THE VISION OF DANTE.

PURGATORY.

CANTO I.

ARGUMENT.

The Poet describes the delight he experienced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions, into the pure air that surrounds the isle of Purgatory; and then relates how, turning to the right, he beheld four stars never seen before but by our first parents, and met on his left the shade of Cato of Utica, who, having warned him and Virgil what is needful to be done before they proceed on their way through Purgatory, disappears; and the two poets go towards the shore, where Virgil cleanses Dante's face with the dew, and girds him with a reed, as Cato had commanded.

O'ER better waves1 to speed her rapid course
The light bark of my genius lifts the sail,
Well pleased to leave so cruel sea behind;
And of that second region will I sing,
In which the human spirit from sinful blot
Is purged, and for ascent to Heaven prepares.
Here, O ye hallow'd Nine! for in your train
I follow, here the deaden'd strain revive;
Nor let Calliope refuse to sound

A somewhat higher song, of that loud tone

1 O'er better waves.] So Berni. Orl. Inn. lib. ii. c. i.
Per correr maggior acqua alza le vele,
O debil navicella del mio ingegno.

Which when the wretched birds of chattering note1 Had heard, they of forgiveness lost all hope.

Sweet hue of eastern sapphire, that was spread O'er the serene aspect of the pure air, High up as the first circle2, to mine eyes Unwonted joy renew'd, soon as I 'scaped Forth from the atmosphere of deadly gloom, That had mine eyes and bosom fill'd with grief. The radiant planet3, that to love invites, Made all the orient laugh 4, and veil'd beneath The Pisces' light5, that in his escort came.

To the right hand I turn'd, and fix'd my mind On the other pole attentive, where I saw Four stars ne'er seen before save by the ken Of our first parents". Heaven of their rays

1 Birds of chattering note.] For the fable of the daughters of Pierus, who challenged the muses to sing, and were by them changed into magpies, see Ovid. Met. lib. v. fab. 5.

2 The first circle.] Either, as some suppose, the moon; or, as Lombardi (who likes to be as far off the rest of the commentators as possible) will have it, the highest circle of the stars.

3 Planet.] Venus.

4 Made all the orient laugh.] Hence Chaucer, Knight's Tale: And all the orisont laugheth of the sight.

It is sometimes read "orient."

5 The Pisces' light.] The constellation of the Fish veiled by the more luminous body of Venus, then a morning star.

6 Four stars.] Venturi observes that "Dante here speaks as a poet, and almost in the spirit of prophecy; or, what is more likely, describes the heaven about that pole according to his own invention. In our days," he adds, "the cross, composed of four stars, three of the second and one of the third magnitude, serves as a guide to those who sail from Europe to the south; but in the age of Dante these discoveries had not been made:" yet it appears probable, that either from long tradition, or from the relation of later voyagers, the real truth might not have been unknown to our Poet. Seneca's prediction of the discovery of America may be accounted for in a similar manner. But whatever may be thought of this, it is certain that the four stars are here symbolical of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. See Canto xxxi. v. 105. M. Artaud mentions a globe constructed by an Arabian in Egypt, with the date of the year 622 of the Hegira, corresponding to 1225 of our era, in which the southern cross is positively marked. See his Histoire de Dante, Ch. xxxi. and xl. 8o. Par. 1841.

7 Our first parents.] In the terrestrial paradise, placed, as we shall see, by our Poet, on the summit of Purgatory.

Seem'd joyous. O thou northern site! bereft
Indeed, and widow'd, since of these deprived.

As from this view I had desisted, straight
Turning a little towards the other pole,
There from whence now the wain1 had disappear'd,
I saw an old man standing by my side
Alone, so worthy of reverence in his look,
That ne'er from son to father more was owed.
Low down his beard, and mix'd with hoary white
Descended, like his locks, which, parting, fell
Upon his breast in double fold. The beams
Of those four luminaries on his face

So brightly shone, and with such radiance clear Deck'd it, that I beheld him as the sun.

66

'Say who are ye, that stemming the blind stream, Forth from the eternal prison-house have fled ?" He spoke and moved those venerable plumes 3. "Who hath conducted, or with lantern sure Lights you emerging from the depth of night, That makes the infernal valley ever black? Are the firm statutes of the dread abyss Broken, or in high heaven new laws ordain'd, That thus, condemn'd, ye to my caves approach ?" My guide, then laying hold on me, by words And intimations given with hand and head,

1 The wain.] Charles's Wain, or Boötes.

2 An old man.] Cato.

Secretosque pios; his dantem jura Catonem. Virg. Æn. viii. 670. The commentators, and Lombardi amongst the rest, might have saved themselves and their readers much needless trouble if they would have consulted the prose writings of Dante with more diligence. In the Convito, p. 211, he has himself declared his opinion of the illustrious Roman. 66 Quale uomo, &c." "What earthly man was more worthy to follow God than Cato? Certainly none." And again, p. 212. "Nel nome di cui, &c." "In whose name, whatever needs be said concerning the signs of nobility may be concluded; for, in him, that nobility displays them all throughout all ages."

3 Venerable plumes.]

Insperata tuæ quum veniet pluma superbiæ.

Hor. Carm. lib. iv. ode 10.

The same metaphor has occurred in Hell, Canto xx. v. 41.

the plumes,

That mark'd the better sex.

It is used by Ford in the Lady's Trial, act iv. sc. 2.

-Now the down

Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age.

Made my bent knees and eye submissive pay
Due reverence; then thus to him replied:

"Not of myself I come; a Dame from heaven'
Descending, him besought me in my charge
To bring. But since thy will implies, that more
Our true condition I unfold at large,

Mine is not to deny thee thy request.

This mortal ne'er hath seen the farthest gloom2;
But erring by his folly had approach'd
So near, that little space was left to turn.
Then, as before I told, I was dispatch'd
To work his rescue; and no way remain'd
Save this which I have ta'en. I have display'd
Before him all the regions of the bad;
And purpose now those spirits to display,
That under thy command are purged from sin.
How I have brought him would be long to say.
From high descends the virtue, by whose aid
I to thy sight and hearing him have led.
Now may our coming please thee. In the search
Of liberty he journeys: that how dear,

They know who for her sake have life refused.
Thou knowest, to whom death for her was sweet
In Utica, where thou didst leave those weeds,
That in the last great day will shine so bright.
For us the eternal edicts are unmoved:
He breathes, and I of Minos am not bound3,
Abiding in that circle, where the eyes

Of thy chaste Marcia1 beam, who still in look

1 A Dame from heaven.] Beatrice. See Hell, ii. 54.

2 The farthest gloom.] L'ultima sera.

So Ariosto, O. F. canto xxxiv. st. 59.

Che non han visto ancor l'ultima sera.

And Filicaja, canto ix. Al Sonno.

L'ultima sera.

And Mr. Mathias, Canzone a Guglielmo Roscoe premessa alla Storia della Poesia Italiana, p. 13.

Di morte non vedrà l'ultima sera.

3 Of Minos am not bound.] See Hell, v.4.

4 Marcia.]

-Da foedera prisci

Illibata tori: da tantum nomen inane

Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis

Martia.

Lucan. Phars. lib. ii. 344.

Our author's habit of putting an allegorical interpretation on every thing, a habit which appears to have descended to that age from certain fathers of the church, is nowhere more apparent than in his explanation of this passage. See Convito, p. 211. "Marzia fu vergine, &c." "Marcia was a