When I, who had so much of Adam with me,
Sank down upon the grass, o'ercome with sleep,
There where all five were seated. In that hour,
When near the dawn the swallow her sad lay,
Remembering haply ancient grief2, renews;
And when our minds, more wanderers from the flesh,
And less by thought restrain'd, are, as 't were, full
Of holy divination in their dreams;

Then, in a vision, did I seem to view

A golden-feather'd eagle3 in the sky,

With open wings, and hovering for descent;
And I was in that place, methought, from whence
Young Ganymede, from his associates 'reft,
Was snatch'd aloft to the high consistory.

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,
That never sawe men soche a sight.

The House of Fame, b. i.

This eagle, of which I have you tolde,
That with fethirs shone al of golde,
Whiche that so hie gan to sore,

I

gan beholdin more and more

To seen her beautee and the wonder,
But never was that dente of thonder,
Ne that thinge that men callin foudre,
That smite sometime a toure to poudre,
And in his swifte comminge brend,
That so swithe gan downwarde discende
As this foule whan that it behelde,
That I a roume was in the felde,
And with his grim pawes stronge,
Within his sharpe nailis longe,

Me fleyng at a swappe he hent, &c.
"Avis candida columbæ similis adveniens

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,
A little wheeling in his aëry tour,

Terrible as the lightning, rush'd he down,
And snatch'd me upward even to the fire.
There both, I thought, the eagle and myself
Did burn; and so intense the imagined flames,
That needs my sleep was broken off. As erst
Achilles shook himself, and round him roll'd
His waken'd eyeballs, wondering where he was,
Whenas his mother had from Chiron fled
To Scyros, with him sleeping in her arms;
(There whence the Greeks did after sunder him ;)
E'en thus I shook me, soon as from my face
The slumber parted, turning deadly pale,

Like one ice-struck with dread. Sole at my side
My comfort stood: and the bright sun was now
More than two hours aloft: and to the sea
My looks were turn'd. "Fear not," my master cried,
"Assured we are at happy point. Thy strength
Shrink not, but rise dilated. Thou art come
To Purgatory now. Lo! there the cliff

That circling bounds it. Lo! the entrance there,
Where it doth seem disparted. Ere the dawn
Usher'd the day-light, when thy wearied soul
Slept in thee, o'er the flowery vale beneath
A lady came, and thus bespake me: 'I
Am Lucia2. Suffer me to take this man,
Who slumbers. Easier so his way shall speed.'
Sordello and the other gentle shapes

Tarrying, she bare thee up: and, as day shone,
This summit reach'd: and I pursued her steps.
Here did she place thee. First, her lovely eyes
That open entrance show'd me; then at once
She vanish'd with thy sleep." Like one, whose
Are chased by certainty, and terror turn'd [doubts
To comfort on discovery of the truth,

Such was the change in me: and as my guide
Beheld me fearless, up along the cliff

He moved, and I behind him, towards the height.
Reader! thou markest how my theme doth rise;
Nor wonder therefore, if more artfully

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
For inlet there, of different colour each;
And one who watch'd, but spake not yet a word.
As more and more mine eye did stretch its view,
I mark'd him seated on the highest step,
In visage such, as past my power to bear.
Grasp'd in his hand, a naked sword glanced back
The rays so towards me, that I oft in vain

My sight directed. "Speak, from whence ye stand;"
He cried: "What would ye? Where is your escort?
Take heed your coming upward harm ye not."

'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
That he would open to me; but first fell
Thrice on my bosom prostrate. Seven times2
The letter, that denotes the inward stain,
He, on my forehead, with the blunted point [cried,
Of his drawn sword, inscribed. And "Look," he
"When enter'd, that thou wash these scars away."

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.
From underneath that vestment forth he drew
Two keys', of metal twain: the one was gold,
Its fellow silver. With the pallid first,
And next the burnish'd, he so ply'd the gate,
As to content me well. "Whenever one
Faileth of these, that in the key-hole straight
It turn not, to this alley then expect

Access in vain." Such were the words he spake.
"One is more precious2: but the other needs,
Skill and sagacity, large share of each,
Ere its good task to disengage the knot
Be worthily perform'd. From Peter these
I hold, of him instructed that I err
Rather in opening, than in keeping fast;
So but the suppliant at my feet implore.'

Then of that hallow'd gate he thrust the door,
Exclaiming, "Enter, but this warning hear :
He forth again departs who looks behind."
As in the hinges of that sacred ward
The swivels turn'd, sonorous metal strong,
Harsh was the grating3; nor so surlily
Roar'd the Tarpeian4, when by force bereft
Of good Metellus, thenceforth from his loss

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
Th' infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder.

4 The Tarpeian.]

Milton, P. L. b. ii. 882.

Protinus abducto patuerunt templa Metello.
Tunc rupes Tarpeia sonat: magnoque reclusas
Testatur stridore fores: tunc conditus imo
Eruitur templo multis intactus ab annis
Romani census populi, &c.

Lucan. Ph. lib. iii. 157.

The tribune with unwilling steps withdrew,
While impious hands the rude assault renew;

The brazen gates with thundering strokes resound,
And the Tarpeian mountain rings around.
At length the sacred storehouse, open laid,
The hoarded wealth of ages past displayed.

Rowe.

To leanness doom'd. Attentively I turn'd,
Listening the thunder that first issued forth;
And "We praise thee, O God," methought I heard,
In accents blended with sweet melody.

The strains came o'er mine ear, e'en as the sound
Of choral voices, that in solemn chant

With organ1 mingle, and, now high and clear
Come swelling, now float indistinct away.

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,
(Which the soul's ill affection doth disuse,
Making the crooked seem the straighter path)
I heard its closing sound. Had mine eyes turn'd,
For that offence what plea might have avail'd?
We mounted up the riven rock, that wound?
On either side alternate, as the wave

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
Moven.

from the rock's low base

Thus flinty paths advanced.

In neither place is actual motion intended to be expressed.