Calleth him back, whence death awhile delays.
He shouted: "Ha! already standest there?
Already standest there, O Boniface1!

By many a year the writing play'd me false.
So early dost thou surfeit with the wealth,
For which thou fearedst not in guile2 to take
The lovely lady, and then mangle her?"

I felt as those who, piercing not the drift
Of answer made them, stand as if exposed
In mockery, nor know what to reply;
When Virgil thus admonish'd: "Tell him quick,
'I am not he, not he whom thou believest.'"

And I, as was enjoin'd me, straight replied. That heard, the spirit all did wrench his feet, And, sighing, next in woeful accent spake : "What then of me requirest? If to know So much imports thee, who I am, that thou Hast therefore down the bank descended, learn That in the mighty mantle I was robed3, And of a she-bear was indeed the son, So eager to advance my whelps, that there My having in my purse above I stow'd, And here myself. Under my head are dragg'd The rest, my predecessors in the guilt Of simony. Stretch'd at their length, they lie Along an opening in the rock. Midst them I also low shall fall, soon as he comes, For whom I took thee, when so hastily I question'd. But already longer time Hath past, since my soles kindled, and I thus Upturn'd have stood, than is his doom to stand Planted with fiery feet. For after him, One yet of deeds more ugly shall arrive, From forth the west, a shepherd without law,

10 Boniface!] The spirit mistakes Dante for Boniface VIII. who was then alive; and who he did not expect would have arrived so soon, in consequence, as it should seem, of a prophecy, which predicted the death of that pope at a later period. Boniface died in 1303.

2 In guile.] "Thou didst presume to arrive by fraudulent means at the papal power, and afterwards to abuse it."

3 In the mighty mantle I was robed.] Nicholas III. of the Orsini family, whom the Poet therefore calls "figliuol dell' orsa," ""son of the she-bear." He died in 1281.

4 From forth the west, a shepherd without law.] Bertrand de Got, Archbishop of Bourdeaux, who succeeded to the pontificate in 1305, and assumed the title of Clement V. He transferred the holy see to Avignon in 1308 (where it remained till 1376), and died in 1314.

Fated to cover both his form and mine.
He a new Jason' shall be call'd, of whom
In Maccabees we read; and favour such
As to that priest his king indulgent show'd,
Shall be of France's monarch2 shown to him."
I know not if I here too far presumed,
But in this strain I answer'd:
Tell me now,
What treasures from Saint Peter at the first
Our Lord demanded, when he put the keys
Into his charge? Surely he ask'd no more
But Follow me!' Nor Peter3, nor the rest,
Or gold or silver of Matthias took,

66

When lots were cast upon the forfeit place
Of the condemned soul4. Abide thou then;
Thy punishment of right is merited :
And look thou well to that ill-gotten coin,
Which against Charles thy hardihood inspired.
If reverence of the keys restrain'd me not,
Which thou in happier time didst hold, I yet
Severer speech might use. Your avarice
O'ercasts the world with mourning, under foot
Treading the good, and raising bad men up.
Of shepherds like to you, the Evangelist

1 A new Jason.] "But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, called Epiphanes, took the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, laboured underhand to be high-priest, promising unto the king, by intercession, three hundred and threescore talents of silver, and of another revenue eighty talents." Maccab. b. ii. ch. iv. 7, 8.

2 Of France's monarch.] Philip IV. of France. Villani, lib. viii. c. lxxx.

3 Nor Peter.] Acts of the Apostles, ch. i. 26.

4 The condemned soul.] Judas.

See G.

5 Against Charles.] Nicholas III. was enraged against Charles I. King of Sicily, because he rejected with scorn a proposition made by that pope for an alliance between their families. See G. Villani, Hist. lib. vii. c. liv.

6 Under foot.]

So shall the world go on,

To good malignant, to bad men benign. Milton, P. L. b. xii. 538. 7 The Evangelist.] Rev. c. xvii. 1, 2, 3.-Petrarch, in one of his Epistles, had his eye on these lines: "Gaude (inquam) et ad aliquid utilis inventa gloriare bonorum hostis et malorum hospes, atque asylum pessima rerum Babylon feris, Rhodani ripis imposita, famosa dicam an infamis meretrix, fornicata cum regibus terræ. Illa equidem ipsa es quam in spiritu sacer vidit Evangelista. Illa eadem, inquam, es, non alia, sedens super aquas multas, sive ad littora tribus cincta Aluminibus sive rerum atque divitiarum turba mortalium quibus lasciviens ac secura insides opum immemor æternarum sive ut idem qui vidit, erposuit. Populi et gentes et linguæ aquæ sunt, super quas

Was ware, when her, who sits upon the waves,
With kings in filthy whoredom he beheld;
She who with seven heads tower'd at her birth,
And from ten horns her proof of glory drew,
Long as her spouse in virtue took delight.
Of gold and silver ye have made your god,
Differing wherein from the idolater,
But that he worships one, a hundred ye?
Ah, Constantine!! to how much ill gave birth,

meretrix sedes, recognosce habitum," &c. Petrarchæ Opera, ed. fol. Basil. 1554. Epist. sine titulo Liber, ep. xvi. p, 729. The text is here probably corrupted. The construction certainly may be rendered easier by omitting the ad before littora, and substituting a comma for a full stop after exposuit. With all the respect that is due to a venerable prelate and truly learned critic, I cannot but point out a mistake he has fallen into, relating to this passage, when he observes, that "Numberless passages in the writings of Petrarch speak of Rome under the name of Babylon. But an equal stress is not to be laid on all these. It should be remembered, that the popes, in Petrarch's time, resided at Avignon, greatly to the disparagement of themselves, as he thought, and especially of Rome; of which this singular man was little less than idolatrous. The situation of the place, surrounded by waters, and his splenetic concern for the exiled church (for under this idea he painted to himself the pope's migration to the banks of Avignon), brought to his mind the condition of the Jewish church in the Babylonian captivity. And this parallel was all, perhaps, that he meant to insinuate in most of those passages. But when he applies the prophecies to Rome, as to the Apocalyptic Babylon (as he clearly does in the epistle under consideration), his meaning is not equivocal, and we do him but justice to give him an honourable place among the TESTES VERITATIS." An Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies, &c. by Richard Hurd, D.D. serm. vii. p. 239. note y. ed. 1772.

Now, a reference to the words printed in Italics, which the Bishop of Worcester has omitted in his quotation, will make it sufficiently evident, that Avignon, and not Rome, is here alluded to by Petrarch.

The application that is made of these prophecies by two men so eminent for their learning and sagacity as Dante and Petrarch is, however, very remarkable, and must be satisfactory to those who have renounced the errors and corruptions of the papacy. Such applications were indeed frequent in the middle ages, as may be seen in the "Sermons" above referred to. Balbo observes, that it is not Rome, as most erroneously interpreted, but Avignon, and the court there, that is termed Babylon by Dante and Petrarch. Vita di Dante. v. ii. p. 103.

1 Ah, Constantine!] He alludes to the pretended gift of the Lateran by Constantine to Sylvester, of which Dante himself seems to imply a doubt, in his treatise "De Monarchiâ."-" Ergo scindere Imperium, Imperatori non licet. Si ergo aliquæ dignitates per Constantinum essent alienatæ (ut dicunt) ab Imperio," &c. lib. iii. "Therefore to make a

Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower,
Which the first wealthy Father gain'd from thee."
Meanwhile, as thus I sung, he, whether wrath
Or conscience smote him, violent upsprang
Spinning on either sole. I do believe

My teacher well was pleased, with so composed
A lip he listen'd ever to the sound

Of the true words I utter'd. In both arms
He caught, and, to his bosom lifting me,
Upward retraced the way of his descent.

Nor weary of his weight, he press'd me close,
Till to the summit of the rock we came,
Our passage from the fourth to the fifth pier.
His cherish'd burden there gently he placed
Upon the rugged rock and steep, a path
Not easy for the clambering goat to mount.
Thence to my view another vale appear'd.

The Poet relates the punishment of such as presumed, while living, to predict future events. It is to have their faces reversed and set the contrary way on their limbs, so that,

rent in the empire exceeds the lawful power of the emperor himself. If, then, some dignities were by Constantine alienated (as they report) from the empire, &c." In another part of the same treatise he speaks of the alienation with less doubt indeed, but not with less disapprobation: "O felicem populum! O Ausoniam te gloriosam! si vel numquam infirmator imperii tui extitisset; vel numquam sua pia intentio ipsum fefellisset."-"O happy people! O glorious Italy! if either he who thus weakened thine empire had never been born, or had never suffered his own pious intentions to mislead him." Lib. ii. ad finem.

The gift is by Ariosto very humorously placed in the moon, among the things lost or abused on earth:

Di varj fiori ad un gran monte passa,

Ch' ebber già buono odore, or puzzan forte,
Questo era il dono (se però dir lece)"

Che Costantino al buon Silvestro fece.

Orl. Fur. c. xxxiv. st. 80.

Milton has translated both this passage and that in the Prose Works, vol. i. p. 11. ed.1753.

text.

Ah, Constantine! of how much ill was cause
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
That the first wealthy pope receiv'd of thee.
Then pass'd he to a flowery mountain green,

Which once smelt sweet, now stinks as odiously;
This was that gift, if you the truth will have,
That Constantine to good Silvester gave.

being deprived of the power to see before them, they are constrained ever to walk backwards. Among these Virgil points out to him Amphiaraüs, Tiresias, Aruns, and Manto (from the mention of whom he takes occasion to speak of the origin of Mantua) together with several others, who had practised the arts of divination and astrology. AND now the verse proceeds to torments new, Fit argument of this the twentieth strain Of the first song, whose awful theme records The spirits whelm'd in woe. Earnest I look'd Into the depth, that open'd to my view, Moisten'd with tears of anguish, and beheld A tribe, that came along the hollow vale, In silence weeping: such their step as walk Quires, chanting solemn litanies, on earth.

As on them more direct mine eye descends, Each wonderously seem'd to be reversed1 At the neck-bone, so that the countenance Was from the reins averted; and because None might before him look, they were compell'd To advance with backward gait. Thus one perhaps Hath been by force of palsy clean transposed, But I ne'er saw it nor believe it so.

Now, reader! think within thyself, so God Fruit of thy reading give thee! how I long Could keep my visage dry2, when I beheld Near me our form distorted in such guise, That on the hinder parts fallen from the face The tears down-streaming roll'd. Against a rock I leant and wept, so that my guide exclaim'd: "What, and art thou, too, witless as the rest? Here pity most doth show herself alive, When she is dead. What guilt exceedeth his, Who with Heaven's judgment in his passion strives? Raise up thy head, raise up, and see the man Before whose eyes3 earth gaped in Thebes, when all

1 Reversed.]

2

But very uncouth sight was to behold
How he did fashion his untoward pace;
For as he forward mov'd his footing old,

So backward still was turn'd his wrinkled face;

Unlike to men who ever as they trace,

Both feet and face one way are wont to lead.
Spenser, Faery Queen, b. i. c. viii. st. 31.

-How I long

Could keep my visage dry.]

Sight so deform what heart of man could long
Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept.

Milton. P. L. b. xi. 495.

3 Before whose eyes.] Amphiarais, one of the seven kings