(No guiding hand the Painter here possesses

Himself the guide: each orb his power proclaims,
And His informing mind throughout confesses)!
The other souls, that late by gladness stirr'd
Cast their white crowns of lilies 'mid the M's,
With easy flight pursued the imperial Bird.
O blessed star! how many a proof is given,

By thy bright jewels, that our justice here
Is the effect of thy bespangled heaven!
Wherefore to Him, in whom ye move, I pray,
That He be pleased to mark the region, where
Rises the smoke that dims your silver ray:

So that His anger may be shown once more

'Gainst them who buy and sell within the fane
Built up by miracles and martyrs' gore.
Ye hosts of heaven, whose armies I survey,

Pray for all those who yet on earth remain,
After an ill example gone astray !

In warfare men were wont with sword to ply;
But now 'tis waged by holding back that bread

The pitying Father doth to none deny.

And thou, who writest but to blot again,

Bethink thee-Paul and Peter are not dead,

Though for the vineyard, that thou spoilest, slain.

109

115

121

127

Well mayest thou exclaim: "For him who erst
Chose in deserted wilds to live alone,

(His head a dancer's prize) so much I thirst, The Fisherman and Paul are both unknown."

133

NOTES.

Page 171. (Line 1.) Cacciaguida.-Dante was also meditating on the predictions made to himself in the last canto, line 55, &c.

Page 172. (Line 21.) “Quia non solum in contemplatione Theologiæ est felicitas et beatitudo; sed etiam in exemplis valentium virorum."-Il Postil. Caet. Upon this warning Dante again turns his attention to Cacciaguida. (28.) Mars is the fifth step, or branch of the tree, i.e. of the cross mentioned before (xiv. 101,) composed of the spirits of the blessed, and whose summit is Christ.

Page 173. (Line 42.) Thus Virgil, Æn. vii. 378.

"Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere turbo,
Quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum

Intenti ludo exercent; ille actus habena
Curvatis fertur spatiis; stupet inscia supra
Impubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum;
Dant animos plagæ."

(44.) Of Orlando and Charlemagne see Inf. xxxi. 18, and note. (46.) William and Rinoard, leaders under Charlemagne,-the Rinaldo of Ariosto. Duke Godfrey-Godfrey of Bouillon,

M

"che il gran sepolcro liberò di Christo." (48.) Of Robert Guiscard, see note Inf, xxviii. 14. (49.) The spirit who had spoken to Dante is Cacciaguida.

Page 174. (Line 63.) "That Miracle," is Beatrice. (64.) Thus Shakspere, Much ado about nothing, act. iv. s. 1.

"I have mark'd

A thousand blushing apparitions start
Into her face; a thousand innocent shames
In angel whiteness bear away those blushes."

(67.) Beatrice, being now exalted, together with the poet, from Mars to Jupiter, loses the ruddy hue of the former planet, and assumes the more tempered aspect of the latter. (72.) i.e. The splendour of the blessed spirits inflamed with charity, who were in that star."-Lombardi. (78.) The three initial letters of Diligite,-as more fully explained, line 91, "Diligite justitiam, qui judicatis terram." "Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth." Wisdom i. 1.

Page 175. (Line 91.) See last note. (94.) The spirits, settling upon the M, compose the figure of an Eagle. See note, line 107. (102.) "Who augur future riches to themselves in proportion to the quantity of sparks that fly from the lighted brand when it is shaken."-- Cary. (107) The Eagle is the type of that universal monarchy which Dante wished to establish. “Those who have rightly administered justice, and been obedient to the imperial government, are represented in this eagle, which is dedicated to Jupiter."-Vellutello. "He who moves the spirits to this configuration is God himself.... The meaning of the following lines is, that the spirits, moving a little, completed the figure of an eagle, the head of which they had before made."--Landino.

Page 176. (Line 113.) The "M's" are the final letters of "Justitiam" and "terram." (116.) By the jewels are intended the glorious spirits in Jupiter, whose star is supposed to be the source of Justice on earth. (120.) "The smoke," which obscures Justice, is the avarice of the Priests. The prayer is thus paraphrased by Landino: "And I pray the divine Mind to look down upon this malignity-that as in his life-time Christ was incensed with those who bought and sold in the temple, and drove them out, so now he would show his wrath against the pastors and prelates who practise simony, and sell sacred things in the Church of God." (126.) By the "example" of the Pope, the world is said to be "gone astray," as more fully set forth in Purg. xvi., where all its wickedness is attributed to him. It is added that he wages war by excommunication, and denial of the sacramental bread, which God himself denies not to those who truly repent. (130.) i.e. “And thou who sendest forth thy censures, not for the purpose of chastising offenders, but to be paid for revoking them, remember," &c.-Landino. This exclamation is addressed either to Pope Boniface, or to Clement V., then living. Of these two Popes, see notes, Inf. xix. 77 and 82. (136.) The Pope thirsts, adds Dante, with bitter sarcasm, much more for John the Baptist (i.e. the floren, or coin of Florence, stamped with his head) than for either St. Peter or St. Paul.

CANTO XIX.

ARGUMENT.

THE Eagle replies to Dante's inquiry whether any who are not Christians can be saved.

BEFORE my sight now shone with wings outspread

The beauteous Image, which, new joy imparting,
O'er the collected souls its gladness shed;

Like to a little ruby each in guise

On which the sun so strong a ray was darting,
Its lustre was refracted on mine eyes.
And that which now I am assign'd to write,
Voice never told before, or pen express'd,
Nor e'er was caught by fancy' highest flight:
For I beheld and heard the eagle speak;
Though in the singular he us address'd,
The plural was intended by the beak.

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