CANTO XXII.

ARGUMENT.

VIRGIL, Statius, and Dante ascend up to the sixth circle, where the vice of Greediness is punished. Statius attributes his conversion to Christianity, as well as his taste for poetry to Virgil. They come to the tree of knowledge.-Voices are heard recording instances of temperance.

THE Angel having razed another scar

From off my brow, and shown me the access To the sixth round, was left behind us far; And "blessed" had those holy shades repeated Who rule their appetites by righteousness; And with "I thirst" their welcome had completed: Now lighter than before, I swiftly ran,

Following the nimble spirits up the ascent, Nor thought of toil; when Virgil thus began: "That love which Virtue kindles-so its fire

Shines forth, not idly in the bosom pent,
Is ever wont a kindred flame to inspire.

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Hence, from the hour that Juvenal appear'd,

To me, in the infernal Limbo cast, And manifested all thy love-endear'd To me thou wert in such a kindly sort,

As ne'er for one not seen hath been surpast; So that to me these stairs will seem full short. But tell me, and a kind indulgence lend,

If I with too much freedom loose the rein;
And reason with me now as with a friend.-
A habitation how could Avarice find

Within thy breast, while such a fruitful vein
Of wisdom held possession of thy mind?"
To laughter did this question somewhat move
Statius at first ;-then he: "Thy every word
Is welcomed by me as a sign of love.
'Tis true that things do oftentimes appear,

Which matter false to cherish doubt afford,

Because the real sources are not clear.

This question evidences thy belief

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That I was erst the slave of avarice;

Haply since in yon round I suffer grief.

Too far from me was avarice removed;

For I incurr'd a very different vice,

Which here some thousand moons has been reproved.

And had I not well ponder'd in my mind

The exclamation that thou mad'st of old,
Indignant as it were with human kind-
'Unto what evils dost thou not excite

The human breast, O cursed love of gold!'
Now should I urge the stones in ceaseless fight.
Then I perceived the hands may be too wide
Extended; and of unrestrain'd expense
Repented, as of other faults beside.

How many a one shall from the grave arise

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With shaven locks, through ignorance of the offence;
Repenting neither when he lives or dies.

And know, the vice which answers to another,
(Its very opposite,) is with that vice
Destin'd together in this round to smother.
Wherefore if I in penance have been seen
With those who purge themselves from avarice,
For the reverse my punishment hath been."
"What time that cruel war employ'd thy verse,"
The singer of bucolic song rejoin'd,

"Waged by ill-starr'd Jocasta's double curse—
To judge from what by Clio thou wert taught—
That faith did not as yet possess thy mind,
Without which virtuous act availeth not.

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And if 'twere so, what sun or torch dispersed

The darkness, so that thou thy sail couldst spread Behind the Fisherman ?"-"Thou wert the first Who to Parnassus' grottos leading me,

Taught how to drink its hallow'd streams,” he said "And my first steps towards God were lit by thee. Thou didst as one who doth his torch by night

Behind him bear-not by himself discern'd, But to his followers yielding useful light— When thou didst prophesy, 'A world revived,

Justice restored, primæval days return'd,

An offspring born, from heaven itself derived.'
Poet and Christian I became through thee;

But that more fully thou mayst understand,
Wrought in clear colours shall this outline be.-

Already in th' impregnate world was sown

The new belief, wide spread through every land

By the apostles of the eternal throne;

And thy recorded words of prophecy

So well with the new preachers harmoniz'd,

That their accustom'd visitor was I.

So holy in my eyes the course they kept,
That when Domitian's torturing rod chastiz'd,
Their sufferings never were by me unwept.

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And while it was my lot on earth to bide,

I gave them friendly succour, and despised
(Their righteous habits known) all sects beside :
in song I led the Grecians near

And ere
The Theban rivers, I had been baptized;

But secret held my Christian faith through fear;
Long time a Pagan still in outward show.

For this lukewarmness full four centuries
Round the fourth circle was I doom'd to go.
Thou, therefore, who didst tear away the veil
That hid such mighty blessings from my eyes,—
While ample time is our's the mount to scale,
Tell me where our loved Terence may be found,

Cæcilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou know'st,——
Tell me are they in hell, and in what round?"
They, Persius, I, and many others are,"

My guide replied, "with him, the Grecian's boast,
(Nursed by the Muses with surpassing care)
In the dark prison's foremost round confined.-
Oft of the mountain are we wont to speak,
Where a perennial seat our nurses find.

Euripides and Agatho are there,

Simonides, Anacreon-many a Greek,

Whose brows long since the honour'd laurel bare.

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