When I, who had so much of Adam with me, Then, in a vision, did I seem to view A golden-feather'd eagle3 in the sky, With open wings, and hovering for descent; 66 Perhaps," thought I within me," here alone He strikes his quarry, and elsewhere disdains the third of these; and he too, therefore, is for the lunar dawn. Rosa Morando ingenuously confesses, that to him the whole passage is "non esplicabile o almeno difficillimo," inexplicable, or, at best, extremely difficult. All five.] Virgil, Dante, Sordello, Nino, and Currado Malaspina. 2 Remembering haply ancient grief.] Progne having been changed into a swallow after the outrage done her by Tereus. See Ovid, Metam. lib. vi. 3 A golden-feather'd eagle.] So Chaucer, in the House of Fame, at the conclusion of the first book and beginning of the second, represents himself carried up by the grim pawes" of a golden eagle. Much of his description is closely imitated from Dante : Methought I saw an eagle sore. It was of golde and shone so bright, The House of Fame, b. i. This eagle, of which I have you tolde, I gan beholdin more and more To seen her beautee and the wonder, Me fleyng at a swappe he hent, &c. Ibid. b. ii. per comam capitis suo me ore apprehendens ferre sublimem cepit." Alberici Visio, § 1. To pounce upon the prey." Therewith, it seem'd, Terrible as the lightning, rush'd he down, Like one ice-struck with dread. Sole at my side That circling bounds it. Lo! the entrance there, Tarrying, she bare thee up: and, as day shone, Such was the change in me: and as my guide He moved, and I behind him, towards the height. I prop the structure. Nearer now we drew, Arrived whence, in that part, where first a breach As of a wall appear'd, I could descry There.] Mr. Darley has noted the omission of this line in the preceding editions. 2 Lucia.] See Hell, c. ii. 97. and Paradise, c. xxxii. 123. A portal, and three steps beneath, that led My sight directed. "Speak, from whence ye stand;" 'A heavenly dame, not skilless of these things," Replied the instructor, "told us, even now, [she, Pass that way: here the gate is.""" And may Befriending, prosper your ascent," resumed The courteous keeper of the gate: "Come then Before our steps." We straightway thither came. The lowest stair1 was marble white, so smooth And polish'd, that therein my mirror'd form Distinct I saw. The next of hue more dark Than sablest grain, a rough and singed block, Crack'd lengthwise and across. The third, that lay Massy above, seem'd porphyry, that flamed Red as the life-blood spouting from a vein. On this God's angel either foot sustain'd, Upon the threshold seated, which appear'd A rock of diamond. Up the trinal steps My leader cheerly drew me. Ask," said he, "With humble heart, that he unbar the bolt." Piously at his holy feet devolved 66 I cast me, praying him for pity's sake Ashes, or earth ta'en dry out of the ground, 1 The lowest stair.] By the white step is meant the distinctness with which the conscience of the penitent reflects his offences; by the burnt and cracked one, his contrition on their account; and by that of porphyry, the fervour with which he resolves on the future pursuit of piety and virtue. Hence, no doubt, Milton describing "the gate of heaven," P. L. b. iii. 516. Each stair mysteriously was meant. 2 Seven times.] Seven P's, to denote the seven sins (Peccata) of which he was to be cleansed in his passage through Purgatory. Were of one colour with the robe he wore. Access in vain." Such were the words he spake. Then of that hallow'd gate he thrust the door, 1 Two keys.] Lombardi remarks, that painters have usually drawn Saint Peter with two keys, the one of gold and the other of silver; but that Niccolo Alemanni, in his Dissertation de Parietinis Lateranensibus, produces instances of his being represented with one key, and with three. We have here, however, not Saint Peter, but an angel deputed by him. 2 One is more precious.] The golden key denotes the divine authority by which the priest absolves the sinners: the silver expresses the learning and judgment requisite for the due discharge of that office. 3 Harsh was the grating.] On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound 4 The Tarpeian.] Milton, P. L. b. ii. 882. Protinus abducto patuerunt templa Metello. Lucan. Ph. lib. iii. 157. The tribune with unwilling steps withdrew, The brazen gates with thundering strokes resound, Rowe. To leanness doom'd. Attentively I turn'd, The strains came o'er mine ear, e'en as the sound With organ1 mingle, and, now high and clear CANTO X. ARGUMENT. Being admitted at the gate of Purgatory, our Poets ascend a winding path up the rock, till they reach an open and level space that extends each way round the mountain. On the side that rises, and which is of white marble, are seen artfully engraven many stories of humility, which whilst they are contemplating, there approach the souls of those who expiate the sin of pride, and who are bent down beneath the weight of heavy stones. WHEN We had past the threshold of the gate, 1 Organ.] Organs were used in Italy as early as in the sixth century. See Tiraboschi, Stor. della Lett. Ital. 4to. vol. iii. lib. iii. cap. i. § 11. where the following description of that instrument is quoted from Cassiodorus, in Psalm. 150: -"Organum itaque est quasi turris diversis fistulis fabricata, quibus flatu follium vox copiosissima destinatur, et ut eam modulatio decora componat, linguis quibusdam ligneis ab interiore parte construitur, quas disciplinabiliter Magistrorum digiti reprimentes grandisonam efficiunt et suavisonam cantilenam." If I remember right there is a passage in the Emperor Julian's writings, which shows that the organ was not unknown in his time. 2 That wound.] Venturi justly observes, that the Padre d'Aquino has misrepresented the sense of this passage in his translation. dabat ascensum tendentibus ultra Scissa tremensque silex, tenuique erratica motu. The verb "muover" is used in the same signification in the Inferno, Canto xviii. 21. Così da imo della roccia scogli from the rock's low base Thus flinty paths advanced. In neither place is actual motion intended to be expressed. |