he sent, even into the gar-
green Anio cascading at its feet. As den of the monastery where Benedict
you walk to the high-perched convent of dwelt and where the monks laboured,
San Benedetto, you look across the river seven wretched women, whose gestures,
on your right just after leaving the town, sports, and shameful nudity were de-
to a cliff over which the ivy pours in tor- signed to tempt the young monks to
rents, and in which dwellings have been certain fall. Who does not recognise in
hollowed out. In the black doorway of this incident the mixture of barbarian
every one sits a woman in scarlet bodice rudeness and frightful corruption which
and white head-gear, with a distaff, characterise ages of decay and transition?
spinning, while overhead countless night- When Benedict, from the threshold of
ingales sing at once from the fringe of his cell, perceived these shameless crea-
shrubbery. The glorious great white tures, he despaired of his work ; he
clouds look over the mountain-tops into acknowledged that the interest of his
our enchanted valley, and sometimes a beloved children constrained him to dis-
lock of their vapoury wool would be torn arm so cruel an enmity by retreat. He
off, to lie for awhile in some inaccessible
appointed superiors to the twelve mo-
ravine like a snow-drift ; but it seemed nasteries which he had founded, and,
as if no shadow could fly over our privacy taking with him a small number of dis-
of sunshine to-day. The approach to ciples, he left for ever the wild gorges of
the monastery is delicious. You pass Subiaco, where he had lived for thirty-
out of the hot sun into the green shadows five years.
of ancient ilexes, leaning and twisting " Without withdrawing from the
every way that is graceful, their branches mountainous region which extends along
velvety with brilliant moss, in which the western side of the Apennines,
grow feathery ferns, fringing them with Benedict directed his steps towards the
a halo of verdure. Then comes the con- south, along the Abruzzi, gind penetrated
vent, with its pleasant old monks, who into that Land of Labour, the name ol
show their sacred vessels (one by Cellini) which seems naturally suited to a soil
and their relics, among which is a finger- destined to be the cradle of the most
bone of one of the Innocents. Lower laborious men whom the world has
down is a convent of Santa Scolastica, known. He ended his journey in a
where the first book was printed in scene very different from that of Subiaco,
Italy." but of incomparable grandeur and ma-
In the gardens of the convent of San jesty. There, upon the boundaries of
Benedetto still bloom, in their season, Samnium and Campania, in the centre
Z Z 2
686 NOTES TO PARADISO.

of a large basin, half surrounded by ciples a perfect model for their imitation,
abrupt and picturesque heights, rises a and a transcript of his rule. Being
scarped and isolated hill, the vast and chosen by God, like another Moses, to
rounded summit of which overlooks the conduct faithful souls into the true pro-
course of the Liris near its fountain- mised land, the kingdom of heaven, he
head, and the undulating plain which was enriched with eminent supernatural
extends south towards the shores of the gifts, even those of miracles and pro-
Mediterranean, and the narrow valleys phecy. He seemed like another Eliseus,
which, towards the north, the east, and endued by God with an extraordinary
the west, lose themselves in the lines of power, commanding all nature, and, like
the mountainous horizon. This is Monte the ancient prophets, foreseeing future
Cassino. At the foot of this rock, Bene- events. He often raised the sinking
dict found an amphitheatre of the time courage of his monks, and liaffled the
of the Caesars, amidst the ruins of the various artifices of the Devil with the
town of Casinum, which the most sign of the cross, rendered the heaviest
learned and pious of Romans, Varro, stone light in building his monastery by
that pagan Benedictine, whose memory a short prayer, and, in presence of a
and knowledge the sons of Benedict multitude of people, raised to life a
took pleasure in honouring, had rendered novice who had been crushed by the fall
illustrious. From the summit the pros- of a wall at Mount Cassino. "
pect extended on one side towards Arpi- A story of St. Benedict and his sister
num, where the prince of Roman orators Scholastica is thus told by Mrs. Jame-
was bom, and on the other towards son, Legends of Monastic Orders, p. 12 :
Aquinum, already celebrated as the " I'owards the close of his long life
birthplace of Juvenal, before it was Benedict was consoled for many trou-
known as the country of the Doctor bles by the arrival of his sister Scholas-
Angelicus, which latter distinction should tica, who had already devoted herself to
make the name of this little town known a religious life, and now took up her
among all Christians. residence in a retired cell about a league
"It was amidst these noble recollec- and a half from his convent. Very little
tions, this solemn nature, and upon that is known of Scholastica, except that she
predestinated height, that the patriarch emulated her brother's piety and self-
of the monks of the West founded the denial ; and although it is not said that
capital of the monastic order. He she took any vows, she is generally con-
found paganism still surviving there. sidered as the first Benedictine nun.
Two hundred years after Constantine, When she followed her brother to Monte
in the heart of Christendom, and so near Cassino, she drew around her there a
Rome, there still existed a very ancient small community of pious women ; but
temple of Apollo and a sacred wood, nothing more is recorded of her, except
where a multitude of peasants sacrificed that he used to visit her once a year.
to the gods and demons. Benedict On one occasion, when they had been
preached the faith of Christ to these for- conversing together on spiritual matters
gotten people ; he persuaded them totill rather late in the evening, Benedict
cut down the wood, to overthrow the rose to depart ; his sister entreated him
temple and the idol." to remain a little longer, but he refused.
On the ruins of this temple he built Scholastica then, bending her head over
two chapels, and higher up the moun- her clasped hands, prayed that Heaven
tain, in 529, laid the foundation of his would interfere and render it impossible
famous monastery. Fourteen years for her brother to leave her. Imme-
afterwards he died in the church of diately there came on such a furious
this monastery, standing with his arms tempest of rain, thunder, and lightning,
stretched out in prayer. that Benedict was obliged to delay his
" St. Bennet, says Butler, Lives of departure for some hours. As soon as
the Saints, III. 235, "calls his Order the storm had subsided, he took leave of
a schcol in which men learn how to his sister, and returned to the monas-
ler ve God ; aud his life was to his dis- tery ;it was a last meeting ; .St. Scho-
 687

NOTES TO PARADISO.

lastica died two days afterwards, and St. At the age of twenty he saw his father
Benedict, as he was praying in his cell, kill his adversary in a duel ; and, smit-
beheld the soul of his sister ascending to ten with remorse, imagined that he must
heaven in the fonii of a dove. This expiate the crime by doing penance in
incident is often found in the pictures his own person. He accordingly retired
painted for the Benedictine nuns." to a Benedictine convent in the neigh-
For the history of the monastery of bourhood of Ravenna, and became a
Monte Cassino see the Chron. Monast. monk. At the end of seven years,
Casiniettsis, in Muratori, Script. Ker. scandalised with the irregular lives of
Ital., IV., and Dantier, Monastlres the brotherhood, and their disregard of
Binedictiiis a'ltalie. the rules of the Order, he undertook the
49. St. Macarius, who established difficult task of bringing them back to
the monastic rule of the East, as St. the austere life of their founder. After
Benedict did that of the West, was a a conflict of many years, during which
confectioner of Alexandria, who, carried he encountered and overcame the usual
away by religious enthusiasm, became perils that beset the path of a reformer,
an anchorite in the Thebaid of Upper he succeeded in winning over some hun-
Egypt, about 335. In 373 he came to dreds of his brethren, and established
Lower Egypt, and lived in the Desert of his new Order of Reformed Benedic-
tines.
the Cells, so called from the great mul-
titude of its hermit-cells. He had also St. Romualdus built many monas-
hermitages in the deserts of Scete and teries but
; chief among them is that of
Nitria ; and in these several places he Camaldoli, thirty miles east of Florence,
passed upwards of sixty years in holy which was founded in 1009. It takes
its name from the former owner of the
contemplation, saying to his soul, "Hav-
ing taken up thine abode in heaven, land, a certain Maldoli, who gave it to
where thou hast God and his holy angels St. Romualdus. Campo Maldoli, say the
to converse with, see that thou descend authorities, became Camaldoli. It is
not thence ; regard not earthly things." more likely to be the Tuscan Ca' Mal-
Among other anecdotes of St. Ma- doli, for Casa Maldoli.
carius, Butler, Lives of the Saints, I. 50, " In this place," says Butler, Lives of
relates the following : " Our saint hap- the Saints, II. 86, " St. Romuald built
pened one day inadvertently to kill a a monastery, and, by the several obser-
gnat that was biti g him in his cell ; vances he added to St. Benedict's rule,
reflecting that he had lost the oppor- gave birth to that new Order called Ca-
tunity ofsuffering that mortification, he maldoli, inwhich he united the cenobitic
hastened from his cell for the marshes of and eremitical life. After seeing in a
Scete, which abound with great flies, vision his monks mounting up a ladder
whose stings pierce even wild boars. to heaven all in white, he changed their
There he continued six months exposed habit from black to white. The her-
to those ravaging insects ; and to such a mitage is two short miles distant from
degree was his whole body disfigured by the monastery. It is a mountain quite
them with sores and swellings, that when overshadowed by a dark wood of fir-
he returned he was only to be known by trees. In it are seven clear springs of
his voice." water. The very sight of this solitude
St. Romualdus, founder of the Order in the midst of the forest helps to fill the
of Camaldoli, or Reformed Benedic- mind with compunction, and a love of
tines, vt^as born of the noble family of heavenly contemplation. On entering
the Onesti, in Ravenna, about 956. it, we meet with a chapel of St. Antony
Brought up in luxury and ease, he still for travellers to pray in before they ad-
had glimpses of better things, and, while vance any farther. Next are the cells
hunting the wild boar in the pine woods and lodgings for the porters. Some-
of Ravenna, would sometimes stop to what farther is the church, which is
muse, and, uttering a prayer, exclaim : large, well built, and richly adorned.
"How happy were the ancient hermits Over the door is a clock, which strikes
who had such habitations." so loud that it may be heard all over
688 NOTES TO PA RAD ISO.

the desert. On the left side of the having entered, he saw the grass growing
church is the cell in which St. Romuald upon the windows, and all the books and
lived, when he first established these shelves covered with dust. And, won-
hermits. Their cells, built of stone, dering, he began to open and turn over,
have each a little garden walled round. now this book and now that, and found
A constant fire is allowed to be kept in there many and various volumes of ancient
every cell on account of the coldness of and rare works. From some of them
the air throughout the year ; each cell whole sheets had been torn out, in others
has also a chapel in which they may say the margins of the leaves were clipped,
and thus they were greatly defaced. At
mass."
See also Purg. V. Note 96. The length, full of pity that the labours and
legend of St. Romualdus says that he studies of so many illustrious minds should
lived to the age of one hundred and have fallen into the hands of such profli-
twenty. It says, also, that in 1466, gate men, grieving and weeping he with-
nearly four hundred years after his drew. And coming into the cloister, he
death, his body was found still un- asked a monk whom he met, wliy those
cornipted ; but that four years later, most precious books were so vilely muti-
when it was stolen from its tomb, it lated. He replied, that some of the
crumbled into dust. monks, wishing to gain a few ducats, cut
65. In that sphere alone ; that is, in out a handful of leaves, and made psalters
the Empyrean, which is eternal and im- which they sold to boys; and likewise of
mutable. the margins they made breviaries which
Lucretius, Nature of Things, III. 530, they sold to women. Now, therefore, O
Good's Tr, :— scholar, rack thy brains in the making of

" But things immortal ne'er can be transposed,

Ne'er take addition, nor encounter loss ; 77. To
books !" dens of thieves. "And the
For what once changes, by the change alone monks' hoods and habits are full," says
Subverts immediate its anterior life.' Buti, "of wicked and sinful souls, of
evil thoughts and ill-will. And as from
70. Genesis xxviii. 12 : " And he bad flour bad bread is made, so from ill-
dreamed, and, behold, a ladder set up will, which is in the monks, come evil
on the earth, and the top of it reached
to heaven : and, behold, the angels of 79. The usurer is not so offensive to
God ascending and descending on it." God
deeds."as the monk who squanders the
74. So neglected, that it is mere revenues of the Church in his own plea-
waste of paper to transcribe it. In sures and vices.
commenting upon this line, Benvenuto 94. Psalm cxiv. 5 : "What ailed thee,
gives an interesting description of Boc- O thou sea, that thou fleddest ? thou
caccio's visit to the library of Monte
Jordan, that thou wast driven back ?"
Cassino, which he had from his own The power that wrought these miracles
lips. ' ' To the clearer understanding can also bring help to the corruptions of
of this passage," he says, " I will repeat the Church, great as the impossibility
what my venerable preceptor, Boccaccio may seem.
of Certaido, pleasantly narrated to me. 107. Paradise. "Truly," says Buti,
He said, that when he was in Apulia, " the glory of Paradise may be called a
being attracted by the fame of the place, triumph, for the blessed triumph in their
he went to the noble monastery of Monte victory over the world, the flesh, and
Cassino, of which we are speaking. And
being eager to see the library, which he the111.
Devil."The sign that follows Taurus is
had heard was very noble, he humbly — the sign of the Gemini, under which
gsntle creature that he was !— besought Dante was born.
a monk to do him the favour to open it. 112. Of the influences of Gemini,
Pointing to a lofty staircase, he answered Buti, quoting Albumasar, says: "The
stiffly, 'Go up; it is open.' Joyfully sign of the Gemini signifies great devo-
ascending, he found the place of so great tion and genius, such as became our
a treasure without door or fastening ; and author speaking of such lofty theme. It
 689

NOTES, TO PARADISO.

signifies, also, sterility, and moderation beautiful modification which it receives

is that with itself, and the first which
'in manners and in religion, beauty, and
deportment, and cleanliness, when this it receives is twenty, consequently the
sign is in the ascendant, or the lord of movement aforesaid is signified by this
the descendant is present, or the Moon ; number. And by the thousand is signi-
and largeness of mind, and goodness, and fied the movement of increase ; for in
liberality in spending." name this thousand is the greatest num-
115. Dante was bom May 14th, 1265, ber, and cannot increase except by multi-
when the Sun rose and set in Gemini ; or plying itself. And Physics show these
as Barlow, Study of Div. Com., p. 505, three movements only, as is proved in
says, " the day on which in that year the the fifth chapter of its first book. And
Sun entered the constellation Gemini." on account of the Galaxy this heaven has
He continues : " Giovanni Villani (Lib. great resemblance to Metaphysics. For
VI. Ch. 92) gives an account of a re- it must be known that of this Galaxy the
markable comet which preceded the birth philosophers have held diverse opinions.
of Dante by nine months, and lasted For the Pythagoreans said that the Sun
three, from July to October This once wandered out of his path ; and,
marvellous meteor, much more worthy passing through other parts not adapted
of notice than Donna Bella's dream re- to his heat, he burned the place through
lated by Boccaccio, has not hitherto which he passed, and the appearance of
found its way into the biography of the the burning remained there. I think
they were influenced by the fable of
poet."
119. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars. Phaeton which Ovid narrates at the be-
Of the symbolism of this heaven, Dante, ginning of the second book of his Meta-
Cotivito, II. 15, says: "The Starry morphoses. Others, as Anaxagoras and
Heaven may be compared to Physics on Democritus, said that it was the light of
account of three properties, and to Meta- the Sun reflected in that part. And
physics on account of three others ; for these opinions they proved by demon-
it shows us two visible things, such as strative reasons. What Aristotle said
its many stars, and the Galaxy; that is, upon this subject cannot be exactly
the white circle which the vulgar call known, because his opinion is not the
the Road of St. James ; and it shows same in one translation as in the other.
us one of its poles, and the other it con- And I think this was an error of the
ceals from us ; and it shows us only one translators ; for in the new he seems to
motion from east to west, and another say that it is a collection of vapours be-
which it has from west to east it keeps neath the stars in that part, which always
almost hidden from us. I'herefore we attract them ; and this does not seem to
must note in order, first its comparison be veiy reasonable. In the old he says,
with Physics, and then with Metaphysics. that the Galaxy is nothing but a multi-
The Stariy Heaven, I say, shows us tude of fixed stars in that part, so small
many stars ; for, according as the wise that we cannot distinguish them here
men of Egypt have computed, down to below, but from them proceeds that
the last star that appears in their meri- brightness which we call the Galaxy.
dian, there are one thousand and twenty- And it may be that the heaven in that
two clusters of the stars I speak of. And part is more dense, and therefore retains
in this it bears a great resemblance to and reflects that light ; and this seems to
Physics, if these three members, namely, be the opinion of Aristotle, Avicenna,
two and twenty and a thousand, are and Ptolemy. Hence, inasmuch as the
carefully considered ; for by the two is Galaxy is an effect of those stars which
understood the local movement, which of we cannot see, but comprehend by their
necessity is from one point to another ; effects, and Metaphysics treats of first
and by the twenty is signified the move- substances, which likewise we cannot
ment of modification ; for, inasmuch as comprehend except by their effects, it is
from the ten upwards we proceed only manifest that the starry heaven has great
by modifying this ten with the other resemblance to Metaphysics. Still fur-
nine, and with itself, and the most ther, by the pole which we see it signi-
690 NOTES TO PARADISO.

fies things obvious to sense, of which, such prodigious movements should pass
taking thera as a whole, Physics treats ; in silence ; and nature teaches that the
and by the pole which we do not see it sounds which the spheres at one ex-
signifies the things which are immaterial, tremity utter must be sharp, and those
which are not obvious to sense, of which on the other extremity must be grave ;
Metaphysics treats ; and therefore the on which account that highest revolution
aforesaid heaven bears a great resem- of the star-studded heaven, whose motion
blance to both these sciences. Still is more rapid, is carried on with a sharp
further, by its two movements it signifies and quick sound ; whereas this of the
these two sciences ; for, by the move- moon, which is situated the lowest, and
ment in which it revolves daily and at the other extremity, moves with the
makes a new circuit from point to point, gravest sound. For the earth, the ninth
it signifies the corruptible things in na- sphere, remaining motionless, abides
ture, which daily complete their course, invariably in the innermost position,
and their matter is changed from form occupying the central spot in the uni-
to form ; and of this Physics treats ; and verse.
by the almost insensible movement which " ' Now these eight directions, two
it makes from west to east of one degree of which have the same powers, effect
in a hundred years, it signifies the things seven sounds, diftering in their modu-
incorruptible, which had from God the lations, which number is the connecting
beginning of existence, and shall never principle of almost all things. Some
have an end ; and of these Metaphysics learned men, by imitating this harmony
with strings and vocal melodies, have
treats."
135, Cicero, Vision oj Scipio, Ed- opened a way for their return to this
monds's Tr. , p. 294 :— place ; as all others have done, who,
"Now the place my father spoke of endued with pre-eminent qualities, have
was a radiant circle of dazzling bright- cultivated in their mortal life the pur-
ness amid the flaming bodies, which you, suits of heaven. |
as you have learned from the Greeks, " ' The ears of mankind, filled with j
term the Milky Way ; from which posi- these sounds, have become deaf, for of *
tion all other objects seemed to me, as I all your senses it is the most blunted, |
surveyed them, marvellous and glorious. Thus the people who live near the '
There were stars which we never saw place where the Nile rushes down from 5
from this place, and their magnitudes very high mountains to the parts which i
were such as we never imagined ; the are called Catadupa, are destitute of the
smallest of which was that which, placed sense of hearing, by reason of the ,
upon the extremity of the heavens, but greatness of the noise. Now this sound, |
nearest to the earth, shone with borrowed which is effected by the rapid rotation of \
light. But the globular bodies of the the whole system of nature, is so power- •
stars greatly exceeded the magnitude of ful, that human hearing cannot compre- <
the earth, which now to me appeared so hend it, just as you cannot look directly
small, that I was grieved to see our em- upon the sun, because your sight and ■
pire contracted, as it were, into a very
sense
AlsoareMilton, overcome Far.byLost,
his beams.
II, 105' 1" :— !
point
" Which as I was gazing at in amaze-
ment, Isaid, as I recovered myself, from " And fast by, han^ng in a g;o1den chain, \
whence proceed these sounds so strong, This pendent world, in bigness a.s a star I
and yet so sweet, that fill my ears? ' The Of smallest magnitude close by the moon." '
melody,' replies he, ' which you hear,
and which, though composed in unequal 139. The Moon, called in heaven ;
time, is nevertheless divided into regular Diana, on earth Luna, and in the in* -
harmony, is effected by the impulse and fernal regions Proserpina ; as in the
motion of the spheres themselves, which, curious Latin distich : — ;
by a happy temper of sharp and grave I
notes, regularly produces various har- " Terrct, hwtrat, agit, Proserpina, Lun.i, Diana, i
monic effects. Now it is impossible that I ma, supreaw, fcnu, »ceptro, fulgore, sagitti,' I
 NOTES TO PARADISO. 691

141. See Canto II. 59 :— from this fourth you deduct the space
occupied by the seas and lakes, and the
" And I : ' What seems to us up here diverse. vast sandy regions which extreme heat
Is caused, I think, by bodies rare and
and want of water render uninhabitable,
dense.' " there remains but a very small propor-
142. The Sun. tion of the terrestrial sphere for the
144. Mercury, son of Maia, and habitation of men. Enclosed then and
Venus, daughter of Dione. locked up as you are, in an unperceiv-
145. The temperate planet Jupiter, able point of a point, do you think of
between Mars and Saturn. In Canto
nothing but of blazing far and wide your
XVIII. 68, Dante calls it "the tem- name and reputation ? What can there
perate star ; " and in the Convito, II. be great or pompous in a glory circum-
14, quoting the opinion of Ptolemy :
scribed inso narrow a circuit ? "
" Jupiter is a star of a temperate com-
plexion, midway between the coldness
of Saturn and the heat of Mars. " CANTO XXIII.
149. Bryant, Song of the Stars : — I. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars
" Look, look, through our gUttering ranks afar. continued. The Triumph of Christ.
In the infinite azure, star after star,
How they brighten and bloom as they swiftly 3. Milton, Par. Lost, III. 38 :—
" As the wakeful bird
pass !
How the verdure runs o'er each rolling mass ! Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid
And the path of the gentle winds is seen, Tunes her nocturnal note."
Where the small waves dance, and the young
woods lean. 12. Towards the meridian, where the
sun seems to move slower than when
"And see, where the brighter day-beams pour. nearer the horizon.
How the rainbows hang in the sunny shower ;
And the mom and eve, with their pomp of 20. Didron, Christ. Iconog., Mil-
hues,
lington"s Tr., I. 308 : " The triumph of
Shift o'er
dews the
; bright planets and shed their Christ is, of all subjects, that which has
excited the most enthusiasm amongst
And 'twixt them both, o'er the teeming ground.
With her shadowy cone the night goes round ! " artists ; it is seen in numerous monu-
ments, and is represented both in paint-
151. The threshing-floor, or little ing and sculpture, but always with such
remarkable modifications as impart to
area of our earth. The word aj'uola it the character of a new work. The
would also bear the rendering of gar-
den-plotbut
; to Dante this world was eastern portion of the crypt of the
rather a threshing-floor than a flower- cathedral of Auxerre contains, in the
bed. The word occurs again in Canto vaulting of that part which corresponds
XXVII. 86, and in its Latin form in with the sanctuar}', a fresco painting,
Xhe Monarchia, III. : Ut scilicet in areola executed about the end of the twelfth
mortaliuin libere cum pace vivatur. Per- century, and representing, in the most
haps Dante uses it to signify in general simple form imaginable, the triumph
any small enclosure. of Christ. The background of the pic-
Boethius, Cons. Pkil., II. Prosa 7, ture is intersected by a cross, which,
if the transverse branches were a little
Ridpath's Tr. : "You have learned
from astronomy that this globe of longer, would be a perfect Greek cross.
earth is but as a point in respect to This cross is adorned with imitations of
the vast extent of the heavens ; that is, precious stones, round, oval, and loz-
the immensity of the celestial sphere enge-shaped, disposed in quincunxes.
is such that ours, when compared with In the centre is a figure of Christ, on
it, is as nothing, and vanishes. You a white horse with a saddle ; he holds
know likewise, from the proofs that the bridle in his left hand, and in the
Ptolemy adduces, there is only one right, the hand of power and authority,
fourth part of this earth, which is of
a black staff", the rod of iron by which
itself so small a portion of the universe, he governs the nations. He advances
inhabited by creatures known to us. If thus, having his head adorned with an
692 NOTES TO PAR AD ISO.

azure or bluish nimbus, intersected by " Those glimmerings of light, those scintillations,
a cross gules ; his face is turned towards That by supernal influences draw
the spectator. In the four compart- Their nutriment in splendours from the sun."
ments formed by the square in which 46. Beatrice speaks.
the cross is enclosed are four angels 56. The Muse of harmony.
who form the escort of Jesus ; they are Skelton, Elegy on the Earl of North-
all on horseback, like their master, and umberland, 155 : —
with wings outspread ; the right hand " If the hole quere of the musis nyiie
of each, which is free, is open and In me all onely wer sett and comprisyde,
raised, in token of adoring admiration. Enbreathed with the blast of influence dyvyne,
And perfightly as could be thought or de-
'And I saw heaven opened, and be- vysyde ;
hold a white horse; and he that sat To me also allthouche it were promysyde
upon him was called Faithful and True, Of laureal Phebus holy the eloquence,
and in righteousness he doth judge and All were to littill for his magnyficence."
make war. His eyes were as a flame 70. Beatrice speaks again.
of fire, and on his head were many 73. The Virgin Mary, Rosa Mundi,
crowns ; and he had a name written Rosa Mystica.
that no man knew but he himself
And he was clothed with a vesture 74. The Apostles, by following whom
the good way was found.
dipped in blood ; and his name is
called the Word of God. And the Shirley, Death'' s Final Conquest: —
armies which were in heaven followed " Only the actions of the just
him upon white horses, clothed in fine Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust."
linen white and clean.' Such is the 78. The struggle between his eyes and
the light.
language of the Apocalypse, and this
the fresco at Auxerre interprets, al- 85. Christ, who had re-ascended, so
though with some slight alterations, that Dante's eyes, too feeble to bear
which it will be well to observe." the light of his presence, could now
See also Purg. XXIX. Note 154. behold the splendour of this "meadow
21. By the beneficent influences of the
stars. of 88.
flowers.
The " Rose, or the Virgin Mary,
26. The Moon. Trivia is one of the to whom Beatrice alludes in line 73.
Afterwards he hears the hosts of heaven
surnames of Diana, given' her because
she presided over all the places where repeat her name, as described in line
three roads met.
Purg. XXXI. 106 : - " And all the other lights
Were— making
no: to resound the name of Mary."
" We here are Nymphs, and in the Heaven are
90. This greater fire is also the Vir-
stars. " gin, greatest of the remaining splendours.
Iliad, VIII. 550, Anon. Tr. : "As 92. Stella Maris, Stella Matutina, are
when in heaven the beauteous stars ap- likewise titles of the Virgin, who sur-
pear round the bright moon, when the passes in brightness all other souls in
air is breatiiless, and all the hills and heaven, as she did here on earth.
lofty summits and forests are visible, 94. The Angel Gabriel.
and in the sky the boundless ether opens, 10 1. The mystic virtues of the sap-
and all the stars are seen, and the shep- phire are thus enumerated by Marbodus
herd isdelighted in his soul." in his Lapidarium, King's Antique Genu,
29. Christ.
30. The old belief that the stars were " By nature with superior honours graced,
fed by the light of the sun. Milton, Par. P-As gem :—of gems above all others placed :
395
Lost, VII. 364 :— Health to preserve and tre.ichcry to disarm,
And guard the wearer from intended harm.
" Hither as to their fountain other stars No envy bends him, and no terror shakes ;
Kepairing, in their golden urns draw light." The captive's chains its mighty virtue breaks
The gates fly open, fetters fall away,
And send their prisoner to the light of day.
And Calderon, El Prituipt ConstanU,
scooet in Jor, II. :— K'en Heaven is mov6d by its force divine
To list to vows presented at its shrine."
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

Sapphire is the colour in which the Milton, Lycidas, 108 :—

old painters arrayed the Virgin, " its " Last came, and last did go.
hue, says Mr. King, ".being the The pilot of the Galilean lake ;
exact shade of the air or atmosphere Two massy keys he bore of metals twain,
in the climate of Rome." This is (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain)."
Dante's And Fletcher, Purple Island, VH.
" Dolce color d' oriental zaffiro,"
in Purg. I. 13. 62:—
" Not in his lips, but hands, two keys he bore.
105. Haggai ii. 7 : " The desire of Heaven's doors and Hell's to shut and open
all nations shall come."
112. The Primutn Mobile, or Crys-
talline Heaven, which infolds all the wide."CANTO XXIV.
other volumes or rolling orbs of the
universe like a mantle. I. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars
115. Qo^Xt^, Hymn to Light: — continued. St. Peter examines Dante
on Faith.
*' Thou Scythian-like dost round thy lands above
The sun's gilt tent for ever move ; Revelation xix. 9 : " And he saith
And still as thou in pomp dost go, unto me, Write, Blessed are they which
The shining pageants of the world attend thy are called unto the marriage-supper of
chow.

120. The Virgin ascending to her son. the16. The carol was a dance as well
Lamb."
Fray Luis Ponce de Leon, Assumption as a song ; or, to speak more exactly,
of the Virgin :— a (3ance accompanied by a song.
Gower, Confes. Antant,, VL : —
" Lady ! thine upward flight
The opening heavens receive with joyful song ; " And if it nedes so betide.
Blest who thy mantle bright That I in company abide.
May seize amid the throng, Where as I must daunce and singe
And to the sacred mount float peacefully The hove daunce and carolinge."
along !
It is from the old French karole.
" Bright angels are around thee. See passage from the Roman de la Rose,
They that have served thee from tny birth are
there ; in Note 118 of this canto. See also
Their hands with stars have crowned thee ;
Thou, peerless Queen of air. Roquefort, Glossaire: " Karole, dance,
As sandals to thy feet the silver moon dost concert, divertissement; de chorea, cho
rus ;" and "Karoler, sauter, danser^
se divertir.
128. An Easter Hymn to the Vir- Et li borj^ois y furent en present
gin :- Karolent
ment.main & main, et chantent haute-
" Retina coeli, Ixtare ! Alleluia.
Quia quem meruisti portare. Alleluia. Vie de Du Gutsclin.'
Resurrexit, sicut dixit. Alleluia."
Milton, Par. Lost, V. 618 :—
This hymn, according to Collin de
Pl^ncy, Ligendes des Commandements de " That day, as other solemn days, they spent
In song and dance about the sacred hill.
VEglise, p. 14, Pope Gregory the Great Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
heard the angels singing, in the pesti- Of'^planets
Resembles and of fixed
nearest, in all
mazes her wheels
intricate.
lence of Rome in 890, and on hearing Eccentric, interA'olved, yet regular
it added another line : — Then most when most irregular they seem ;
And in their motions harmony divine
" Ora pro nobis Deum I Alleluia." So smooths
own earher charming tones, that God's
135. Caring not for gold and silver
in the Babylonian exile of this life, they Listens delighted."
laid up treasures in the other. 17. "That is," says Buti, "of Andthe
139. St. Peter, keeper of the keys, abundance of their beatitude
with the saints of the Old and New this swiftness and slowness signified the
Testament.
fervour of love which was in them."
694
NOTES TO PARADISO.

19. From the brightest of these carols the Lord, and has the impress of his
or dances.
20. St. Peter. King
93. stamped
The Old upon him." Testaments.
and New
22. Three times, in sign of the Trinity. 115. In the Middle Ages titles of
27. Tints too coarse and glaring to nobility were given to the saints and to
paint such delicate draperies of song. other renowned personages of sacred
28. St. Peter speaks to Beatrice. history. Thus Boccaccio, in his story
41. Fixed upon" God, in whom all of Fra Cipolla, Decamerone, Gior. VI.
things are reflected. Nov. 10, speaks of the Baron Messer
59. The captain of the first cohort of
the Church Militant. Santo Antonio ; and in Juan Lorenzo's
Poema de Alexandra, we have Don Job,
62. St. Paul. Mrs. Jameson, Sacred Don Bacchus, and Don Satan.
and Legendary Art, I. 159, says: "The u8. The word donnea, which I have
early Christian Church was always con- rendered "like a lover plays," is from
sidered under two great divisions : the the Provenyal domnear. In its old
church of the converted Jews, and the French form, dosnoier, it occurs in some
church of the Gentiles. The first was editions of the Roman de la Rose, line
represented by St. Peter, the second by
St. Paul. Standing together in this
" Les karoles 'yk remanoient ;
1305 :—
mutual relation, they represent the uni-
versal church of Christ ; hence in works OCarleurs
tuit amies
li plusors s'en aloient
umbroier
of art they are seldom separated, and Sous ces arbres pour dosnoier."
are indispensable in all ecclesiastical
decoration. Their proper place is on Chaucer translates the passage thus :—
each side of the Saviour, or of the Virgin "The daunces then ended ywere ;
throned ; or on each side of the altar ; For many of hem that daunced there
or on each side of the arch over the choir. Were, with hir loves, went away
In any case, where they stand together, Under the trees to have hir play."
not merely as Apostles, but Founders, The word expresses the gallantry of
their place is next af'er the Evangelists the knight towards his lady.
and the Prophets." 126. St. John was the first to reach
64. Hebrews -a. i: " Now faith is the the sepulchre, but St. Peter the first to
substance of things hoped for, the evi- enter it. John xx. 4 : "So they ran
dence of things not seen." both together ; and the other disciple
66. In Scholastic language the essence did outrun Peter, and came first to the
of a thing, distinguishing it from all other sepulchre. And he, stooping down, and
things, is called its quiddity; in answer looking in, saw the linen clothes lying ;
to the question. Quid est ? yet went he not in. Then cometh
78. Jeremy Taylor says : " Faith is a Simon Peter following him, and went
certain image of eternity ; all things are into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen
present to it ; things past and things to
come are all so before the eyes of faith, 132. lie.'
clothes Dante, Convito, II. 4, speaking
that he in whose eye that candle is en- of the motion of the Prinium Mobile, or
kindled beholds heaven as present, and Crystalline Heaven, which moves all the
sees how blessed a thing it is to die in
others, says : "P'rom the fervent longing
God's favour, and to be chimed to our which each part of that ninth heaven
grave with the music of a good con- has to be conjoined with that Divinest
science. Faith converses with the angels, Heaven, the Heaven of Rest, which is
and antedates the hymns of glory ; every next to it, it revolves therein with so
man that hath this grace is as certain great desire, that its velocity is almost
that there are glories for him, if he per-
severes induty, as if he had heard and mcomprehensible. "
137. St. Peter and the other Apostles
sung the thanksgiving-song for the blessed after Pentecost.
sentence of doomsday." 141. Both three and one, both plural
87. "The purified, righteous man," and singular.
says Tertuliian, " has become a coin of 152. Again the sign of the Trinity.
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

CANTO XXV. landed safely in Galicia. There the

body was buried ; but in the course of
I, The Heaven of the Fixed Stars time the place of its burial was for-
continued. St. James examines Dante gotten, and not discovered again till the
on Hope. year 800, when it was miraculously re-
vealed to a friar.
5. Florence the Fair, Fiorenza la
bella. In one of his Canzoni, Dante Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary
says :— Art, I. 211, says: "Then they caused
the body of the saint to be transported
" O mountain song of mine, thou goest thy way ; to Compostella ; and in consequence of
Florence
hold,my town thou shalt perchance be- the surprising miracles which graced his
Which bars me from itself, shrine, he was honoured not merely in
Devoid of love and naked of compassion." Galicia, but throughout all Spain. He
became the patron saint of the Spaniards,
at 7. In one and
Ravenna of Dante's Eclogues,
addressed written
to Giovanni and Compostella, as a place of pilgrim-
age, was renowned throughout Europe.
del Virgilio of Bologna, who had invited
From all countries bands of pilgrims re-
him to that city to receive the poet's sorted there, so that sometimes there
crown, he says : " Were it not better, were no less than a hundred thousand in
on the banks of my native Amo, if ever
I should return thither, to adorn and one year. The military order of Saint
hide beneath the interwoven leaves my Jago, enrolled by Don Alphonso for their
protection, became one of the greatest
triumphal gray hairs, which once were and richest in Spain.
golden ? . . . . When the bodies that
wander round the earth, and the dwellers " Now, if I should proceed to recount
all the wonderful deeds enacted by San-
among the stars, shall be revealed in my tiagoin behalf of his chosen people, they
song, as the infernal realm has been,
then it will delight me to encircle my would fill a volume. The Spanish his-
torians number thirty-eight visible appa-
head with ivy
It would and from
seem with laurel."
this extract that ritions, in which this glorious saint de-
scended from heaven in person, and took
Dante's hair had once been light, and the command of their armies against the
not black, as Boccaccio describes it.
See also the Extract from the Convito, 26. Before me.
and Dante's Letter to a I.Friend, among Moors."
the Illustrations in Vol. 29. James i. 5 and 17 : "If any of you
8. This allusion to the church of San lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
Giovanni, where Dante was baptized, braideth tonotall
giveth men liberally, and up-
; and it shall be given him.
and which in Inf. XIX. 17 he calls "?/ .... Every good gift and every per-
mio bel San Giovanni" is a fitting pre- fect gift is from above, and cometh down
lude to the canto in which St. John is from the Father of lights, with whom
to appear. is no variableness, neither shadow of
12. As described in Canto XXIV.
152:— In this line, instead of largezza, some
turning."
" So, giving me its benediction, singing. editions read allegrezza ; but as James
Three times encircled me, when 1 was silent.
describes the bounties of heaven, and
The apostolic light."
not its joys, the former reading is un-
14. The band or carol in which St. doubtedly the correct one.
Peter was. James i. 18: "That we 32. St. Peter personifies Faith ; St.
should be a kind of first-fruits of his James, Hope ; and St. John, Charity.
creatures." These three were distinguished' above
17. St. James, to whose tomb at Com- the other Apostles by clearer manifes-
postella, in Galicia, pilgrimages were tations of their Master's favour, as, for
and are still made. The legend says example, their being present at the
that the body of St. James was put on Transfiguration.
board a ship and abandoned to the sea ; 34. These words are addressed by St.
but the ship, being guided by an angel, James to Dante.
696 AZOTES TO PARADISO.

36. In the radiance of the three rified earthly body. Isaiah Ixi. 7 :
theological virtues, Faith, Hope, and " Therefore in their land they shall pos-
Charity. sess the double ; everlasting joy shall be
38. To the three Apostles luminous
above him and overwhelming him with unto95.them."
St. John in Revelation vii. 9 :
their light. Psalm cxxi. i : "I will " After this I beheld, and lo, a great
lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from multitude, which no man could num-
whence cometh my help." ber, of all nations, and kindreds, and
42. With the most august spirits of people, and tongues, stood before the
the celestial city. See Canto XXIV. throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
Note 115. with white robes and palms in their
49. Beatrice.
54. In God, or, as Dante says in 100. St. John.
Canto XXIV. 42 .— loi. If Cancer, which in winter rises
hands."
at sunset, had one star as bright as this,
" There where depicted everything is seen." it would turn night into day.
And again, Canto XXVI. 106 :— 105. Any failing, such as vanity,
ostentation, or the like.
" For I behold it in the truth'ul mirror, 107. St. Peter and St. James.
That of Himself all things parhelion makes,
And none makes Him parhelion of itself." 113. This symbol or allegory of the
Pelican, applied to Christ, was popular
58. "Say what it is," and "whence during the Middle Ages, and was seen
it came to be." not only in the songs of poets, but in
62. The answer to these two ques- sculpture on the portals of churches.
tions involves no self-praise, as the an- Thibaut, Roi de Navarre, Chanson
swer to the other would have done,*if it LXV., says :—
had come from Dante's lips. " Diex est ensi comme li Pelicans,
67. This definition of Hope is from Qui fait son nit el plus haut arbre sus,
Et li mauvais oseau, qui vient de jus
Peter Lombard's Lib. Sent., Book III. Ses oisellons ocist, tant est puans ;
Dist. 26: *' Est spes certa expectatio fu- Li pere vient destrois et angosseux,
turcE beatitudinis, venUns ex Dei gratia,
Dou bee s'ocist, de son sane dolereus
et meritis fracedentibus." Vivre refait tantost ses oisellons ;
72. The Psalmist David. Diex fist autel, quant vint sa passions,
De son douc sane racheta ses enfans
73. In his divine songs, or songs of
God. Psalm ix. 10 : " And they that Dou Deauble, qui tant parest poissans."
know thy name will put their trust in
114. John xix. 27: "Then saith he
to the disciple. Behold thy mother !
thee."
78. Your rain ; that is, of David and And from that hour that disciple took
St. James.
84. According to the legend, St. her121. unto his own home."
St. John. Dante— bearing in
James suffered martyrdom under Herod mind the words of Christ, John xxi.
Agrippa. 22, " If I will that he tarry till I come,
89. " The mark of the high calling what is that to thee? .... Then
and ejection sure," namely. Paradise, went this saying abroad among the
which is the aim and object of all the brethren, that that disciple should not
" friends of God ; " or, as St. James die " — looks to .see if the spiritual body
expresses it in his Epistle, i. 12 : of the saint be in any way eclipsed by
" Blessed is the man that endureth his earthly body. St. John, reading
temptation : for when he is tried, he
shall receive the crown of life, which his unspoken deceives him. thought, immediately un-
the Lord hath promised to them that Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary
love him." Art, I. 139, remarks : " The legend
90. This expression is from the Epistle which supposes St. John reserved alive
of James, ii. 23 : "And he was called has not been generally received in the
the Friend of God," Church, and as a subject of painting it
91. The spiritual body and the glo- is very uncommon. It occurs in the
 697

NOTES TO PAR AD I SO.

Menologium Gracum, where the grave jenough of it. In reading John it is

into which St. John descends is, accord- always with me as though I saw him
ing to the legend, fossa in criicis figttram before me, lying on the bosom of his
(in the form of a cross). In a series Master at the last supper : as though
of the deaths of the Apostles, St. John his angel were holding the light for me,
is ascending from the grave ; for, ac- and in certain passages would fall upon
cording to the Greek legend, St. John my neck and whisper something in mine
died without pain or change, and im- ear. I am far from understanding all I
mediately rose again in bodily form, read, but it often seems to me as if what
and ascended into heaven to rejoin John meant were floating before in the
Christ and the Virgin." distance ; and even when I look into a pas-
126. Till the predestined number of sage altogether dark, I have a foretaste
the elect is complete. Revelation vi. of some great, glorious meaning, which
H : " And white robes were given unto I shall one day understand, and for this
eveiy one of them ; and it was said unto reason I grasp so eagerly after every
them, that they should rest yet for a new interpretation of the Gospel of
little season, until their fellow-servants John. Indeed, most of them only play
also and their brethren, that should upon the edge of the evening cloud, and
be killed as they were, should be ful- the moon behind it has quiet rest."
filled."
127. The spiritual body and the glori- CANTO XXVI.
fied earthly body.
128. Christ and the Virgin Mary. I. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars
Butler, Lives of the Saints, VIII. 173, continued. St. John examines" Lo Dante
ve, on
says : " It is a traditionary pious belief, Charity, in the sense of Love, as in
that the body of the Blessed Virgin was Milton, Par. Lost, XII. 583 :—
raised by God soon after her death,
and assumed to glory, by a singular
By name tacooie called Charity."
privilege, before the general resurrection
of the dead. This is mentioned by the 12. Ananias, the disciple at Damas-
learned Andrew of Crete in the East, cus, whose touch restored the sight of
in the seventh, and by St. Gregory of Saul. Acts ix. 17 : " And Ananias
Tours in the West, in tlie sixth cen- went his way, and entered into the
tury So great was the respect and house, and putting his hands on him,
veneration of the fathers towards this said. Brother -Saul, the Lord, even
most holy and most exalted of all pure Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the
creatures, that St. Epiphanius durst not way as thou earnest, hath sent me, that
affirm that she ever died, because he thou mightest receive thy sight, and be
had never found any mention of her filled with the Holy Ghost. And imme-
death, and because she might have been diately there fell from his eyes as it had
preser\'ed immortal, and translated to been scales ; and he received sight forth-
gloi-y without dying." with, and arose, and was baptized."
132. By the sacred trio of St. Peter, 1 7. God is the beginning and end ot
St. James, and St. John. all my love.
138. Because his eyes were so blinded 38. The commentators differ as to
by the splendour of the beloved disciple. which of the philosophers Dante here
Speaking of St. John, Claudius, the refers ; whether to Aristotle, Plato, or
German poet, says : "It delights me Pythagoras.
most of all to read in John : there is in
39. The angels.
him something so entirely wonderful, — 42. Exodus xxxiii. 19 : " And he
twilight and night, and through it the said, I will make all my goodness pass
swiftly darting lightning, — a soft even-
ing cloud, and behind the cloud the before thee."
44. Jolm i, I : " In the beginning
broad full moon bodily ; something so was the Word, and the Word was with
deeply, sadly pensive, so high, so full God, and the Word was God
of anticipation, that one cannot ha\e And the Word was made flesh, and
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
698

dwelt among us, .... full of grace 124. Most of the Oriental languages
and truth." claim the honour of being the language
46. By all the dictates of human rea- sjx)ken by Ailam in Paradise. Juan
son and divine authority. Bautista de Erro claims it for the Basque,
52. In Christian art the eagle is the or Vascongada. 'Si^& Alphabet of Prim.
symbol of St. John, indicating his more
fervid imagination and deeper insight Lang, of Spain, Pt. II. Ch. 2, Erving's
Tr.
into divine mysteries. Sometimes even 129. See Canto XVI. 79 :—
the saint was represented with the head
and feet of an eagle, and the hands and " All things of yours have their mortality,
body of a man. Even as yourselves."
64. All living creatures. 134. Dante, De Volg. Eloq., I. Ch.
69. Isaiah vi. 3 : "As one cried 4,
unto another, and said. Holy, holy, holy the says, speaking
first word of Adam
he spake will,: I" doubt
What not,
was
is the Lord of Hosts ; the whole earth is readily suggest itself to every one of sound
mind as being what God is, namely, El,
full of his glory."
83. The soul of Adam. either in the way of question or of an-
91. "Tell me, of what age was Adam
when he was created ? " is one of the 136. The word used by Matthew,
qiestions in the Anglo-Saxon Dialogue xxvii. 46, is Eli, and by Mark, xv. 34,
hehveen Saturn and Solomon ; and the Eloi,
swer."which Dante assumes to be of later
answer is, " I tell thee, he was thirty use than El. There is, I believe, no
winters old." And Buti says : " He was authority for this. El is God ; Eli, or
created of the age of thirty-three, or Eloi, my God.
thereabout ; and therefore the author
137. Horace, ^rj/>(7(?/., 60 : " As the
says that Adam alone was created by woods change their leaves in autumn,
God in perfect age and stature, and no and the earliest fall, so the ancient words
other man." And Sir Thomas Browne, pass away, and the new flourish in the
Religio Medici, § 39: "Some divines freshness of youth Many that now
count Adam thirty years old at his have fallen shall spring up again, and
creation, because they suppose him others fall which now are held in honour,
created in the perfect age and stature of if usage wills, which is the judge, the
" law, and the rule of language."
Stehelin,
man. Traditions of the Je^vs, I. 16, 139. The mount of Purgatory, on
whose summit was the Terrestrial Para-
quotes
the first Rabbi Eliezer from
man reached a's saying " that
the earth to dise.
the firmament of heaven ; but that, after 142. The sixth hour is noon in the
he had sinned, God laid his hands on old way of reckoning ; and at noon the
him and reduced him to a less size." sun has completed one quarter or quad-
And Rabbi Salomon writes, that "when rant of the arc of his revolution, and
he lay down, his head was in the east changes to the next. The hour which is
and his feet in the west." second to the sixth, is the hour which
107. Parhelion is an imperfect image follows it, or one o'clock. This gives
of the sun, formed l)y retlection in the seven hours for Adam's stay in Paradise ;
clouds. All things are such faint reflec- and so says Peter Comestor (Dante's
tions of the Creator ; but he is the re- Peter Mangiador) in his ecclesiastical
history.
flccti<»n of none of them.
Buti interprets the passage differently, The Talmud, as quoted by Stehelin,
giving to the word paregiio the meaning Traditions of the ftws, I. 20, gives the
of j-icfttacolo, receptacle. following account : "The day has twelve
118. In limlio, longing for Para- hours. In the first hour the dust of
d se, where the only punishment is to which Adam was formed was brought
live in desire, but without hope. Inf. together. In the second, this dust was
IV. 41: - made a rude, unshapely mass. In the
third, the liml)s were stretched out. In
" Lost are wc, and arc only so f.»r punished,
That without hope we hvc on in desire " the fourth, a soul was lodged in it. In
 NOTES TO PARADISO. ^
the fifth, Adam stodcl upon his feet. In here below no production, nor life of
the sixth he assigned the names of all animals, nor plants; there would be
things that were created. In the seventh, neither night, nor day, nor week, nor
he received Eve for his consort. In month, nor year ; but the whole universe
the eighth, two went to bed and four would be deranged, and the movement
rose out of it ; the begetting and birth of of the stars in vain. And not otherwise,
two children in that time, namely, Cain were Moral Philosophy to cease, the
and his sister. In the ninth, he was forbid other sciences would be for a time con-
to eat of the fruit of the tree. In the tenth, cealed, and there would be no produc-
he disobeyed. In the eleventh, he was tion, nor life of felicity, and in vain
tried, convicted, -and sentenced. In the |would be the writings or discoveries of
twelfth, lie was banished, or driven out [antiquity. Wherefore it is very manifest
of tile garden. " that this heaven bears a resemblance to
Moral Philosophy.
CANTO XXVII. 9. Without desire for more.
10. St. Peter, St. James, St. John,
I. The Heaven of the Fixed Stars and Adam.
continued. The anger of St. Peter ; 14. If the white planet Jupiter should
and the ascent to the Primum Mobile, become as red as Mars.
or Crystalline Heaven. 22. Pope Boniface VIII., who won
Dante, Convito II. 15, makes this his way to the Popedom by intrigue.
Crystalline Heaven the symbol of Moral See Inf. III. Note 59, and XIX. Note
Philosophy. He says : " The Crystal-
line Heaven, which has previously been 25. The Vatican hill, to which the
called the Primum Mobile, has a very body of St. Peter was transferred from
manifest resemblance to Moral Philo- the catacombs.
sophyfor
; Moral Philosophy, as Thomas
36.- Luke y.v^\\\. 44: "And there was
says in treating of the second book of the drrrkness 53 over all the earth And
Ethics, directs us to the other sciences.
the sun was darkened."
For, as the Philosopher says in the fifth 41. Linus was the immediate successor
of the Ethics, legal justice directs us to of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, and
learn the sciences, and orders them to Cletus of Linus. They were both mar-
be learned and mastered, so that they tyrs of the first age of the Church.
may not be abandoned ; so this heaven 44. Sixtus and Pius were Popes
directs with its movement the daily re- and martyrs of the second age of the
volutions of all the others, by which Church ; Calixtus and Urban, of the
daily they all receive here below the third.
virtue of all their parts. For if its revo- 47. On the right hand of the Pope the
lution did not thus direct, little of their favoured Guelfs, and on the left the per-
virtues would reach here below, and secuted Ghibellines.
little of their sight. Hence, supposing 50. The Papal banner, on which are
it were possible for this ninth heaven to the keys of St. Peter.
stand still, the third part of heaven 51. The wars against the Ghibellines
would not be seen in each part of the in general, and particularly that waged
earth ; and .Saturn would be hidden against the Colonna family, ending in
from each part of the earth fourteen the destniction of Palestrina. Jnf.
years and a half; and Jupiter, six years ; XXVII. 85:—
and Mars, almost a year ; and the Sun,
one hundred and eighty-two days and " ButHaving he, the Prince of the new Pharisees,
a war near unto Lateran,
fourteen hours (I say days, that is, so And not with Saracens nor with the Jews,
much time as so many days would mea- For each one of his enemies was Christian,
And none of them had been to com juer Acre,
sure) ; and Venus and Mercuiy would
conceal and show themselves nearly as Nor merchandising in the Sultan*s land."
the Sun ; and the Moon would be hidden 53. The sale of indulgences, stamped
from all people for the space of fourteen with the Papal seal, bearing the head of
days and a half. Truly there would be St. Peter.

3 A
 AZOTES TO PARADISO.
ioo
79. Canto XXII. 133.
55. Mattkezv vii. 15 : *' Beware of 81. The first climate is the torrid
false propliets, which come to you in
zone, the first from the equator. From
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are midst to end, is from the meridian to
ravening wolves." the horizon. Dante had been, then,
57. Psalm xliv. 23 : " Awake, why six hours in the Heaven of the Fixed
sleepest thou, O Lord ?"
58. Clement V. of Gascony, made Stars ; for, as Milton says, rai: Lost,
Pope in 1305, and John XXII. of Ca-
hors in France, in 13 16. Buti makes V. 580:—
" Time, though in eternity, applied
the allusion more general : " They of To motion, measures all things durable.
Cahors and Gascony are preparing to
By present, past, and future. '
drink the blood of the martyrs, because
they were preparing to be Popes, car- 82. Being now in the meridian oi
dinals, archbishops and bishops, and the Straits of Gibraltar, Dante sees to
prelates in the Church of God, that is the westward of Cadiz the sea Ulysses
sailed, when he turned his stern unto
built
61. with
Dante the alludes
blood of elsewhere
the martyrs.to" this
the morning and made his oars wings
intervention of Providence to save the for his mad flight, as described in Iiif.
Roman Empire by the hand of Scipio. XXVI.
Cotjvito, IV. 5, he says: "Is not the 83. Eastward he almost sees the
hand of God visible, when in the war Phoenician coast ; almost, and not quite,
with Hannibal, having lost so many because, say the commentators, it was
citizens, that three bushels of rings were already night there.
carried to Africa, the Romans would 84. Europa, daughter of King Age-
have abandoned the land, if that blessed nor, lx)rne to the island of Crete on
youth Scipio had not undertaken the the back of Jupiter, who had taken the
expedition to Africa, to secure its free- shape of a bull.
dom ?" Ovid, Met., II., Addison's Tr. :—
69. When the sun is in Capricorn ;
that is, from the middle of December to " Agenor's royal daughter, as she played
Among the fields, the milk-white bull .surveyed.
the middle of January. And viewed his spotless body with delight.
68. Boccaccio, NinfaU (FAmeto, de- And at a distance kept him in her sight.
scribing abattle between two flocks of At length she plucked the rising flowers, and fed
The gentle beast, and fondly stroked his head.
swans, says the spectators "saw the
air full of feathers, as when the nurse Till now grown wanton and devoid of fear,
of Jove [Amalthaea, the Goat] holds Not knowing th.it she pressed the Thunderer,
Apollo, the white snow is seen to fall She placed herself upon his Isack, and rcxie
O'er fields and meadows, seated on the god.
in flakes." " He gently marched along, and by degrees
And Whittier, Snonf- Bound: — Left the dry raeadoWj and approached the seas ;
Where now he dips his hoofs and wets his thighs^
" Unwarra^ by any sunset light, Now plunges in, and carries off the prize."
The gray day darkened into night,
A night made hoary with the swarm
And whirl-dance of the blinding sturm. 85. See Canto XXII. Note 151.
As zigzag wavering to and fro 87. The sun was in Aries, two signs
Crossed and reciosscd the winged snow." in advance of Gemini, in which Dante
then was.
72. The spirits described in Canto 88. Z><J«««? again. See Canto XXIV.
XXII. 131, as Note 118.
" The triumphant throng 91. Purg. XXXI. 49 :—
That comes rejoicing through this rounded
" Never to thee pre.sented art or nature
ether," Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein
and had remained behind when Christ I was enclosed, which scattered are in
and the Virgin Mary ascended.
74. Till his sight could follow them 98. The Gemini, or Twin.s, are
no more, on account of the exceeding Castor and Pollux, the sons of Leda.
earth."
vastneis of the space between. And as Jupiter, their father, came to
 NOTES TO PARADISO.

her in the shape of a swan, this sign of the seasons, and January be no longer a
the zodiac is called the nest of Leda.
winter, but a spring month."
Dante now mounts up from the. Heaven Sir John Herschel, Treatise on As-
of the fixed stars to the Primum Mobile, trotiomy, Ch. XIIL, says: "The Julian
or Crystalline Heaven. rule made every fourth year, without
103. Dante's desire to know ia what exception, a bissextile. This is, in fact, 701
part of this heaven he was. an over-correction ; it supposes the
109. All the other heavens have their length of the tropical year to be 365 J d.,
Regents or Intelligences. See Canto which is too great, and thereby induces
II. Note 131. But the Primum Mobile an error of 7 days in 900 years, as will
has the Divine Mind alone. easily appear on trial. Accordingly,
113. By that precinct Dante means so early as the year 1414, it began to
the Empyrean, which embraces the Pri- be perceived tliat the equinoxes were
mum Mobile, as that does all the other gradually creeping away from the 2ist
heavens below it. of March and September, where they
117. The half of ten is five, and the ought to have always fallen had the
fifth is two. The product of these, Julian year been exact, and happening
when multiplied together, is ten. (as it appeared) too early. The ne-
127. Wordsworth, Ifitimations of Im- cessity of a fresh and effectual reform
mortality:— in the calendar was from that time
continually urged, and at length ad-
" Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting : mitted. The change (which took place
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting, under the Popedom of Gregory XIII. )
And Cometh from afar : consisted in the omission of ten nominal
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness, days after the 4th of October, 1582, (so
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come that the next day was called the 15th
From God, who is our home : and not the 5th), and the promulgation
Heaven lies about us in our infancy !
of the rule already explained for future
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows. It will appear from the verse of
He sees it in his joy : regulation."
The Youth, who daily farther from the east Dante, that this error and its conse-
quences had been noticed a century
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, earlier than the year mentioned by
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended ; Herschel. Dante speaks ironically ;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day."
naming a very long period, and mean-
ing a very short one.
137. Aurora, daughter of Hyperion, 145. Dante here refers either to the
or the Sun. Purg. II. 7 :— reforms he expected from the Emperor
Henry VII., or to those he as confi-
" So that the white and the vermilion cheeks
Of beautiful Aurora, where I %vas.
dently looked for from Can Grande
By too great age were changing into della Scala, the Veltro, or greyhound,
of Inf. I. loi, who was to slay the
orange."
140. Or, perhaps, to steer, and she-wolf, and make her "perish in her
pain," and whom he so warmly eulo-
" Over the high seas to keep gizes in Canto XVII, of the Paradise.
The barque of Peter to its proper bearings." Alas for the vanity of human wishes !
Patient Italy has waited more than
143. This neglected centesimal was five centuries for the fulfilment of this
the omission of some inconsiderable prophecy, but at length she has touched
fraction or centesimal part, in the com- the bones of her prophet, and "is re-
putation of the year according to the
Julian calendar, which was corrected in vived and stands upon her feet."
the Gregorian, some two centuries and CANTO XXVIII.
a half after Dante's death. By this
error, in a long lapse of time, the I. The Primum Mobile, or Crystal-
montlis would cease to correspond to linq Heaven, continued.

3 A 2
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
702
3. Milton, Par. Lost, IV. 505 :— ing the reverse of the relative move-
" Thus these two, ment, from the same source of propul-
sion, of the heavens themselves arouiul
Imparadised in one another's arms. the earth as their centre. But the in-
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss.''
fallible Beatrice assures him that this
difference arises, in fact, from the same
14. That Crystalline Heaven, which cause, proximity to the Divine presence,
Dante calls a volume, or scroll, as in which in the celestial spheres is greater
Canto XXIII. 112:— the farther they are from the centre, but
" The regal mantle of the volumes all."
in the circles of angels, on the contrary,

16. The light of God, represented as it is greater the nearer they are to it."
60. Because the subject has not been
a single point, to indicate its unity and investigated and discussed.
indivisibility. 64. The nine heavens are here called
32. Iris, or the rainbow. corporal circles, as we call the stais the
34. These nine circles of fire are heavenly bodies. Latimer says : " A cor-
the nine Orders of Angels in tlie three poral heaven, where the stare
Celestial Hierarchies. Dante, Convito,
II. 16, says that the Holy Church di- 70. The Primum Mobile, in which
Dante and Beatrice now are.
vides the Angels into *' three Hier-
archies, that is to say, three holy or 77. The nearer God the circle is, so
divine Principalities ; and each Hier- much greater virtue it possesses. Hence
archy has three Orders ; so that the e."
the aroutermost of the heavens, revolving
Church believes and affirms nine Or- round the earth, corresponds to the in-
ders of spiritual beings. The first is nermost of the Orders of Angels revolv-
that of the Angels ; the second, that ing round God, and is controlled by it as
of the Archangels ; the third, that of its Regent or Intelligence. To make this
the Thrones. And these three Orders more intelligible I will repeat here the
form the first Hierarchy; not first in three Triads of Angels, and the heavens
reference to rank nor creation (for the of which they are severally the intelli-
others are more noble, and all were gences, as already given in Canto II.
created together), but first in reference Note 131.
to our ascent to their height. Then
follow the Dominions ; next the Vir- The Seraphim, Primum Mobile.
tues ;then the Principalities ; and these The Cherubim, The Fixed Stars.
form the second Hierarchy. Above The Thrones, Saturn.
these are the Powers, and the Cheru-
bim, and above all are the Seraphim ; The Dominions,
The Virtues, Mars.
and these form the third Hierarchy." The Powers, The Sun.
It will be observed that this arrange- Jupiter.
ment of the several Orders does not
agree with that followed in the poem. The Principalities, Venus.
55. Barlow, .Study 0/ the Div. Com., The Archangels, Mercury.
p. 533, remarks : " Within a circle of The Angels, The Moon.
ineffal)le joy, circumscribed only by
light and love, a point of intense bright- 80. when
./«««>/,
ness so dazzled the eyes of Dante that " As the XII.
blast 365, Davidson'sBoreas
of Thracian Tr. :
he could not sustain the sight of it. roare on the ^gean Sea, and to the shore
Around this vivid centre, from which pursues the waves, wherever tiic winds
the heavens and all nature «lepend, exert their incuml:)ent force, the clouds
nine concentric circles of the Celestial
Hierarchy revolved with a velocity in- fly Each
throughof the the four
air."winds blow three dif-
versely proportioned to their distance ferent blasts; either directly in front, or
from it, the nearer circles moving more from the right cheek, or the left. Ac-
rapidly, the remoter ones less. The cording to Boccaccio, the north-east wind
poet at first is surprised at this, it be- in Italy is milder than the north-west
 NOTES TO FAR AD ISO. 703

9a Dante uses this comparison before, knowledge ; hence it is interpreted pleni-

Canto I. 60: — tiiiio scieitfiic; which Dionysius (Cap. VI I.
CceL Hier., a princ.) expl.xins in four
" But I beheld it sparkle round about
Like iron that comes molten from the fire. " ways: first, as perfect vision of God;
secondly, full recepfion of divine light;
93. The inventor of the game of chess thirdly, that in Go 1 himself they contem-
broiiglit it to a Persian king, who was so plate the beauty of the ordei of things
deligiiteci with it, that he offered liim in emanating from God; fourthly, that,
return whatever reward he might ask. being themselves full of this kind of know-
Tile inventor said he wished only a grain ledge, they copiously pour it out upon
of wheat, doubled as many times as there
were squares on the chess-board ; that is, lOO. The love of God, which holds
others. "
one grain for the first square, two for the them fast to this central point as will) a
second, four for the third, and so on to band. ^)<^xxxviii. 31 : "Canst ihou bind
sixty-four. This the king readily granted ; the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
but when the amount was reckoned up, the bands of Orion?"
he had not wheat enough in his whole 104. Canto IX. 6i :—
kingdom to pay it. them.
95. Their appointed place or where- " Above tis there are mirrors, Thrones you ca'l
about.
From which shines out on us God Judicant."
99. Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor An-
geliais of the .Schools, treats the subject Of the Thrones, Thomas Aquinas,
of Angels at great length in the first Sum.
volume of his Sttmma Theologica, from Order T/ieoL, CVIII.excels
of Thrones 5, says: "The
the inferior
Qunsst. L. to LXIV., and from Qaa:st. cvi. Orders in this, that it has the power
to CXI V. He constantly quotes Dionysius, of perceiving immediately in God the
sometimes giving his exact words, but reasons of the Divine operations
oftener amplifying and interpreting his Dionysius (Cap. VII. Ca'l. Hier.) ex-
meaning. In Qutest. cviii. he discusses plains the name of Thrones from their
the names of th^ Angels, and of the resemiilance to material chairs, in which
Seraphim and Cherubim speaks as fol- four things are to be considered. First,
lows:— in reference to position, because chairs
"The name of Seraphim is not given are raised above the ground ; and thus
from love alone, but from excess of love, these Angels, which are called Tiirones,
which the name of heat or burning im- are raised so far that they can perceive
plies. Hence Dionysius (Cap. VII. Cai. immediately in God the reasons of things.
Hie?:, a princ. ) interprets the name Sera- Secondly, in material chairs firmness
phim according to the properties of fire, must be considered, becau.se one sits
in which is excess of heat. In fire, how- firmly in them ; but this is e coiiverso, for
ever, we may consider three things. the Angels themselves are made firm by
First, a certain motion which is upward, God- Thirdly, because the chair receives
and which is continuous; by which is sig- the sitter, and he can be carried in it ; and
nified, that they are unchangingly moving thus the Angels receive God in them-
towards Ciod. .Secondly, it> aciive power, selves, and in a certain sense carry him
which is heat ; . . . . and by this is sig- to their inferiors. Fourthly, from their
nified the influence of this kind of Angels, shape, because the chair is open on one
which they exercise powerfully on those side, to receive the sitter; and thus these
beneath them, exciting them to a sublime Angels, by their promptitude, are open
fervour, and thoroiigiily purifying them to receive God and to serve him."
by burning. Thirdly, in fire its bright- 1 10. Dante, Couvito, I. I, says:
ness must be considered ; and this signi- ; '• Knowledge is the ultimate perfection
fies that such angels have within them- of our soul, in which consists our ulti-
selves an inextinguishable light, and that mate felicity." It was one of the great
they i^erfectly illuminate others. ■ questions of the Schools, whether the
" In the same way tlie name of Cheni- beatitude of the soul consisted in know-
bim is given from a certain excess of ing or in lovmg. Thomas Aquinas main-
■704
NOTES TO PARADISO.

tains the former part of this proposition, called The Celestial Hierarchy, which
and Duns Scotus tiie latter. is the great storehouse of all that relates
1 13. By the grace of God, and the co- to the nature and operations of Angels.
operation ofthe good will of the recipient. Venturi calls him "the false Areo-
1 16. The perpetual spring of Paradise,
pagite;" and Dalbseus, De Script. Dion.
which knows no falling autumnal leiaves, Areop., says that this work was not
no season in which Aries is a nocturnal known till the sixth century.
sign. The Legenda Aurea confounds St.
122. Thomas Aquinas, Stun. ThcoL, Dionysius the Areopagite with St. Denis,
I. Qurest. cvm. 6, says: "And thus Bishop of Paris in the third century, and
Dionysius (Cap. VII. Cal. Hicr.), from patron saint of France. It says he wr.s
the names of the Orders inferring the called the Areopagite from the quarter
properties thereof, placed in the first where he lived ; that he was surnamed
Hierarchy those Orders whose names Theosoph, or the Wise in God ; that he
were given them in reference to God, was converted, not by the preaching of
namely, the Seraphim, Cherubim, and St. Paul, but by a miracle the saint
Thrones ; but in the middle Hierarchy he wrought in restoring a blind man to
placed those whose names designate a sight; and that "the woman named
certain common government or disposi- Damaris," who was converted with him,
tion, that is, the Doviinions, Virtues, was his wife. It quotes from a letter of
and Pirwers ; an^l in the third Order he his to Polycarp, written from Egypt,
jilaced those whose names designate the where he was with his friend and fellow-
execution of the work, namely, the
student Apoliophanes, and where he wit-
Prhicipalities, Attgels, and Archangels. nessed the darkening of the sun at the
. . . But to the rule of govenjiment three Crucifixion: "We were both at Helio-
things belong, the first of which is the polis, when suddenly we saw the moon
distmction of the things to be done, conceal the surface of the sun, though
which is the province of the Dominious ; this was not the time for an eclipse, and
the second is to provide the faculty of this darkness continued for three hours,
fulfilling, which belongs to the Firfues ; and the light returned at the ninth hour
but the third is to arrange in what way
and lasted till evening." And finally it
the things prescribed, or defined, can be narrates, that when Dionysius was lie-
fulfille<l, so that some one may execute headed, in Paris, where he had converted
them, and this belongs to the Pmvers. many souls and built many churches,
But the execution of the angelic ministry "straightway the body arose, and, tak-
consists in announcing things divine. In ing its head in its arms, led by an angel,
llie execution, however, of any act, there and surrounded by a celestial light, car-
are some who begin the act, and lead the ried it a distance of two miles, from a
others, as in singing the precentors, and place called the Mount of Martyrs, to the
in battle those who lead and direct the
])lace
For where
an account it now ofre]ioses."
the Celestial Hier-
rest ; and this belongs to the I'rtiicipali-
ties. There are others who simply execute, archy, see Canto X. Note 115.
and this is the part of the Augels. Others 133. St. Gregory differed from St.
hold an intermediate position, which be- Dionysius in the arrangement of the
longs to the Archangels." Orders, placing the Principalities in the
130. The Athenian convert of St. Paul. second triad, and the Virtues in the
Ac/s xvii. 34: " Howbeit, certain men third.
clave unto him, and believed ; among the 138. St. Paul, who, 2 Corinthians
which was Dionysius the Areopagite." xii. 4, "was caught up into paradise,
Dante places him among the theologians and heard unspeakable words, which it
in the Heaven of-the Sun. See Canto X.
is not lawful for a man to utter."
115:-
" Ncir by behold the lustre of that taper, CANTO XXIX.
Which in the flesh below looked most within
The angelic nature and its ministry." I. The Primum Mobile, or Crystalline
To Dionysius was attributed a work, Heaven, continued.
 NOTES TO PARADISO. 705

The children of I.atona are Apollo and assuming various forms when imited
Diana, the Sun and Moon.
2. When the Sun is in Aries and the witjh mind. " It is called potentiality,"
comments Buti, " because it can receive
Moon in Libra, and when the Sun is imany forms ; and the forms are called
setting and the full Moon rising, so that act, because they change, and act by
they are both on the horizon at the same
time. changing matter into various forms."
35. The union of the soul and body in
3. So long as they remained thus equi- man, who occupies the intermediate
poised, asif in the opposite scales of an place between Angels and pure matter.
invisible balance suspended from the 36. This bond, though susjiended by
zenith. death, will be resumed again at the
9. God, whom Dante could not look resurrection, and remain for ever.
upon, even as reflected in the eyes of 37. St. Jerome, the greatest of the
Beatrice. Latin Fathers of the Cliurch, and au-
11. What Dante wishes to know is, thor of the translation of the Scriptures
where, when, and how the Angels were known as the Vulgate, was born of
created. wealthy parents in Dalmatia, in 342.
12. Every When and every Where. He studied at Rome under tlie gram-
14. Dante, Coiivito, III. 14, defines marian Donatus, and became a lawyer
splendour as " reflected light." Here it in that city. At the age of thirty he
means the creation; the reflected light of visited the Holy Land, and, withdraw-
God. ing from the world, became an ancho-
yob xxxviii. 7 : " When the morning rite in the desert of Chalcida, on the
stars sang together, and all the sons of i)orders of Arabia. Here he under-
God shouted for joy." And again, 35: went tlie bodily privations and teni])ta-
" Canst thou send lightnings, that they tions, and enjoyed the spiritual triumphs,
may go, and say unto thee, Here we of the hermit's life. He was "haunted
?" by demons, and consoled by voices and
are16. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. TheuL, visions from heaven." In one of his.
I. Quoest. LXI. 3: "The angelic nature letters, cited by Butler, Lives of the
was madelbefore the creation of time,
Saints, IX. 362, he writes: "In the
and after eternity." remotest part of a wild and sharp de-
18. In the creation of the Angels. sert, which, being burnt up with the
Some editions read not>e Amori, the nine heats of the scorching sun, strikes with
Toves, or nine choirs of Angels. horror and terror even the monks that
21. Genesis i. 2: "And the Spirit inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in
of God moved upon the face of the the midst of the delights and assemblies •
of Rome. I loved solitude, that in the
waters."
22. Pure Matter, or the elements ; Ijillerness of my soul I might more .
pure Form, or the Angels ; and the two freely bewail my miseries, and call
conjoined, tlie human race. '■ upon my Saviour. My hideous ema-
Form, in the language of the Schools, I ciated limbs were covered with sack-
and as defined by Thomas Aquinas, is ! cloth : my skin was parched dry and
the principle "by which we first think, black, and my flesh was almost wasted
whetlier it be called intellect, or intel- away. The days I passed in tears and
lectual soul." See Canto IV. Note 54- groans, and when sleep overpowered
23. Genesis \. 31: "And God saw me against my will, I cast my wearied •.
everything that he had made, and, be- bones, which hardly hung together,
hold, itwas veiy good." upon the bare ground, not so properly
33. The Angels. Thomas Aquinas, to give them rest, as to torture myself.
Slim. TheoL, I. Quoest. L. 2, says : [I say nothing of my eating and drink-
" Form is act. Therefore whatever is | ing ; for the monks in that desert,
form alone, is pure act." For his defi- 1 when they are sick, know no -other
nition of form, see Note 22. I drink but cold water, and look upon ,
34. Pure matter, which is passive and | it as sensuality ever to eat anything
Bnly possesses potentiality, or power of ' dressed by fire. In this exile and pri- .
7o6 A'OTES TO PARADISO.

son, to wliich, for the fear of hell, I had and St. Jerome took refuge in a strong
vohmtarily condemned myself, having tower or fortified castle. Four years
no other company but scorjjions and afterwards he died, and was buried in the
wild beasts, I many times found my ruins of his monastery.
imagination filled with lively represen- 40. This truth of the simultaneous
tations of dances in the company of creation
line 29. of mind and matter, as stated in
Roman ladies, as if I had been in the
midst of them 1 often joined 41. The opinion of St. Jerome and
whole nights to the days, crying, sigh- other Fathers of the Church, that the
ing, and beating my breast till the de- Angels were created long ages before
sired calm returned. I feared the very the rest of the universe, is refuted by
cell in which I lived, because it was i.xi. 3. Aquinas, Sum. Theol., L Qusest.
ihomas
witness to the foul suggestions of my
enemy ; and being angry and armed with 45. That the Intelligences or Motors
severity against myself, I went alone into of the heavens should be so long without
tlie most secret parts of the wilderness, any heavens to move.
and if I discovered anywhere a deep 51. The subject of the elements is the
valley, or a craggy rock, that was the earth, so called as being the lowest, or
place of my prayer, there I threw this underlying the others, fire, air, and water.
miserable sack of my body. The same 56. The pride of Lucifer, who lies at
Lord is my witness, that after so many the centre of the earth, towards which
sobs and tears, after having in so much all things gravitate, and
sorrow looked long up to heaven, I felt
most deligiitful comforts and interior " Down upon which thrust all the other rocks."
sweetness ; and these so great, that, Milton, Par. Lost, V. 856, makes the
transjiorted and absorpt, I seemed to rebel angels deny that they were
" Whocreated
saw
myself to be amidst the choirs of angels;
and glnd and joyful I sung to God : by
WhenGodthis:—creation was? Rememberest thou
After Thee, O Lord, we will run in the
Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?
We know no time when we were not as now ;
fragrancy of thy celestial ointments.''^
In another letter, cited by Montalem- Know none before us ; self-begot, self-raised
bert. Monks of the West, Auth. Tr., I. By our own quickening power, when fatal course
Had circled his full orb, the birth mature
404, he exclaims: " O desert, enamelled Of this our native heaven, ethereal sons."
with the flowers of Christ ! O solitude,
where those stones are born of which, 65. The merit consists in being willing
in the AjK>calypse, is built the city of to receive this grace.
the Great King! O retreat, which re- 95. St. Chrysostom, who in his preach-
joicest in the friendship of God ! What ing so carried away his audiences that
<loest thou in tlie world, my brother, they beat the pavement with their swords
with thy soul greater than the world?
and called him the "Thirteenth Apostle,"
How long wilt thon remain in the shadow in one of his Homilies thus upbraids the
of roofs, and in the smoky dungeons of custom of applauding the jireacher :
cities ? Hdicve me, I see here more of " What do your praises advantage me,
theAtlight." when I see not your progress in virtue ?
the end of five years he was driven Or what harm shall I receive from the
from his solitude by the pereecution of silence of my auditors, when I behold
the Eastern monks, and lived succes- the increase of their piety? The praise
sively inJerusalem, Antioch, Constanti- of the speaker is not the acclamation of
nople, Rome, and Alexandria. Finally, his hearers, but their zeal for piety and
in 385, he returneil to the Holy Land, jeligion ; not their making a great stir in
and built a monastery at Heihlehem. the times of hearing, but their showing
Here he wrote his translation of the diligence at all other times. Applause,
Scriptures, and his Lives of the Fathers as soon as it is out of the mouth, is dis-
tif the Desert ; but in 416 this monastery, persed into the air, and vanishes, but
nnd otljcrs that had risen up in its ncigh- when the hearers grow better, this brings
l)<)urhoo<i, were burned by the Pelayans, an incorruptible and immortal reward
 NOTES TO PARAD7S0.
707
both to the speaker and the hearer. The the symbol of St. Anthony, as the cherub
praise of your acclamation may render is of St. Matthew, the lion of St. Mark,
the orator more ilhistrious here, but the and the eagle of St. John. There is an
piety of your souls will give him greater old tradition that St. Anthony was once
confidence before the tribunal of Christ. a swineherd. Brand, Pop. Antiquities^
Therefore, if any one love the preacher,
or if any preacher love his people, let I., "358, saysWorld
In the :— of Wonders is the fol-
him not be enamoured with applause, lowing translation of an epigram :—
but with the benefit of the hearers."
103. Lapo is the abbreviation of ' Once fed'st thou, Anthony, an heard of swine.
And now an heard of monkes thou feedesl
Jacopo, and Bindi of Aldobrandi, both
familiar names in Florence. For wit and gut, alike both charges bin :
Both still :— filth alike ; both like to fill
loven
107. Milton, Lycidas, 113: — Their greedy paunch alike. Nor was that kind
More beastly, sottish, swinish than this last.
" How swain,
well could I have .spared for thee, young All else agrees : one fault I onely find,
Thou feedest not thy monkes with okcn
Enow of such as for their bellies' sake
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold !
Of other care they little reckoning make,
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
"The author mentions before, per-
And shove away the worthy bidden guest ! sons who
' mast.'runne up and downe the
Blind mouths ! that scarce themselves know
how to hold country, ci"ying. Have you anything
A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else the
least
to bestow upon my lord .S. Anthonie's
TTiat to the faithful herdman's art belongs ! Mrs. Jarrteson, Sacred and Legendary
What recks it them ? What need they ? They swine?' "
are sped ; Art, II., 380, remarks: "I have read
And, when they list, their lean and flashy somewhere that the hog is given to St.
songs Anthony, because he had been a swine-
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched herd, and cured the diseases of swine.
straw :
The hungry sheep look up, and are not frd ;
This is quite a mistake. The hog was
But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they the representative of the demon of sen-
draw. suality and gluttony, which Anthony is
Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread : supposed to have vanquished by the
Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw
Daily devours apace, and nothing said : exercises of piety and by divine aid.
But that two-handed engine at the door The ancient custom of placing in all his
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no effigies a black pig at his feet, or under
more." his feet, gave rise to the superstition
115. Cowper, Task, II.: — that this unclean animal was especially
dedicated to him, and under his pro-
" He that negotiates between God and man. tection. The monks of the Order of
As God's ambassador, the grand concerns
Of judgment and of mercy, should beware .St. Anthony kept herds of consecrated
Of lightness in his speech. 'T is pitiful pigs, which were allowed to feed at
To court a §rin, when you should woo a soul ;
To break a jest, when pity would inspire the public charge, and which it was a
Pat'aetic exhortation ; and t' address profanation to steal or kill : hence the
The skittish fancy with facetious tales,
When sent with God's commission to the proverb about the fatness of a ' Tantony "
heart ! " Halliwell, Did. of Arch, and Prcrv.
For a specimen of the style of popular Words, has the following definition :
preachers in the Middle Ages, see the "Anthony-Pig. The favourite or
smallest pig of the litter. A Kentish
story of Frate Cipolla, in the Decame-
rone, Gior. VI. Nov. 10. See also pig-' "
expression, according to Grose. ' To
Scheible's Kloster, and Menin's Pridica- follow like a tantony pig,' i. e. to follow
toriana. close at one's heels. Some derive this
118. The Devil, who is often repre- saying from a privilege enjoyed by the
sented in early Christian art under the friars of certain convents in England and
shape of a coal-black bird. See Didron, France, sons of St. Anthony, whose
Christ. Iconog., I. swine were permitted to feed in the
124, In early paintings the swine is streets. These swine would follow any
 NOTES TO PA RAD/SO.
7o8
High throned above all highth, bent down his eye
one having greens or other provisions, His own works and their works at once to view.
till they obtained some of them ; and it About him all the sanctities of heaven
was in those days considered an act of Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received
charity and religion to feed them. St. Beatitude past utterance."
Anthony was invoked for the pig." 2. The sixth hour is noon, and when
Mr. Howell's Venetian Life, p. 341, noon is some six thousand miles away
alludes to the same custom as once pre- from us, the dawn is approaching, the
valent in Italy: "Among other privi- shadow of the earth lies almost on a
leges of the Church, abolished in Venice plane with it, and gradually the stars
long ago, was that ancient right of the disappear.
monks of St. Anthony Abbot, by which lo. The nine circles of Angels, de-
their herds of swine were made free of scribed inCanto XXVIII.
the whole city. These animals, en- 38. From the Crystalline Heaven to
veloped in an odour of sanctity, wan- the Empyiean. Dante, Convito, II. 15,
dered here and there, and were piously makes the Empyrean the symbol of
fed by devout people, until the year 1409,
when, being found dangerous to children, Theology, the Divine Science : " The
and inconvenient to everybody, they were Empyrean Heaven, by its peace, re-
sembles the Divine Science, which is
made the subject of a special decree, full of all peace ; and which suffers no
which deprived them of their freedom of strife of opinions or sophistical argu-
movement. The Republic was always ments, because of the exceeding certi-
opposing and limiting the privileges of tude of its subject, which is God. And
the Church !" of this he says to his disciples, ' My
126. Giving false indulgences, without peace I give unto you ; my peace I leave
the true stamp upon them, in return for
the alms received. you ; ' giving and leaving them his doc-
trine, which is this science of which I
130. The nature of the Angels.
speak. Of this Solomon says : ' There
134. Daniel vii. 10 : *' Thousand are threescore queens, and foui^score con-
thousands ministered unto him, and ten cubines, and virgins without number ;
thousand times ten thousand stood before
my dove,hemycalls
sciences undefiled,
queens isand
but paramours
one.' All
him."
136. That irradiates this angelic na- and virgins ; and this he calls a dove,
ture. l)ecause it is without blemish of strife ;
138. The splendours are the reflected and this he calls perfect, because it
lights, or the Angels. makes us perfectly to see the truth in
140. The fervour of the Angels is pro- which our soul has rest."
portioned to their capacity of receiving
the divine light. 42. Philippians iv. 7 : " The peace
of God, which passethall understanding."
43. The Angels and the souls of the
saints.
CANTO XXX.
45. The Angels will be seen in the
I. The ascent to the Empyrean, the same aspect after the last judgment as
tenth and last Heaven. Of this Heaven, before ; but the souls of the saints will
Dante, Cotn'ito, II. 4, says: " This is wear "the twofold gannents," spoken
the sovereign e<iifice of the world, in of in Canto XXV. 92, the spiritual
which the whole world is included, and body, and the glorified earthly body.
outside of which nothing is. And jt is 61. Daniel vii. 10 : "A fiery stream
not in space, but was formed solely in issued and came forth from before him."
the primal Mind, which the Greeks call And Revelation xxii. I : "And he
J'rotonoe. This is that magnificence of showed me a jnire river of water of life,
which the Psalmist spake, when he says clear as crystal, proceeding out of the
to God, * Thy magnificence is exalted throne of Gcxl and of the Lamb."
above the heavens. ' 64. The sparks arc Angels, and th»
Milton, Par. Lost, HI. 56 :— flowers the souls of the blessed.
66. For the mystic virtues of the ruby,
" Now had the Almif^hty Father from above, see Canto IX. Note 69.
Ftoin the pure empyrean where he >it«
 NOTES TO PARADISO. 709

76. For the mystic virtues of the tianity, itis difficult to account for his
topaz, see Canto XV. Note 85. becoming, as he is called by Beausobre,
90. " By the length," says Venturi, the hero of the Romance of Heresy. If
"was represented the outpouring of Simon was the same with that magician,
God upon his creatures ; by the round- a Cypriot by birth, who was employed
ness, the return of this outpouring to God, by Felix as agent in his intrigue to
as to its first source and ultimate end." detach Drusilla from her husband, this
99. Dante repeats the word vidi, I part of his character accords with the
saw, tliree times, as a rhyme, to express charge of licentiousness advanced both
tlie intenseness of liis vision. against his life and his doctrines by his
ICX3. Buti thinks that this light is the Christian opponents. This is by no
Holy Ghost ; Philalethes, tiiat it is the means improbable ; and, indeed, even if
Logos, or second person of the Trinity ; he was not a person thus politically pro-
Tommaseo, that it is Illuminating Grace. minent and influential, the early writers
124. Didron, Christ. Icoiioi^., I. 234, of Christianity would scarcely have con-
says : " It was in the centre, at the curred in representing him as a formid-
very heart of this luminous eternity, that able and dangerous antagonist of the
the Deity shone forth. Dante no doubt Faith, as a kind of personal rival of St.
wished to describe one of those roses Peter, without some other groundwork
with a thousand petals, which light the for the fiction besides the collision re-
porches of our noblest cathedrals, — the corded in tlie Acts. The doctrines
rose-windows, which were contemp«ra- which are ascribed to him and to his
neous witli the Florentine poet, and followers, who continued to exist for
which he had no doubt seen in his tra- several centuries, harmonise with the
vels in France. There, in fact, in the glimpse of his character and teneft in
very depth of the chalice of that rose of ihe writings of St. Luke. Simon pro-
coloured glass, the Divine Majesty shines bably was one of that class of adven-
out resplendently." turers which abounded at this period,
129. The word convent is here used or like Apollonius of Tyana, and others
in its original meaning of a coming to- at a later time, with whom the oppo-
gether, or assembly. nents of Christianity attempted to con-
136. The name of Augustus is equiva- found Jesus and his Apostles. His doc-
lent to Kaiser, Caesar, or Emperor. In trine was Oriental in its language and in
Canto XXXTI. 119, the Virgin Mary is its pretensions. He was the first yEon
called Augusta, the Queen of the King- or emanation, or rather perhaps the first
dom of Heaven, the Empress of "the manifestation of the primal Deity. He
most just and merciful of empires." assumed not merely the title of the Great
137. This is Henry of Luxemburg, to Power or Virtue of God, but all the
whom in 1300 Dante was looking as the other Appellations, — the Word, the Per-
regenerator of Italy. He tecame Em- fection, the Paraclete, the Almighty, the
peror in 1308, and died in 1311, tenwhole combined attributes of the Deity.
years before Dante. See Ptirg. VI. He had a companion, Helena, according
Note 97, and XXXIII. Note 43. to the statement of his enemies, a beau-
142. At the Curia Romana, or Papal tiful prostitute, whom he found at Tyre,
court. who became in like manner the first
143. Pope Clement V. (1305 — 1314). conception (the Ennoea) of the Deity ;
See htf. XIX. Note 83. The allusion but who, by her conjunction with mat-
here is to his double dealing with Heniy ter, had been enslaved to its malignant
of Luxemburg. See Canto XVII. Note influence, and, having fallen under the
82.
power of evil angels, had been in a con-
147. Among the Simoniacs in the stant state of transmigration, and, among
third round of Malebolge. Of Simon other mortal bodies, had occupied that
Magus, Milman, Hist. Christ., II. 97, of the famous Helen of Troy. Beau-
writes thus : " Unless Simon was in sobre, who elevates Simon into a Pla-
fact a personage of considerable import- tonic philosopher, explains the Helena
ance during the early history of Chris- as a sublime allegory. She was the
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
7IO
Psyche of his philosophic romance. The at Avignon with urgent appeals that this
soul, by evil influences, had become im- disgrace should no longer be permitted,
prisoned in matter. By her the Deity — but the Popes gave no heed to his
had created the angels ; the angels, words ; for the ruin of Roman churches,
enamoured of her, had inextricably en- or of Rome itself, was a matter of little
tangled her in that polluting bondage, in concern to these Transalpine prelates."
order to prevent her return to heaven. 73. From the highest regions of the
To fly from their embraces she had air to the lowest deptii of the sea.
• passed from body to body. Connecting 102. St. Bernard, the great Abbot of
' this fiction with the Grecian mythology, Clairvaux, the Doctor Mellijlitus of the
she was Minerva, or impei-sonated Wis- Church, and preacher of the disastrous
dom ; perhaps, also, Helena, or em- Second Crusade, was born of noble pa-
rents in the village of Fontaine, near
bodied Beauty."
148. Pope Boniface VIII., a native of Dijon, in Burgundy, in the year 1190.
Alagna, now Anagni. See Inf. XIX. After studying at Paris, at the age of
Note 53, and Ptirg. XX. Note 87. twenty he entered the Benedictine mon-
Dante has already his punishment astery of Citeaux ; and when, five yeai"s
prepared. He is to be thrust head later, this monastery had l^ecome over-
downward into a narrow hole in the crowded with monks, he was sent out
rock of Malebolge, and to be driven to found a new one.
down still lower when Clement V. shall Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Monastic
follow him.
Orders, p. 149, says : " The manner of
going forth on these occasions was strik-
CANTO XXXI. ingly characteristic of the age ; — the
abbot chose twelve monks, representing
I. The White Rose of Paradise. the twelve Apostles, and placed at their
7. Iliad, II. 86, Anon. Tr. : "And head a leader, representing Jesus Christ,
the troops thronged together, as swarms who, with a cross in his hand, weiit
of crowding bees, which come ever in before them. The gates of the convent
fresh numbers from the hollow rock, ojjened, — then closed behind them, —
and fly in clusters over the vernal flowers, and they wandered into tiie wide wo'id,
and thickly some fly in this direction, trusting in God to show them their des-
tined abotle.
and some in that."
32. The nymph Callisto, or Helice, " Bernard led his followers to a wil-
was changed by Jupiter into the con- derness, called the Valley of IVornnvood,
stel ation ofthe Great Bear, and Ijer son and there, at his biding, arose the since
into that of the Little Bear. See Purg. renowned abbey of Clairvaux. They
XXV., Note 131. felled the trees, built themselves huts,
34. Rome and her superb edifices, tilled and sowed the ground, and ciianged
before the removal of the Papal See to the whole face of the country round ;
Avignon. till that which had been a dismal soli-
tude, the resort of wolves and rolibers,
35. Speaking of Petrarch's visit to became a land of vines and corn, rich,
Rome, Mr. Norton, Travel and Study in
Italy, p. 288, says: "The great church populous, and prosperous."
of .St. John Lateran, ' the mother and This incident forms tlie subject of one
head of all the churches of the city and of Murillo's most famous paintings, and
the world,' — mater urbis el orbis, — had is suggestive of the saint's intense devo-
been almost destroyed by fire, with its tion to the Virgin, which Dante ex-
adjoining palace, and the houses of the presses inthis line.
canons, on the Eve of St. John, in 1308. Mr. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, .
The palace and the canons' houses were I. 145, gives th» following sketch of St.
Tebuilt not long after ; but at the lime of
Bernard : —
*' With Bernard the monastic life is
Petrarch's latest visit to Rome, and for
years afterward, the church was without the one thing needful. He began life
a roof, and its walls were ruinous. The by drawing after him into the convent
poet addressed three at least of the Popes all his kindred i sweeping them oae lyr
 NOTES TO FARAD/SO.

one from the high seas of the world with above all others. Brother Godfrey, sent
the irresistible vortex of his own religious out to be first Abbot of Fontenay, — as
fervour. His incessant cry for Europe soon as he has set all things in order
is, Better monasteries, and more of them. there, returns, only too gladly, from that
Let these ecclesiastical castles multiply ; rich and lovely region, to re-enter his old
let them cover and command the land, cell, to walk around, delightedly revisit-
well garrisoned with men of God, and ing the well-remembered spots among
then, despite all heresy and schism, the trees or by the water-side, marking 7"
theocracy will flourish, tlie earth shall how the fields and gardens have come
yield her increase, and all people praise on, and relating to the eager brethren
tile Lord. Who so wise as Bernard to
(for even Bernard's monks have curio-
win souls for Christ, that is to say, re- sity) all that befell him in his work.
cruits for the cloister? With what elo- He would sooner be third Prior at Clair-
quence he paints the raptures of con- vaux, than .Abbot of Fontenay. So, too,
templation, the vanity and sin of earthly with Brother Humbert, commissioned
ambition or of earthly love ! Wherever in like manner to regulate Igny Abbey
in his travels Bernard may have preached, (fourth daughter of Clairvaux). He soon
there, presently, exultant monks must comes back, weary of the labour and sick
open wide their doors to admit new for home, to look on the Aube once
converts. Wherever he goes, he be- more, to hear the old mills go drum-
reaves mothers of their children, the ming and droning, with that monotony
aged of their last solace and last sup- of muffled sound — the associate of his
]wrt ; praising those the most who leave pious reveries — often heard in his dreams
most misery behind them. How sternly when far away ; to set his feet on the
does he rebuke those Rachels who mourn very same flagstone in the choir where
and will not be comforted for children he used to stand, and to be happy. But
(lead to them for ever ! What vitriol Bernard, though away in Italy, toiling
does he pour into the wounds when he in the matter of the schism, gets to hear
asks if they will drag their son down to of his return, and finds time to send him
perdition with themselves by resisting across the Alps a letter of rebuke for
the vocation of Heaven ; whether it was this criminal self-pleasing, whose teirible
not enough that they brought him forth sharpness must have darkened the poor
sinful to a world of sin, and will they man's meditations for many a day.
now, in their insane affection, cast him " Bernard had further the satisfaction
into the fires of hell ? Yet I3ernard is of improving and extending monasticisni
not hard-hearted by nature. He can to the utmost ; of sewing together, with
pity this disgraceful weakness of the tolerable success, the rended vesture of
flesh. He makes such amends as super- the Papacy ; of suppressing a more po-
stition may. I will be a father to him, pular and more Scriptural Christianity,
he says. Alas ! cold comfort. You, for the benefit of his despotic order ; of
their hearts will answer, whose flocks quenching for a time, by the extinction
are countless, would nothing content of Abelard, the spirit of free inquiry ;
you but our ewe lamb ? Perhaps some and of seeing his ascetic and superhuman
cloister will be, for them too, the last ideal of religion everywhere accepted as
resource of their desolation. They will
the genuine type of Christian virtue."
fly for ease in their pain to the system 104. The Veronica is the portrait of
which caused it. Bernard hopes so. .So our Saviour impressed upon a veil or
inhuman is the humanity of asceticism ; kercliief, preserved with great care in
cruel its tender mercies ; thus does it the church of the Santi Apostoli at
depopulate the world of its best in order Rome. Collin de Plancy, Legemfes dcs
to improve it Saintes Images, p. 11, gives the follow-
" Bernard had his wish. He made
Clairvaux the cynosure of all contem- ing account of it : — ^-
" Properly speaking, the Veronica
plative eyes. For any one who could I [vera icon) is the true likeness of Our
exist at all as a- monk, with any satis- i Lord ; and the same nami; has been given
faction to himself, that was the place | to the holy woman who obtained it, be-
 NOTES TO PARADTSO.
712
cause the name of this holy woman was 12. " Have mercy upon me," are the
imcertain. According to some, she Atas first words of Psalm li., "-a Psalm of
a pious Jewess, called Seraphia ; accord- David, when Nathan the prophet came
ing to others, she was Berenice, niece of
Herod. It is impossible to decide be- 24. him."
unto The saints of the Old Testa-
tween the different traditions, some of ment.
which make her a virgin, and others the 27. The saints of the New Testament.
wife of Zaccheus.
31. John the Baptist, seated at the
" However this may be, the happy point of the mystic Rose, opposite to
woman who obtained the venerable im- the Virgin Mary. He died two year*
print of the holy face lived not far from before Christ's resurrection, and during
the palace of Pilate. Her house is still these two years was in the Limbo of the
shown to pilgrims at Jerasalem ; and a Fathers.
Canon of Mayence, who went to the 40. The row of scats which divides
Holy Land in 1483, reported that he had the Rose horizontally, and crosses the
visited the house of the Veronica. two vertical lines of division, made by
" When she saw Our Lord pass, bear- the seat of the Virgin Mary and those
ing his cross, covered with blood, spittle, of the other Hebrew women on one
sweat, and dust, she ran to meet him, side, and on the other the seats of John
and, presenting her kerchief, tried to the Baptist and of the other saints of
wipe his adorable face. Our Lord, the New Testament beneath him.
leaving for an instant the burden of the 43. That is to say, by the faith of
cross to .Simon the Cyrenean, took the their parents, by circumcision, and by
kerchief, a]ip]ied it to his face, nnd gave baptism, as explained line 76 et set].
it back to the pious woman, marked with 58. Festinata geute, dying in infancy,
the exact imprint of his august counte- and thus hurried into the life eternal.
nance."
Of the Veronica there are four copies Shakespeare, King Lear, \\\. 7 : "Ad-
vise the Duke, where you are going to a
in existence, each claiming to be the ori-
ginal ; one at Rome, another at Paris, a most festinatc preparation."
68. Jacob and Esau. Genesis xxv.
third at Laon, and a fourth at Xaea in 22: "And the children struggled to-
Andalusia. The travellerwho has crossed
the Sierra Morena cannot easily forget gether within her." And Rotiiaus ix.
H: "For the children being not yet
the stone column, surmounted by an iron born, neither having done any good or
cross, which marks the boundary between evil, that the purpose of God, according
La Mancha and Andalusia, with the me- to election, might stand, not of works,
lancholy stone face upon it, and the in- but of him that calleth."
scription, "/;"/ verdadero Retrato de la 70. Buti comments thus : " As it
Santa Vara del Dios de Xaen. " pleased God to give black hair to one,
116. The Virgin Mary, Regina Ceeli. and to the other red, so it ]>leased him.
125. The chariot of the sun. to give more grace to one than to the
other." And the Oitimo says: "One
CANTO XXXIL was red, the other black ; which colours
denote the temperaments of men, and
I. St. Bernard, absorbed in contem-
accordingly the inclination of their
plation ofthe Virgin.
5. Eve. St. Augustine, Serm. 18
75. The keenness of vision with which
De satutisy says : " Jlla percussit, ista they are originally endowed.
minds."
satiavit."
8. Rachel is an emblem of Divine 76. Prom Adam to Abraham.
79. From Abraham to Christ. Genesis.
Contemplation. Jti/. \\. loi, Beatrice
xvii. 10: "This is my covenant, which
says :— ye shall keep, between me and you, and
" And came unto the place
thy seed after thee : Every man-child
Where I was sitting with the ancient R.-ichcl."
II. Ruth the Monbitess, ancestress of among you shall
85. The face beof circumcised."
the Virgin Mary.
King DaviA Didron, in his Christ Iconog., \. 24a,
 NOTES TO PARADISO.
7»3

devotes a chapter to the "History of colour of wine, and from the top of the
the Portraits of God the Son." Be- head to the ears straight and without
sides the Veronica and the Santo Volto, radiance, but it descends from the ears
attributed to Nicodemus, he mentions to the shoulders in shining curls. Frorn
others which tradition traces back to the shoulders the hair flows down the
Pilate and St. Luke, and a statue back, divided into two portions, after
erected to Christ by the woman who the manner of the Nazarenes ; his fore-
was cured of the bloody flux. In the head is clear and without wrinkle, his
following extract several others are re- face free from blemish, and slightly
ferred to :— tinged with red, his physiognomy noble
" Abgarus, king of Edessa, having and gracious. The nose and mouth
learnt, says Daniascenus, the wonderful faultless. His beard is abundant, the
things related of our Saviour, became same colour as the hair, and forked. His
inflamed with Divine love ; he sent eyes blue and very brilliant. In reprov-
ambassadors to the Son of God, in- ing or censuring he is awe-inspiring ; in
viting him to come and visit him, and exhorting and teaching, his speech is
should the Saviour refuse to grant his gentle and caressing. His countenance
request, he charged his ambassadors to is marvellous in seriousness and grace.
employ some artist to make a portrait He has never once been seen to laugh ;
of our Lord. Jesus, from whom nothing but many have seen him weep. He is
is hidden, and to whom nothing is slender in person, his hands are straight
impossible, being aware of the inten- and long, his arms beautiful. Grave
tion of Abgarus, took a piece of linen, and solemn in his discourse, his lan-
applied it to his face, and depicted guage is simple and quiet. He is in
tliereon his own image. This very por- appearance the most beautiful of the
trait, continues Damascenus, is in ex-
children of men. '
istence at the present day, and in perfect " The Emperor Constantine caused
preservation. pictures of the Son of God to be painted
" At the same epoch, a minute ver- from this ancient description.
bal description of the appearance of " In the eighth century, at the period
Christ was in circulation. The fol- in which Saint John Damascenus wrote,
lowing description, which is of great the lineaments of this remarkable figuie
importance, was sent to the Roman continued
this day. to be the same as they are to
Senate by Publius Lentulus, Proconsul
of Judaea, before Herod. Lentulus had "The hair and the beard, the colour of
seen the Saviour, and had made him sit which is somewhat undetermined in the
to hini, as it were, that he might give letter of Lentulus, for wine may be pale,
a written description of his features and golden, red, or violet colour, is distinctly
physiognomy. His portrait, apociyphal noted by Damascenus, who also ailds
though it 1^, is at least one of the first the tint of the complexion ; moreover,
upon record ; it dates from the earliest the opinion of Damascenus, like that of
period of the Church, and has been Lentulus, is decidedly in favour of the
mentioned by the most ancient fathers. beauty of Christ, and the former severely
Lentulus writes to the Senate as follows : censures the Manichaeans, who enter-
' At this time appeared a man who is tained a contrary opinion. Thus, then,
still living and endowed with mighty Christ, in taking upon him the form of
power ; his name is Jesus Christ. His Adam, assumed features exactly resem-
disciples call him the .Son of fiod ; others bling those of tire Virgin Mary
regard him as a powerful prophet. He In the West, a century later than
raises the dead to life, and heals the the time of Damascenus, Christ was
sick of every description of infirmity and always thus dejected. S. Anschaire,
disease. This man is of lofty stature, Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen,
and wel!-]iroportioned ; his countenance who beheld Christ [in a vision], de-
severe and virtuous, so that he inspires scribed iiim as ' tall, clal in the manner
beholders with feelings both of fear and of the Jews, and beautiful in face, the
love. The hair of his head is of the splendour of Divinity darted like a flame
TH NOTES TO PARADISO.

from the eyes of the Redeemer, but his That no desd.iine the maker had of kinde
His son in blood and flesh to clothe and winde.
voice was full of sweetness."
94. Tlie Angel Gabriel. Luke i. 28 : " Within the cloystre blisful of thy sides,
Toke maniies shape the eternal love and pees.
" And the angel came in unto her, and That of the trine compas Lord and gide is.
said, Hail, tliou that art higldy favoured, Whom erthe, and see, and heven out of relees
the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou Ay herien ; and thou, virgine wemmeles,
Bare of thy body (and dweltest maiden pure)
among women." The creatour of every creatute.
99. The countenance of each saint be-
came brighter.
" Assembled is in thee magnificence
107. The word in the original is ah- With mercy, goodncsse, and with swiche pitec,
belliva, which Dante here uses in the That thou, that art the sonne of excellence.
Not only helpest hem that praien thee.
sense of the Proven9al, abellis, of Furt;. But oftentime of thy benignitee
XXVL 140. He uses tiie word in the Ful freely, or that men thin helpe beserhe.
same sense in Convito, H. 7 : " In all Thou goest beforne, and art hir lives leche."
speech the speaker is chiefly bent on
persuasion, that is, on pleasing the au- See also his Ballade of Our iMdie, and
dience, aW abbellire delP aiidienza, La Priere de A^ostre Dame.
which is the source of all other per- 36. As St. Macarius .said to his soul :
suasions." " Having taken up thine al>ode in
108. The star of morning delighting heaven, where thou hast (Jod and his
in the sun, is from Canto VHL 12, holy angels to converse with, see that
where Dante speaks of Venus as thou descend not thence ; regard not
" The star
That wooes the sun, now following, now in earthly things." the ardour of desire in
48. Finished
its accomplishment.
front "
119. The Virgin Mary, the Queen of 66. Aineid, \\\. 442, Davidson's Tr :
this empire. " When, wafted thither, you reach the
121. Adam. city Cumae, the hallowed lakes, and
Avernus resounding through the woods,
124. St. Peter.
you will see the raving proj^hete.ss, who,
127. .St. John, who lived till the evil
days and persecutions of the Church, lieneath a deep rock, reveals the fates,
and commits to the leaves of trees her
the bride of Christ, won by the cruci- characters and words. Whatever verses
fixion.
the virgin has inscribed on the leaves, she
131. Moses.
ranges in harmonious order, and leaves
132. Exodus xxxii. 9 : " And the in the cave enclosed by themselves : un-
I<ord said unto Moses, I have seen this
covered they remain in their position,
people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked nor recede from their order. lUit when,

133. Anna, mother of the Virgin u)ion turning the hinge, a small breath
people."
Mary. of wind has blown upon them, and the
137, Santa Lucia, virgin and martyr. door [by o))ening] hath discomposed the
Dante, Inf. \\. 100, makes her, as the tender leaves, she never afterward cares
emblem of illuminating grace, intercede to catch the verses as they are fluttering
with Beatrice for his salvation. in the hollow cave, nor to recover their
146. Trusting only to thine own situation, or join them together."
efforts. 78. Luke ix. 62 : " No man having
put his hand to the plough, and looking '
back, is fit for the kingdom of Cod."
CANTO XXXHL 86. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol.^ L
Qusest, iv. 2 : "If therefore Cod be
I. Chaucer, Second Noitues Tale:— the first efficient cause of things, the
Ron, maide and mother, dotighter of thy perfections of all things must pre-exist
" Thou
Thou well of merry, sinful soules cure, pre-eminently in (jixI." And Buti :
In whom that (loa of buuntee chces to won ; " In Ciod are all things that are made, as
Thou humble and high over every creature, in the Fii-st Cause, lliat foresees every-
Tbou DoU«dc»t to for forth our nature.

thing."
 7iS

NOTES TO PARADISO.

90. Of all the commentaries which " Think, Reader, if within myself I marvelled.
I have consulted, tliat of Htiti alone When I beheld the thing itself stand still,
sustains this rendering of the line. The And in its image it transformed itself."

rest interpret it, " Wjiat I say is but 115. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. T/ieol.,
a simple or feeble glimmer of what I
I. Qutest. xxix. 2: "What exists by
saw " itself, and not in another, is called sub-
94. There are almost as many inter-
pretations of this passage as there are nity.
sistence."
116. The three Persons of the Tri-
commentators. The most intelligible is,
that Dante forgot in a single moment
more of the glory he had seen, than 128. The second circle, or second
Person of the Trinity.
the world had forgotten in five-and-
131. The human nature of Christ; the
twenty centuries of the Argonaulic ex- incarnation of the Word.
pedition, when Neptune w ondered at the
shadow of the first ship that ever crossed 141. In this new light of God's grace,
the sea. the mystery of the union of the Divine
and human nature in Christ is revealed
103. Aristotle, Ethics, I., I, Giilies's to Dante.
Tr. : "Since every art and every kind
of knowledge, as well as all the actions 144. Wordsworth, Resolution and In-
and all the deliberations of men, con- dep nden—
ce :
stantly aim at something which they call " As a cloud . . .
good, good in general may be justly de- That heareth not the loud winds when they call.
fined, that which all desire." And moveth all together, if it move at all."
114. In the same manner the reflec-
tion of the Griffin in Beatrice's eyes,
Purg. XXXI. 124, is described as chang- and145. I yb/in
he that iv. 16in: love
dwelleth " Goddwelleth
is love in;
ing, while the object itself remained un- God, and God in him."
change—
d:
 ILLUSTRATIONS.

LE DANTE. et les noirs penchaient pour les gtielfa

attaches aux papes.
Voltaire, Dicdonnaire Philosophique.
Toutes ces factions aimaient la liberte,
Vous voulez connaitre le Dante.
et fesaint pourtant ce qu'elles pouvaient
Des Italians I'appellent divin : mais pour la detruire. Le pape Boniface
c'est une divinite cachee ; peu de -gens VIII. voulut profiler de ces divisions
entendent ses oracles ; il a des com- pour aneantir le pouvoir des empereurs
mentateurs : c'est peut-etre encore une en Italie. 11 declara Charles de Valois,
raison de plus pour n'etre pas compris. frere du roi de France Philippe-le-Bel,
Sa reputation s'affermira toujours parce son vicaire en Toscane. Le vicaire
qu'on ne le lit guere. 11 y a de lui une vint bien arme, chassa les blancs et les
viiigtaine de traits qu'on salt par cceur : gibelins, et se fit detester des noirs et des
cela suffit
aminer lepour
reste. s'epargner la peine d' ex- gitelfes. Le Dante etait blanc, et gibe-
lin ; il fut chasse des premiers, et sa
Ce divin Dante fut, dit-on, un homme
maison rasee.
fut le reste de On
sa peut juger de laa s'il
vie affectionne la
nssez malheureux. Ne croyez pas qu'il
fut divin de son temps, ni qu'il fut pro- maison de France et aux papes ; on
pliete chez lui. II est vrai qu'il fut pretend pourtant qu'il alia (aire un
prieur, non pas prieur de moines, mais voyage a Paris, et que pour se desen-
prieur de Florence, c'est-k-dire i'un des nuyer il se fit theologien, et disputa
senateurs.
vigoureusement dans les ecoles. On
II etait ne en 1260, a ce que disent
ses compatriotes. Bayle, qui ecrivait k ajoute que I'empereur Henri VII. ne
Rotterdam, ciirrente calamo, pour son fit rien pour lui, tout gibelin qu'il etait ;
libraire, environ quatre siecles entiers qu'il alia chez Frederic d'Aragon, roi de
.Sicile, et qu'il en revint aussi pauvre
apres le Dante, le fit naitre en 1265,* qu'il y etait alle. II fut reduit au mar-
et je n'en estime Bayle ni plus ni moins quis de Malaspina, et au grand-kan de
pour s'etre tromi)e de cinq ans : la Verone. \jt marquis et le grand-kan
grande affaire est de ne se tromiier ni ne le dedommagerent pas ; il mourut
en fait de gout ni en fait de raisonnemens.
Les arts commen9aient alors ^ naitre pauvre a Ravenne, ^ I'age de cinquante-
six ans. Ce fut dans ces divei^s lieux
dans la patrie du Dante. Florence etait
qu'il composa sa Coniedie de Venfer, dn
comnie Athenes, pleine d'esprit, de pitrgatoire el dn paradis ; on a regard c ce
grandeur, de leg^rete, d'inconstance et salmigondiscommeunl)eauix)emecpique.
de factions. I,e faction blanche avait
II trouva d'abord a I'entree de I'enfer
un grand credit : elle se nommait ainsi
dti nom de la signora Bianca. I>e parti un lion et une louve. Tout d'un coup
Virgile se piesente 4 lui pour I'en-
op|K>se s'intitulait \^ parti des noirs, jx)ur courager ; Virgile lui dit qu'il est n^
niieux se distinguer des blancs. Ces
Lombard ; c'est precisement comme si
<leux partis ne suffisaient pas aux Flo- Momere disait qu'il est ne Turc. Vir-
rentine, lis avaient encore les f^vdfes gile offre de faire au Dante les hon-
et les f;ibdins. La pi u part des b'ancs neurs de I'enfer et du purgatoire, et de
etaient f^ibelins du jiarti des empereurs,
le mener jusqu'a la porte de saint
Au •mois
Dantede naquit
inaL en cffet ^ Florence, en 1365, Pierre ; mais il avoue qu'il ne pourra
pa« entrer avec lui
 LA DIVINE COMkDIE. 717

Cependant Charon les passe tous Le rcpentir vint ronger ma vieillesse

deux dans sa barque. Virgile lui ra- Et j'eus lecours a la confession.
O repentir tardif et peu durable !
conte que, peu de temps apres son Le bon saint-pere en ce temps guerroyait,
arrivee en enfer, il y vit un etre puis- Non le soudan, non le Turc intraitable,
Mais les chretiens qu'en vrai Turc il pillait.
sant qui vint cliercher les ames d'Abel, Or, sans respect pour tiare et tonsure,
de Not, d'Abraham, de Moi'se, de David. Pour saint Francois, son froc et sa ceinture ;
En avan5ant chemin, ils d^couvrent dans Frere, dit-il, il me convient d'avoir
Incessamnient Preneste en mon pouvoir.
I'enfer des demeures tres agreables : Conseille-moi, cherche sous ton capuce
dans I'une sont Homere, Horace, Ovide Quelque beau tour, quelque gentille astucft.
et Lucain ; dans une autre on voit Pour ajouter eu bref a mes etats
filectre. Hector, £nee, Lucrece, Brutus Ce qui me tente et ne m'appartient jjas.
et le Turc Saladin ; dans une troisieme, J'ai les deux clefs du ciel en ma puissance.
De Celestin la devote imprudence
Socrate, Platen, Hippocrate et I'Arabe S"en servit mal, et moi je sais ouvrir
Averroes. Et refermer le ciel a mon plaisir.
Enfin parait le veritable enfer, ou Si tu me sers, ce ciel est ton partage.
Je le servis, et trop bien : dont jenrage.
Phiton juge les condamnes. Le voya- 1 1 eut Preneste, et la mort me saisit.
geur y reconnait quelques cardinaux, Lors devers moi saint Fran5ois descendit,
quelques papes, et beaucoup de Flo- Comptant an ciel amener ma bonne amc ;
Mais Belzebiit vint en poste, et lui dit :
rentins. Tout cela est-il dans le style
Monsieur d' Assise, arretez : je reclame
comique ? Non. Tout est-il dans le Ce conseiller du saint-pere, il est mien ;
genre heroique ? Non. Dans quel Bon saint Franjois, que chacim ait le sien
gout est done ce poeme ? Dans un gout Lors tout psnaud le bon homme d'Assise
bizarre. M'abandonnait au grand di;«ble d'enfer.
Je lui criai : Monsieur de Lucifer,
Mais il y a des vers si henreux et si Je suis un saint, voyez ma robe grise ;
nails, qu'ils n'ont point vieilli depuis Je fus absous par le chef de I'eglise.
J'aurai toujours, repondit le demon,
quatre cents ans, et qu'ils ne vieilliront Un grand respect pour rabsolution :
jamais. Un poeme d'ailleurs oil Ton On est lave de ses vieilles .sottises,
met des papes en enfer reveille beau- Pourvu qu'apres autres ne soicnt commises.
coup I'attention ; et les commentateurs J'ai fail souvent cette distinction
epuisent toute la sagacite de leur esprit ALe tes pareils
diable sait; de
et grace a I'ltalie,
la theologie.
a determiner au juste qui sont ceux que II dit, et rit : je ne repliquai Hen
le Dante a damnes, et a ne se pas A Belzebut ; il raisonnait trop bien.
tromper dans une matiere si grave. Lors il m'empoigne, et d'un bras raide et ferme
On a fonde une chaire, une lecture 11 appliqua sur mon triste epiderme
Vingt coups de fouet, dont bien fort il me cuit :
pour expliquer cet auteur classique. Que Dieu le rende a Boniface huit.
Vous me demanderez comment I'in-
quisition ne s'y oppose pas. Je vous LA DIVINE COMfiDIE.
repondrai que I'inquisition entend rail- Rivarol. £tude sur Dante,
lerie en Italic ; elle sait bien que des
plaisanteries en vers ne peuvent point fitrange et admirable entreprise !
faire de mal : vous en allez jnger par Remonter du dernier gouffre des En-
cette petite traduction tres libre d un
fers, jusqu'au sublime sanctuaire des.
morceau du chant vingt-troisieme ; il Cieux ; cmbrasser la double hierarchie
s'agit d'un damne de la connaissance de des vices et des vertus, I'extreme mi-
I'auteur. Le damne parle ainsi :— s^re et la supreme felicite, le temps et
Je m'appelais le comte de Guidon ;
Je fus -sur terre et soldat et poltron ; I'etemite ; peindre a-Ia-fois I'ange et
I'homme, I'autenr de tout mal, et le
Puis m'enrOlai sous saint Francois d' Assise, saint des saints ! Aussi on ne pent se
Afin qu'nn jour le bout de son cordon
Me donnat place en la celeste eglise ; figiirer la sensation prodigieuse que fit
Et j'y serais sans ce pape (&ot\. sur toute ITtalie ce Poeme national,
Qui m'ordonna de servir sa feintise,
Et me rendit mix griffes du demon. rempli de hardiesses centre les Papes ;
Voici le fait. Quand j'etais sur la terre. d'allnsions anx evenemens recens et anx
Vers Rimini je fis long-temps la guerre, questions qui agitoient les esprits ; ecrit
Moins, )-. I'avoue, en neros qu'en fripon. d'ailleurs dans une langne an berceau,
L'art de fourber me fit un grand renom. qui prenoit entre les mains dn Dante
Mais qujnd nion chef eut porte poil grison.
Temps de rptraite ou convient la sagesse. une fierte qu'elle n'eut plus apres lui,

3 B 2
 lU.USTRA TIONS.
718
et qu'on ne lui connoissoh pas avant. II est difficile de se figurer qu'on
L'effet qu'il pioduisit fut tel, que lors- puisse faire un beau Poeme avec de
que son langage nide et original ne fut telles idees ; et ce qui doit nous mettre
presque plus entendu, et qu'on cut yier- en garde contre ces sortes d'explica-
du la clef des allusions, sa grande repu- tions, c'est qu'il n'est rien qu'on ne
tation ne laissa pas de s'etendre dans un puisse plier sous I'allegorie avec plus
espace de cinq cents ans, comme ces ou moins de bonheur. On n'a qu'i
fortes commotions dont I'ebranlement se voir celle que le Tasse a lui-meme
trouvde dans sa Jerusalem.
propage a d'immenses distances.
L'ltalie donna le nom de diviit a ce Mais 11 est temps de nous occuper
Poeme et a son Auteur ; et quoiqu'on du Poeme de I'Enfer en particulier, de
son coloris, de ses beautes et de ses
I'eiltamis
ses laisseet mourir en exil,admirateurs
ses nombreux cependant defauts.
eurent assez de credit, sept a huit ans Au temps oit le Dante ecrivoit, la
apres sa mort, pour faire condamner le Litterature se reduisoit en France,
Poete Cecco d'Ascoii a etre briile pub- comme en Espagne, aux petites poe-
liquement a Florence, sous pretexte de sies des Troubadours. En Italic, on
magie et d'lieresie, mais reellement ne faisoit rien d'important dans la lan-
parce qu'il avoit ose critiquer le Dante. gue du peuple ; tout s' ecrivoit en latin.
Sa patrie lui eleva des monumens, et Mais le Dante ayant a construire son
envoya, par decret du .Senat, une depu- monde ideal, et voulant peindre pour
tation a un de ses petits-fils, qui refusa son siecle et sa nation,* prit ses mate-
d'entrer dans la maison et les biens de riaux oil il les trouva : il fit parler une
son aieul. Trois Papes ont depuis ac- langue qui avoit begaye jusqu'alors,
cepte la dedicace de i.A Divina Come- et les mots extraordinaires qu'il creoit
DIA, et on a fonde des chaires pour ex- au
pliquer les oracles de cette obscure di- Voilabesoin,
une desn'ont servide qu'a
causes lui seul.
son obscurite.
vinite.* D'ailleurs il n'est point de Poete qui
Les longs cortimentaires n'ont pas tende plus de pi^ges k son Traducleur j
eclairci les difficultes, la foule des Com- c'est presque toujours des bizarreries,
mentateurs n'ayant \\\ par-tout que la des enigmes ou des horreurs qu'il lui
theologie : mais ils auroient du voir propose : il entasse les comparaisons
aussi la mythologie, car le Poete les a les plus degoutantes, les allusions, les
melees. lis veulent tous absolument
termes de I'ecole et les expressions les
que le Dante soil la pnrtie auimale, ou plus basses : rien ne lui paroit mepri-
les sens ; Virgile, la philosopkie morale, sable, et la langue fran9aise chaste et
ou la simple raison ; et Beatrix, la lii- timoree s'effarouche h. chaque phrase.
miere rH'Hie, ou la theologie. Ainsi, Le Traducteur a sans cesse fi luttei
I'homme grossier reprtsente par le contre un style affame de poesie, qui
Dante, apres s'etre egare dans une foret est riche et point delicat, et qui dans
obscure, qui signifie, suivant eux, les cinq ou six tirades epuise ses ressources,
•orages de la jeunesse, est ramene par la et lui desseche ses palettes. Quel
raison & la connoissance des vices et des parti done prendre ? Celui de menager
peines qu'ils meritent ; c'est-a-dire, aux ses couleurs ; car il s'agit d'en foumir
Enfers et au Purgatoire : mais quand il aux dessins les plus fiers qui aient et^
se presente aux portes du Ciel, Beatrix traces de main d'homme ; et lors-
se montre, et Virgile disparoit. C'est qu'on est pauvre et delicat, il con-
la raison qui fuit devaijt la theologie. vient d'etre sobre. II faut surtout va-
rier ses inversions : le Dante dessine
• Le Dante n'a pas donn^ le nom Ae'ComMie
aux troi» grandes parties de son Poime, parce
(lu'il finit d'une manicre heureuse, ayant le • C'est un des grands d«?fa<its du Poeme,
Paradis pour ddnuAment, aInsi que I'onl cru d'fitre fait un peu trop pour le moment : deli
les Commcntitcurs : mais parce qu ayant honor^
vient que I'Autcur ne s'attachant qu'a prc'sonter
I'Kndide du nom d'Al.TA TRAOKUIA, il a voulu sjins cesse les nouvelles tortures qu'il iiivente,
prendre un litre plus humble, qui convint mieux
court toujours en avant, et ne fait q I'indiquer
■u style
c«lui qu'ilmaltrc
do son cmploie, si difTdrent en cffet de les a ventures. C'^toit assez pour st.n tempt-
pas a&sez pour le nCtre.
 LA DIVINE COM&DIE.
719

quelquefois I'attitude de ses person- II est vrai que dans cette immense
nages par la coupe de ses phrases ; il a galerie de supplices, on ne rencontre
des brusqueries de style qui produisent pas assez d'episodes ; et malgre la brie-
de grands effets ; et souvent dans la vete des Chants, qui sont comme des
peiiiture de ses supplices il emploie repos places de tres-pres, le Lecteur le
une fatigue de mots qui rend merveil- plus intrepide ne pent echapper a la
leusement celie des tourment6s. L'ima- fatigue.
Poeme. C'est le vice fondamental du
gination passe toujours de la surprise
que lui cause la description d'une chose Enfin, du melange d^ ses beautes et
incroyable, a reffroi que lui donne ne- de ses defauts, il resulte un Poeme qui
cessairement la verite du tableau : il
ne ressemble a rien de ce qu'on a vu,
arrive de-la que ce monde visible ayant et qui laisse dans Tame une impression
fourni au Poete assez d'images pour durable. On se demande, apres I'avoir
peindre son monde ideal, il conduit et lu, comment un homme a pu trouver
ramene sans cesse le Lecteur de I'un a dans son imagination tant de supplices
I'autre ; et ce melange d'evenemens si difierens, qu'il senible avoir epuise les
invraisemblables et de couleurs si vraies, ressources de la vengeance divine ;
fait toute la magie de son Poeme. comment il a pu, dans une langue nais-
Le Dante a versifie par tercets, ou sante, les peindre avec des couleurs si
i rimes triplees ; et c'est de tons les chaudes et si vraies ; et dans une car-
I'oetes celui qui, pour mieux porter le riere de trente-quatre Chants se tenir
sans cesse la tete courbee dans les En-
joug, s'est permis le plus d'expressions fers.
impropres et bizarres : mais aussi quand
il est beau, rien ne lui est comparable. Au reste, ce Poeme ne pouvoit pa-
Son vers se tient debout par le seule roitre dans des circonstances plus mal-
force du substantif et du verl>e, sans le heureuses : nous sommes trop pres ou
concours d'une seule epithete.* trop loin de son sujet. Le Dante par-
Si Ifs comparaisons et les tortures loit a des esprits religieux, pour qui ses
que le Dante imagine, sont quelquefois paroles etoient des paroles de vie, et
horribles, elks ont toujours un cote qui t'entendoient a demi-mot : mais il
iiigenieux, et chaque supplice est pris semble qu'aujourdUnti on ne puisse plus
dans la nature du crime qu'il punit. trailer les grands sujets mystiques d'une
Quant a ses idees les plus bizarres, elles maniere serieuse. Si jamais, ce qu'il
offrent aussi je ne sais quoi de grand et n'est pas permis de croire, notrc theo-
de rare qui etonne et attache le Lec- logie devenoit une langue morte, et
teur. Son dialogue e^t souvent plein s'il arrivoit qu'elle obtint, comme la
de vigneur et de nature!, et tous ses
mythologie, les honneurs de I'antique ;
personnages sont fierement dessines. alors le Dante inspireroit une autre
La plupart de ses peintures ont encore
espece d'interet : son Poeme s'eleveroit
aujourd'hui la force de I'antique et la comme un grand monument au milieu
fraicheur du moderne, et peuvent etre des mines des Litteratures et des Reli-
comparees a ces tableaux d'un coloris gions :il scroit plus facile a cette pos-
sombre et effrayant, qui sorloient des terite reculee, de s'accommoder des
ateliers des Michel-Ange et des Car- peintures serieuses du Poete, et de se
raches, et donnoient a des snjets em- penetrer de la veritable terreur de son
pnmtes de la Religion, une sublimite Enfer ; on se feroit chretien avec le
qui parloit a tous les yeux. Dante, comme on se fait payen avec

• Tels sont sans doute aussi les beaux vers Homere. *

de Virgile et d'Homere ; ils offrent a-la-fcis la • Je serois tent^ de croire que ce Pofeme
pense'e, I'image et le sentiment ; ce sont de auroit produit de I'effet sous Louis XIV., quand
vrais polypes, vivans dans le tout, et vivans je vois Pascal avouer dans ce siecle, que la
dans chaque partie ; et dans cette plenitude de severity de Dieu envers les damnes le surprend
poeMe, il ne peut se trouver un mot qui n'ait une moins que sa niisericorde envers les elus. On
grande intention. Mais on n'y sent pas ce goflt verra par quelques citations de cct eloquent niys-
apie ct sauvage, cette franchise qui ne peut
anthrope, qu'il ^loit bien digne de faire I'En-
f'alller avec laduperfection,
el le charnie Dante. et qui fait le caractere fer, et que pent-etre celui du Dante lui efit
semble trop doux.
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
720
NOTES SUR LE DANTE. fatues par ses vers, prendraient parti
contre on ne salt quels rivaux ou quels
Par Alphonse de Lamartine.
ennemis inconnus qui battaient alors le
Nous alloiis froisser tons les fana- pav^ de Florence. Ces amities ou ces
tismes ; n'importe, disons ce que nous inimitids d'hommes obscurs sont par-
pensons. faitement indifferentes a la posterity.
On peut classer le poeme du Dante Elle aime mieux un beau vers, une belle
de VEn/er, du Pni'gatoire et du Paradis image, un beau sentiment, que toute cette
parmi les poemes populaires, c'est-a-dire chronique rimee de la i)lace du Vieux-
paimi ces poesies locales, nationales, Palais {Palazzo -Vecchio) a Florence.
temporaires, qui emanent du genie du Au lieu de faire un poeme ^pique
lieu, de la nation, du temps (genius loci), vaste et immortel comme la nature, le
et qui s'adressent aux croyances, aux Dante a fait la gazette florentine de la
superstitions, aux passions infimes de posterite. C'est la le vice de VEn/er
la multitude. Quand le poete est aussi du Dante. Une gazette ne vit qu'un
mediocre que son pays, son peuple et jour ; mais le style dans lequel le Dante
son temps, ces poesies sont entrainees a ^crit cette gazette est imperissable.
dans le courant ou dans I'egout des ages R^duisons done ce poeme bizarre a sa
avec la multitude qui les goute ; quand vraie valeur, le style, ou plutot quelques
le poete est un grand liomme d'expres- fragments de style. Nous pensons a cet
sion, comme le Dante, le poete survit dgard comme Voltaire, le propliete du
eternellement, et on essaie, eternelle- bon sens : " Otez du Dante soixante
ment aussi de faire survivre le poeme ;
ou quatre-vingts vers sublimes et ve'ri-
mais on n'y parvient pas. L'oeuvre, tablement s^culaires, il n'y a guere que
jadis intelligible et populaire, aujour- nuage, barbaric, triviality et Idnebres
d'hui tenebreuse et inexplicable, resiste,
comme le sphinx, aux interrogations des dans le reste."
Nous sjjvons bien que nous choquons,
erudits, il n'en subsiste que des frag- en parlant ainsi, toute une ^cole litt^raire
ments plus semblables k des enigmes r^cente qui s'acbame sur le poeme du
qu'a des monuments. Dante sans le comprendre, comme les
Pour comprendre le Dante, il faudrait mangeurs d'opium s'acharnent a regarder
ressusciter toute la ^pulace florentine le vide du firmament pour y decouvrir
de son epoque : car ce sont ses croy- Dieu. Mais nous avons vdcu de longues
ances, ses haines, ses popularites et ses anndes eu Italic, dans la soci^t^ de ces
impopuiarites qu'il a chantees. II est commeutateurs et explicateursdu Dante,
[)uni par oil il a peche : il a chants pour qui se succedent de generation en g^n^-
a place publique, la posterite ne le ration, comme les ombres sur les bicro-
comprend plus. glyphes des obelisques de Tliebes ; nous
Tout ce qu'on peut comprendre, avons v(5cu meme de longues anndes a
c'est que le poeme exclusivement tos- Florence, parmi les lidritiers des hommes
can du Dante etait une espece de satire et j)armi les traditions des choses chan-
vengeresse du poete et de I'homme tdes, vantdes ou invectivdes par le poete,
d'filat contre les hommes et le partis et nous pouvons affirmer cju aucun d'eux ^
auxquels il avait voue sa baine. L'idee n'a fait que ddchiffrer des choses sou-
ctait mesquine et indigne du poete. vent bien pen dignes d'etre ddchi(Tr<5es.
I.e genie n est pas un jouet mis au ser- La pers«$v6rance meme de ces commen-
vice de nos petites coleres ; c'est un tateurs est la meillcure preuve de I'ini-
don de Dieu qu'on peut profaner en le puissance du commentaire i dlucider le
ravalant k des petitesses. I-a lyre, texte. Un secret une fois trouvd ne ce
pour nous servir de I'expression an- chcrche plus avec tant d'acharnement.
tique, n'est pas une tenaille pour tor- De jeunes Fran^ais se sont dvertuds
turer nos adversaires, une claie pour maintenant i poursuivre ce qui a lass^
trainer des cadavres aux g^monies ; il les Toscans eux-memes. Que le dieu
faut laisser cela 4 faire au bourreau : ce du chaos leur soil propice !
n'est i^as oeuvre de po^te. I.e Dante Quant i nous, nous n'avons trouv^,
eut ce tort ; il crut que les si^cles, in- comme Voltaire, dans le Dante, qu'un
 LA COMEDIE DIVINE.

grand inventeur de style, un grand cord complet de la Cumidie divine. Le

crdateur de langue ^gar^ dans une con- demon couve le fond de I'abime en
ception de tenebies, un immense frag-meme temps que I'aile des seraphins
ment de poete dans un petit nombre de traverse les jardins de I'Etheree. Cette
fragments de vers graves, plotot qu'e- infinite de joie qui confine a cette infinite
721
crits, avec le ciseau de ce Michel-Ange de douieur, cet echo infemal qui repond
de la poesie ; une trivialite grossiere a un echo emparadise, cet abime qui
qui descend jusqu'au cynisme du mot vous enveloppe dans tous les sens, cette
it jusqu'a la crapule de I'image ; une malediction qui repond a cette benedic-
[uintessence de th^ologie scholastique tion, cet ordre dans I'incommensurable,
qui s'^leve jusqu'a la vaporisation de c'est la ))ensee qui donne le jirix a toutes
I'idee ; enfin, pour tout dire d'un mot, les autres. A cela joignez, pour ac-
un grand homme et un mauvais livre. croitre la realite de la cite de I'abime, le
cortege des souvenirs poignants que le
LA COMfiDIE DIVINE. poete emporte avec lui, le sentiment de
personnalite qui non-seulement survit,
Edgar Quinet, I^s Revolutions d'ltalie, mais semble encore s'exalter dans la
Cliap. VII. mort. Les heresies avaient deja, pour
Comme vous
cathedrale dans retiouvez
chaque detail d'une un moment, ebranle le vieux dogma.
le caractere
Mais il etait une chose qu'aucune secte
de I'ensemble, de meme dans chaque n'avait encore mise en doute au treizieme
partie du pocme de Dante vous retrou- siecie ; la fois dans I'immortalite et la
vez en abreg^ toutes les autres. Les resurrection. On croyait a cet empire
souvenirs politiques dominent dans
des morts, au moins autant qu'a I'enqiire
I'Enfer ; la politique s'unit a la philo-
sopliie dans le Purgatoire, la philo- des vivants
etaient ; et comme
beaucoup les espritsons'enle
plus occupes,
sophic ala theologie dans le Paradis ; connaissait mieux que le monde visible.
en sorte que dans ce long itineraire, Les families humaines etaient si cer-
les bruits du monde s'evanouissent peu taines de se retrouver la, chacune avec
a peu et achevent de se perdre dans sa langue, son accent, sa physionomie
I'extase des derniers chants. II y a Chez Dante, ce ne sont pas seulement
dans I'Enfer des eclairs d'une joie per- les personnes, mais aussi les choses, les
due qui rappellent et entr'ouvrent le obje's, les lieux aimes qui sont trans-
Paradis ; 11 y a dans le Paradis des portes dans le pays des morts. Vous
plaintes lamentables, des proph^ties de retrouvez dans I'Enfer les chateaux forts,
malheur comme si le firmament lui- les villes, les mumilles crenelees, le
meme s'abimait dans le gouffre, et que ponts-levis des Guelfes et des Gibelins
I'extreme douieur ressaisit rhomme au Chaque endroit de I'abime est decrit
sein de I'extreme joie. avec une precision qui vous le fait toucher
Diviser par fragments le poeme de du doigt. La Jerusalem mystique est
Dante, comme on le fait ordinairement, construite des debris de Florence. Les
c'est le meconnaitre ; il faut au moins principaux lieux de I'ltalie reparaissent
suivre une fois, tout d'une haleine, le assombris par le triste soleil des morts.
poete dans ces trois mondes qui se C'est le beau lac de CJarda, ce sont les
touc'iient, embrasser d'un seul regard lagunes de Venise, ou les digues de la
I'horizoii des tenel^res et de la lumiere, Bienta, ou les flancs mines des Alpes
suivre le chemin de la torture qui mene Tarentines qui forment en partie Thorizon
.\ la felicite, recueillir tout les eclios de de la cite eternelle. Ce melange de
doulcur et de joie qui s'appellent sans merveilleux et de reel vous saisit a chaque
trouver de reponse, et place au sonmiet
i pas ; c'est encore I'llalie, mais renversee,
du
Dieupoeme,
et du s'orienter
Demon : dans cite du du haut des monts, au bruit de la trompe
il fautla entendre des archanges, sous les pieds du dernier
une fois le miserere des damncs dans les
fleuves de sang, en meme temps que Le desordre, le chaos, tous les tons
I'hosannah des bienheureux, puisque juge. qui se brisent, voila le genie veritable-
ment satanique. Plus la confusion est
c'est de ce melange que st forme I'ac-
 ILLUSTRA TIONS.
722
grande, plus les inventions sont efFre- d'Ugolin, ni'cnlrainent sans defense au
nees, et mo!ns vous soup^onnez Tart de sein de I'Infini lui-meme.
les avoirs arrangees pour iin effet du L'liomme ecrase par sa propre pensee,
moment. Le comhie de Tart, ici, est voila une situation que le genie antique
d'etre naturellement desordonne. L'an- no connaissait pas ; elle conduit a un
tiquite grecque venant a se rencontrer principe tout nouveau de style. Vous
avec le moyen age, produit une disso- avez vu dans le tableau du jugement der
nance eTroyal)le, harmonie de I'enfer. nier de Michel-Ange, les c^prits effrayes
Quand I'esprit se heurte a ces anachro- par le son de la trompette des anges et
uismes monstrueux qui enchahient a la par la splendeur du Christ juge, se
meme pensee, souvent a la meme place,
couvrir les yeux
la un geste de au
naturel leurs mains.Plus
Uante. C'est
sa
les paiens et les Chretiens, melant indis-
tinctement toutes ies generations, joi- pensee est formidable, et plus il craint de
gnant Fyrrhus et Attila, il semble que I'augmenter par ses paroles ; il la cache,
les differences des siecles s'effacent, et la retient sous une expression qui semble
que le temps meme disparaisse dans le d'abord I'attt-nuer ; mais la hnniere mau-
poeme de I'eternite. dite perce plus formidable sous ce voile.
Quelles sont, au milieu de ce chaos, L'echo de I'enfer rugit avec plus de force
les relations du poete et du poenie ?
sous ces paroles detounu'es qui seir.'jlaient
L'auteur tremble devant ses propres dabord faites \io\xx I'etoufFer.
conceptions. Pendant que les appari- Les seuls etres qui n'efifrayent pas
tions surgissent, il voudrait fermer ses Dante et qui paraissent ses interlocuteurs
yeux et ses oreilles. Vous voyez une naturels, ce sont les morts. Comme il
oeuvre formidal)le, qui s'accomplit, pour converse familierement avec eux I cjuelle
ainsi dire, d'elle-nieme, et l'auteur qui intimite d'une nature toute nouvelle I 11
demande grace a son genie. C'est en est vrai que ce ne sont plus seuiement
vain ; I'oeuvre inexorable se deroule ; des fantomes comme dans I'antiquite ;
elle s'accroit comme une force invincible, jamais, au contraire, sous le soleil, vies
elle entraine avec elle le poete. Muse ne furent plus ardentes, ni personnalites
plus indestructibles ! Au milieu de
assurement infernale, elle Tentoure, I'in-
vestit de toutes parts ; malgre ses trem- toutes les tortures, le doute en I'immor-
blements, ses cris etouffes, elle le precipite talite n'a jamais penetre dans le creur de
de tourbillons en tourbillons, de terreurs ces damnes. Puis, une jwrtie de ces
en terreurs. Les i)uissances de son esprit morts sont d'hier ; et cependant, qu'ils
evoquees, Dantede ne
a trace autour lui s'appartient
le cercle desplus ; il ont appris de choses_ dans les Klysees du
incan- Christ ! ils se souviennent du passe ; ils
tations, il n'en sortira pas. Poitant prevoient I'avenir ; ils n'ignorent que le
d'avance son chatiment, il tente de rentrer
dans le moade reel ; mais cela lui est present.
Sans doute, les supplices semblent
imi)ossible. Aussi suis-je tout pres de le trop mattriels ; mais n'oubliez pas qu'ik
croire quand, accable sous le poids de sa ne sont que le signe du supplice interifjur;
pensee, epouvante par son ceuvre, il ni Farinata, ni Hertrand de Born, ni
m'appelle et me (lit : " Lecteur, je Ugolin, ni Franyoise de Rimini, ces
t'assure que je I'ai vu, et mes cheveux en figures si connues qui parlent en pleurant,
sont encore lierisses cle pcur." Comme ne se plaignent des blessures de leurs
je ne puis m'empecher de donner ma corps, do la tempete eternelle, du bitume
sym|}athie et mon ca-ur k cet homme brulant, ou du lac glace. lis n'accuseni
si simple qui m'appelle ^ son sccours et que la blessure interieure ; et peut-^tre
tend vers moi les mains, je le suis des
jamais I'obsession de la pensee n'a-t-elle
yeux dans les profondeurs de I'abinie oi^ mieux paru que dans la fiertc terrible
il m'atiire. I'enche sur le gouffre, d'une jiartie de ces damnes qui au milieu
j'eprouve avec les encliantcments du des tf)rtures des sens ne parlent jamais
vertigc I'envie de me prccipiter dans ces que des tortures de I'esprit. Leurs dis-
certles et ces tourbillons qui, toujours cours, leurs recits, contrastent avec lea
diminuant au bruit des hymnes infernaux
fureurs du sujiplice ; vous croiriez qu'ils
et des suupirs de Fran9oi»e de Rimini et ne sont occupts que de ce qui est autour
 723
LA COMEDIE DIVINE.

d'eux ; au contraire, c'est le souvenir a ^t^ compost dans les ann^s qui ont
suivi immodiatement son exil. Dans
d'un certain jour, d'une certaine heure
^loignee dont I'enfer tout entier ne ])eut chaque vers la plaie est saignante ; vous
les distraire. lis se repaissent eternelle- entendez I'echo, les hurlements de la
ment de ce souvenir, en sorte que tout guerre civile. Au contraire, au moment
cet appareil de tourments materiels ne de compK>ser le Purgatoire, il s'eloigiie
sert qu'a mieux montrer la plaie invisible
de Tame. de r Italic et ses angoisses s'apaisent.
Bientot I'avenement de Henri VII.
Qiiand les f)eintres du moyen age ont reveille chez le Gibelin des espdrances
tente de fixer les visions de Dante sur les
exaltees ; c'est alors qu'il ecrit cetle
murailies, ils ont reussi a representer son lettre de pacification qui tranche si vive-
Paradis ; ils ont ete incapables de copier ment avec les autres : "A tous et k
son Enfer. Dans les anges couronnts chaque roi d'ltalie, aux s^iiateui-s de
d'aureoles sur les fiesques de Gozzoli, de Rome, aux dues, aux marquis, aux
Thaddeo Gaddi, rayonnent la foi, le comtes, a tous les peuples, I'humble
repos, I'extase du murmurent
sejour des seraphins Italien, Dante Alighieri de Florence,
les levres benies les tercets ;
injustement exile, envoie la paix." Puis
emparadises de Beatrix. Mais sitot que apres quelques mots :
ces memes hommes veulent representer " Console-toi, Italie, conso!e-toi, jxirce
i'Enfer, ils perdent leur genie. Le que ton ^poux, qui est la joie du siecle
pinceau veritablement beat de Fra An- et la gloire de ton peuple, se hate de
gelico ne pent suivre le poete dans le venir a tes noces : essuie tes lamies, 6 la
chaos de la cite maudite ; il n'en exprime plus belle des belles ! et vous tous qui
tout au plus qu'urjp ombre burlesque. pleurez, rcjouissez-vous, parce que votre
Les pieuses confreries d'artistes sont in- saliit est proche ! Pardonnez, pardonnez,
capables, au quatorzieme siecle, de mes bien-aimes, vous tous qui avez souf-
descendre
mal. de sang-froid dans I'abime du fert injustement avec moi 1 "
D'autres circonstances de sa vie mon-
Voulez-vous rencontrer iin spectacle trent la meme lassitude. Un jour, de
tout oppose, il faut arriver au seizienie la fenetre d'un convent place sur les
siecle, devant le Juge/noit dernier de rochers du golfe de Spezia, un moiue
Michel-Ange. C'est ici le regne de voit un inconnu errer autour de I'ermi-
I'enfer ; la terreur a penetre jusque dans I'Enfer. tage. "Que cherches-tu ? lui dit-il. —
le paradis. Au milieu de I'liorreur uni- La paix, " repond Dante, qui sortait de
verselle, il senible que la tempete gronde,
et que la cite dolente ait tout envahi. Imaginez que ce sentiment de dou-
Dans cette barque maudite, chargee de ceur se communique a son poem-j : vous
damnes, que conduit un noir cherubin, je aurez le secret de cette muse angelique
reconnais celle que Dante a rencontree qui tout a I'heure repelait Jes ricane-
pres du fleuve de sang. Voila sur le ments des demons ; c'est dans sa situa-
rivage le serpent qui entoure de ses replis tion interieure qu'il puise des accords
le pretre sacrilege ; voila le Minos de la tout nouveaux. L'ame desesperee re-
Coinedie divine. Mais la beatitude des com ence a sourire dans le Purgatoire ;
cieux de Fiesole, de Perugin, qu'est-elle les haines infernales sont remj^lacees
de venue ? oii est le sourire de Beatrix ? par des rttours vers les amities de la
ou est la r<5gion de paix, I'hosannah des jeunesse et la 7>ita iniova. L'arbre
bienheureux ? Nulle part. Que s'est-il frappe de la foudre rajeunit et reverdit
done pass^ ? Le mpyen age est fini ; la sous un souffle printanier ; ces impres-
reformation a dechire le rideau du temple ; sions melees et Cv>nfondues (car I'amour
ia serenite des anciens maitres est perdue n'est pas encore si puissant que Ton ne
sans retour ; le ciel de Michel-Ange est se souvienne de I'enfer), repau' lent dans
tout chargd de la tempete qui delate sur le Purgatoire toutes les melodies du
la societe modeme. monde moral. Les jeunes femmes qui
Chacune des parties du poeme de traversent le poeme, la Pia, Gentucca,
Dante correspond a une epoque de sa vie Maihilde, qui cueille des fleurs du ciel,
et en reproduit le caractere. L'Enfer Nella et au-dessus de toutes les autres.
724 ILL USTRA TIONS.

Beatrix toujours presente, ram^nent les mets des Apennins ou ne monte aucun
visions des plus belles et des meilleures bruit de la terre ; Thomme a peine a y
annees : puis les compagnons de jeu- respirer et y vivre. Les figures des
nesse, CaselJa le musicien, qui lui rap- saints represent^s sur les fiesques de ces
ermitages sembleut en etre les botes
pelle ses premiers chants d'amour, ^ternels. De meme les seuls habitant
Oderisi le peintre, les troubadours Sor-
del, Arnault Daniel, c'est la reunion de du Paradis de Dante sont quelques
tous ceux qui ont accompagne les jours anachoretes ]Terdus dans I'immensite ; 9^
sereins et radieux. Les vers trempes et la un paien, par une derniere ironie,
dans le goufFre de bitume au souffle des jet^e sur l'ltalie chr^tienne ; mais du
demons, s'amollissent au regard de Bea- reste, personne qu'il ait connu ou qu'il
trix ;Tame etait montee au ton de la ait aimd sur terre. Du plus haut du ciel,
terreur ; par une transition inattendue, le vieux Gil)elin laisse tomber son arret
cette terreur aboutit a la plenitude de de proscription contre tout le monde
I'esperance, comme ces melodies qui, visible qui I'a tromp^, et contre cette
commen9ant par un soupir de detresse, patrie meme qu'il n'a pu se donner.
s'aclievent et se relevent dans' un accent Apres avoir achev^ I'Enfer, Dante
de joie celeste. avait fait un voyage en F ranee et passd
Le dirai-je? I^ Paradis de Dante pres de deux ans a Paris. La trace de
me parait incomparablement plus triste ce voyage est facile a reconnaitre dans .
que son Purgatoire ? II le coniposa le poete. Attir^ par le bruit des ^coles
dans les dernieres annees de sa vie.
qui n'avaient cess^ de retentir depuis
Abeilard, il ^tait venu k ce rendez-vous
Les esperances par lesquelies il s'etait
laisse rep.rentlre venaient de tomber de- que les philosophes,se donnaient alors
vant la realite. Les emjiereurs n'avai- sur la montagne de Sainte-Genevieve ;
ent rien fait de ce que le Gibelin avait il ne retrouvait plus pour maitre ses
attendu. Aussi, dans le Paradis, il est compatriotes saint Thomas, saint Bona-
visible que le cceur de Dante ne re- venture ; mais leur tradition subsistait,
grette plus rien de la terre. Les par- et leur enseignement ^tait encore tout
vivant.
tis, les individus s'evanouissent pour lui ;
ils Tout trop souvent abuse ! L'ltalie Du combat de Campaldino aux pu-
eile-meme acheve de disparaitre : une gilats de paroles de la scolastique, quel
seule fois il la rajipelle, en rencontrant changement ! Comment une imagina-
son aieul Cacciaguida; et c'est pour en- tion nourrie des coleres des partis s'in-
foncer lui-meme a jamais dans son coeur spirera-t-elle de ces dcSbats oil I'esprit
humain se tend incessamment des pidges
ce qu'il appellele trait de I'exil ; en sorte
que le I'atadis le frapjie du dernier coup i lui-m6me ? Je doute que Dante se
S()it asservi k aucun systeme ; je vols,
que lui avait epargne I'Enfer.
Que lui ont fait ces figures cbarmantes au contraire, qu'il s'enivre i toutes les
qu'il avait rencontrees ici-bas ? Pour- sources a la fois : Aristote, saint Tho-
qiiot ne vcut-il pas s'en environner dans mas, Albert le Grand. Quand Goethe
le ciel ? Pourfpioi ne revoit-on pas ses peint I'exaltation de Faust, le savant du
jeunes amis. Guide Cavalcanti, Lap]x», moyen age, au milieu du d<<sordre de
avec lesquels il souhaitait d'al)ord de ses instruments d'alchimie, de ses livres
navigner sur un vaisseau eternel ? Pour- de philosophic, de thdologie, il cxj^lique j
quoi ne les suit-on pas avec lui dans la sans y penser, mieux que tous les com-
barque des anges, au milieu de I'ocean mentaires, I'auteur de la Coftiidie divine. ;
celeste? Pounpioi se fail-il un ciel Dante et Faust marquent en effct les \
desert dans Icquel personne, excepte deux 5.gcs opposes de la science hu-
JJeatrix, ne lui rappelle la vie rcelle? maine, et ils se rencontrent ft ces ex- '
On dirait (et cela n'est point impossible) frdmil^s. Dante, c'est I'adolescence de '
que cette partie a ete composee dans le I'esprit humain ; comme il n'a jamais '
tilence du monastere de Clulibio ou
<<prouv<$ I'impnissance du savoir de
Dante s'est en eflet retire. Je retrouve Thomnie, il a pour la philoso]ihie la
en cet endroit du poeme la paix de ces m^me adoration que pour la religion ; !
•rmitagcs des Camaldules, Kur les som- il est ccivaincu que Tor pur de la v^riti 1
 725
LA COM^DIE DIVINE,

est ail fond de son creuset, qii'il poss^de de'couvrir une face nouvelle du monde
moral,
dans un livre les secrets de I'lmivers, que
le syllogisme de Sigier lui ouvrira les Aussi longtemps que la Comidie di-
{wrtes de tons les mysteres. Science vine a ete luc dans I'esprit qui I'a in-
naive, il s'en abrenve comme du lait spiree, la tradition de ce sens cache a
matemel, et croit gouter la sagesse de ete pieusement gardee par les commen-
Dieu. Faust, au contraire, tel que tatenrs, Depuis Benvenuto d'Imola
Goethe I'a montr^, c'est I'esprit hiimain jusqu'a Landini, ils sont iinanimes a cet
dans sa vieillesse ; pins il sait, plus il egard. Boccace, lui-meme, si amou-
doute : a mesure qu'il apprend, il reux du monde exferieur, se plonge dans
o'eloigne du terme ; las de penser, il ces abimes ; c'est lui qui declare que la
voudrait pouvoir oiiblier. Surtout ces Comedie divine enveloppe la pensie
contradictions se montrent a deconvert catholiqiie tout entiere sons Fecorce
dans la maniere differente de sentir et
vnlgaire de la parole. D'apres cette tra-
de concevoir I'amour. La femine que dition, la foret solitaire dans laquelle
Dante place au-dessns de toutes les Dante s'egare, c'est le chemin de la vie
autres, personnifie pour lui le savoir et contemplative ; sainte Lucie qui s'eveille
la philosophie. Quelle est, au contraire, pour le sauver, c'est la divine clemence ;
la Beatrix de Faust rassasie de science ?
le fleuve t^nebreux de I'Enfer, c'est le
qui lui reprfeente la f^licit^ ? Une jeune fleuve de la vie humaine qui roule de
fille qui ne sait rien, Marguerite, un noirs soucis ; les animaux monstnieux et
enfant du peuple, I'image de la supreme, hurlants sont les passions des sens. Le
de la cdleste ignorance. passage de I'Enfer an Purgatoire a pour
Voila la clef qui acheve d'onvrir le gardien Cat on d'Utiqne. Pourquoi ce
mystene. L'auteur de I'Enfer vient personnage ? Quel caprice ! Cette
fantaisie change de nom si Ton adraet la
d'entrevoir dans le commerce des phi-
losophes le royanme des idees ; il veut tradition des vieux commentateurs ; sui-
les transporter toutes vivantes dans son vant eux, nnl ne pouvant sortir du
eeuvre, comme il a fait des partis poli- royaume du mal sans un effort heroique
tiques. Sans oWir a un maitre, a une de liberte, Caton d'Utique, qui s'est
^cole particuliere, il s'attache a I'esprit dechire de ses mains pour echapper a la
de la scholastique qui attribue a chaque servitude,
chose un double sens, le litteral et libre arbitre est
snr I'etemel
les confinsrepresentant
du bien et du
du
le spirituel. On n'a rien dit lorsque, mal. Ailleurs, I'aigle qui enleve le
pour expliquer la puissance de Dante, poete au ciel, c'est la foi anx ailes eten-
on parle de la beaute de quelques epi- dues ; les trois degres de la porte du
sodes ou de I'emportement des passions purgatoire sont les trois degres du sacre-
politiques ; car son poeme, ^crit au ment de penitence.
point de vue d'un parti, aurait ^t^ re- Qu'est-ce done que la Coniedie divine?
jet^ par tons les autres. Fourquoi done I'Odyssee du chretien ; un voyage dans
les a-t-il tous ^galement seduits ? parce I'infini, mele d'angoisses et de chants de
qu'il renfermait Fame meme du moyen sirenes ; un itineraire de I'homme vers
age, etdequ'il
nime saisirrfepondait
un sens a cach^
ce d^sir
sousuna- Dieu. Au commencement, I'homme
les reduit a ses seules forces, egare au mi-
formes de la nature et de I'art. Cet lien de la foret des sens, tombe de chute
id^lisme, qui trouve a peine place en chute, de cercle en cercle dans I'abime
dans I'Enfer, va toiijours croissant avec des reprouves. Par la douleur il se
Te r6gne de I'esprit dans le Purgatoire repare, il se releve, il gravit les degres
et le Paradis ; outre que la langue, de du purgatoire, amere vallee d'expiation.
cercle Pnrifie par un nonveau bapteme, il
car uneen flamme cercle, s'illumine
interieure davantage
Claire la; monte, ilatteint lesgloires, les hierarchies
{)arole. Attire par ces clart^s de Time, celestes; et par dela les bienhenreux
e moyen age savait qu'un tr(5sor devait eux-memes, il entre jusque dans le sein
etre enfoui a chaque endroit, et il inter- de Dieu oil le poeme et la verite s'ache-
pr^tait le poeme comme un apocalypse vent. A chacun de ces degres se trcnive
ie la soci^t^ laique. Chacun voulait y un guide particulier. Dans les cercles
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
726
iiiferieurs ou I'homnie se debat avec lui- attache ses yeux sur Bdatrix, Bdatrix sur
iiieme, le conducteur est Virgile, qui les hauteurs du ciel ; et tous deux ravis,
lepiesente la raison humaine, livree a de rdgion
milieu des enchceurs
rdgion des
]:)dnetrent
saintsjusc|u'au
et des
ses seules forces ; avec Virgile, I'esprit
pai'en se retire, et une aiue nouvelle se archanges. A mesure qu'ils s'dlevent,
communique a toutes clioses. Plus Beatrix tient moins de I'humauite. La
liaut, la oil commence la grace illunii- fille de Portinari se confond par degres
naute, sui'git Beatrix, I'amour couronne avec la vierge des cath§cirales. Cette
du souvenir. Les anachoretes, saint apotli^ose, que le jeune Dante avait
Benoit, saint Bernard, que Ton rencontre revde sur un tombeau, se consomme en
meme temps que le culte de la vierge
de sphere en sphere, d'astre en astre, ont envahissait le catholicisme. Absente de
chacun autour de soi un monde pour
la societd uaienne, la femme se revele
ermitage ; ils fonnent a travers I'iiifini
une procession au-devant de Dieu. Les en ouvrant les cieux nouveaux ; I'amour
Chretien la ddifie. La Madone de Beth-
conversations de ces pelerins de I'im-
niensite marquent les stationsde I'univers. Idem dtait devenue I'ame de I'Eglise,
Enfin au terme de I'eternel voyage, le Beatrix devient I'ame du poeme.
Christ est le seul compagnon. Malgrd une alliance si intime avec les
Tel est I'esprit dans lequel le moyen sentiments populaires, qui croirait que
age lisait son poete. II y a entre les I'Homere italien a si faiblement agi sur
vieux commentateurs une emulation de
I'education de I'ltalie ? il n'a pu raviver,
plonger plus avant dans le mystere ; transformer la religion nationale ; il a
quelquefois la curiosite de Tame leur trouvd dans I'immutabilitd du culte un
arrache des jiaroles d'inspires : "Quand obstacle invincible a la evi* //M/7r//<'qu'il
j'ouvre mes yeux a cette doctrine cachee portait en lui-meme et voulait prt)pager,
tie Dante, dit Landini, une horreur C'est-a-dire que son influence a etd im-
mense sur les individus, et nulle sur la
soudaine me saisit ; je deviens tel qu'un
socidte ; il a dlevd des horn mes, non un
oiseau de nuit surpris par la lumiere."
Apres la renaissance du seizieme siecle,
on j)erdit peu a peu la trace de ce genie pu peuple ; il a remud des personnes, il u'a
dbranler une nation.
intdrieur. L'^popde du moyen age Mais dans ces limites, oil est I'ltalien
frappa le dix-hu/tieme siecle jxir un cotd qui ne lui ait empruntd quelque chose ?
qui n'avait pas dtd vu encore, par les De ces grands individus, qui 9a et la
dehors, les mots,
peintures physiques, tiennent la place d'un peuple, quel est
monie des semblable a un I'har-
astre celui qui ne lui doive une jiartie de sa
qui, dans sa lente rotation, montrerait i grandeur? Raphael et Michel-Ange
des siecles difli(5rents des faces op poshes. viverU de la vie nouvelle dans leurs
Ce qui est de tous les temps, de tous peintures, Machiavel dans sa politique,
les lieux, c'est I'union de Beatrix et de Vico dans sa philosophie. Toutes les
Dante par dela les siecles. Bdatrix ames, extenuees par de trop grandes
n'apparait qu'au milieu du grand voyage, epreuves, se retrempent dans cette ame
l.orsque vous commencez a vous dgarer invulndrable. L'ltalie ne I'oublie que
dans Timniensitd, la jeune fiUe de Flo- lorsqu'elle s'oublie elle-meme : toules
rence descend de haul des cieux ; elle
les fois qu'elle se reveille, elle trouve 4
est voilde et elle sourit. Les sdraphins son chevet les pages de Dante. Pen-
jettent dant le moyen age, elle tient le volume
licurs, au-devant
Ses souvenirs d'elledeunla nuage
vallde de
de ouvert et le commente comme un codi-
I'Arno, ses reproches, la contenance cille du Nouveau Testament ; quand le
Iremblante du poete, tout atteste la xi- despotisme I'ecrase, elle abandonne les
ihtd ; les mysleres des mondes sont
dvWoiles comme la conversation de deux pages sibyllines, parce qu'elle aban-
donne I'espoir. Mais alors le livre est
amants. C'est le ciialogue de Romdo et emporle par les exiles, les ])roscrits,
de Juliette au bord de Tinfini dans par tous ceux qui vont errant de lieux
I'auroie 6temcllc en lieux, pour ne pas voir la face de
Dante acheve de boire dans le fleuve
I'etranger sur le sol de leur pays. \x
Kunue I'oubli du monde antique : il pamphlet du auntnrzieme siecle est
 727
LA PHILOSOPHIE ITALIENNE.

cntre leurs mains une conspiration per- a ses triomphes. Lors done qu'il ac-
nianente pour la libeite, riiidependance cucillit la philosophie, c'est qu'elle se
d'une patrie perdue : ils y retrouvent presenta sous les auspices de Scipion et
leurs larmes et leurs pensees d'aujour- d'Ennius, s'engageant ainsi a servir et a
d'hui. L'obscurile nieme du texte les plairc ; et depuis elle ne cessa pas de se
protege ; car ils cherclient a y ejjier prevaloir du patronage commim des
i'aurore du lendemain ; quelquefois, hommes d'Etat et des poetes. Elle visi-
passant comma Dante des tourments de tait la retraitc de Ciceron, accompagnait
i'enfer aux felicites du ciel, ils voient Seneque dans I'exil, mourait avec Thra-
soudainement I'ltalie renaitre sous la seas, dictait a Tacite, regnait avec Marc-
figure de cette Beatrix radieuse qui Aurele, et s'asseyait dans I'ecole des
cache, disent-ils, dans les plis vcrts de jurisconsultes, qui ramenaient toute la
sa robe, les ve7ies vallees des Apennins science des choses divines et humaines
et de la Calabre. a la determination du bien et du mal.
Elle avail convie a ses lemons Lucrece,
LA PHILOSOPHIE ITALIENNE. Virgile, Horace, Ovid et Lucain. Les
Ozanam, Dante et la Philosophic Catholique systemes de Zenon et d'Epicure, prompts
au Treizienie Siecle, Partie I. Ch. III. a se resoudre en consequences morales,
les traditions de Pythagore empreintes
1. Trois choses inseparables, le vrai, d'une inefra9ablc beaute, obtinrent seuls
lc droit de cite romaine. — Lc Christian-
le bien et le beau, sollicitent I'ame de isme vint feconder dc nouveau lc sol
I'homme a la fois par le sentiment de
leur absence actuelle et par I'espoir d'un italien que tant d'illustres enfantements
rapprochement possible. Le desir du semblaient devoir epuiscr. Apres Pan-
bien fut la premiere preoccupation des thenus, I'abeillc de Sicile et le premier
premiers sages, et la philosophic a son fondateur de I'ecole chretienne d'Alex-
origine, ainsi que son nom le temoigne andric; apres Laclance et saint Ambroise,
(*t\o<ro<pia), fut I'ceuvre de I'amour. le genie des anciens domains revecut au
Mais, le bien ne pouvant se faire sans sixieme et au septieme siecle dans deux
de leurs plus nobles descendants, Boece
etre d'abord per9u comme vrai, la pra-
tique incertaine appela le secours de la
et saint Gregoirc. L'un, martyr du
speculation : il fallut etudier les etres courage civil, sut preter a la philosophie
pour determiner les lois qui les unissent.un langage harmonieux et consolateur ;
On ne pouvait approcher du vrai sans I'autre, infatigable pontife, laissa pour
etre frappe de sa splendeur, qui est le monuments dans I'histoire de I'esprit
humain ses livres admirablcs sur les di-
beau : I'harmonie des etres, se refiechis-
sant dans les conceptions des savants, vines ficritures et lc systeme de chant
devait se reproduire jusque dans leurs demcure sous son nom. — Aux derniers
discours. La philosophie des premiers temps, le soleil italien ne cessa pas de luire
temps fut done morale dans sa direction sur des generations de philosophes, mo-
et poetique dans sa forme. ralistcs jurisconsultes, publicistes, et de
Telle au sein de I'ecole pythagori- poetes qui se firent honneur de philoso-
cienne elle apparut pour la premiere fois pher. C'est Marsile Ficin, confondant
en Italic. Alors les villes lui demande- en son enlhousiasme neoplatonique la
rent des lois, et plus tard les metaphy- science, I'art et la vertu; c'est Machiavel,
siciens d'Elec et Empedoclc d'Agrigente qu'il suflfit de nommer; Vico et Gravina,
chanterent les mysteres de la nature tracant les lois fondamcntales de la so-
dans la langue des dieux. — Puis Rome ciety, l'un avec dliicroplyphiqucs sym-
fut, et, comme son nom rannon9ait boles, I'autre avec la meme plume qui
CPwfm)), Rome fut la force ; et cette
^crira plus tard les statuts de I'academie
force, mise en action, devint I'empire du des Arcades ; c'est aussi P^trarque, de-
nionde. Lc peuple romain devait done scendant couronn^ du Capitole pour aller
etre doue surtout de genie de Taction. m^diter k la clart^ de sa lampc solitaire
Cependant le sentiment de I'art ne lui " les remedes de I'une et de I'autre for-
manquait pas non plus : il fallait d'har- tune ;" Tasse se reposant des combats
munieuses paroles a sa tnbune, des chants
de la Jirttsalem delivree dans d'admir
 ILL USTRATlOlSrS.
728

ables dialogues ; et, s'il est permis de expliquer I'origine des doctrines nou-
citer des celebriles plus rdcentes et non
vellement apparucs, et qu'Arnaud de
moins cheres, Manzoni et I'ellico. Villeneuve, par exemple, passait pour
On peut done reconnaitre parmi le I'adepte d'une secte pythagoricienne
philosophes d'outie-monts un doublt disseminee dans les principales villes
caractere, antique, permanent et poui de la Pouille et de la Toscane. — Mais
ainsi dire national ; car la permanence la vigueur exuberante de la philosophic
des habitudes, qui fait la personnalilf italienne ne manifeste surtout dans la
chez les individus, constitne aussi la na- memorable lutte qui s'engagea, et qui,
tionalite parmi les populations. On peut analogue a celle du sacerdoce et de
dire qu'il existe une philosophic italiennt I'empire, continua pendant plus de deux
qui a su maintenir dans leur primitive cents ans entre les systemes orihodoxes
alliance la direction morale et la formt et les systemes hostiles. 11 y aurait
po^tique ; soit que sur cette terre l)^ni(
peut-etre le sujet d'interessantes recher-
du ciel, en presence d'une nature m ches a faire dans les doctrines des Fra-
active, I'homme aussi apporte dans tricelles, dc Guillemine de Milan, des
Taction plus de vivacite et plus de bon- Freres Spirituels, oil la conmiunaute
heur, soit qu'un dessein d'en haul ait absolue de corps et de biens, I'dmanci-
ainsi fait I'ltalie pour etre le sidge prin- pation religieuse des femmes, la predi-
cipal du catliolicisme, en qui (levaient cation d'un evangile eternel, rappellc-
se rencontrer une philosophic excel- raient les tentatives modernes du saint-
Icmment pratique et poetique, les iddes simonisme. Mais, en se restreignant
reunies et rdalis^es du vrai, du bien et du aux faits purement philosophiques, on
beau.
en rencontre de plus surprenants en-
II. Au moyen age, la philosophic core. Des I'annce 1 1 15, les epicuriens
italienne n'etait ni moins florissante ni etaient assez nombreux a Florence pour
moins fidelc a son double caractere. y former une faction redoutee et pour
A la fin des siecle» barbares, le B. Le- provoquer des querelles sanglantcs ; plus
franc et saint Anselmc, sortis de Pavie tard, le materialisme y apparaissait
et d'Aoste pour aller prendre possession comme la doctrine publique des Gi-
i'un apres I'aulre du siege primatial de rent belins. Les petits-fils
accueillis a la courd'Averrhoes fu-
italienne des
Cantorbcry, inaugurerent dans 1' Europe
septentrionale les etudes regenerees. Hohenstaufen en meme temps qu'une
colonic sarrasine etait fondec a Nocera
Le Lombard
miration Pierre futde porte
universelle, par I'ad-
sa chaire de et faisait trembler Rome. Frederic II.
professeur, a Teveche de Paris. Pen- ralliait autour de lui toutes les oi)inions
dant q-ie Jean Italus faisait honorer son perverses, et semblait vouloir constituer
nom dans I'ecole de Constantinople, une ecole antagoniste de I'enseigne-
Gerard de Crcmone, fixe a Tolede, in- ment catholique. Cette ecole, quelque
terrogeait la science des Arabes, et ap- temps reduite au silence apres la chute
prenait aux P^spagnols i s'enricher des de la dynastie qui I'avait prot<5gee,
depouilles scientifiques de leurs enne-
reprit des forces lorsqu'un autre empe-
mis. Bologne avait efe le siege d'un reur, Louis de Baviere, descendit des
enseignement philosophiques qui ne Alpss pour aller recevoir la couronne
manqua pas d'eclat, avant de voir com- des mains d'un antipape. Un pen plus
mencer ces lemons de jurisprudence qui tard Petrarque, en citant dans ses dis-
la rendirent si celebre. La logique et cours saint Paul et saint Augustin,
ia physique ne cesserent point d'y etre excitait un sourire detlaigneux sur les
assidiiment professees au treizieme sie-
levres des savants qui I'entouraient, ado-
cle. Padoue n'avait rien 4 envier i sa rateurs d'Aristole et des commentateurs
rivale. Milan comptait pres de deux aral)es. Ces doctrines irrdligieuses
cents maitres de grammaire, de logique, etaient pressees de ce reduire en volup-
de mwlccine et de philosophic. Knfin, tes savantes : elles eurent des poetcs
la renoin^e des ]K;nseurs de la Penin- pour les chanter. — La veritc toutefois
sule etait si grandc dans toutes les pro- ne demeura point sans dcfenseurs, pour
vinces du continent, qu'cile servait ^ die furent suscites deux honuncs que
 729
LA DIVINE COMEDIE.

nous avons deja rencontres parmi les I'empreinte nationale, pourvu avec une
plus grands de leur age, saint Thomas ^gale lib^ralit^ des facult^s contempla-
tives et des facult^s actives, non moins
d'Aquin et saint Bonaventure, qu'il faut
rappeler ici comme deux gloires ita- ^minemment dou^ de I'instinct moral
liennes. Moralistes profonds, ils furent que du sentiment litt^raire. II fallait
encore poetiquement inspires, I'un quand trouver quelque part une ame en qui
il composa les hymnes, qui devaient un ces dispositions r^unies par la nature
fussent d^veloppdes encore par les
jour desesperer Santeuil ; I'autre, lors-
qu'il ecrivit le cantique traduit par ^preuves d'une vie providentiellement
Comeille. ^gidius Colonna comliattit predestin^e, et qui, fidele aux impres-
sions venues du dehors, eflt toutefois
aussi raverrhoi'sme de cette meme plume
qui tragait des le5ons aux rois. Alber- I'energie n^cessaire pour les rassembler
tano de Brescia publia trois traites et produire a son tour.
d'ethique en langue vulgaire. On en
pourrait citer d'autres encore qui furent LA DIVINE COMfiDIE.
vantes ci leur epoque, et qui ont ^prouv^
ce qu'il y a de trompeur dans les ap- Lainennais, Introduction sur la Vie et les
plaudissements des hommes. CEuvres de Dante.
Mais de toutes les cites assises au
pied de I'Apennin, aucune ne put s'en- Quoi qu'il en soit, le po6me entier,
sous ses nombreux aspects, politique,
orgueillir d'une plus heureuse f^condit^
que la belle Florence. Dechir^e par historique, philosophique, theologique,
les guerres intestines, si elle enfantait offre le tableau complet d'une epoque,
dans la douleur, elle se donnait des des doctrines re9ues, de la science vraie
enfants immortels. Sans compter Lapo ou erronee, du mouvement de I'esprit,
Fiorentino, qui professa la philosophic des passions, des moeurs, de la vie enfin
a Bologne, et Sandro de Pipozzo, au- dans tons les ordres, et c'est avec raison
teur d'un trait^ d' economic dont le qu'a ce point de vue la Divina Comviedia
succes fut populaire, elle avait vu naitre
Brunetto Latini et Guido Cavalcanti. aRien,
ete appelee
chez les un poeme comme
anciens encydope'dique.
chez les
Brunetto, notaire de la r^publique, modernes, ne saurait y etre compare.
avait su, sans faillir a ses patriotiques En quoi rappelle-t-elle I'epopee antique,
functions, servir utilement la science : qui, dans un sujet purement national,
il avait traduit en italien la Morale
n'est que la poesie de I'histoire, soit
d'Aristote ; il r^igea, sous le titre de qu'elle raconte avec Homere les legendes
Trlsor, une encyclopedic des connais- heroiques de la Grece, soit qu'avec Vir-
sances de son temps, et donna dans gile elle celebre les lointaines origines de
son Tewretto I'exemple d'une poesie Rome liees aux destins d'Enee ? D'une
didactique oil ne manquait ni la justesse ordre different et plus general, le Paradis
de la pens^e ni la grace de I'expression. perdu n'offre lui-meme que le developpe-
Guido Cavalcanti fut salu^ le prince de ment d'un fait, pour ainsi parler, dog-
la Lyre : un chant qu'il composa sur matique : la creation de I'homme, pousse
I'amour obtint les honneurs de plusieurs a sa perte par I'envie de Satan, sa deso-
commentaires auxquels les th^ologiens beissance, la punition qui la suit de pres,
les plus ven^r^s ne dedaignerent pas de I'exil de I'Eden, les maux qui, sur une
mettre la main. II aurait ete admir^ terre maudite, seront desormais son par-
comme philosophe si son orthodoxie tage et celui de ses descendants, et, pour
fut demeuree irreprochablc. C'etait consoler tant de misere, la promesse d'une
assez de deux citoyens de ce merite
redemption future. Qu'ont de commun
pour honorer une ville deja fameuse : ces poemes, circonscrits en un sujet spe-
un troisieme pourtant etait proche, qui cial, avec le poeme immense qui em-
les allait faire oublier. brasse non-seulement les divers etats de
III. La philosophie du treizi^me I'homme avant et apres la chute, mais
siecle devait done demander a I'ltalie encore, par I'influx divin qui de cieux
ie poete dont elle avait besoin ; mais en cieux descend jusqu'i lui, revolution
r Italic devait le donner marqu^ de de ses fiacultes, de ses energies de tous
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
73°
genres, ses lois individuelles et ses lois domaine du poete, et c'est la qu'on re-
sociales, ses passions varices, ses vertus, trouve Dante tout enticr, la qu'il prend
ses vices, ses joies, ses douleurs ; et non- sa place parmi ces hauts g<?nies dont la
seuiement I'homme dans la plenitude de gloire est celle de I'humanit^ meme.
sa propre nature, mais I'univers, mais la Aucun n'est plus soi, aucun n'est dou^
creation et spirituelle et materielle, mais d'une originality plus puissante, aucun
I'ceuvre entiere de la Toute-Puissance, ne poss^da jamais plus de force et de
de la Sagesse supreme et de I'Etemel variete d'invention, aucun ne pen^tra
Amour ?
plus avant dans les secrets replis de I'ame
Dans cette vaste conception, Dante et dans les abimes du coeur, n'observa
toutefois ne pouvait depasser les limites mieux et ne peignit avec plus de v^rit^
oil son siecle etait enferme. Son epopee la nature, ne fut a la fois plus riche et
est tout un monde, mais vm monde cor- plus concis. Si Ton peut lui reprocher
respondant au developpement de la pen- des m^taphores moins hardies qu'^-
tranges, des bizarreries que r^prouve le
se'e et de la societe en un point du temps
et sur un point de la terre, le monde du gout, presque toujours, comme nous
Moyen age. Si le sujet est universel, I'avons dit, elles proviennent des efforts
I'imperfection de la connaissance le ra- qu'il fait pour cacher un sens sous un
mene en une sphere aussi bomee que autre sens, pour ^veille: par un seul mot
i'etait, comparee a la science posterieure, des iddes differentes et parfois dispa-
rates. Ces fautes contre le goiit, qui
celle qu'enveloppaient dans son etroit
berceau les langues de I'ficole. En reli- ne se forme qu'apres une longue culture
chez les peuples dont la langue est fixde,
gion, en philosophic, I'autorite tra9ait
autour de Tesprit un cercle infranchis- sont d'ailleurs communes a tous les poetes
sable. Des origines du genre humain, par qui commence une ere nouvelle. Ce
de son etat primordial, des premieres sont, dans les oeuvres de g<5nie, les taches
idees qu'il se fit des choses, des premiers dont parle Horace, —
sentiments qu'elles evcillerent en lui, des " Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
antiques civilisations, des religions primi- OfTendar maculis."
tives, que savait-on ? Rien. L'Asie
presque entiere, ses doctrines, ses arts, Elles ressemblent k I'ombre de ces
ses langues, ses monuments, n'etaient nuages lagers qui passent sur des cam-
pas moins ignores que la vieille £gypte,
pagnes splendides.
que les peujjles du nord et de Test de Lorsque apres I'hiver de la barbaric
1 Europe, leurs idiomes, leurs mceurs,
le printemps renalt, qu'aux rayons du
leurs croyances, leurs lois. On ne soup- soleil interne qui ^claire et rechauffe,
9onnait meme pas I'existence de la moitie et ranime les aines engourdies dans de
du globe habite. Le cercle embrasse par froides ombres, la poesie reflcurit, ses
la vue delerminait I'etendue des cieux. premieres fleurs ont un ^clat et uh par-
La veritable astronomic, la physique, la fum qu'on ne retrouve plus en celles
chimie, I'anatomie, I'organogenie etaient qui s'^panouissent ensuite. Les pro-
i naitre : il faut done se reporter k I'e- ductions de I'art, moins d^pendantes de
poque de Dante pour comprendre la I'imitation et des regies convenues, of-
grandeur et la magnificence de son frent quelque chose de plus personnel,
ceuvre.
une originalite plus marquee, plus puis-
Nous avons explique les causes des sajite. Dante en est un cxemple frap-
obscurites qui s'y rencontrcnt, causes pant. Doublement creatcur, il cree
diverses auxquelles on pourrait ajouter tout k la fois un poeme sans modele et
encore les subtilitds d'une m^taphysique une langue magnifique dont il a garde
avec laquelle t res- pen cfe lecteurs s«Mit le secret ; car, quelle qu'en ait ^te Tin-
auiourd'nui familiarisds, et dont la langue fluence sur le developpement de la lan-
meme, pour etre entendue, exige i>ne gue litteraire de I'ltalie, elle a nean-
6tude sp6ciale et aride. Mais, en lais- moins conserve un caractere k part,
sanl in part le cot4 obscur, il reste cc qui qui la lui rend exclusivcmcnt propre.
apparticnt it la nature hun)aine dans tous La nettete et la precision, je ne sais
ics temps et dans tous les lieux, I'Etemel quoi de bref et de pittoresque, la dis-
 LA DIVINE COMEDIE.

tinguent particulierement. Elle reflete, L'enthousiasme pour Dante s'est re-

en quelque fa9on, le genie de Dante, nouvele depuis, et comme un exces en-
nerveux, concis, ennemi de la phrase, gendre un autre exces, on a voulu tout
abr^geant tout, faisant passer de son justifier, tout admirer dans son ceuvre,
esprit dans les autres esprits, de son faire de lui, non-seulement un des plus
ame dans les autres ames, idees, senti- 73»
ments, images, par une sorte de directe grands genies
nit^, mais qui unaient
encore poetehonord I'huma-
sans d^fauts,
communication presque independante infaillible, inspire, un prophete. Ce
des paroles. n'est pas Ici servir sa gloire, c'est foumir
Ne dans une societe toute foiTnee, et des armes a ceux qui seraient tenths de
la rabaisser.
artificiellement formee, il n'a ni le
genre de simplicite, ni la naivete des
Un des reproches qu'on a faits i
poetes des premiers ages, mais, au con- son poeme est I'ennui, dit-on, qu'on
traire, quelque chose de combine, de
eprouve a le lire. Ce reproche, qu'au
travaille, et cependant, sous ce travail, reste on adresse ^galement aux an-
un fond de naturel qui brille \ travers ciens, n'est pas de tout point injuste.
ses singularit^s meme. C'est qu'il ne Mais, pour en appr^cier la valeur ve-
cherche point I'effet, lequel nait de soi- ritable, ilfaut distinguer les ^poques.
meme par I'expression vraie de ce que Ce qui ennuie aujourd'hui, les details
le Poete a pense, senti. Jamais rien de d'une science fausse, les subtiles argu-
vague : ce qu'il peint, il le voit, et son mentations sur les doctrines th^olo-
style plein de relief est moins encore
de la peint u re que de la plastique. giques
rendent, etsans
philosophiques
aucun doute, de
cetteI'Ecole,
partie
Lorsque parut son ceuvre, ce fut du poeme fatigante et fastidieuse meme.
parmi ses contemporains un cri una- Mais elle ^tait loin de produire le
nime d'etonnement et d'admiration. meme eflfet au quatorzieme siecle. Cette
Puis des siecles se passent, durant les- science ^tait la science du temps, ces
quels pen 4 peu s'obscurcit cette grande doctrines, fortement empreintes dans
renommee. Le sens du poeme etait les esprits et dans la conscience, for-
perdu, le gout retreci et deprave par maient I'^l^ment principal de la vie de
I'influence d'une litterature non moins la society, et gouvemaient le monde.
vide que factice. Au milieu du dix- Voila ce qu'il faudrait ne point oublier.
huitieme siecle, Voltaire ecrivait a Bet- Lucrece en est-il moins un grand poete,
tinelli : "Je fais grand cas du courage parce qu'il a rempli son poeme des ari-
avec lequel vous avez ose dire que le des doctrines d'une philosophie main-
Dante etait un fou, et son ouvrage un tenant morte? Et cette philosophie,
monstre. J'aime encore mieux pour- dans Lucrece, c'est tout le poeme ;
tant, dans ce monstre, une cinquantaine tandis que celle de Dante et sa th^o-
de vers superieurs a son siecle, que
logie, n occupent, dans le sien, qu'une
tout les vermisseaux appeles sonetti, qui place incomparablement plus restseinte.
naissent et qui meurent a milliers au- Qui ne sait pas se transporter dans des
jourd'hui dans I'ltalie, de Milan jusqu'a spheres d'id6es, de croyances, de moeurs,
Otrante." differentes de celles otl le hasard I'a fait
Voltaire, qui ne savait guere mieux naltre, ne vit que d'une vie imparfaite,
I'italien que le grec, a juge Dante perdue dans I'oc^an de la vie progres-
comme il a juge Homere, sans les en-
sive, multiple, immense, de I'humanit^.
tendre et sans les connaitre. II n'eut, Dante, au reste, a congu son poeme
d'ailleurs, jamais le sentiment ni de la comme ont ^t^ conjues toutes les Epo-
haute antiquity, ni de tout ce qui sor- pees, et sp^cialement les plus anciennes.
tait du cercle dans lequel les modemes Celle de I'lnde, si riches en beautes
avaient renferme I'art. Avec un goflt de tout genre, ne sont-elles pas, au
delicat et sflr, il discemait certaines fond, des poemes theologiques ? Que
beautes. D' autres lui echappaient. La serait Vlliade, si I'on en retranchait les
nature I'avait doue d'une vue nette, mais dieux partout melds i la contexture
de la fable ? Seulement la Gr^ce, au
cette
borne. vue n'embrassait qu'un horizon
temps d' Homere, avait d4ji rompu les

c
 ILL US TRA TIONS.
732
liens qui entravaient le libre essor de
de I'esprit humain ; sa vie est un com-
I'esprit. Sa religion, depourvue de bat : rien n'y manque, les larmes, la
dogmes abstraits, ne commandait au-
cunes croyances, et, dans son culte faim, I'exil, I'amour, les gloires, les
faiblesses. Et remarquez que les inter-
vaguement symbolique, ne parlait gufere valles de son inspiration, que la sauvage
qu aux sens et a I'imagination. II durete de son caractere, que I'aristo-
en fut de meme chez les Remains, a cratie hautaine de son genie, sont des
cet ^gard fils de la Grece. Avec le traits de plus qui le rattachent k son
christianisme, un changement profond
epoque, et qui en meme temps I'en
s'op^ra dans I'^tat religieux. La foi separent et I'isolent. Oil que vous
en des dogmes precis devint le fonde- portiez vos pas dans les landes ingrates
ment principal de la religion nouvelle : du moyen age, cette figure, \ la fois
d'ou I'importance que Dante, poete sombre et lumineuse, apparait a vos
Chretien, dut attacher \ ces dogmes cotes comme un guide inevitable.
rigoureux, a cette foi n^cessaire. Au- On est done amene naturellement k
jourd'hui que les esprits, entrevoyant se demander ce qu'est Dante, ce qu'est
d'autres conceptions obscures encore, cette intelligence egaree et solitaire, sans
mais vers lesquelles un secret instinct
lien presque, sans cohesion avec I'art
les attire, se d^tachent d'un syst^me grossier de son age ? d'oii vient cette
qu'a us^ le progres de la pens^e et de intervention subite du genie, cette dic-
la science, il a cess^ d'avoir pour eux tature inattendue ? Comment I'oeuvre
I'int^ret qu'il avait pour les generations d'Alighieri surgit-elle tout k coup dans
ant^rieures. Mais, quelles que puissent
etre les doctrines destinies a le rem- les tenebres de I'histoire, proleni sine
niatre creatam ? Est-ce une exception
placer, elles seront, durant la p^riode
unique 4 travers les siecles ? C'est
qu'elles caract^riseront i leur tour, la mieux que cela, c'est I'alliance puis-
source eiev^e de la po^sie, dont la vie
sante de I'esprit createur et de I'esprit
est la vie de I'esprit, et qui meurt sitot traditionnel ; c'est la rencontre feconde
qu'elle s'absorbe dans le monde materiel. de la poesie des temps accomplis et de
la poesie des ages nouveaux. Ayant
devant les yeux les idoles du paganisme
DANTE, IMITATEURET
CRfiATEUR. et les chastes statues des saints, I'image
de I'ascetisme et de la volupte, Dante
Labitte, La Divine Com^die avant Dante. garda le sentiment de I'antiquite sans
perdre le sentiment chretien ; il resta
On ne dispute plus ^ Dante le role fidele au passe, il comprit le present, il
inattendu de conquerant intellectuel que demanda aux plus terribles dogmes de
son genie a su se creer tout i coup au la religion le secret de I'avenir. Ja-
milieu de la barbaric des temps. L'au- mais le mot d'Aristote : "la poesie est
teur de la Divine Comldie n'est pas plus vraie que I'histoire," ne s'est mieux
pour rien le representant poetique du verifie que chez Dante ; mais ce ne fut
moyen age. Place comme au carre- pas du monde exterieur du moyen age
four de cette ere et range, toutes les
routes minent ^ lui, et sans cesse on que se saisit le genie inventif d'Alighi-
eri ;ce fut au contraire du monde in-
le retrouve k rhorizon. Societe, in- terne, du monde des idees. De 14
telligence, religion, tout se reflate en viennent la grandeur, les defauts aussi,
lui. En philosophie, il complete saint de 14 la valeur immense, 4 quelque
Thomas ; en hisloire, il est le com-
mentaire vivant de Villani : le secret point
livre oude est
vue semee
qu'on I'envisage,
4 profusionde unece
des sentiments et des tristesses d'alors poesie eternellement jeune et brillante.
»e lit dans son poeme. C'est un homme L'int^ret philosophique vient encore
complet, 4 la maniere des ^crivains de ici s'ajouter 4 I'interet litt^raire et his-
I'antiquit^ : il tient lVp6e d'une main, torique. C'est la Bible, en effet, qui
la plume de I'autre ; il est savant, il est inspire Milton ; c'est I'Evangile qui
diplomate, il est grand poete. Son inspire Klopstock : dans la Divine Co-
ajuvrc est un des plus vastes monuments niidie, au contraire, c'est I'inconnu, Cw
 DANTE, IMITATEUR ET CREATEUR. 733

sont les mysteres de I'autre vie auxquels chance de choquer personne dans ce
riiomme est initie. La question de 1 im- temps d'egalite.
mortaiite est en jeu, et Dante a atteint Ce serait une folie de soutenir que
la souveraine poesie.
Dante lut tous les visionnaires qui I'a-
La preoccupation, I'insistance de la vaient precede. Chez lui, heureuse-
critique sont done legitimes : ce per- ment, le poete effa9ait I'erudit. Cepen-
f)etue! retour vers le premier maitre de dant, comme I'a dit un ecrivain digne
a culture italienne s'explique et se jus- de sentir mieux que personne le genie
tifie. Jusqu'ici les apologistes n'ont synthetique de Dante, " il n'y a que la
pas manque a I'ecrivain : investigations rhetorique qui puisse jamais supposer
biographiques, jugements litteraires, in- que le plan d'un grand ouvrage appar-
terpretations de toute sorte, hypotheses
tient a qui I'execute." Ce mot ex-
meme pedantes ou futiles, tout semble plique precisement ce qui est arrive a
veritablement epuise. Peut-etre n'y I'auteur de la Divine Comedie. Dante
a-t-il pas grand mal: il s'agit d'unpoete, a resume avec puissance une donnee
et si le vrai poete gagne toujours a etre philosophique et litteraire qui avail
lu, il perd souvent a etre commente. cours de son temps ; il a donne sa
Un point curieux et moins explore formule definitive a une poesie flottante
reste cependant, qui, si je ne m'abuse, et dispersee autour de lui, avant lui.
demande a etre particulierement mis en 11 eu est de ces sortes de legs poetiques
lumiere : je veux parler des antecedents comme d'un patrimoine dont on herite :
de la Divine Comidie. Ce poeme, en sait-on seulement d'ou il vient, com-
effet, si original et si bizarre meme qu'il ment ils'est forme, a qui il appartenait
semble, n'est pas une creation subite, avant d'etre au possesseur d'hier ? . . . .
le
mentsublime
doue. caprice
II se rattache d'un artiste divine-
au contraire Quand je disais tout a I'heure que
Dante vint tard, il ne faudrait pas en-
a tout un cycle anterieur, a une pen- tendre qu'il vint trop tard ; I'heure de
see permanente qu'on voit se repro- pareils hommes est designee ; seulement
duire periodiquement dans les ages pre- il arriva le dernier, il ferma la marche,
cedents ; pensee informe d'abord, qui pour ainsi dire. D'ailleurs, quoique la
se degage peu a peu, qui s'essaye di- societe religieuse d'alors commen^at a
verscment a travers les siecles, jusqu'a etre ebranlee dans ses fondements par le
ce qu'un grand homme s'en empare et sourd et lent effort du doute, elle avail
la fixe definitivement dans un chef-
encore garde intact I'heritage de la foi.
d'oeuvre. La forme rigoureuse de la vieille con-
Voyez la puissance du genie ! Le stitution ecclesiastique demeurail sans
monde oublie pour lui ses habitudes : echecs app&rents, el Ton etait encore a
d'ordinaire la noblesse se rejoit des deux siecles de la Reforme ; la papaute,
peres ; ici, au contraire, elle est ascen- en abusanl des indulgences, n'apaisait
dante. L'histoire recueille avec em- pas les scrupules des consciences chre-
pressement le nom de je ne sais quel tiennes sur les chaliments de I'enfer.
croise obscur, parce qu'a lui remonte Mais quel fut le resultal immediat du
la famille de Dante ; la critique analyse relachement qui commen9ait a se ma-
des legendes oubliees, parce que ces nifester 5a et Ik dans les croyances ?
legendes sont la source premiere de la C'est que les predicateurs, pour parer
Divine Comedie. La foule ne con-
a ce danger, evoquerent plus qu'aupara-
naitra, n'acceptera que le nom du vant les idees de vengeance, et rede-
I)oete, et la foule aura raison. C'est manderenl 4 la mort ces enseignemenls
a destinee des hommes superieurs de que leur permanence meme rend plus
Jeter ainsi I'ombre sur ce qui est der- terribles. De 14, ces teneurs profondes
riere eux, et de ne briller que par eux- de la fin de I'homme, ces inquietudes,
memes. Mais pourquoi ne remonte- ces ebranlements en quelque sorte qu'on
rions-nous point aux origines, pourquoi retrouve dans beaucoup d'imaginations
ne retablirions-nous pas la genealogie d'alors, et qui furenl si favorables 4
intellectuelle des eminents ecrivains ?
I'excitalion du genie de Dante. Les
Aristocratic peu dangereuse, et qui n'a anciens figuraient volontiers la morl sous

3 C 2
734 ILL USTRA TIONS.

des formes aimables ; dans les temps qui terieures au poeme. £videmment Ali-
avoisinent I'Alighieri, on en fait, au con- ghieri s'est inspire de ce vivant spectacle.
traire, des images repoussantes. Ce Les artistes ont done leur part, a cote
des legendaires, dans ces antecedents de
n'est plus cette maigre jeune femme des
premiers temps du christianisme ; c'est I'epopee chretienne, tandis que Dante
plus que jamais un hideux squelette, le lui-meme, par un glorieux retour, semble
squelette prochain des danses macabres. avoir ete present a la pensee de celui qui
Le symptome est significatif peignit le jfugement dernier. Noble et
De quelque cote qu'il jetat les yeux touchante solidarite des arts ! Qui n'ai-
autour de lui, Dante voyait cette figure merait a lire une page de la Divine
de la Mort qui lui montrait de son doigt Comidie devant les fresques de la
decharne les mysterieux pays qu'il lui chapelle Sixtime ? Qui n'aimerait k
etait enjoint de visiter. Je ne crois pas reconnailre dans Michel-Ange le seul
exagerer en affirmant que Dante a beau- commentateur legitime de Dante? A
coup emprunte aussi aux divers monu- une certaine hauteur, tout ce qui est beau
ments des arts plastiques. Les legendes et vrai se tejoint et se confond
infernales, les visions celestes, avaient La question des epopees, si vivement
ete traduites sur la pierre et avaient et si frequemment debattue par la cri-
trouve chez les artistes du moyen Sge tique moderne, ne peut-elle pas recevoir
d'ardents commentateurs. Les peintures quelque profit du tableau que nous avons
sur mur ont disparu presque toutes ; il vu se derouler sous nos yeux ? On salt
n'en reste que des lambeaux. Ainsi, maintenant, par un exemple consider-
dans la crypte de la cathedrale d' Auxerre, able, (quel est le nom k cote duquel ne
on voit un fragment oil est figure le pourrait elre cite celui de Dante ?) on
triomphe du Christ, tel precisement salt comment derriere chaque grand
qu'Alighieri I'a represente dans le Pur- poete primitif il y a des generations
qatoire. Les peintures sur verre ou se oubilees, pour ainsi dire, qui ont prelude
aux memes harmonies, qui ont prepare
retrouvent I'enfer et le paradis abondent
dans nos cathedrales, et la plupart le concert. Ces oeuvres capitales, qui
datent de la fin du douzieme siecle et du
apparaissent 5a et 1^ aux heures solen-
courant du treizieme. Dante avait du nelles et chez les nations privilegiees,
encore en voir executer plus d'une dans sont comme ces moissons des champs de
sa jeunesse. Enfre les plus curieuses, on bataille qui croissent fecondees par les
peut citer la rose occidentale de I'eglise morts. Dante explique Homere. Au
de Chartres. Quant aux sculptures, lieu de I'inspiration religieuse mettez
elles sont egalement tres-multipliees : le I'inspiration nationale, et vous saurez com-
tympan du portail occidental d'Autun, ment s'est faite F Iliade ; seulement la
celui du grand portail de Conques, le trace des rapsodes a disparu, tandis que
portail de Moissac, offrent, par exemple, celle des jegendaires est encore accessible
des details tres-bizarres et tres-divers. i I'erudition. Ces deux poetes ont eu en
Toutes les fonnes du chatiment s'y quelque sorte pour soutiens les temps qui
trouvent pour ainsi dire epuisees, de
les ont precedes et leur siecle meme ; I'un
meme que dans P Eufer du poete ; les a redit ce que les Grecs pensaient de la
recompenses aussi, comnie dans le Pa- vie publique, I'autre ce que les hommes
radis, sont tris-nombreuses, mais beau- du moyen ige pensaient de la vie future.
coup moins varices. Est-ce parce que Sont-ils moins grands pour cela ? Cette
notre incomplete nature est plus faite collaboration de la foule, au contraire,
Emr sentir le mal que le bien ? Lorsque est
ante fit son voyage de France, tout bienunrares
privilege qui neet s'accorde
intervalles qu'itout
a des genies de
cela exisfait, meme le portail occidental i fait exceptionnels. Pour s emparer ^
de Notre- Dame de Pans, ou sont figures
leur profit
ftre de I'inspiration
les interprctes gencrale,etpour
des sentiments des
plusieurs degres de peines et de remu-
nerations. Sans sortir de nos fronfitres,
passions d'une grande ^poque, pour faire
notre infatigable archeologue M. Didron ainsi de la litt^rature qui devienne de
A pu compter plus de cinquantc illustra- I'histoire, les poetes doivent ^tre marqu^
U0ns de (a Divine Comidie, toutes an- au front. Les pensees des temps ant^-
 735
DANTE, IMITATEITR ET CREATE UR.

rieurs eclatent tout a coup en eux et s'y la Divine Comidie, sinon pour le lec-
resolvent avec une fecondite et une puis- teur, au moins pour le critique : la
sance inconnues. A eux de dire sous
part de I'imilation, la part de la crea-
une forme meilleure, souveraine, a eux tion. Dante est un genie double, a la
de fixer sous retemelle poesie ce qui se fois ecleclique et original. II ne veut
repete a I'entour ! pas imposer au monde sa fantaisie et
Ce spectacle a sa morality : n'y a-t-il son reve par le seul despotisme du
pas IS, en effet, en dehors des noms genie. Loin de la, il va au-devant de
propres, quelque chose de vraiment son temps, tout en attirant son temps
grandiose par la simplicite meme ? a lui. C'est ainsi que font les grands
Dans I'ordre esth^tique, la poesie est hommes : ils s'emparent.sans dedain des
la premiere de toutes les puissances forces d'alentour et y ajoutent la leur.
donnees a I'homme. Elle est a I'eter- Dirai-je ce que Dante a imite, ou
nel beau ce qu'est la vertu a I'eter- plutot ce qu'il a conquis sur les autres,
nel bien, ce qu'est la sagesse a I'etemel ce qu'il a incorpore a son oeuvre? II
vrai, c'est-a-dire un rayon echappe d'en faudrait en rechercher les traces par-
haut ; elle nous rapproche de Dieu. tout, dans la forme, dans le fond, dans
Eh bien ! Dieu, qui partout est le la langue meme de son admirable livre.
dispensateur du genie, et qui I'aime, L'antiquite s'y trahirait vite : Platon
n'a pas voulu que les faibles, que les par ses ideales theories, Virgile par la
petits fi.issent tout a fait desherites de melopee de ses vers. Le moyen age,
ce don sublime. Aussi, dans ces a son tour, s'y rencontrerait en entier :
grandes oeuvres poetiques qui ouvrent mystiques elans de la foi, reveries che-
les eres litteraires, toute une foule ano- valeresques, violences theologiques, feo-
nyme semble avoir sa part, C'est pour dales, municipales, tout jusqu'aux bouf-
ces inconnus, eclaireurs predestines a fonneries ; c'est un tableau complet de
I'oubli, qu'est la plus les
tracent instinctivement rudevoies
tachea ;une
ils I'epoque : le genie disputeur de la sco-
lastique y donne la main a la muse
sorte de conquerant au profit de qui ils etrange des legendaires. Si la chevale-
rie introduit dans les moeurs le devoue-
n'auront qu a abdiquer un jour ; ils ment a la femme, si les troubadours
preparent a grand'-peine le metal qui
sera marque plus tard a une autre et alidiquent leur cynisme pour chanter
definitive empreinte ; car, une fois les une heroine imaginaire, si Gauthier de
tentatives epuisees, arrive I'homme de Coinsy et les pieux trouveres redou-
blent le lis virginal sur le front de
genie. Aussitot il s'empare de tous
ces elements disperses et leur imprime Marie, si les sculpteurs enfin taillent
cette unite imposante qui equivaut k la ces chastes et syeltes statues dont les
creation. Et alors, qu'on me passe yeux sont baisses, dont les mains sont
I'expression, on ne distingue plus rien jointes, dont les traits respirent je ne
dans ce faisceau, naguere epars, main- sais quelle angelique candeur, ce sont
tenant relie avec tant de puissance, autant de modeles pour Dante, qui con-
dans cet imposant faisceau du dictateur centre ces traits epars, les idealise, et
poetique, qu'il s'appelle Horoere ou les reunit dans I'adorable creation de
Beatrice. Cet habile et souverain
Dante. II y a done la une loi de I'his-
toire litteraire qui rend un peu a tous, eclectisme, Alighieri le poursuit dans
qui prete quelque chose a I'humanite, les plus petits details. Ainsi, par un
qui donne leur part aux humbles, et admirable procede d'elimination et de
cela sans rien oter au poete ; car, je le
choix, son rhythme il I'emprunte aux
ref)ete, les plus grands hommes evidem- cantilenes des Proven9aux ; sa langue
ment sont seuls appeles ainsi a formuler splendide, celte langue auliqun et car-
une pensee collective, k concentrer, airtalesqtte, comme il I'appelle, il la
a absorber, a ranger sous la discipline prend a tous les patois italiens, qu'il
de leur genie tout ce qui s'est produit emonde et qu'il transforme. On dirait
d'idees autour d'eux, avant eux. C'est meme qu'il sut mettre a profit jusqu'k
le miroir d'Archimede ses liaisons, jusqu'aux amities de sa
II y a done deux parts a faire dans jeunesse. Au musicien Casella ne put'
 ILLUSTRATIONS.
736
il pas demander ces harmonieuses dou- les epoques, a de lourds massifs, i des
ceurs de la langue toscane dont herita statues diflformes, a des parties ina-
plus tard Petrarque ; au peintre Giotto, chevees. Apprecions Dante en cri-
le modele de ces figures pensives dont tiques, et sachons ou vont nos adhe-
le pinceau toucha a peine Ics lignes sions. Sans doute il y a sympathie
suaves, et qui, dans les vieilles oeuvres permanente en nous pour ce passe que
italiennes, se detachent au milieu d'une chante le poete ; mais nous sentons
lumiere d'or ; a I'architecte Arnolfo bien que c'est du passe. Soyons francs :
enfin, la hardiesse de ses belles con- la fibre erudite est ici en jeu aussi bien
structions, pour batir aussi son edifice,
que la fibre poetique ; la curiosite est
sa sombre tour feodale maintenant noir-
eveillee en meme temps que I'admira-
cie par les annees, mais qui domine tion. Si I'on est frappe de ces cata-
tout I'art du moyen age. combes gigantesques, on sait qu'elles
Ainsi Dante ne dedaigne rien : phi- sont I'asile de la mort. En un mot,
losophe, poete, philologue, il prend de nous comprenons, nous expliquons, nous
toutes mains, il imite humblement I'a- ne croyons plus. La foi de Dante
beille. Vous voyez bien qu'il n'a rien nous parait touchante, aux heures de
cree, ou plutot il a tout cree. C'est tristesse, elle nous fait meme envie
de la sorte que proc^dent les inven- quelquefois ; mais personne ne prend
teurs : chacun sait les elements dont ils
se servent, personne ne sait le secret plus au serieux, dans I'ordre moral, le
cadre d'Alighieri. N'est-ce pas pour
de leur mise en oeuvre. Ce qui d'ail- nous un reve bizarre qui a sa grandeur,
leurs appartient en propre a Dante, ce sa grandeur en philosophic et en his-
qui suffirait a sa gloire, c'est le genie ; toire ? Et a qui, je la demande, cette
I'imposante grandeur de I'ensemble et lecture laisse-t-elle une terreur sincere et
en meme temps la supreme beaute du melee de joie, comme au moyen age ?
detail et du style, ce je ne sais quoi Helas ! ce qui nous frappe surtout dans la
qui est propre a sa phrase, cette allure Divine Comidie, ce sont les beaux vers.
souveraine et inexprimable de sa poe- Heureusement la forme seule a vieilli ;
sie, tant d'^nergie i la fois et tant le probleme au fond est demeure le
de grace, tant de sobri^te s^v^re dans meme, et la poetique solution tentee
la forme, et cependant tout un ^crin par 1'Alighieri reste immortelle. Les
^blouissant, des couleurs diapr^es et sentiments qu'il a touches avec tant
fuyantes, et comme un rayonnement d'art, les vcrites qu'il a revetues de
divin dans chaque vers. parures si splendides, sont de tons les
Ce n'est pas qu'il faille porter le culte temps. Convenons seulement que dans
jusqu'a la superstition. Les ultras, il cette foret oil s'egare le poete, on ren-
est vrai, sont moins dangereux en lit- contre bien des aspects sauvages, bien
t^rature qu'en politique : en politique, des rochers inabordables. Dante, genie
ils perdent les gouvemements qu'ils capricieux et subtil, est, ne I'oublions
flattent ; en litterature, ils ne font que pas, un homme du moyen age ; incom-
compromettre un instant les ecrivains parablement superieur k son temps, il
qu'ils exaltent, et qui, apres tout, sont en a cependant ci et la les inegalit^s,
toujours surs de retrouver leur vrai le tour bizarre, la barbaric, le pedan-
niveau. Mais pourquoi ces exagera- tisme : legitime satisfaction qu'il faut
tions ? Comment la vogue a-t-elle ose donner k la critique. Qu'importe apres
toucher ^ I'aust^re genie de Dante ? tout ? S'il y a 9^ et la des broussailles
L' oeuvre d' 4Alighieri, pedantesques qui obstruent la voie et
j'en veuxcath^drales
convenir,
ressemble ces inimenses qui fatiguent, tout k cote, et comme au
du moyen age que j'admire beaucoup, detour du buisson, on est sflr de re-
autant que persoiuie, mais qui, en defin- trouver les idees grandioses, les images
itive, sont le protUiit d'un temps a demi ^latantes, et aussi cette simplicite
barbare, et oii toutes les hardiesses naive, ces grace* discretes, qui n inter-
«ianc^es de I'architecture, ou les mer- disent pas la science am^re de la vie.
veilles ciselees et les delicatesses sculp- Laissons done I'ombre descendre et
turales s'entremelent souvent, ^ travers couvrir les parties de I'oeuvre de Dante
 DANTE, IMITATEUR ET CREATEUR. 737

d'oii la poesie s'est de bonne heiire les poetes, ces menteurs par excellence,
retiree, et contemplons plutot celles que ont leur place marquee chez Satan, et
retemelle aurore de la beaute semble
qu'il n'a, lui, qu'a y rester. Voila que
rajeunir encore avec les siecles. Rabelais, a son tour, verse au hasard
Cette forme, si longtemps populaire, les grossieres enluminures de sa palette
ii universellement repandue, de la vi- sur ce tableau oil le vieux gibelin avait
sion, semble disparaitre avec Alighieri, a I'avance mis les couleurs de Rem-
qui sort radieux du fatras des commen- brandt. Le prosa'ique enfer de Rabe-
taires et des imitateurs. Apres lui, lais, c'est le monde renverse. Je me
qu'on me passe le mot, il n'y a plus garderai de citer des exemples : qu'on
de pelerinage de Childe- Harold dans se rappelle seulement qu'il ne sait que
I'autre monde. Le poete avail fait de faire raccommoder des chausses a Alex-
la vision son inalienable domaine ; c'e- andre le Grand, a ce conquerant qu'Ali-
tait une forme desormais arretee en lui, ghieri avait plonge dans un flueve de
et qui ne devait pas avoir k subir d'e- sang bouillant. C'est a ces trivialites
preuves nouvelles. Quelles avaient ete que r Italic et la France retombent avec
pendant treize cents sans les craintes,
Folengo et Rabelais. L'Espagne aussi,
les esperances de I'humanite sur la vie un peu plus tard, aura son tour ; pre-
a venir : voila le programme que s'etait nez patience. Laissez sainte Therese,
trace Dante, et qu'il avait pour jamais ce grand genie mystique egare au sei-
rempli dans son poeme. zieme siecle laissez-la evoquer I'enfer
Sur la pente rapide qu'elles descen- dans ses songes, et rever que deux mu-
daient, comment les generations qui suc- railles enflammees viennent a elle, qui
cederent a I'Alighieri auraient-elles pris finissent par I'etreindre dans un em-
desormais un interet autre que I'interet brassenient de feu ; laissez la foi et la
poetique a ces questions du monde fu- mode des atitos sacramentaUs conserver
tur ainsi resolues par des visionnaires ? encore quelque importance aux com-
Dante, il est bon de le rappeler encore, positions religieuses. Deji, quand Cal-
n'esl pas un genie precurseur par les deron met sur la scene la legende du
idees ; il ne devance pas I'avenir, il re- Purgatoire de saint Patrice, il n'a plus, a
sume le passe : son poeme est comme le beaucoup pres, ces males accents de la
dernier mot de la theologie du moyen chanson du Romancero, oil etaient si
age. Cela est triste a dire peut-etre, energiquement depeints les chatiments
mais le cynique Boccace est bien plutot que Dieu inflige en enfer aux mauvais
I'homme de I'avenir que Dante. Dante rois. La transformation s'annonce : on
parle a ceux qui croient, Boccace a ceux louche aux railleries de Quevedo, a
qui doutent. La Reforme est en germe cette bouffonne composition des Etables
dans le Dtcameron, tandis que la Divine de Pluton, par laquelle I'Espagne vint la
Comedie est le livre des generations qui derniere rejoindre les cyniques tableaux
avaient la foi. C'est qu'on marche du Baldus et du Pantagruel,
vite dans ces siecles agites de la Renais- Tels sont les successeurs de Dante,
sance. Prenez plutot I'ltalie, cette qui I'ont un instant fait descendre de
vieille reine du catholicisme ; la France, ce trone de I'art chretien, oil notre
cette fiUe ainee de I'figlise ; I'Espagne equitable admiration I'a si legitime-
meme, cette terre privilegiee de la foi, ment et a jamais replace. Comment,
et interrogez-les. Qu'elles vous disent en demeurant au degre oil nous I'avons
:e que font leurs ecrivains des souve- vu, I'homme de son epoque, I'Alighi-
nirs de Dante et des revelations sur eri a-t-il empreinl a un si haut point
I'autre vie ; qu'elles vous disent s'ils son oeuvre d'un sceau personnel et ori-
n'ont pas bien plutot dans la memoire ginal ? comment la creation et I'imita-
le scepticisme goguenard des trouveres. tion se sont-elles si bien fondues dans
Voici en effet que Folengo, un moine la spontaneite de I'art? Inexplicables
italien, donne brusquement un enfer mysteres du talent ! C'est dans ce de-
burlesque pour denoument k sa celebre veloppement simultane du genie indivi-
macaronee de Baldus, et qu'il y laisse duel, d'une part, et du genie contem-
sans fagon son heros, sous pretexte que porain, de I'autre, qu'est la marque des
 ILL USTRA TIONS.
73«
Elements, of the Cabala. The Radix
esprits souverains. Voilk I'ideal que
Dante a atteint ; il ne faut lui disputer of this mysterious Science is the Hebrew-
auciine des portions, meme les nioin- Alphabet ; which the Cahalists divide
dres, de son oeuvre : tout lui appartient into Three Portions ; annexing to each
par la double legitimile de la naissance Portion a peculiar Province of the
et de la conquete. 11 etait creatcur, et Cabala. These Three Provinces of
il s'est fait en meme temps I'homme their Mysteries are referr'd, One to the
de la tradition, parce que la poesie res- Angelic World, or the several Orders of
semhle a ces lumieres qu'on se passait Angels or pure intellectual Beings in
de main en main dans les jeux du Heaven ; Another to the Starry World ;
stade, k ces torches des coureurs aux- and the Third to the Elementary World;
quelles Lucrece compare si admirable- for after this Manner the Cabalists
ment la vie. Le flambeau poetique divide the Universe. The Letters from
Aleph to yod, inclusive, are Symbols,
ne s'eteint jamais : Dante I'a pris des
mains de Virgile pour en eclairer le say they, of the Orders of Angels, stil'd,
monde modeme. by their Sages, Incorporal Beings, and
Chaque epoque a sa poesie qui lui pure Intellects, free from all Matter,
est propre, et qui ne saurait etre pour- and flowing immediately from, or being
tant qu'une maniere diverse d'envisager, the purest
the Power and most sublime
of God. Eff"ectfrom
The Letters of,
sous ses formes varices, le probleme de
la destinde humaine ; car nous sommes Caph to Tzade, likewise inclusive, re-
de ceux qui croient, avec Theodore present the Orders of the Heavens, or
Jouffroy, que toute poesie veritable, the Starry World ; which the Cabalists
que toute grande poesie est 14, que ce place under the Influence or Govern-
ment of the Angels ; and sometimes call
qui ne s'y rapporte point n'en est que the World of Rounds or Circles. The
la vague apparence et le reflet. Cette
blessure au flanc que I'humanitd porte remaining Letters, up to the Letter
apres elle, ce besoin toujours inassouvi l^han, are referr'd to the Four Ele-
qui est en nous et que la lyre doit ments, or Prime Species of Matter, and
to all their various Forms and Com-
cdldbrer ; en un mot, tout ce qu'Es-
chyle pressentait dans le Prom6t/i£e, binations ; which Elements, say the
tout ce que Shakespeare a peint dans Cabalists, have Influence or Dominion
Hamlet, ce pourquoi dont Manfred over Sense and Life ; and are them-
selves under the Influence or Direction
demande la solution 4 I'univers, ce
doute que Faust cherche 4 combler par of the Angels and the Coelestial Circles,
[a science, Werther par I'amour, don or Starry World, The Radical Cabal-
Juan par le mal, ce contraste de notre istical References of each Letter in the
ndant et de notre immortality, toutes /i^^r^f-Alphabet the Cabalists set forth
in the following Manner.
ces sources de l'<5ternelle podsie dtaient
ouvertes dans le coeur d'Alighieri. I. The Letter Aleph (Doctrine) de-
Lassd de la vie, ddgoiitd des hommes, notes, among the Cabalists, the Holy
Dante s'est mis au deli du tombeau Name Hu, assign 'd to the Inaccessible
pour les juger, pour chatier le vice, Light of the Divine Being, who is sig-
pour chanter I'hymne du bien, du nified by the Word Ensnph, i.e. In-
vrai et du beau. C'est un de ces finite. Itis referr'd to tlie First Sephi-
mattres aimds qui sont sfirs de ne ja- roth or Number; call'd Kether, i.e.
Crown, as being the Symbol of the
mais mourir, car I'humanitd, qui a
coopdrd h. leur oeuvre, reconnaifra tou- most sublime and perfect Beings ; that
jours en eux sa grandeur et sa mis^re. is to say, those Angels which are up-
held through the Prime Influence, or
the Prime Favour, or Goodness of God,
CABALA. and are call'd Hajoth hakodesch, i.e.
SCehelin, Rabbinical Literature, Vul. I. p. 156. Holy Animals. By these the Cabalists
mean the Seraphims.
We sliall now lay before the Reader II. The Letter Beth {House) denotes
some Account of the Radix, or First
the Holy name Ehie, assign'd to the
 739
CABALA^

Wisdom of God ; and signifying like- call'd Tiphereth, denoting Beauty, Or-
wise a Being, from which all other nament, and the Upper Coelestial Sun ;
Beings are deriv'd. It is referr'd to the and representing the Melachim, or Order
Second Sephira, call'd Chochma, i.e. of Angels call'd Paiuers ; which are
Wisdom; which is annex'd to the Order derived from the Power of God, through
of Angels, call'd Ophanim, i.e. Wheels, the Fifth Order of Intelligences, and
which is the Order of Cherubims ; who send, with that Order, their Influence
down to Inferiour Creatures.
were deriv'd from the Power of God,
through, and next after, the Intelligences VII. Sajin {Armour) denotes the
above-mention'd ; that is to say, the Name Zebaoth, i.e. the God of Hosts ,
Seraphims ; and, from them, descend and the Seventh Sephira, call'd Net-
(irtflneiitially) into the Terrestrial Beings.
sach, i.e. Conquering, answering to the
III. Gimel {Restoring, or Reivarding) Order of Angels call'd Elohim, or Prin-
denotes the Holy name AscA, signify- cipalities, which flow from the Power
ing the Fire of Laze, or the Holy Spirit,
of God, through the Angels of the
Sixth Order, and, with them, send their
and is referr'd to the Third Sephira or
Influences down upon the Inferiour
Number, call'd Binah, i.e. Prudence; Creation.
representing an Order of Angels, call'd VIII. Heth denotes the Name of
Aralim, i.e. Great, Valiant, Angels of
Might ; who make up the Third Class God, Elohe Zebaoth, and the Eighth
of Intelligences, or intellectual Beings, Sephira, call'd Tehilim, i.e. Praise,
flowing from the Divine Goodness ; and appropriated to the Angels Benelo-
and who are illumin'd by the Power him, or the Sons of God ; the same with
of God, through the .Second Class, or the Arch - Angels. And these flow
Order (i.e. the Cherubims) and descend from the Power of God, through the
therewith (influentially) to the lower- Angels of the Seventh Order ; -and de-
most Beings. The Angels of this Order scend, with them, influentially on In-
are taken to be the same with the feriour Beings.
Angels which are call'd Thrones. IX. Teth {Departing, or Escaping)
IV. Daleth [a Gate) denotes the denotes the Name of God, Sadai, and
Holy Name Ell ; and is referr'd to the the Ninth Sephira, call'd Musad, i.e.
Ground, or Foundation ; and answering
Fourth Sephira or Number, call'd Che-
sed, i.e. Grace, or Afercy; which is to the Cherubims ; which flow from
appropriated to the Maschemalim, an the Power of God, through the Angels
Order of Angels which is taken to be of the Eighth Order ; and send, in
the same with That call'd Dominions ; Conjunction with them, their Influence
and which flows, from the Power of down on the Creation beneath them.
God, through the Third Order of In- X. Jod {Beginning) denotes the
telligences (i.e. the Aralim), and, with Name of God, Adonai Melcch, i. e.
it, descends influentially on the Beings The Lord is King ; and is referr'd to
below.
the Tenth Sephira, call'd Malcut, i. e.
V. He {Behold) denotes the Holy Kingdom; and likewise Ischim, i. e.
Name Elohim, and the Fifth Sephira, Strong Men ; and is appropriated to the
call'd Pashad ; which denotes Severity, lowest of the Holy Orders (The Orders
Judgement, Awe, the Left Side, or the
of Angels)
by the Power; which
of God, Order
throughis the
illumin'd
Ninth
Sword of God. This Sephira is assign'd,
by some Hebrews, to the Seraphims ; Order, and, with the Power of that
but by others, more reasonably, to the Order, descends influentially on the
Order of Angels call'd Gnaz {Strength) Sense and Knowledge of Men, referr'd
which flows from the Power of God, to Things uncommon. Such are the
through the Fourth Class of Intelli- References of this Part of the Htbrew-
Alphabet to the several Orders in the
gences, and, with it, sends down its
Influence to Inferiour Beings. Angelic World. We now proceed to
VI. Vau {a Hook) denotes the Mys- the Alphabetical References to the
World of Rounds or Circles, or the
teries of the Holy Name Eloah ; and is
referr'd to the Fifth Sephira, which is Starry World.
 ILLVSTRA TIONS.
740
XI. Caph, Initial [the Palm or Hollow XVII. Nun, Final, denotes the Cir-
of the Hand) denotes the Escadai, i. e. cle of Venus, call'd, by the Hebrews,
the Primuvi Mobile, or First Mover ; Nogu. Her Intelligence is Haniel, i.e.
which is put in Motion immediately by Reconciler of Mercy ; infus'd by the
the First Cause. The Intelligence of this power of God, through the Intelligence
First Mover is stiled Metraton Sera-
Raphael, and diffus'd, by the same
phanim, or the Prince of Countenance. Means, upon all Terrestrial Beings.
XVIII. Samech denotes the Heaven
'Tis the Prime, Regular Mover, or In-
fluencer of the Sensible World ; flowing, of Mercury, call'd Cochah, i.e. Star.
through the Power of God, into all His Intelligence is Michael, derived
Things that have Motion, and endowing from the Power of God, by Means of
all the Lower Creation, by penetrating the Intelligence Raphael ; and, by
deep into the Forms thereof, with Life. Means of the same Intelligence, descend-
XII. Caph, Final, denotes the Circle ing influentially upon all Things below.
of the Fixed Stars ; that is to say, Those XIX. Hajim denotes the Heaven of
which make up the Signs of the Zodiac, the Moon, call'd Jareach, The Left Eye
call'd, by the Hebrews, Galgal Ham- of the World. Her Intelligence is Ga-
maziloth, i. e. The Circle of Signs. This briel, infus'd by the Power of God,
Circle hath for its Intelligence the Angel through the Intelligence Michael ; and
Raziel, Adam's Instructer or Familiar descending, as the 'foremention'd, in-
Spirit ; and its Influence is, through the fluentially upon all the Terrestrial Crea-
Power of God, by Means of the above- tion. Such is the Cabalistical Account
of the References of these Letters of
mention'd Intelligence, the Angel Me-
traton, diffus'd through the Lower Crea- the //(f^r«f-Alphabet to the World of
tion. Circles or Stars. And to these may be
Xlir. Lamed denotes the Heaven or added the References of the Three
Circle of Saturn, the First and Principal Letters following.
Circle of the Planets, or Erratic Stars. XX. Pe, Initial, denotes the Reason-
Saturn the Hebrews call Schebtai, and able Soul ; which, in the Opinion of the
his Intelligence, Schebtaiel ; infus'd by Hebrews, is govem'd by various Intelli-
the Power of God, and descending, by
Means of the Intelligence Raziel, influ- XXI. Pe, Final, denotes all Spirits of
gences.
entially upon Lower Beings. the Animal Nature : which, through
XIV. Mem, Initial, denotes the the Power and Command of God, are
Heaven or Circle of jfupiter, call'd, by govem'd, or influenc'd, by the Intelli-
the Hebrews, Tsedeck ; the Intelligence gences above.
of which is Tsadkiel, the Protecting XXII. Tzade, Initial, is referr'd to
Angel, or Familiar Spirit, oi Abraham ; the Intelligible coelestial Matter, and
diffus'd through the Power of God, by to the sensible Elements, or the Ele-
Means of the Intelligence Schebtaiel, ments of Sense, in all compound or
throughout the Lower Creation. mixt Bodies ; which Matter and Ele-
XV. Metn, Final, denotes the Heaven ments are, through the Power of God,
of Mars, call'd, by the Cabalists, Alaa- govem'd by different Intelligences, ac-
daim. His Intelligence is CamaSl; cording to their different Natures and
Forms.
so call'd from the Heat -of Mars. And
this Intelligence flows, in the same We now come to the Alphabetical
Course and through the same Power References the Cabalists make to their
with the Intelligences above-mention'd, Elementary World.
influentinlly upon all Things beneath it. XXHI. Tzade, Final, is referr'd to
XVL Nun, Initial, denotes the the Four Elements of Matter ; namely,
Heaven of the Sun, call'd, by the He- Fire, Air, Water, and Earth ; which
brews, Schemsch. His Intelligence is are govern'd, through the Power of
the Angel Raphael, the Instructer of God, by certain coelestial Powers and
Iscuu ; flowing through the Power of Angels ; as is the Prima Materia, or
God, by Means of the Intelligence First Matter, which is the grand Foun
CanuUl, upon all Things below. tain or Origin of all the Elements.
 CABALA.

XXIV. JCopk is referr'd to inanimate the Influences of the Stars, and like-
or insensitive Bodies ; as Minerals, &c. wise by Guardian-Angels, which attend
whether simple or compound. These him, and which, in Hebrew, are call'd
Bodies are, througli the Power of God, Ischitn, i. e. Strong Men ; who are said
governed by the Coelestial Beings, and to have been the Last of the Angelic
their respective Intelligences. Creation, as Man was the Last of This. 741
XXV. Resch is referr'd to all the Such are the References of the Let-
Productions in the Vegetable World ; ters of tlie Hebrew- AX^h&hei, towards
as Trees, Herbs, Roots, &c. and to the the Accomplishment of the Mysteries
Coelestial Influences that are derived of the Cabala, extracted, not without
upon them. There is not, say the great Labour, from the Writings of
Cabalists, an Herb upon Earth that Rabbi Akkiva, who was, it seems, a
hath not its Intelligence, or Influence, most profound Cabalist, and who hath
which saith to it, Encrease and multiply
been already offrequently
the Course mention'd
these Papers. Theyin
thy self.
XXVI. Schin is referr'd to all the pass, from God, down to all the Stages
Species of the Animal Nature ; as of the known Creation ; the Letter
Quadrupeds, Birds, Fish, and Insects, Alepk, the First in the Hebrew- K\^a.-
and every Thing, beneath the Rational
Nature, that hath Life and Motion. bet, being referr'd to God, who is
the First Cause of all Things, and
These receive, through the Power of who, through his unsearchable Power
God, the Influences of the Coelestial and Judgment, comprehends, directs,
Bodies, and of their respective Intelli- and governs all Things ; working by,
gences. and diffusing his Power upon, Second
XXVII. Thau is the Symbol of the Causes ; and, from them, deriving his
little World, Man ; because as Man, Power upon Third Causes, &c. Which
with respect to this World, was the Causes are the Sacred Hosts and Prin-
Being created last, so is this Letter the cipalities ;who have their different
last of the A^^;vw- Alphabet. He is Degrees of Influence; rising gradually,
govern'd of God, through the Qualities one Class above another, to different
of the First Matler, and according to Stages of Power arwi Perfection.
 INDEX
OF NAMES AND PLACES
IN TEXT OR NOTES.

Abati, family. Inf. xxxii. io6. Par. xvi. .^neas. Inf. ii. 32; iv. 122; xxvi. 93.
109. Purg. xviii. 137. Par. vi. 3; xv. 27.
Abbagliato. Inf. xxix. 132. yEneid of Virgil. Purg. xxi. 97.
Abbey of San Benedetto. Inf. xvi. 100. .(Eolus. Purg. xxviii. 21.
Abel. Inf. iv. 56. yEsop. Inf. xxiii. 4.
\braham. Inf. iv. 58. .lEthiop. Purg. xxvi. 21. Par. xix. 1091
Absalom. Inf. xxviii. 137. .(Ethiopia. Inf. xxiv. 89.
Abydos. PuRG. xxviii. 74. ^Ethiopians. Inf. xxxiv. 44.
Accorso, Francis of, Inf. xv. 1 10. iEtna or Mongibello. Par. viii. 67.
Achan. Purg. xx. 109. Africanus, Scipio. Purg. xxix. 116.
Acheron. Inf. iii. 78; xiv. 116. Purg. Agamemnon. Par. v. 69.
ii. 105. Agapetus. Par. vi. 16.
Achilles. Inf. v. 65 ; xii. 71 ; xxvi. 62; Agatho. Purg. xxii. 107.
xxxi. 4. Purg. ix. 34; xxi. 92. Aglaurus. Purg. xiv. 139.
Achitophel. Inf. xxviiL 137. Agnello Brunelleschi. Inf. xxv. 68.
Acone. Par. xvi. 65. Agobbio or Gubbio. Purg. xi. 80.
Acquacheta. Inf. xvi. 97. Agostino. Par. xii. 130.
Acquasparta. Par. xii. 124. Aguglione. Par. xvi. 56.
Acre. Inf. xxvii. 89. Ahasuerus, King. Purg. xvii. 28.
Adalagia. Par. ix. 96. Alagia. Purg. xix. 142.
Adam. Inf. iii. 1 15 ; iv. 55. PURG. ix. 10 ; Alagna, or Anagni. Purg. xx. 86. Par.
xi. 44; xxix. 86; xxxii. 37; xxxiii. xxx. 148.
62. Par. vii. 26 ; xiii. 37, III; xxvi. Alardo. Inf. xxviii. 18.
83, 91, 100; xxxii. 122, 136. Alba Longa. Par. vi. 37.
Adam of Brescia. Inf. xxx. 61, 104. Alberichi, family. Par. xvi. 89.
Adige. Inf. xii. 5. PDrg. xvi. 115. Par. Alberigo, Frate Gaudente, or Jovial
ix. 44. Friar. Inf. xxxiii. 118.
Adimari, family. Par. xvi. 115. Albert of Austria. Purg. vi. 97. Par.
Adrian IV. Purg. xix. 99. xix. 115.
^gidius. Par. xi. 83. Albert of Siena. Inf. xxix. no.
iEgina. Inf. xxix. 59. Alberti,
xxxii. Alessandro
55. and Napoleon. Inf.
,/Egypt. Purg. ii. 46. Par, xxv. 55.
744 INDEX.

Alberto degli Alberti. Ink. xxxii. 57. Antigone. Purg. xxii. no.
Alberto della Scala. Purg. xviii. 121. Antiochus Epiphanes. Inf. xix. 86.
Albertus Magnus. Par. x. 98. Antiphon. PURO. xxii. 106.
Alboino della Scala. Par. xvii. 71. Antony, St. Par. xxix. 124.
Alchemists. Inf. xxix. Apennines. Inf. xvi. 96; xx. 65 ; xxvii,
Alcides. Par. ix. loi. 29. Purg. v. 96 ; xiv. 31, 92 ; xxx
Alcmaeon. Purg. xii. 50. Par. iv. 103. 86. Par. xxi. 106.
105.
Aldobrandeschi, Guglielmo. PuRG. xi. Apocalypse. Inf. xix. 108. Purg. xxix,
,
randi iaio. nf. vi. 1.
Aldo5b9o-. Teggh I x 4 Apollo. Purg. xx. 132. Par. i. 13 ; ii. 8
Alect driIan,f. ix. 47. Apostles. Purg. xxii. 78.
s a n .
Ales andro, Pukg vii. 135. a. Apulia. Inf. xxviii. 9. Purg. v. 69
Aless Count of Romen Inf. vii. 126. Par. viii. 61.
XXX. 77. Apulians. Inf. xxviii. 17.
Alessandro degli Alberti. Inf. xxxii. 55. Aquarius, sign of the Zodiac. Inf.
Alessio Interminei. Inf. xviii. 122. xxiv. 2.
Alexander, Tyrant of Pherae. Inf. xii. Aquilon. PuRG. iv. 60 ; xxxii. 99.
107. Aquinas, St. Thomas. Par. x. 98.
Alexander the Great. Inf. xiv. 31. Arabians. Par. vi. 49.
Alfonso of Aragon. Purg. vii. 116. Arachne. Inf. xvii. 18. PuRG. xii. 43.
Alfonso of Majorca. Par. xix. 137. Aragon. PuRG. iii. 116.
Alfonso of Spain. Par. xix. 125. Aragonese. Par. xix. 137.
Ali, disciple of Mahomet. Inf. xxviii. Arbia. Inf. x. 86.
Area, family. Par. xvi. 92.
ino, emon.
Alic3h2. d Inf. xxi. 118; xxii. Archangels. Par. xxviii. 125.
112. Archiano. PURG. v. 95, 125.
Alighieri, family. Par. xv. 138. Ardinghi, family. Par. xvi. 93.
Alps. Inf. xx. 62. Purg. xvii. i ; xxxiii. Arethusa. Inf. xxv. 97.
III. Aretine, Benincasa. PuRG. vi. 13.
Altaforte. Inf. xxix. 29. Aretine, Griffolino. Inf. xxix. 109; xxx.
Alverna. Par. xi. 106.
es. nf. ii. . urg.
Amata. Purg. xvii. 35. Aretizno. I xx 5 P xiv. 46.
Amidei, family. Par. xvi. 136. Arez Inf. xxix. 109.
t i , p p o .
Amphiaraus. Inf. xx. 34. Argen Phili Inf. viii. 61.
.
Amphion. Inf. xxxii. 11. Argia PuRG. xxii. no.
g o . . i i i .
Amphisbsena, serpent. Inf. xxi v. 87. Ar 1-Par xxx 96.
a3uts. ar. i. 6
Amyclas. Par. xi. 67. Argon P i 1 ; xxxiii. 96.
Anagni or Alagna. Purg. xx. 86. Ar g u s . Pu r g . xx i x . 95 ; xxxii. 65.
c e. nf. xviii. 4.
Ananias. Par. xxvi. 12. Argoline. peopl I x 8
Anastagi, family. Purg. xiv. 107. Ariad Inf. xii. 20. Par. xiii. 14.
.
Anastasius, Pojie. Inf. xi. 8. Aries, sign of the Zodiac Purg. xxxii.
Anaxagoras. Inf. iv. 137. 53. Par. i. 40; xxviii. 117.
Anchises. Inf. i. 74. Purg. xviii. 137. Aristotle. Inf. iv. 131. Purg. iii. 43.
Par. XV. 25 ; xix. 132. Par. viii. 120; xxvi. 38.
Angels. Par. xxviii. 126 ; xxxi. 13. Arius. Par. xiii. 127.
Angels, rebel. Par. xxix. 50 .\rk, the holy. PuRG. x. 56. Par. xx. 39.
Angiolelloda Cagnano. Inf. xxviii. 77. Aries. Inf. ix. I12.
Anna, St., mother of the Virgin Mary. Amo. Inf. xiii. 146: xv. 113; xxiii.
Par. xxxii. 133. 95; XXX. 65; xxxiii. 83. Purg. v.
Annas, Inf. xxiii. 121. 122, 125; XIV. 17, Z4, 51. Par. xi.
106.
Anselm, St. Par. xii. 137.
Anselmuccio. Inf. xxxiii. 50. Amaldo Daniello. Purg. xxvi. 115, 142,
Ant.xus. Inf. xxxi. 100, 113, 139. Arrigo Manardi. Purg. xiv. 97.
Antandros. Par. vi. 67. Arrigucci, family. Par. xvi. 108.
Antenora. Inf. xxxii. 88. Arsenal of Venice, Inf. xxi. 7.
Antenori (Paduans). Purg. v. 75. Arthur, King. Inf. xxxii. 62.
 745
INDEX.

Aruns. Inf. xx. 46. Beatrice, Inf. ii. 70, 103 ; x. 131 ; xiL
Ascesi, or Assisi. Par. xi. 53. 88 ; XV. 90. Purg. i. 53 ; vi. 47 ;
Asciano. Ink. xxix. 131. XV. 77 ; xviii. 48, 73 ; xxiii. 128 ;
Asdente. Inf. xx. 118. xxvii. 36, 53, 136; xxx, 73 ; xxxi.
Asopiis. PuRG. xviii. 91 80, 107, 114, 133 ; xxxii. 36, 85, 106;
Assyrians. PuRG. xii. 58. xxxiii. 4, 124. Par. i. 46, 65 ; ii. 22 ;
-Athamas. Inf. xxx. 4. iii. 127 ; iv. 13, 139 ; v. 16, 85, 122 ;
Athens. Inf. xii. 17. PuRG. vi. 139; vii. 16 ; ix. 16 ; x. 37, 52, 60 ; xi. II ;
XV. 98. Par. xvii. 46. xiv. 8, 79 ; XV. 70 ; xvi. 13 ; xvii. 5,
Atropos. Inf. xxxiii. 126. 30; xviii. 17, 53; xxi. 63 ; xxii. 125 ;
.Attila. Inf. xii. 134 ; xiii. 149. xxiii. 34, 76 ; xxiv. 10, 22, 55 ; xxv,
.\ugusta (the Virgin). Par. xxxii. 119. 28, 137 ; xxvi. 76 ; xxvii. 34, 102 ;
.•\ugustine, St. Par. x. 120; xxxii. 35. xxix. 8 ; xxx. 14, 128 ; xxxi. 59, 66,
Augustus Caesar. Inf. i. 71. Purg. xxix, 76 ; xxxii. 9 ; xxxiii. 38.
116. Par. vi. 73. Beatrice, Queen. Purg. vii. 128.
Augustus (Frederick II.). Inf. xiii. 68. Beccaria, Abbot of. Inf. xxxii. 119.
(Henry of Luxemburg), xxx. 36. Beda (the Venerable Bede). Par. x, 131.
Aulis. Inf. xx. hi. Beelzebub. Inf. xxxiv, 127.
Aurora. PuRG. ii. 8 ; ix. I. Belacqua. PURG. iv. 123.
Ausonia. Par. viii. 61 Belisarius. Par. vi. 25.
Auster. Purg. xxxii. 99. Bellincion Berti. Par. xv. 112; xvi. "9.
Austiia. Inf. xxxii. 26. Bello, Geri del. Inf. xxix. 27.
Avaricious. Inf. vii. Purg. xix., xx.,xxi. Belus, King of Tyre. Par. ix. 97.
.\ventine, Mount. Inf. xxv. 26. Benaco. Inf. xx. 63, 74, 77.
Averroes. Inf. iv. 144. Benedetto, San, Abbey of. Inf. xvi. 100.
Avicenna. Inf. iv. 143. Benedict, St. Par. xxii. 40; xxxii. 35.
Azzo degli Ubaldini. Purg. xiv. 105. Benevento. Purg. iii. 128.
Azzolino, or Ezzelino. Inf. xii. 110. Benincasa of Arezzo. PuRG. vi. 13.
Par. ix. 29. Berenger, Raymond. Par. vi. 134,
Azzone III. of Este. PuRG. v. 77. Bergamasks. Inf. xx. 71.
Bernard, Friar. Par. xi. 79. ,
B and Ice, Bice (Beatrice). Par. vii, 14. Bernard, St., Abbot. Par. xxxi. 102,
Babylon. Par. xxiii. 135.
Bacchantes. Purg. xviii. 92. 139 ; xxxii.
Bernardin I.
di Fosco. PuRG. xiv. loi.
Bacchiglione. Inf. xv. 113. Par. ix. 47. Bemardone, Peter. Par. xi. 89.
Bacchus. Inf. xx. 59. Purg. xviii. 93. Bertha, Dame. Par. xiii. 139.
Par. xiii. 25. Berti, Bellincion. Par. xv. 112; xvi. 99.
Bagnacavallo. PURG. xiv. 115. Bertrand de Born. Inf. xxviii. 134.
Bagnoregio. Par. xii. 128. Bianchi, White Party. Inf. vi. 65.
Baldo d' Aguglione. Par. xvi. 56. Bice (Beatrice). Inf. ii. 70, 103.
Baptist, St. John the. Inf. xiii. 143 ; Billi, or Pigli family. Par. xvi. 103.
xxx. 74. Purg. xxii. 152. Par. xvi. Bindi,
xxix. abbreviation
103. of Aldobrandi. Par.
25, 47 ; xviii. 134 ; xxxii. 31.
Barbagia of Sardinia. PuRG. xxiii. 9 Bisenzio. Inf. xxxii. 56.
]?arbarians, Northern. Par. xxxi. 31. Bismantova. PURG. iv. 26.
Barbariccia, demon. Inf. xxi. I20 ; Bocca degli Abati. Inf. xxxii. 106,
xxii. 29, 59, 145. Boethius, Severinus. Par. x. 125.
Barbarossa, Frederick I. PuRG. xviii. Bohemia. Purg. vii. 98. Par. xix, 125.
119. Bologna. Inf. xxiii. 142, Purg. xiv. 100.
Ban. Par. viii. 62. Bolognese. Inf. xxiii. 103.
Barrators (peculators). Inf. xxi. Bolognese, Franco. Purg. xi. 83.
Bartolomeo della Scala. Par. xvii. 71. Bolsena. Purg. xxiv. 24.
Barucci, family. Par. xvi. 104. Bonatti, Guido. Inf. xx. Ii8.
Baptistry of Florence. Par. xv. 134. Bonaventura, St. Par. xii. 127.
Bear, constellation of the. PuRG. iv. 65. Boniface,
xxiv. 29.Archbishop of Ravenna. FURG.
Par. ii. 9; xiii. 7.
 INDEX.
746
Boniface VIII. Inf. xix. 53 ; xxvii. 70, xxviii. 98. Purg. xviii. loi ; xxvL
85. PuRG. XX. 87; xxxii. 149 ; xxxiii. 77. Par. vi. 57.
44. Par. ix. 132 ; xii. 90 ; xvii. 50 ; Caesar, Tiberius. Par. vi. 86.
xxvii. 22 ; XXX. 148. Cagnano, Angiolello da. Inf. xxviii. 77.
Boniface of Signa, Par. xvi. 56. Cagnano. Par. ix. 49.
Bonturo de' Dati. Inf. Cagnazzo, demon. Inf. xxi. I19; xxiL
Boreas. Par. xxviii. 80. xxi. 41. 106.
Borgo (Borough) of Florence. Par. xvL Cahors. Inf. xi. 50.
'34- Caiaphas. Inf. xxiii. 115.
Born, Bertrand de. Inf. xxviii. 132; Cain. Purg. xiv. 132.
Borsiere, Guglielmo. Inf. xvi. 70. Cain and his thorns (Man in the mooii\
Bostichi, family. Par. xvi. 93. Inf. XX. 126. Par. ii. 51.
Brabant, Lady of. Purg. vi, 23. Caina. Inf. v. 107 ; xxxii. 58.
Branca d' Oria. Inf. xxxiii. 137, 140. Calahorra. Par. xii. 52.
Branda, fountain of. Inf. xxx. 78. Calboli, family. Purg. xiv. 89.
Brennus. Par. vi. 44. Calcabrina, demon. Inf. xxi. 118 ; xxiL
Brenta. Inf. xv. 7. Par. ix. 27. 133.
Brescia. Inf. xx. 68. Calchas. Inf. xx. 1 10.
Brescians, Inf. xx. 71. Calfucci, family. Par. xvi. 106.
Brettinoro, Purg. xiv. 112. Calixtus I. Par. xxvii. 44.
Briareus, Inf. xxxi. 98. Purg. xii. 28. Calliope. Pukg. i. 9.
Bridge of St. Angelo. Inf. xviii. 29. Callisto (Helice). Purg. xxv. 131,
Brigata, Inf. xxxiii. 89. Camaldoli. Purg. v. 96.
Brissus. Par. xiii. 125. Camicion de' Pazzi. Inf. xxxii. 68.
Bruges. Inf. xv. 4, Purg. xx. 46. Camilla. Inf. i. 107 ; iv. 124.
Brundusium. Purg. iii. 27. Cammino, or Camino, family. Purg.
Brunellesclii, Agnello. Inf. xxv. 68. xvi; 124, 133, 138.
Brunetto Latini. Inf. xv. 30, 32, 101. Cammino, or Camino, Riccardo da.
Brutus, enemy of Tarquin. Inf. iv. 127. Par. ix. 50.
Brutus, murderer of Caesar. Inf. xxxiv. Camonica, Val. Inf. xx. 65.
Campagnatico. Purg. xi. 66.
Brutus and Cassius. Par. vi. 74. Campaldino. Purg. v. 92.
Buggia. Par, ix. 92. Campi. Par. xvi. 50.
Bujamonte, Giovanni, Inf. xvii. 73. Canavese, Purg. vii. 136.
Bulicame, hot spring of Viterbo, Inf. Cancellieri, family. Inf. xxxii. 63.
xiv. 79. Cancer, sign of the Zodiac. Par. xxv.
Buonagiunta degli Orbisani. Purg. xxiv. loi.
«9. 20, 35, 56.! Can Grande della Scala. Inf. i. loi.
Buonconte di Montefeltro. Purg. v. 88. Par. xvii. 76.
BuondelmoiUe. Par. xvi. 140. Caorsines, Par. xxvii. 58.
Buondelmonti, family. Par. xvi. 66. Capaneus. Inf. xiv. 63 : xxv. 15.
Buoso da Duera. Inf. xxxii. 116. Capet, Hugh. PuRG. xx. 43, 49.
Buoso degli Abati. Inf. xxv. 140. Capocchio. Inf. xxix. 136 ; xxx. 28.
Buoso Donati. Inf. xxx. 44. Caponsacchi, family. Par. xvi. 121.
Cappelletti (Capulets). Purg. vi. 106,
Caccia d' Asciano. Inf. xxix. 131. Capraia, Inf. xxxiii. 82.
Cacciaguida. Par. xv. 20, 94, 135, 145 ; Capricorn, sign of the Zodiac. Purg. ii.
xvi. 29 ; xviii. i, 28, 50. 57. Par. xxvii. 69.
Caccianimico, Venedico. Inf. xviii. 50. Caprona. Inf. xxi. 95.
Cacus, I.VF. xxv. 25. Cardinal, the (Ottaviano degli Ubaldini),
Cadmus. Ink. xxv. 97. Inf. X. 120.
Cadsand. Inf. xv. 4. Carisenda. iNF. xxxi. 136,
Caecilius. Purg. xxii. 98. Carlino de' Pazzi. Inf. xxxii. 69.
Caesar. Ink. xiii. 65, 68. PURO. vi. 93, Carpigna, Guido di. Purg. xiv, 9&
114. Par. i. 29 ; vi. 10 ; xvL 59. Carrare-se. Inf. xx. 48.
Caesar, Julius. Inf. i. 70; iv. 123; Casale. Par. xii. 124.
 INDEX. 747

Casalodi, family. Inf. xx. 95. Charles's Wain, the Great Bear. Inf.
Casella. Purg. ii. 91. xi. 114. Purg. i. 30. Par. xiii. 7.
Casentino. Inf. xxx. 65. PuRG. v. 94 ; Charon. Inf. iii. 94, 109, 128.
xiv. 43. Charybdis. Inf. vii. 22.
Cassero, Guido del. Inf. xxviii. 77. Chastity, examples of. PuRG. xxv. 121.
Cassero, Jacopo del. PuRO. v. 67. Chelydri, serpents. Inf. xxiv. 86.
Cassino, Monte. Par. xxii. 37. Cherubim. Par. xxviii. 99.
Cassias, murderer of Caesar. Inf. xxxiv. Cherubim, black. Inf. xxvii. 113.
67. Chiana. Par. xiii. 23.
Cassius and Brutus. Par. vi. 74. Chiarentana. iNF. xv. 9.
Castello, family. Purg. xvi. 125. Chiasi. Par. xi. 43.
Castile. Par. xii. 53. Chiassi. Purg. xxviii. 2a
Castle of St. Angelo in Rome. Inf. xviii. Chiaveri. Inf.
Purg. xix. 100. '
Chiron. xii. 65, 71, 77, 97, 104.
Castor Purg. ix. 37.
31- and Pollux. PuRG. iv. 61.
Castrocaro. PuRG. xiv. 116. Chiusi. Par. xvi. 75.
Catalan de' Malavolti. Inf. xxiii. 104, Christ. Inf. xxxiv. 115. Purg. xv. 89 ;
114. XX. 87 ; xxi. 8 ; xxiii. 74 ; xxvi. 129 ;
Catalonia. Par. viii. 77. xxxii. 73, 102 ; xxxiii. 63. Par. vi.
Catellini, family. Par. xvi. 88. 14; ix. 120 ; xi. 72, 102, 107 ; xii. 37,
Cato of Utica. Inf. xiv. 15. Purg. i. 7i> 73. 75; xiv. 104, 106, 108; xvii.
31 ; ii. 119. 33, 51 ; xix. 72, 104, 106, 108; XX.
Catria. Par. xxi. 109. 47 ; xxiii. 20, 72, 105, 136 ; xxv. 15,
Cattolica. Inf. xxviii. 80. 33, 113, 128 ; xxix. 98, 109 ; xxxi. 3,
Caurus, northwest wind. iNF. xi. 1 14. 107 ; xxxii. 20, 24, 27, 83, 85, 87,
Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Inf. x. 53. 125 ; xxxiii. 121.
Cavalcanti, Guercio. Inf. xxv. 151. Christians. PuRG. x. 121. Par. v. 73 ;
Cavalcanti, Guido. Inf. x. 63. xix. 109 ; XX. 104.
Cecina. Inf. xiii. 9. Chiysostom, St. Par. xii. 137.
Celestine V. Inf. iii. 59 ; xxvii. 105. Church of Rome. Purg. xvi. 127.
Cenchri, serpents. Inf. xxiv. 87. Ciacco. Inf. vi. 52, 58.
Centaurs. Inf. xii. 56. Purg. xxiv. I2i. Ciampolo, or Giampolo. Inf. xxii.
Ceperano. Inf. xxviii. l6.
Cephas. Par. xxi. 127. 48, 121.
Cianfa de' Donati. Inf. xxv. 43.
Cerberus. Inf. vi. 13, 22, 32 ; ix. 98. Cianghella. PAR. xv. 128.
Cerchi, family. Par. xvi. 65. Cieldauro. Par. x. 128.
Ceres. Purg. xxviii. 51. Cimabue. PuRG. xi. 94.
Certaldo. Par. xvi. 50. Cincinnatus,
129. Quintius. Par. vi. 46 ; xv.
Cervia. Inf. xxvii. 42.
Cesena. Inf. xxvii. 52. Clone de' Tarlati. Purg. vi. 15.
Ceuta. Inf. xxvi. iii. Circe. Inf. xxvi. 91. Purg. xiv. 42.
Chaos. Inf. xii. 43. Ciriatto, demon. Inf. xxi. 122 ; xxii. 55
Charity, Dante and St. John. Par. xxvi. Clara, St., of Assist. Par. iii. 98.
Charlemagne, Emperor. Inf. xxxi. 17. Clemence, Queen. Par. ix. i.
Par. vi. 96 ; xviii. 43. Clement IV. Purg. iii. 125.
Charles of Anjou. Purg. vii, 113, 124; Clement V. Inf. xix. 83 ; Par. xvii. 8a
xxx. 143.
xi. 137.
Charles of Valois {Senzatcrra, Lack- Cleopatra. Inf. v. 63. Par. vi. 76.
land). Inf. vi. 69. Purg. v. 69 ; xx. Cletus. Par. xxvii. 41.
Clio. Purg. xxii. 58.
71-
Charles Martel. Par. viii. 49, 55 ; ix. i. Clothe. Purg. xxi. 27.
Charles Robert of Hungary. Par. viii. Clymene. Par. xvii. i.
Cock, arms of Gallura. Purg. viii. 81.
e s a . .
Char7l2. II. of Apuli Purg vii. 127 ; Cocytus. Inf. xiv. 119; xxxi. 123 j
XX. 79. Par. vi. 106 ; xix. 127 ; xx. xxxiii. 156 ; xxxiv. 52.
63. Colchians. Inf. xviii. 87.
 INDEX.
748
Colchis. Par. ii. i6. Damiano, Peter. Par. xxi. 12 1.
Colle. PURC. xiii. 1 15. Damietta. Inf. xiv. 104.
Cologne. Inf. xxiii. 63. Par. x. 99. Daniel, Prophet. Purg. xxii. 146. Par.
Colonnesi, family. Inf. xxvii. 86. iv. 13 ; xxix. 134,
Comedy, Dante thus names his poem. Daniello, Amaldo. Purg. xxvi. 115,
Inf. xvi. 128.
Conio. PURG. xiv. ri6. 142. Purg. xxx. 55.
Dante.
Conradin. PuRG. xx. 68. Danube. Inf. xxxii. 26. Par. vni. 65.
Conrad or Currado I., Emperor. Par. David, King. Inf. iv. 58 ; xxviii. 138.
XV. 139. Purg. x. 65. Par. xx. 38 ; xxv. 72 ;
Conrad or Currado da Palazzo. PuRG. xxxii. II.
xvi. 124. Decii. Par. vi. 47.
Conrad or Currado Malaspina. PuRG. Decretals, Book of. Par. ix. 134.
114.
Deidamia. Inf. xxvi, 62. Purg. xxii.
viii. 65, 109, u8.
Conscience. Inf. xxviii. 115.
Constantine the Great. Inf. xix. 115; Deiphile. Purg. xxii. no.
xxvii. 94. PuRG. xxxii, 125. Par. Dejanira. Inf. xii. 68.
vi. I ; XX. 55. De la Brosse, Pierre. Purg. vi. 22.
Constantinople. Par. vi. 5. Delia (the Moon). Purg. xx. 132 ;
xxix. 78.
Contemplative and solitary. Par. xxi.
Cornelia. Inf. iv. 128. Par. xv. 129. Delos. Purg. xx. 130.
Corneto. Inf. xii. 137 ; xiiL 9. Democritus. Inf. iv. 136.
Corsica. PuRG. xviii. 81. Demophoon. Par. ix. loi.
Corso Donati. PuRG. xxiv. 82. Diana. PuRG. xx. 132 ; xxv. 131. Par.
Cortigiani, family. Par. xvi. 112. xxiii. 26.
Cosenza. Purg. iii. 124. Diana,
153- subterranean river. Purg. xiii.
Costanza, Queen of Arragon. PURG. iiu
115, 143 ; vii. 129. Dido. Inf. v. 61, 85. Par. viii. 9.
Costanza, wife of Henry VI. of Ger- Diligence, examples of. Purg. xviii.
many. Purg. iii. 113. Par. iii. 118;
iv. 98. Diogenes. Inf. iv. 137.
Counsellors, evil. Inf. xxvL Diomedes. Inf. xxvi. 56.
Counterfeiters of money, speech, or per- Dione, Venus. Par. viii. 7. Planet
son. Inf. XXX. Venus, xxii. 144.
Crassus. Purg. xx. 116. 99-
Dionysius the Areopagite. Par. x. 11$ ;
Crete. Inf. xii. 12 ; xiv. 95. xxviii. 130.
Creusa. Par. ix. 98. Dionysius, King. Par. xix. 139.
Cripple of Jerusalem. Par. xix. 127. Dionysius, Tyrant. Inf. xii. 107.
Croatia. Par. xxxi. 103. Dioscorides. Inf. iv. 140.
Crotona. Par. viii. 62. Dis, city of. Inf. viii. 68 ; xi. 65 ; xii.
Crusaders and Soldiers of the Faith.
Par. xiv. Dolcino, Fra. 20.
39 ; xxxiv. Inf. xxviii. 55.
Cunizza, sister of Ezzelino III. Par. Dominions, order of angels. Par. xxviii.
ix. 32. 122.
Cupid. Par. viii. 7. Dominic, St. Par. x. 95 ; xi. 38, 121 ;
xii. 55, 70.
Curiatii, the. Par. vi. 39.
Curio. Inf. xxviii. 93, 102. Dominicans. Par. xi. 124.
Cyclops. Inf. xiv. 55. Domitian, Emperor. PuRG. xxii. 83.
Cypria (Venus). Par. viii. 2. Don, river. Inf. xxxii. 27.
Cyprus. Inf. xxviii. 82. Par. xix. 147. Donati, Buoso. Inf. xxv. 140 ; xxx. 44,
Cyrrha. Par. i. 36. Donati, Corso. PuRG. xxiv. 82.
Cyrus. Purg. xii. 56. Donato, Ubertin. Par. xvi. 119.
Cythera. Purg. xxvii. 95. Donatus. Par. xii. 137.
Douay. Purg. xx. 46.
Pa-d.-iius. Ink. xvii. iii ; xxix. 116. xxii. 73.
Diaghignazzo, demon. Inf. xxi. 121)
Par viii. 126,
 INDEX.

Evil counsellors. iNF. xxvi. 749

Dragon. Purg. xxxii. 131.
Duca, Guido del. PuRG. xiv. 81 ; xv. Ezekiel, Prophet. Purg. xxix. 100.
Ezzelino or Azzolino. Inf. xii. no.
44. Buoso da. Inf. xxxii. 116.
Duera, Par. ix. 29.
Duke of Athens, Theseus. Inf. ix. 54 ;
xii. 17. Purg. xxiv. 123. Fabbro. PuRG. xiv. icx).
Durazzo. Par. vi. 65. Fabii. Par. vi. 47.
Fabricius. Purg. xx. 25.
Ebro. PUKG. xxvii. 3. PAR. ix. 89. Faenza. Inf. xxvii. 49 ; xxxii. 123.
Eclogue IV. of Virgil. Purg. xxii. 70. Purg. xiv. 10 1.
Elbe. Purg. vii. 99. Faith, St. Peter examines Dante on.
Electra. Inf. iv. 121. Par. xxiv.
El and Eli, names of God. Par. xxvi. Falterona. Purg. xiv. 17.
134, 136. Famagosta. Par. xix. 146.
Elijah (Elias), Prophet. Inf. xxvi. 35. Fame, seekers of by noble enterprises.
Purg. xxxii, 80. Par. v.
Eliseo, ancestor of Dante. Par. xv. Fano. Inf. xxviii. 76. PuRG. v. 71.
136. P'antoli, Ugolin de'. PuRG. xiv. I2I.
Elisha, Prophet. Inf. xxvi. 34. Farfarello, demon. Inf. xxi. 123 ; xxii.
Elsa. Purg. xxxiii. 67.
Elysium. Par. xv. 27. Farinata Marzucco. PuRG. vi. 18.
Ema. Par. xvi. 143. Karinata degli Uberti. Inf. vi. 79 ; x.
Empedocles. Inf. iv. 138. an.
Empyrean. Par. xxx. Felix Guzm Par. xii. 79.
r o .
Engi.-ind. Purg. vii. 131. Fe ara. In . i. 105. Par. ix. 52.
l94-
t f
Envious, the. PuRG. xiii., xiv. Ferr Par. xv. 137.
hi, ounts f a agno. urg. ix.
Epliialtes. Inf. xxxi. 94, 108. Fiesc C o L v P x
Epicurus. Inf. x. 14. 100.
32-
Equator. PuRG. iv. 80. Fiesole or Fesole. Inf. xv. 62. Par. vi.
Equinoctial sunrise. Par. i. 38. 53 ; XV. 126 ; xvi. 122.
Erichtho. Inf. ix. 23. Figghine. Par. xvi. 50.
Erinnys, the Furies. Inf. ix. 45. Fillipeschi
vi. 107. and Monaldi, families. PURG.
Eriphyle. Purg. xii. 50.
Erisichthon. Purg. xxiii. 26. Fishes, sign of the Zodiac. Inf. xi. 113.
Eiyphylus. Inf. xx. 112. Purg. i. 21 ; xxxii. 54.
Esau. Par. viii. 130 ; xxxii. 68, 70. Flatterers. Inf. xviii.
Essence, the Divine. Par. xxviii. 16. Flemings. Inf. xv. 4.
Este or Esti, Azzone da. Purg. v. 77. Florence. Inf. x. 92 ; xiii. 143 ; xvi.
Este or Esti, Obizzo da. Inf. xii. ill ; 75 ; xxiii. 95 ; xxiv. 144 ; xxvi. I ;
xviii. 56. xxxii. 120. Purg. vi. 127 ; xii. 102 ;
Esther, PuRG. xvii. 29. xiv. 64 ; XX. 75 ; xxiv. 79. Par. vi.
Eteocles and Polynices. Inf. xxvi. 54. 54 ; ix. 127 ; xv. 97 ; xvi. 25, 40,
Purg. xxii. 56. 84, 1 1 1, 146, 149 ; xvii. 48 ; xxv. 5 ;
Euclid. Inf. iv. 142. xxix. 103 ; xxxi. 39.
Eumenius and Ihoas. Purg. xxvi. 95. Florentines. Inf. xv. 61 ; xvi. 73 ; xvii.
Eunoe. Purg. xxviii. 131 ; xxxiii. 127. 70. Purg. xiv. 50. Par. xvi. 86.
Euphrates. PuRG. xxxiii. 112. Florentine women. Purg. xxiii. 94, lOl.
Euripides. PuRG. xxii. 106. Flower-de-luce, arms of France. PuRG.
Europa, daughter of Agenor. Par. XX. 86.
xxvii. 84. Focaccia, Cancellieri. Inf. xxxii. 63.
Eurus, southeast wind. Par. viii. 69. Focara. Inf. xxviii. 89.
Euryalus. Inf. i. 108. Foraboschi, family. Par. xvi. 109.
Evangelists, the four. PuRG. xxix. 92. Forese
xxiv. Donati.
73. PuRG. xxiii. 48, 76 ;
Eve. Pjrg. viii. 99; xii. 71 ; xxiv. 116.
xxix. 24 ; xxx. 52 ; xxxiL 32. Par. ForlL Inf. xvi. 99 ; xxvii. 43. PuRO.
xiii. 38 ; xxxii. 6. xxiv. 32.

303
 INDEX.
7SO
Fortune. Inf. vii. 62. Gascony. PuRG. xx. 66.
Fortuna Major. Purg. xix. 4. Gate of Purgatory. Purg. ix. 90.
Fo5co, Bemardin di. Purg. xiv. lOl. Gaville. Inf. xxv. 151.
Fiance. Inf. xix. 87. Purg. vii. 109 : Gemini, sign of the Zodiac. Par. xxii
XX. 51, 71. Par. xv. 120.
Francesca da Rimini. Inf. v. 116. Genesis.
152, Inf. xi. 107.
Francis of Accorso. Inf. xv. iio. Genoa. Par. ix. 92.
Francis of Assisi, St. Inf. xxvii, 112. Genoese. Inf. xxxiii. 151.
Par. xi. 37, 50, 74 ; xiii. 33 ; xxii. Gentucca. Purg. xxiv. 37.
90 ; xxxii. 35. Geomancers. Purg. xix. 4.
Franciscans. Par. xii. 112. Gerault de Berneil. Purg. xxvi. 120.
Franco Bolognese. Purg. xi. 83. Geri del Bello. Inf. xxix. 27.
Frati Godenti or Gaudenti, Jovial Friars. Germans. Inf. xvii. 21.
Inf. xxiii. 103. Geryon. Inf. xvii. 97, 133 ; xviii. 20.
Frederick I., Barbarossa. Purg. xviii. Purg. xxvii. 23.
119. Ghent. Purg. xx. 46,
Frederick II., Emperor. Inf. x. 119; Gherardo da Camino. Purg. xvi. 124,
xiii. 59, 68 ; xxiii. 66. Purg. xvi.
117. Par. iii. 120. 133. 138. and Guelfs, origin of. iNF.
Ghibellines
Frederick Novello. Purg. vi. 17. X. 51.
Frederick Tignoso. Purg. xiv. 106. Ghino di Tacco. Purg. vi. 14.
Frederick, King of Sicily. Purg. vii. xviii. 55.sister of Caccianimico.
Ghisola, Inf.
119. Par. xix. 130; xx. 63.
Free will. PuRG. xvi. 71 ; xviii. 74. Giampolo, or Ciampolo, the Navarrese.
French people. Inf. xxvii. 44 ; xxix. Inf. xxii. 48, 121.
123 ; xxxii. 115. Par. viii. 75. Gianfigliazzi, family. Inf. xvii. 59.
Friars, Jovial {Frati Gaudenti), of St. Gianni Schicchi. Inf. xxx. 32, 44.
Gianni del Soldanieri. Inf. xxxii. 121.
Mary's. Inf. xxiii. 103.
Fucci, Vanni. Inf. xxiv. 125. Giano della Bella. Par. xvi. 132.
Fulcieri da Calboli. Purg. xiv. 58. Giants. Inf. xxxi. 44. Purg. xii. 33.
Furies. Inf. ix. 38. Gideon. Purg. xxiv. 125.
Gilbo^, Mount. PuRG. xii. 41.
Gabriel, Archangel. PURG. x. 34. Par. Giotto. Purg. xi. 95.
iv. 47 ; ix. 138 ; xiv. 36 ; xxiii. 103 ; Giovanna di Montefeltro. PuRG. v. 89.
xxxii. 94, 112. Giovanna Visconti of Pisa. Purg. viii.
Gaddo, son of Ugolino. iNF. xxxiii. 68.
Gades, Cadiz. Par. xxvii. 83. Giuda. , Par. xvi. 123.
hi .
Gaeta. Inf. xxvi. 92. Par. viii. 62. Giuoc us. family Par. xvi. 104.
G l a uc P a r . i. 68.
Ga;a, lady of Treviso. PuRG. xvi. 140. ons. nf.
Galaxy. Par. xiv. 99. Glutt I vi. Puro. xxii., xxiii..
Galen. Inf. iv. 143. xxiv. -
71
Galeotto. Inf. v. 137. Godfrey of Bouillon. Par. xviii. 47.
Galicia. Par. xxv. 18. Gomita, Fra. Inf. xxii. 81.
Galigajo. Par. xvi. loi. Gomorrah. PURG. xxvi. 40.
Galli, family. Par. xvi. 105. Gorgon, head of Medusa. Inf. ix. 56.
Gallura. Inf. xxii. 82. PuRG viii. 81. Gorgona. Inf. xxxiii. 82.
Galluzzo. Par. xvi. 53. Governo, now Governolo. Inf. xx. 78.
Ganellone, or Gano, of Maganza. Inf. Graffiacane, demon. Inf. xxi. 122 ; xxii.
xxxii. 122.
Ganges. PuRG. ii. 5 ; xxvii. 4. PAR. xi. Gratian. Par. x. 104.
. Greet, family. Par. xvi. 89.
mede .
Gany .»- PuRG ix. 23. Greece. Inf. xx. 108.
Garda5 go,Inf. xx. 65. c e . Greeks. Inf. xxvi. 75. PuRG. ix. 39;
i n e t e n .
Gard stre of Flor Inf. xxiii xxii. 88. Par. v. 69.
34.
108.
Gregory the Great, St. PVRG. x. 75;
Gascons. Par. xxvii. 58. XX. 108 ; xxviii. 133.
 INDEX.

Greyhound. Inf. i. 101. Henry VII., Emperor. Purg. xxxiii.

Griffblino d' Arezzo. Inf. xxix. 109; 43. Par. xvii. 82 ; xxvii. 63 ; xxx,
XXX. 31. 137-
Griffin. PURG. xxix. 108 ; xxxii. 26. Henry, the Young King. Inf. xxviii. 135.
Gualandi, family. Inf. xxxiii. 32, Heraclitus. Inf. iv. 138.
Gualdo. Par. xi. 48. Hercules, Inf. xxv, 32; xxvi, 108;
Gualdrada. Inf. xvi. 37. xxxi. 132.
Gualterotti, family. Par. xvi. 133. Heretics. Inf. x.
Guelfs and Ghibellines, origin of. Inf. Hermitage of Camaldoli. Purg. v. 96. 751
X. 51- Hezekiah, King. Par. xx. 51.
Guglielmo Aldobrandeschi. PuRG. xi. 59. Hierarchies, Angelic. Par. xxviii.
Guglielmo Boisiere. Inf. xvi. 70. Hippocrates. Inf. iv. 143. Purg. xxix.
Guglielmo, King of Navarre. PuRG. vii.
104. Hippolytus, son of Theseus. Par. xvii.
Guglielmo, King of Sicily. Par. xx. 62. s.
Guenever. Par. xvi. 15. ofeme
Hol.137- Purg. xii. 59.
Guidi, Counts. Par. xxi. 64. Holy Ghost. Purg. xx. 98. Par. iii.
Guido Bonatti. Inf. xx. 118.
Guido di Carpigna. PuRG. xiv. 98. Holy r.Land. Par. xv. 142..
Guido del Cassero. Inf. xxviii. 77. Home 46. Inf. iv. 88. Purg xxii. loi.
ides. nf. .
Guido da Castello. Purg. xvi. 125. Homic I xii ^
Guido Cavalcanti. Inf. x. 63, iii, Honorius III. Par. xi. 98.
Purg. xi. 97. Hope, 53- St. James examines Dante on.
Guido, Count of Montefeltro. Inf. xxvii. Par. xxv.
67. Horace. Inf. iv. 89.
Guido, Count of Romena. Inf. xxx. 77. Horatii. Par. vi. 39.
Guido da Monforte. Inf. xii. 119. Hugh Capet. Purg. xx, 43, 49.
Guido del Duca. Purg. xiv. 81. Hugh of St. Victor. Par. xii. 133,
Guidoguerra. Ink. xvi. 38. Humility, examples of PuRG. xii.
Guido Guinicelli. Purg. xi. 97 ; xxvi. Hungary. Par. viii. 65 ; xix. 142.
92, 97- Hyperion. Par. xxii. 142.
Guido da Prata. PuRG. xiv. 104. Hypocrites. Inf. xxiii.
Guido Ravignani. Par. xvi. 98. Hypsipyle. iNF. xviii. 92 ; PURG. xxii,
Guiscard, Robert. Inf. xxviii. 14. Par. 112 ; xxvi. 95.
xviii. 48.
Guittone d' Arezzo. PuRG. xxiv. 56 ; larbas. PURG. xxxi. 72.
xxvi. 124. Icanis. Inf. xvii. 109. Par. viii. 126.
Ida, Mount. Inf. xiv. 98.
Haman. PuRG. xvii. 26. Ilerda. PuRG. xviii. loi.
Hannibal. Inf. xxxi. 117. Par. vi. 50. Ilion. Inf. i. 75. Purg. xii. 62.
Harpies, Ink. xiii. 10, loi. Illuminato. Par. xii. 130.
Hebrews. Purg. iv. 83; xviii. 134; Imola. Inf. xxvii. 49.
xxiv. 124. Par. v. 49 ; xxxii. 132. Importuni, family. Par. xvi, 133.
Hebrew women. Par. xxxii. 17. India. Inf. xiv. 32.
Hector. Inf. iv. 122. Par. vi. 68. Indians. PuRG, xxxii, 41. Par. xxix.
Hecuba. Inf. xxx. 16. loi.
Helen. Inf. v. 64. Indulgences. Par. xxix. 120.
Helice (Callisto). PuRG. xxv. 131. Indus. Par. xix. 71.
Helice (Great Bear). Par. xxxi. 32. Infangato. Par. xvi. 123.
Helicon, Purg. xxix. 40. Innocent III. Par. xi. 92.
Heliodonis. Purg, xx. 113. Ino, wife of Athamas. Inf. xxx. 5.
Helios (the Sun), God. Par. xiv, 96. Interminei, Alessio. Inf. xviii. 122.
Hellespont. Purg. xxviii. 71. lole. Par. ix. 102.
Henry (iXrrigo) Fifanti. Inf. vi. 80. Iphigenia. Par. v. 70.
Henry ill. of England. PuRG. vii. 131. Irascible, the. Inf. vii., viii. PURG*
Henry V., Emperor. Par. iii. 1 19. XV., xvi.
 INDEX.
752
Iris. PuRG. xxi. 50 ; xxix. 78. Par. xii. John XXII., Pope. Par. xxvii. 58.
12 ; xxviii. 32 ; xxxiii. 1 19 Jordan. PuRG. xviii. 135. Par. xxii. 94.
Isaac, patriarch. Inf. iv. 59. Joseph, patriarch. Inf. xxx. 97.
Isaiah, prophet. Par. xxv. 91. Joseph, St., husband of Virgin Mary.
Isfere. Par. vi. 59. Purg. xv. 91.
Isidore, St. Par. x. 131. Joshua. Purg. XX. iii. Par. ix. 125;
xviii. 38.
Ismene, daughter of CEdipus. PuRG.
xxii. III. Jove. Inf. xiv. 52; xxxi. 44, 92. Purg.
Ismenus. Purg. xviii. 91. iv.
xii. 63.
32; xxix. 120; xxxii. 112. Par.
Israel, (Jacob,) patriarch. Inf. iv. 59.
Israel, people of. Purg. ii. 46. Jove Supreme. Purg. vi. 118.
Italy. Inp. i. 106; ix. 114; xx. 61 ; Juba. Par. vi. 70.
xxvii. 26 ; xxxiii. 80. PuRG. vi. 76, Jubilee of the year 1300. Inf. xviii. 29.
105, 124; vii. 95 ; xiii. 96; xx. 67; Purg. ii. 98.
xxx. 86. Par. xxi. 106 ; xxx. 138. Judas Iscariot. Inf. ix. 27 ; xix. 96 ;
xxi. 84.
xxi. 143; xxxiv. 62. Purg. xx. 74;
Jacob, patriarch. Par. viii. 131 ; xxii.
70 ; xxxii. 68. Judas Maccabaeus. Par. xviii. 40.
Jacomo, of Navarre. PuRG. vii. 119; Judecca. Inf. xxxiv. 117.
Par. xix. 137. Judith. Par. xxxii. 10.
Jacopo da Lentino, the Notary. PuRG. Julia, daughter of Coesar. Inf. iv. 128.
xxiv. 56. Julius Cresar. Inf. i. 70; iv. 123;
Jacopo del Cassero. Purg. v. 67. xxviii. 98. Purg. xviii. loi. ; xxvi.
Jacopo of Sant' Andrea. Inf. xiii. 133 77. Par. vi. 57 ; xi. 69.
Jacopo Rusticucci. Inf. vi. 80 ; xvi. 44. Juno. Inf. xxx I. Par. xii. 12 ; xxviii. 32.
Jacuii (serpents). Inf. xxiv. 86. Jupiter, planet. Par. xviii. 68, 70, 95,
James, St. (the elder), apostle. Purg. 115 ; xxii. 145 ; xxvii. 14.
xxix. 142 ; xxxii. 76. Par. xxv. 17, 77. Justinian, Emperor. PuRG. vi. 88. Par.
Janiculum, Mount. iNF xViii. 33. vi. ID ; vii. 5-
Janus. Par. vi. 81. Juvenal. Purg. xxii. 13.
Jason, leader of the Argonauts. Inf.
xviii. 86. Par. ii. 18. Lacedeemon (Sparta). Purg. vi. 139.
Jason, Hebrew. Inf. xix. 85. Lachesis. PuRG. xxi. 25 ; xxv. 79.
Jehosaphat, Inf. x. ii. 125-
Ladislaus, King of Bohemia. Par. xix,
jephthah. Par. v. 66.
Jericho. Pak. ix. 125. Lamberti, family. Par. xvi. 109.
Jerome, St. Par. xxix. 37. Lamone. Inf. xxvii. 49.
Jerusalem. Inf. xxxiv. 114. Purg. ii. Lancelot. Inf. v. 128.
3 ; xxiii. 29. Par. xix. 127 ; xxv. 56. Lanciotto Malatesta. Inf. v. 107.
Jews. Inf. xxiii. 123 ; xxvii. 87. Par. Lanfranchi, family. Inf. xxxiii. 32.
vii. 47 ; xxix. I02. Langia, fountain of. PuRG. xxii. 112.
Joachim, Abbot. Par. xii. 140. Lano. Inf. xiii. 120.
Joanna, mother of St. Dominic. Par. Lapo, abbreviation of Jacopo, plural
xii. 80. Lapi. Par. xxix. 103.
Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Purg. xxii. Lapo Salterello. Par. xv. 128.
Lasca, the celestial. PuRG. xxxii. 54.
t,
John56.the Baptis St. Inf. xiii. 143 ; Lateran, church. Inf. xxvii. 86.
xxx. 74. Purg. xxii. 152. Par. xvi. Latian, for Italian. Inf. xxii. 65 ; xxvii.
25, 47 ; xviii. 134 ; xxxii. 31. 33 ; xxix. 88, 91. PuRG. vii. 16 ; xi.
John Chrysostom, St. Par. xii. 137. 58 ; xiii. 92.
John, St., evangelist. Inf. xix. 106. Latian land, Italy. Inf. xxvii. 26
Purg. xxix. 105, 143 ; xxxii. 76. xxviii. 71.
Par. xxiv. 126; xxv. 94, 112 ; xxxii. Latini, Brunetto. Inf. xv. 30, 32, loi.
127.
Latinus, King. Inf. iv. 125.
John, St., church in Florence. Inf. xix. Latona. Purg. xx. 131 ; Par. x. 67;
»7. xxii. 139 : xxix. I.
 INDEX. 753

I^avagno. PuRG. xix. loi. Luke, St. Purg. xxi. 7 ; xxix. 136.
Lavinia. Inf. iv. 126. PuRG. xvii. 37. Luni. Inf. xx. 47. Par. xvi. 73.
Par. vi. 3. Lybia. Inf. xxiv. 85.
Lawrence, St., martyr. Par. iv. 83. Lycurgus. PuRG. xxvi. 94.
Leah. PuRO. xxvii. loi.
Leander. Purg. xxviii. 73. Maccabseus, Judas. Par. xviii. 40.
Learchus and Melicerta. Inf. xxx. 5, Maccabees. Inf. xix. 86.
10. Maccarius, St. Par: xxii. 49.
Lebanon. Purg. xxx. ii. Mainardo Pagani. Inf. xxvii. 50. PuRG,
Leda. Par. xxvii. 98. xiv. 118.
Lemnos. Inf. xviii. 88. Macra, or Magra, river. Par. ix. 89.
Lentino, Jacopo da. PuRG. xxiv. 56. Magus, Simon. Inf. xix. i.
Lerlce. Purg. iii. 49. Mahomet. Inf. xxviii. 31, 62.
Lethe. Inf. xiv. 131, 136. Purg. xxvi. Maia (Mercury), planet. Par. xxii. 144.
108 ; xxviii. 130 j xxx. 143 ; xxxiii. Majorca. Inf. xxviii. 82. Par. xix.
96, 123.
Levi. Purg. xvi. 131. 138.
Malacoda, demon. Inf. xxi. 76, 79 ;
Liberality, example of. Purg. xx. 31. xxiii. 141.
Libicocco, demon. Inf. xxi. 121; xxii. Malaspina, Currado. Purg. viii. 118.
Malatesta di Rimini. Inf. xxvii. 46.
. .
Libra7,0. sign of the Zodiac Purg Malatestino. Inf. xxviii. 85.
xxvii. 3. Malebolge. Inf. xviii. i ; xxi. 5 ; xxiv.
Lily (Flower-de-luce), arms of France. 37 ; xxix. 41. demons.
Purg. vii. 105. Malebranche, Inf. xxi. 37 ;
Limbo. Inf. ii. 52 ; iv. 24, 45. PuRG. xxii. 100 ; xxiii. 23 ; xxxiii. 142.
xxii. 14. Par. xxxii. 84. Malta, prison. Par. ix. 54.
Limoges. Purg. xxvi. 120. Manardi, Arrigo. PURG. xiv. 97.
Linus. Par. xxvii. 41. Manfredi, King of Apulia. PuRG. iii.
112.
Lion, sign of the Zodiac. Par. xvi. 37 ;
xxi. 14. Manfredi of Faenza. Inf. xxxiii. 118.
Livy. Inf. iv. 141 ; xxviii. 12. Manfredi,
122. Tebaldello de'. Inf. xxxii.
Lizio, or Licio, of Valbona. PuRG. xiv.
97- . Mangiadore, Peter. Par. xii. 134.
Loderingo degli Andalo. Inf. xxiii. 104. Manto. Inf. xx. 55. Purg. xxii. 113.
Logodoro. Inf. xxii. 89. Mantua. Inf. xx. 93. Purg. vi. 72.
Lombard dialect. Inf. xxvii. 20. Mantuans. Inf. i. 69.
Lombard, the Great, Bartolommeo della Marcab6. Inf. xxviii. 75,
Scala. Par. xvii. 71. Marca d'Ancona. FURG. v. 68.
Lombard, the Simple, Guido da Cas- Marca Trivigiana. PuRG. xvi. 1 15.
tello. Purg. xvi. 126. Par. ix. 25.
Lombardo Marco. Purg. xvi. 46.
Marcellus. Purg. vi. 125. * *
Lombards. Inf. xxii. 99. Marchese, Messer. PuRG. xxiv. 31.
Lombardy and the Marca Trivigiana. Marcia. Inf. iv. 128. Purg. i. 79. 85.
Inf. xxviii. 74. Purg. xvi. 115. Marco Lombardo. Purg. xvi. 46, 130.
Louises, kings of France. Purg. xx. Maremma. Inf. xxv. 19 ; xxix. 48.
Purg. v. 134.
.
Love5r0s. Par. viii. Margaret, Queen. Purg. vii. 128.
.
Lucan. Inf. iv. 90; xxv. 94. Marquis Obizzo da Esti. Inf. xviii. 56.
Lucca Inf. xviii. 122 ; xxi. 38 ; xxxiii. Marquis William (Guglielmo) of Mon-
30. Purg. xxiv. 20, 35. ferrato. PURG. vii. 134.
Lucia, St. Inf. ii. 97, 100. Purg. ix, Mars. Inf. xiii. 143 ; xxiv. 145 ; xxxi.
55. Par. xxxii. 137. 51. Purg. xii. 31. Par. iv. 63 ; viii.
Lucifer. Inf. xxxi. 143 ; xxxiv. 89. 132 ; xvi. 47, 145 ; xxii. 146.
Purg. xii. 25. Par. ix. 128; xix. Mars, planet. Purg. ii. 14. Par. xiv.
47 ; xxvii. 26 ; xxix. 56. 100 ; xvi. 37 ; xvii. 77 ; xxvii. 14.
Lucretia. Inf. iv. 128. Par. vi. 41. Marseilles. Purg. xviii. 102.
 INDEX.
754
Marsyas. Par. i. 20. Miserere. Purg. v. 24.
Martin IV., Pope. Purg. xxiv. 22. Modena. Par. vi. 75.
Martino, or Ser Martino. Par. xiii. Moldau, Purg. vii. 99.
139- vi. 107.and Filippeschi, families. PuRtt
Monaldi
Mary, Hebrew woman. Purg. xxiii.
Monferrato. Purg. vii. 136.
Mary, the Virgin. PtTRG. 111. 39 ; v. Mongibello (Mt. MXwai). Inf. xiv. 56.
Par. viii. 67,
loi ; viii. 37; x.*4l, 50; xiii. 50;
XV. 88 ; xviii. 100 ; xx. 19, 97 ; xxii. Montagna, cavalier. Inf. xxvii. 47,
142; xxxiii. 6. Par. iii, 122; iv. 30; Montaperti. Inf. xxxii. 81,
xi. 71 ; xiii. 84 ; xiv, 36 ; xv. 133 ; Montecchi and CappeUetti, families.
xvi. 34; xxiii. 88, 1 11, 126, 137; Purg. vi, 106.
XXV. 128 ; xxxi. 100, 116, 127 ; xxxii. Monte 109, Feltro. iNF. i. 105. Purg. v. 88,
4. 29, 85,95, 104, 107, 113, 119, 134; Montemalo (now Montemario). Par, xv.
xxxiii. I, 34.
Marzucco degli Scoringiani. PURO. vi. Montemurlo. Par. xvi. 64.
18. Montereggione. Inf. xxxi. 41.
Mascberoni, Sass«»Jo. Inf. xxxii. 65. Monforte, Guido da. Inf. xii. 119.
Matilda, Countess. Purg. xxviii. 40 ; Montone. Inf. xvi. 94.
xxxi. 92; xxxii. 28, 82 ; xxxiii. 119, Moon. Inf. x. 80. Par. xvi. 82.
121. Mordecai. Purg. xvii. 29,
Mordrec. Inf. xxxii. 61.
Matteo d' Acquasparta, Cardinal. Par.
xii. 124. Morocco. Inf. xxvi. 104. Purg. iv, 139.
Matthias, St., Apostle. Inf. xix. 94. Moronto. Par. xv, 136.
Medea. Inf. xviii. 96. Mosca degli Uberti, or LambertL Inf.
Medici, family. Par. xvi. 109. vi. 80 ; xxviii. 106.
Medicina, Pier da. Inf. xxviii. 73. Moses. Inf.. iv. 57, Purg, xxxii. 80.
Mediterranean Sea. Par. ix. 82. Par. iv. 29 ; xxiv, 136 ; xxvi. 41.
Medusa. Inf. ix. 52. Mozzi, Andrea dei. Inf. xv. 112.
Megaera. Inf. ix. 46. Muses. Inf. ii. 7; xxxii. 10. PURG. i,
Melchisedec. Par. viii. 125. 8 ; xxii. 105 ; xxix. 37, Par. ii. 9 ;
Meleager. Purg. xxv. 22. xii. 7 ; xxiii. 56.
Melicerta and Learchus. Inf. xxx. 5, Mutius Scaevola. Par. iv. 84.
Melissus, Par, xiii. 125. Myrrha. Inf. xxx, 38.
Menalippus. Ink. xxxii. 131.
Mercury. Par. iv. 63. Naiades. PuRG. xxxiii, 49,
Mercury, planet. Par. v. 96. Naples, Purg. iii. 27.
Metellus, Purg. ix. 138. Napoleone degli Albert!. Inf. xxxii. 55.
Michael, Archangel. Inf. vii. 11. Purg. Narcissus. Inf. xxx. 128. Par. iii. 18.
y xiii. 51, Par. iv. 47. Nasidius. Inf. xxv. 95.
MicTiael Scott. Inf. xx. 116. Nathan, Prophet. Par. xii, 136,
Michael Zanche. iNF. xxiu 88 ; xxxiii. Navarre. Inf. xxii. 48, Par. xix. 143.
144. Navarrese, the (Ciampolo), Inf. xxiL
121
Michal, Saul's daughter. Purg. x. 68, Nazareth. Par, ix. 137.
Midas.
72. Purg. xx, 106. Nebuchadnezzar, Par. iv. 14.
Midian, Purg, xxiv. 126, Negligent of repentance. Purg. ii. to vii,
Milan. Purg, xviii. 120. Nella, wife of Forese, Pukg, xxiii. 87.
Milanese, PuKG, viii. 80. Neptune, Ink. xxviii, 83, Par. xxxiiL
Mincio. Inf. xx. 77,
Minerva, Purg. xxx. 68. Par. ii. 8, Neri, Black Party, Inf, vi. 65.
Minos. Ink, v. 4, 17 ; xiii. 96; xx. 36; Nerli, family. Par, xv. 115,
xxvii, 124; xxix, 120. Purg, i, 77. Nessus. Inf. xii. 67, 98, 104, 115, 129
xiii. I.
Par. xiii, 14. 96,
Minotaur. Ink. xii. 12, 25. Nicholas Salimbeni. Inf. xxix. 127.
Mira, Purg, v, 79, Nicholas, St., of Bwi Purg. xx. 3a.
 7SS
INDEX.

Nicholas III., Pope. Inf. xix. 31. Palermo. Par. viii. 75.
Nicosia. Par. xix. 146. Palestrina. Inf. xxvii. 102.
Nile. Inf. xxxiv. 45. Purg. xxiv. 64. Palladium. Inf. xxvi. 63.
Par. vi. 66. Pallas (Minerva). Purg. xii. 31.
Nimrod. Inf. xxxi. 77. Purg. xii. 34. Pallas, son of Evander. Par. vi. 36.
Par. xxvi. 126. Paradise, Terrestrial. PuRG. xxviii.
Ninus. Inf. v. 59. Paris, city. Purg. xi. 81 ; xx. 52.
Nino Visconti, of Pisa. Purg. viii. 53, Paris, Trojan. Inf. v. 67.
109. Parmenides. Par. xiii. 125.
Niobe, Queen of Thebes. Purg. xii. 37. Parnassus. PURG. xxii. 65, 104; xxviii.
Nisus. Inf. i. io8. 141 ; xxxi. 140. Par. i. 16.
Noah. Inf. iv. 56. Par. xii. 17. 86.
Pasiphae. Inf. xii. 13. I'urg. xxvi. 41,
Nocera. Par. xi. 48.
Noli. Purg. iv. 25. Paul, Apostle. Inf. ii. 32. Purg. xxix.
Normandy. PuRG. xx. 66. 139. Par. xviii. 131, 136 ; xxi. 127 :
Norway. Par. xix. 139. xxiv. 62 ; xxviii. 138.
Notaiy, the, Jacopo da Lentino. PuRG. Paul Orosius. Par. x. 119.
xxiv. 56. Pazzi, family. Inf. xii. 137 ; xxxii, 68.
Novarese. Inf. xxviii. 59. Peculators. Inf. xxi., xxii.
Novello, Frederick. Purg. vi. 17. Pegasea (Calliope). Par. xviii. 82.
Numidia. Purg. xxxi. 72. Peleus. Inf. xxxi. 5.
Nymphs, stars. Par. xxiii. 26. Pelican (Christ). Par. xxv. 113.
Nymphs, Naiades. Purg. xxix. 4 ; xxxi. Peloro. Purg. xiv. 32. Par viii. 68.
100. Penelope. Inf. xxvi. 96.
Nymphs, Virtues. PuRG. xxxii. 98. Pennine (Pennine Alps). Inf. xx. 63.

Obizzo of Esti. Inf. xii. Ili; xviiL 56. Penthesilea.

Pera, family. Inf'
Par. iv.xvi.
1-24.126.
Ocean. Par. ix. 84. Perillus. Inf. xxvii. 8.
Octavian Augustus. Inf. i. 71. Purg. Persians. Par. xix. 112.
vii. 6. Persius. Purg. xxii. loo.
Oderisi d' Agobbio. Purg. xi. 79. Perugia. Par. vi. 75 ; xi. 46.
Olympus. Purg. xxiv. 15. Peschiera. Inf. xx. 70.
Omberto di Santafiore. Purg. xi. 58, Peter, St., Apostle. Inf. i. 134; ii. 24;
67. xix. 91, 94. Purg. ix. 127; xiii. 51 ;
Orbisani, Buonagiunta. Purg. xxiv. 19. xix. 99 ; xxi. 54 ; xxii. 63 ; xxxii. 76.
Par. ix. 141 ; xi. 120; xviii. 131, 136;
affi .
Ordel35-s. of Forli Inf. xxvii. 45. xxi. 127; xxiii. 139 ; xxiv. 34, 39, 59,
t e .
O aco. Purgg. xiii. 33.
r e s 124; xxy. 12, 14; xxvii. 19; xxxiu
Ori Pur v, 80. 124, 133-
ndo.
Orla ni, Inf. x.xxi. 18. Par. xviii. 43. Peter,
xxxi. St.,
59. Church of. Inf. xviii. 32,
n l y
Orma us. fami Par. xvi. 89.
e
Orph , Inyf.. iv. 140. Peter Bemardone. Par. xi. 89.
i n i i l .
Ors fam Inf xix. 70. Peter Damiano. Par, xxi. 121 ; xxii. 88.
. .
Orso,. Count . Purg vi. 19. Peter Lombard. Par. x. 107.
Ostia ,Purg ii. ll.oi. Peter Mangiadore. Par. xii. 134.
ns e na
Ostie r, Cardi Par.ia.xii. 83. Peter of Aragon. Purg. vii. Ii2, 125.
a m
Ottoc King of Bolie Purg. vii. Peter of Spam. Par. xii. 134.
100. Peter Peccatore. Par. xxi. 122.
Ovid. Inf. iv. 90; XXV. 97. Pettignano, Pier. Purg. xiii. 128.
Phsedra. Par. xvii. 47.
Pachino. Par. viii. 68. Phaeton. iNF. xvii. 107. Purg. iv. 72 ;
Padua. Par. ix. 46. xxix. 119. Par. xvii. 3 ; xxxi. 125.
Paduans. Inf. xv. 7.; xvii. 70. Phalaris. Inf. xxvii. 7.
Pagani, family. iNF. xxvii. 50. PuRG. Pharese, serpents. Inf. xxiv. 86.
xiv. 118. Pharisees. INF. xxiii. 116; xxvii. 85,
Palazzo, Conrad, Purg. xvi. 124. Pharsalia. Par, vi, 65,
 INDEX.
756
Philipjx) Argenti. Inf. viii. 6l. Polyxena. Inf. xxx. 17.
Philip III. of France. Purg. vii. 103. Pompey the Great. Par. vi. 53.
Philip IV., the Fair, of France. Inf. Porta Sole of Perugia. Par. xi. 47.
xix. 87. Purg. vii. 109 ; xx. 46, 86 ; Portugal. Par. xix. 139.
xxxii. 152 ; xxxiii. 45. Par. xix. 120. Potiphar's wife. Inf. xxx. 97.
Philippi, family. Par. xvi. 89. Poverty,
123. examples of. Purg. xx. 22,
Philips, Kings of France. Purg. xx. 50. Powers, order of angels. Par. xxviii
Phlegethon. Inf. xiv. 116, 131, 134.
Phlegra. Inf. xiv. 58. Prague. Par. xix. 117.
Phlegyas. Inf. viii. 19, 24. Prata, Guido da. Pukg. xiv. 104.
Phoenicia. Par. xxvii. 83. Prato. Inf. xxvi. 9.
Phoenix. Inf. xxiv. 107. Pratomagno. PuRG. v. 116.
Pholus. Inf. xii. 72. Preachers. Par. xxix. 96.
Photinus. Inf. xi. 9. Pressa, family. Par. xvi. 100.
Phyllis. Par. ix. 100. Priest,
xxvii. the
70. High, Boniface VIII. iNF.
Pia, lady of Siena. PURG. v. 133.
Piava. Par. ix. 27. Priam, King of Troy. Inf. xxx. 15.
Piccarda. PuRG. xxiv. 10. Par. iii. 49 ; Primum Mobile. Par. xxvii. 106.
• iv. 97, 112. Principalities, order of angels. Par. viii.
Piceno, Campo. Inf. xxiv. 148. 34 ; xxviii.
Pierre de la Brosse. PuRG. vi. 22. Priscian. Inf. 125.
xv. 109.
Pier da Medicina. Inf. xxviii. 73. Procne. Purg. xvii. 19.
Pier Pettignano. Purg. xiii. 128. Prodigal, the. Inf. vii.
Pier Traversaro. PuRG. xiv. 98. Proserpine. Inf. ix. 44 ; x. 80. Purq.
xxviii. 50.
Pier della Vigna. Inf. xiii. 58.
Pietola. Purg. xviii. 83. Proud, the. Purg. x., xi., xii.
Pietrapana. Inf. xxxii. 29. Provengals. Par. vi. 130.
Pigli or Billi, family. Par. xvi. 103. Provence. PuRG. vii. 126; xx, 61. Par.
Pila, Ubaldin dalla. Purg. xxiv. 29.
viii. 58.
Pilate, the modern (Philip the Fair). Provenzan Salvani. Purg. xi. 121.
Purg. xx. 91. Psalmist David. PuRG. x. 65.
Pinamonte, liuonacossi. iNF. xx. 96. Ptolemy, Claudius. Inf.' iv. 142.
Pine Cone of St. Peter's. Inf. xxxi. 59. Ptolemy, King of Egypt. Par. vi, 69.
Pisa. Inf. xxxiii. 79. Purg. vi. 17. Ptoloma;a. Inf. xxxiii. 124.
Pisans. Inf. xxxiii. 30. Purg. xiv. 53. Puccio Sciancato. Inf. xxv. 148.
Pisistratus. PuRG. xv. loi. Pygmalion. PuRG. xx. 103.
Pistoia. Inf. xxiv. 126, 143 ; xxv. 10. Pyramus. PURG. xxvii. 38; xxxiii. 69,
Pius I. Par. xxvii. 44. Pyrenees. Par. xix. 144.
Plato. Inf. iv. 134. Purg. iii. 43. Par. Pyrrhus. Inf. xii. 135. Par. vi. 44.
iv. 24, 49.
Plautus. Purg. xxii, 98. Quamaro, Gulf of. Inf. ix. 113,
Plutus. Inf. vi. 115 ; vii. 2. Quinctius Cincinnatus. Par. vi. 46.
Po. Inf. v. 98 ; xx, 78. Purg. xiv. Quirinus (Romulus). Par. viii. 131.
92; xvi. 115. Par. vi. 51 ; xv. 137.
Ponthieu. PuRG. xx. 66. Rabanus. Par. xii. 139.
Pola. Inf. ix. 113. Rachel. Inf. iL 102 ; iv, 60. PuRG,
Pole, North. Purg, i. 29. xxvii. 104. Par. xxxii. 8.
Pole, Souih. Purg. i. 23. Rahab. Par. ix. 116,
Polenta, family. Inf. xxvii. 41. Ram, sign of the Zodiac. PuRG. viii
Pollux, Castor and. Purg. iv. 61. 134. Par, xxix. 2.
Polycletus. Purg, x. 32, Raphael, Archangel. Par. iv. 48.
Polydorus. Inf. xxx. 18. Purg. xx. 115. Rascia, part of Hungary. Par. xix. 14a
Polyhymnia. Par, xxiii. 56, Ravenna. Inf v. 97 ; xxvii. 40, 1'ar,
Polymnestor. Purg. xx. 115. vi. 61 ; xxi. 123.
Polyniccs, Inf. xxvi. 54. Purg. xxii. Ravignani, family. Par, xvi, 97,
Raymond Berenger, Par. vi. 134.
56.
 757
INDEX.

Rebecca. Par. xxxii. lo. Rudolph of Hapsburg. Purg. vi. 103;

Red Sea. Inf. xxiv. 90. PuRG. xviii, vii. 94. Par. viii. 72.
134. Par. vi, 79. Ruggieri Ubaldini. Inf. xxxiii. 14.
Rehoboam. PuRG. xii. 46. Rulers, just. Par. xviii.
Reno. Inf. xviii. 61. PuRG. xiv. 92. Rusticucci, Jacopo. Inf. vi. 80 ; xvi. 44.
Renouard. Par. xviii. 46. Ruth. Par. xxxii. u.
Rhea. Inf. xiv. 100.
Rhine. Par. vi. 58, Sabellius. Par. xiii. 127.
Rhodophean, the (Phyllis). Par. ix. loo. Sabellus. Inf. xxv. 95.
Rhone. Inf. ix. 112. Par. vi. 60; viii. Sabine women. Par. vi. 40.
Sacchetti, family. Par. xvi. 104.
e).
Rial5t9o- (Venic Par. ix. 26. Sant' Andrea, Jacopo da. Inf. xiii. 133.
Riccardo da Camino, or Cammino. Par, Saint Victor, Hugh of Par. xii 133.
ix. 50. Saints of the Old and New Testament.
Richard of St. Victor. Par. x. 131. Par. xxxii.
Rigogliosi, family. PuRG. xxiv. 31. Saladin. Inf. iv. 129.
Rimini. Inf. xxviii. 86. Salimbeni, Nicholas. Inf. xxix. 127.
Rinier.da Calboli. Purg. xiv. 88. Salterello, Lapo, Par. xv. 128.
Rinier da Corneto. Inf. xii. 137. Salvani, Provenzano. Purg. xi. 121.
Rinier Pazzo. Inf. xii. 137. Samaria, Woman of. PURG. xxi. 3.
Riphsean Mountains. Purg. xxvi. 43. Samuel, Prophet. Par. iv. 29.
Ripheus. Par. xx. 68. Sanleo. Purg. iv. 25.
Robert Guiscard. Inf. xxviii. 14. Par. San Miniato. Purg. xii. loi.
xviii. 48. .Sannella, family. Par. xvi. 92.
Robert, King of Apulia. Par. viii. 75. Santafiore, Counts of. Purg. vi. Ill ;
Romagna. Inf. xxvii. 37 ; xxxiii. 154. xi. 58, 67.
PtJRG. V. 69 ; xiv. 92 ; xv. 44. Santemo. Inf. xxvii. 49.
Romagnuoli. Inf. xxvii. 28. Pitrg. xiv. Santo Volto. Inf. xxi. 48.
Saone. Par. vi. 59.
99-
Roman buildings. Par. xv. 109. Sapia, lady of Siena. PuRG. xiii. 109.
Roman Church. Inf. xix. 57. Par. xvii. Sapphira and Ananias. Purg. xx. H2,
Saracens. Inf. xxvii. 87. Purg. xxiii. 103.
n ors. .
Roma5'n- Emper. Pijrg xxxii. 1 12. Sarah, wife of Abraham. Par. xxxii. 10.
Roma Kings Par. vi. 41. Sardanapalus. Par. xv. 107.
n . .
Romans. Prince Pu-RG x. 74. xxiii. 94.iNF. xxii. 89 ; xxix. 48. PuRG.
Sardinia.
Roma Inf. xv. 77; xviii. 28; xxvi.
60 ; xxviii. lo. Par. vi. 44; xix. 102. Sardinians. PuRG. xviii. 81.
Roman shepherd. Purg. xix. 107. Satan. Inf. vii. i.
Roman women, ancient. Purg. xxii. Saturn. Inf. xiv. 96. Par. xxi. 26.
145- Saturn, planet. Purg. xix. 3. Par. xxi.
Rome, city. Inf. i. 71 ; ii. 20; xiv, 105;
13 ; Purg.
Saul. xxii. 146.
xii. 40.
xxxi. 59. Purg. vi. 112; xvi. 106,
127; xviii. 80; xxi. 88; xxix. 115; Savena. Inf. xviii. 6l.
xxxii. 102. Par. vi. 57 ; ix, 140 ; xv, Savio. Inf. xxvii. 52,
126 ; xvi. 10 ; xxiv. 63 : xxvii. 25, 62 ; ScKvola, Mutius. Par. iv. 84.
xxxi. 34. Scala, Alberto della. Purg. xviii. I2I,
Romena. Inf. xxx. 73. Scala, Bartolommeo della. Par. xvii.
Romeo of Provence. Par. vi. 128, 135.
Romualdus, St. PAR.«xxii. 49. . Scala, Can Grande della. Inf. 1. loi.
71, 72.
Romulus (Quirinus). Par. viii, 131. Par. xvii. 76.
Roncesvalles. Inf. xxxi. 17, Scales, sign of the Zodiac. Purg. ii. 5
Rose, the Heavenly. Par. xxx., xxxi. Par. xxix. 2.
Rubaconte. Purg. xii. 102, Scarmiglione, demon. Inf. xxi. 105.
Rubicante, demon. Inf. xxi. 123 ; xxii, Schicchi, Gianni. Inf. xxx. 32.
Schismatics. Inf. xxviii., xxbc
Rubicon.
40, Par. vi. 62. Sciancato, Puccio. Inf. xxv. 148.
 INDEX.
758
Scipio Africanus. Inf. xxxi. Ii6. PuRG. Sodom. Inf. xi. 50. Purg. xxvi. 40, 79.
xxix. Ii6. Par. vi. 53 ; xxvii. 61. Sodomites. Inf. xv.
Sclavonian winds. PuRG. xxx. 87. Soldanieri, family. Par. xvi. 93.
Scorpio, sign of the Zodiac. PfRG. ix. Soldanieri, Gianni del. Inf. xxxii. 121.
5 ; xviii. 79 ; xxv. 3. Solitary and Contemplative. Par. xxi. 31.
Scott, Michael. Inf. xx. 116. xiv. 35. Par. x. 112; xiii. 48, 92;
Solomon.
Scrovigni, family. Inf. xvii. 64.
Scyros. Purg. ix. 38. Solon. Par. viii. 124.
Seal of Christ. Par. xi. 107. Soothsayers. Inf. xx.
Seducers. Inf. xviii. Soracte. Inf. xxvii. 95.
Seine. Par. vi. 59; xix. 118. Sordello. PURG. vi. 74 ; vii. 3, $2, 86 ;
Semele. Inf. xxx. 2. Par. xxi. 6. viii. 38, 43, 62, 94 ; ix. 58.
Semiramis. Inf. v. 58. Sorgue. Par. viii. 59.
Seneca. Inf. iv. 141. Souls of infants. Inf. iv. 30. Par. xxxii.
Sennaar. PuRG. xii. 36.
Sennacherib. PuRG. xii. 53. 64. arms of the Scrovigni.
Sow, Inf. xvii.
Seraphim. Par. iv. 28 ; viii. 27 ; ix. 77;
xxviii. 72, 99. Spain. Inf. xxvi. 103. Purg. xviii. 102.
Serchio. Inf. xxi. 49. Par. vi. 64; xii. 46; xix. 125.
Serpents of Libya. Inf. xxiv. 85. 44.
Spaniards. Par. xxix. loi.
Sestos. Purg. xxviii. 74. Sphinx. Purg. xxxiii. 47.
Seven Kings against Thebes. iNF. xiv. Spirit, Holy. Purg. xx. 98. Par. iii.
68.
Seville. Inf. xx. 125 ; xxvi. no. Stars, Fixed. Par. xxii.
,
Sextus I., Pof>e. Par. xxvii. 44. Stars, last word of Inf., Purg. Par.
.
Sextus Tarquinius. Inf. xii. 135. Stai. of the South Polar r^on
rs 23. Purg.
Sibyl, Cumsean. Par. xxxiii. 66.
Sichseus. Inf. v. 62. Par. ix. 98. Statins.3- Purg. xxi. 10, 89, 91 ; xxii. 25,
5
Sicilian Vespers. Par. viii. 75- 64; xxiv. 119; xxv. 29, 32; xxvii.
Sicily. Inf. xii. 108. Purg. iii. 116. 47 ; xxxii. 29 ; xxxiii. 134.
Par. viii. 67 ; xix. 131. Statue of Time, source of Acheron,
Siena. Inf. xxix. no, 129. Purg. v. Styx, Phlegethon. Inf. xiv. 103.
134; xi. Ill, 123, 134. Stephen, St. PuRG. xv. 107.
Sienese. Inf. xxix. 122, 134. Purg. xi. Stigmata of St. Francis. Par. xi. 107.
65 ; xiii. 106, 118, 151. X. 137.
Street of Straw (Rue du Fouarre). Par.
Slestri. Pur(;. xix. 100.
Sifanti, or Fifanti, family. Par. xvi. 104. Stricca. Inf. xxix. 125.
Sigier. Par. x. 136. Strophades. Inf. xiii. II.
Sile. Par. ix. 49. Styx. Inf. vii. 106 ; ix. 81 ; xiv. 116.
Silvius. Inf. ii. 13. Suabia. Par. iii. 119.
Simifonte. Par. xvi. 62. Suicides. Inf. xiii.
Simois. Par. vi. 67. Sultan. Inf. v. 60 ; xxvii. 90, Par. xi.
.Simoniacs. Inf. xix. lOI.
Simonides. PuRG. xxii. 107. Sylvester, Fra. Par. xi. 83.
Simon Magus. Inf. xix, i. Par. xxx. Sylvester, St., Pope. Inf. xix. 117;
xxvii. 94. Par. XX. 57.
Sinigaglia. Par. xvi. 75. Syrinx. PURG. xxxii. 65.
Sinon the Greek. Inf. xxx. 98.
Siren. Purg. xix. 19. Tacco, Ghin di. PuRG. vi. 14.
Sirens. PuRG. xxxi. 45. Par. xii. 8. Taddeo. Par. xii. 83.
Sirocco. Purg. xxviii. 21. Tagliacozzo. iNF. xxviii. 17.
Sismondi, family. Inf. xxxiii. 32. TagUamento. Par. ix. 44.
Sizii, family. Par. xvi. 108. Talamone. PURG. xiii. 152.
Slothful. Inf. vii., viii. Purg. xvii., Tambemich. Inf. xxxii. 28. .
xviii.
Tarlati, Clone de'. PuRG. vi. 1$.
Socrates. Imp. iv. 134. Tarpeian Rock. Purg. ix. 137.
 INDEX. 759

Tarquin. Inf. iv. 127. Torquatus, Titus Manlius. Par. vi. 46.
Tartars. Inf. xvii. 17. Tosinghi, family. Par. xvi. 114.
Tannis, sign of the Zodiac. PuRG. xxv. Tours. "Purg. xxiv. 23.
3. Par. xxii. iii. Traitors. Inf. xxxii. xxxiii., xxxiv.
Tebaldello. iNF. xxxii. 122. Trajan, Emperor. PuRG. x. 73, 761
Tegghiaio Aldobrandi. Inf. vi. 79 ; Par. XX. 44, 112.
y.\\. 41. Transfiguration, the. Purg. xxxii. 73.
Telemachiis. Inf. xxvi. 94. Traversara, family. PuRG. xiv. 107.
Templars. Pl/RG. xx. 93. Traversaro, Piero. Purg. xiv. 98.
Terence. PURG. xxii. 97. Trent. Inf. xii. 5.
Terra. Purg. xxix. 119. Trentine Pastor. Inf. xx. 67.
Tesoro of Bninetto Latini. Inf. xv. 1 19. Trespiano. Par. xvi. 54.
Thais. Inf. xviii. 133. Trinacria (Sicily). Par. viii. 67.
Thales. Inf. iv. 137. Trinity. Par. xiii. 79; xxxiii. 116.
Thames. Inf. xii. 120. Tristan. Inf. v. 67.
Thaumas. Purg. xxi. 50. Trivia (Diana). Par. xxiii. 26.
Thebaid, poem of Statius. PuRG. xxi. Tronto. Par. viii. 63.
Trojan Furies. Inf. xxx. 22.
Theban
92. blood. Inf. xxx. 2. Trojans. Inf. xiii. 11 ; xxx. 14. PuRC.
Thebans. Inf. xx. 32. Purg. xviii. 93. xviii. 136. Par. xv. 126.
Thebes. Inf. xiv. 69 ; xx. 59 ; xxv. 15 ; Troy. Inf. i. 74; xxx. 98, 114. Purg,
XXX. 22; xxxii. II ; xxxiii. 88. PuRG. xii. 61. Par. vi. 6.
xxi. 92 ; xxii.- 89. Tully. Inf.* iv. 141.
Thebes, Modem (Pisa). Inf. xxxiii. 88. Tupino. Par. xi. 43.
Themis. Purg. xxxiii. 47.
Turbia.
Turks. Inf. Purg.xvii.
iii.17.
49. Par. xv. 142. '
Theologians. Par. x.
Theseus, Inf. ix. 54 ; xii. 17. PuRG. Tumus. Inf. i. 108.
xxiv. 123. Tuscan language. Purg. xvi. 137.
Thetis. Purg. ix. 37; xxii. 113. Tuscans. Inf. xxii. 99.
Thibaidt, King.. Inf. Xxii. 52. Tuscany. Inf. xxiv. 122. Purg. xi.
Thieves. Inf. xxiv. no ; xiii. 149 ; xiv. 16.
Thisbe. Purg. xxvii. 37 ; xxxiii. 69. Tydeus. Inf. xxxii. 130.
Thoas and Eumenius. Purg. xxvi. 95. Tyrants. Inf. xii. 104.
Thomas, St., Apostle. Par. xvi. 129. • Typhseus. Inf. xxxi. 124. Par. viii. 70.
Thomas Aquinas. Purg. xx. 69. Par. Tyrol. Inf. xx. 63.
X. 59 ; xii. 1 1 1, 144 ; xiil. 33 ; xiv. 6.
Throne and Crown for Henry VII. of Ubaldini, Octaviano degli. Inf. x. 120.
Luxemburg. Par. xxx. 133. Ubaldini, Ruggieri degli. Inf. xxxiii. 14.
Thrones, order of angels. Par. ix. 61 ; Ubaldin dalla Pila. Purg. xxiv. 29.
xxviii. 104. Ubaldo, St., d' Agobbio. Par. xi. 44.
Thymbrreus (Apollo). PuRG. xii. 31, Ubbriachi, family. Inf. xvii. 63.
Tiber. Inf. xxvii. 30. PuRG. ii. loi. Uberti, family. Inf. vi, 80 ; xxviii. 106.
Par. xi. 106. Par. xvi. 109.
Tiberius Caesar. Par. vi. 86. Ubertin Donati. Par. xvi. 119.
Tignoso, Frederick. Purg. xiv. 106. Ubertino, Frate. Par. xii. 124.
Tigris. Purg. xxxiii. 112. L' ccellatojo. Mount. Par. xv. iio.
Timseus. Par. iv. 49. Ughi, family. Par. xvi. 88.
Tiresias. Inf. xx. 40. Pitrg. xxii. 113. Ugolin d' Azzo. Purg. xiv. 105.
Tisiphone. Inf. ix. 48. Ugolin de' Fantoli. Purg. xiv. 121.
Tithonus. Purg. ix. i. Ugolino della Gherardesca. Inf. xxxiii.
Titus, Emperor. Purg. xxi. 82. Par.
vi. 92. Uguccione. Inf. xxxiii. 89.
Tityus. Inf. xxxi. 124. Ulysses. Inf. xxvi. 56. Purg. xix. 22.
Tobias. Par. iv. 48. Par. xxvii. 83.
Tomyris, Purg. xii. 56. Unbelievers. Inf. x
Toppo, Inf. xiii. 121 Urania. Purg, xxix. A\.

3D+
•jSo INDEX.

Urban T. Par. xxvii. 44. against themselves, xiii. ; against

Urbino. iNF. xxvii. 30. God, xiv. ; against Nature, xv., xvi. ;
Urbisaglia. Par. xvi. 73. against Art. xvii.
Utica. PURG. i. 74. Viper, arms of the Milanese Visconti.
Uzzah. PuRG. X. 57. Purg. viii. 80.
Virgilius. Inf. i. 79. Purg. iii. 27; vii.
Valbona, Lizio di. PuRG. xiv. 97. 16 ; xviii. 82. Par. xv. 26 ; xvii. 19 ;
Val Camoiiica. Inf. xx. 65. xxvi. 118.
Valdamo, in Tuscany. Purg. xiv. 30, Virtues, order of angels. Par. xxviii.
122.
41.
Valdichiana, in Tuscany. Inf. xxix. 47. Vision, the Beatific. Par. xxxiii.
Valdigrieve, in Tuscany. Par. xvi. 66. Visconti of Milan. PuRG. viii. 80.
Valdimagra, or Lunigiana, Inf. xxiv. Visconti of Pisa. Purg. viii. 53, 109.
145. Purg. viii. 116. Visdomini, family. Par. xvi. 112.
Val di Pado (Ferrara). Par. xv. 137. Vitaliano del Dente. Inf. xvii. 68.
Vanni Fucci. Inf. xxiv. 125. Vows, not performed. Par. iv. 138.
Vanni deila Nona. Inf. xxiv. 139. Vulcan. Inf. xiv. 57.
Van Par. vi. 58.
Varro. Purg. xxii. 98. Wain, Charles's. Inf. xi. 114. Purg. i.
Vatican. Par. ix. 139. 30. Par. xiii. 7.
Vecchio, family. Par. xv. 115. Wanton. Inf. v. Purg. xxv.
Venetians. Inf. xxi. 7. Will, free. Purg. xvi. 71 ; xviii. 74.
Venice. Par. ix. 26 ; xix. 141. vii. 134. Marquis of Monferrato. Purg.
William,
Venus. Purg. xxv. 132 ; xxviii. 65.
Venus, planet. Purg. i. 19. Par. viii. Winceslaus II. of Bohemia. Purg. vii.
2 ; ix. 108. loi. Par. xix. 125.
Vercelli. Inf. xxviii. 75.
Verde. Purg. iii. 131. Par. viii. 63. Xerxes. Purg. xxviii. 71. Par. viii. 124.
Verona. Inf. xv. 122. Purg. xviii. 118.
Veronese. Inf. xx. 68. Zanche, Michael. Inf. xxii. 88; xxxiii.
144.
Veronica. Par. xxxi. 104.
Verrucchio. Inf. xxvii. 46. Zara, game of hazard. Purg. vi. i.
Veso, Mount. Inf. xvi. 95. Zeno. Inf. iv. 138.
Vespers, Sicilian. Par. viii. 75. Zeno, Santo. Purg. xviii. 118.
Vicenza. Par. ix. 47. Zephyr. Par. xii. 47.
Vigna, Pier della. Inf. xiii. 58. Zion, Mount. PuRG. iv. 68.
Violators of monastic vows. Par. iii. Zita, Saint. Inf. xxi. 38.
Violent, the, against others. Inf. xii. ; Zodiac. Purg. iv. 64. Par. x. 13.

IHE END.
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