And your opinion hence do I maintain,

That human nature never such was found,

Or shall be, as experienced in the Twain. How then without an equal Solomon ?

Here to my reasoning if I placed a bound,
Thou would'st return to question me anon.
But that my doctrine thou may'st understand,

Think who he was, and by what impulse taught,
When told to ask,' he proffer'd the demand.
From this my speech, thou may'st discern full well
That he as King the gift of wisdom sought,
To the end that he might as a King excel.

The number of the angelic host to know

He cared not; or if from contingency
Necessity in part may ever flow:

Or whether there be self-existent motion,
Or whether in half-circle there may be
Triangle not rectangular: a notion

Hence, rightly weigh'd, my answer may impart,

That matchless prudence I alluded to:

And aim'd at this was my intention's dart.
And if my words thou scrutinize with care,
Thou'lt see that they have only kings in view;
And they are numerous; but good ones, rare.

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103

Draw this distinction, and my speech is quite
Consistent found with that thou dost believe
Of our first father, and our Chief Delight.
Let this be lead unto thy feet; that slow
Thy steps may be (as of one tired) to give
When not convinced by sight, a yes or no.
For sunk is he 'mid fools in lowest place,

Who no distinction makes, and in the one
Decides, as well as in the other case.
For popular opinion is inclined

To error often; and, as well is known,

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115

Self-love comes in, the intellect to blind.

Worse than in vain doth he from shore depart;

121

For he returns not what he was before,

Who fishes for the truth without the art.

Of this indeed full many proofs appear

Parmenides, Melissus, many more,

Who travell'd in the search, not knowing where.
Thus did Sabellius, Arius, many a score

Of fools, who swords unto the Scriptures were ;
Making that crooked which was straight before.
Then to your judgments give ye not the reins
Too hastily-like unto him who ere

The corn be ripe, is fain to count the grains :

127

For I have seen the thorn through winter snows
Look sharp and stiff-yet on a future day

High on its summit bear the tender rose :

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And ship I've seen, that through the storms hath past, Securely bounding o'er the watery way,

At the entrance of the harbour wreck'd at last.

Let not Ser Martin or Dame Bertha say—

Seeing one steal, another sacrifice

That they have look'd into the judgment day : For still the one may fall, the other rise."

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NOTES.

Page 122. (Line 1.) i.e. "Whoever would conceive the sight that now presented itself to me, must imagine fifteen of the brightest stars in heaven, together with seven stars of Arcturus Major, and two of Arcturus Minor, called the 'horn,' line 10, ranged in two circles, one within the other, each resembling the crown of Ariadne, and moving round in opposite directions."-Cary. "These two garlands of twenty-four lights, circling in twofold dance around Dante and Beatrice, so pleased the poet, that he here returns to them,-continually describing them by some new and beautiful image.”—Cesari. Bellezze di Dante. Of the primum mobile, see note, ii. 112. When Ariadne was about to die, the garland around her head is said to have been changed by Bacchus into a wreath of stars.

Page 123. (Line 24.) Chiana-a river of Tuscany of slow current. See note Inf. xxix. 48. (32.) i.e. Thomas Aquinas, who had related the history of St. Francis in the tenth canto. (34.) Having" obtained the grain from one sheaf," i.e. having solved one question, he proceeds to answer the other. See canto x. 95, iii. and notes.

Page 124. (Line 37.) " You believe that Adam, created innocent in Paradise, and our Saviour, who was without sin, being both made immediately by God, were endued with all the perfections of which human nature is capable. Wherefore you cannot understand how I, speaking of Solomon, the spirit seen in yon fifth star, line 46, could say 'Its like hath never been,'" x. 114.-Lombardi. He shows, line 88, that in this there is no inconsistency: but he first confirms the truth of Dante's belief as to Adam and Christ, viz. that whatever may be the case with beings created by secondary causes,—they, created immediately by God, were perfect. This is the object of the long digression from line 37 to 88; when Dante reverts to the original question. (53.) See note to Purgatory xvi. 85. (55.) The "Light" is the Word, proceeding from the Father, and yet united both with Him and the Holy Ghost. (59.) The nine subsistencies are the nine heavens; of which see note, canto ii. 112. From these, he says, the ray of God is communicated to the lower orders of beings-becoming weaker and weaker by being reflected, till at last, line 63, it produces "brief contingencies, i.e. the shortest-lived beings. See canto vii. 67, 130, 142.

Page 125. (Line 67.) By" their wax and he who shapes it," are intended matter, and the virtue that acts upon it by the "ideal seal," the impress of the divine Idea, or Word. (70.) The trees represent human creatures, who though alike in

K

specie, produce different fruits. "We see many men so vile, and in such a degraded state, that they appear nothing better than beasts; and hence we may lay down, and fully believe that some may be so noble, and of so exalted a nature that they can be, as it were, only angels."-Dante. Convito. (73.) i.e. In order to produce perfection, not only must the matter be of the best quality, but the informing Virtue must proceed im. mediately from God." (82.) "Thus, i.e. by the immediate operation of God, Adam's original clay was endued with all the perfection of which the animal nature was capable ;—thus in the pure womb of the Virgin Mary, was formed the most holy body of Jesus Christ."-Lombardi.

Page 126. (Line 87.) "The Twain," are Adam and Christ. (93.) “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad.. And God said unto him, Because, &c... Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee."-1 Kings, iii. 9, &c. See also 2 Chron. i. 9. (98.) i.e. He cared not for Astronomy, Logic Metaphysics, or Geometry, but asked of God the gift of Prudence. (104.) "And this is that gift, which Solomon, seeing that he was appointed to the government of the people, asked of God."-Dante. Convito.

Page 127. (Line 127.) As Parmenides and Melissus represent the old Philosophers who erred; so Sabellius and Arius represent the new. They are compared to swords, for having mutilated and distorted the Scriptures. "Sabellius denied the personality of the Holy Ghost...In the language of the Athanasian Creed, the Sabellians confounded the persons;the Arians and Macedonians divided the substance of the Godhead." Dr. E. Burton. Works, vol. i. pp. 418, 420.