Shifting the point it blows from. Shalt thou more
Live in the mouths of mankind, if thy flesh
Part shrivel'd from thee, than if thou hadst died
Before the coral and the pap were left;

Or e'er some thousand years have past? and that
Is, to eternity compared, a space

Briefer than is the twinkling of an eye

To the heaven's slowest orb. He there, who treads
So leisurely before me, far and wide

Through Tuscany resounded once; and now
Is in Sienna scarce with whispers named:
There was he sovereign, when destruction caught
The maddening rage of Florence, in that day
Proud as she now is loathsome. Your renown
Is as the herb, whose hue doth come and go;
And his might withers it, by whom it sprang
Crude from the lap of earth." I thus to him:
"True are thy sayings: to my heart they breathe
The kindly spirit of meekness, and allay
What tumours2 rankle there. But who is he, [plied,
Of whom thou spakest but now ?" " This," he re-

Is Provenzano. He is here, because

He reach'd, with grasp presumptuous, at the sway
Of all Sienna. Thus he still hath gone,

E tanto ha più d'ogni altra conoscenza,
Quanto lo Ciel di questa terra è maggio,

A simil di natura ben non tarda.

La Bella Mano e Rime Antiche. Ediz. Fir. 1715. p. 128. Whatso is fair in lady's face or mind,

And gentle knights caparison'd and gay,

Singing of sweet birds unto love inclined,

And gallant barks that cut the watery way;

The white snow falling without any wind,
The cloudless sky at break of early day,
The crystal stream, with flowers the meadow lined,
Silver, and gold, and azure for array:

To him that sees the beauty and the worth
Whose power doth meet and in my lady dwell,
All seem as vile, their price and lustre gone.
And, as the heaven is higher than the earth,
So she in knowledge doth each one excel,
Not slow to good in nature like her own.

1 He, perhaps, is born.] Some imagine, with much probability, that Dante here augurs the greatness of his own poetical reputation. Others have absurdly fancied that he prophesies the glory of Petrarch. But Petrarch was not yet born. Lombardi doubts whether it is not spoken generally of human vicissitudes.

2 What tumours.]

Apt words have power to swage
The tumours of a troubled mind.

Milton's Samson Agonistes.

Thus goeth never-resting, since he died.
Such is the acquittance render'd back of him.
Who, in the mortal life, too much hath dared."
I then: "If soul, that to life's verge delays
Repentance, linger in that lower space,

Nor hither mount, (unless good prayers befriend)
Or ever1 time, long as it lived, be past;

How chanced admittance was vouchsafed to him?" "When at his glory's topmost height," said he, Respect of dignity all cast aside,

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Freely he fix'd him on Sienna's plain,

A suitor2 to redeem his suffering friend,
Who languish'd in the prison-house of Charles;
Nor, for his sake, refused through every vein
To tremble. More I will not say; and dark,
I know, my words are; but thy neighbours soon 3
Shall help thee to a comment on the text.

This is the work, that from these limits freed him."

CANTO XII.

ARGUMENT.

Dante being desired by Virgil to look down on the ground which they are treading, observes that it is wrought over

Or ever.] This line was omitted in the former editions, as Mr. Lyell has pointed out to me.

2 A suitor.] Provenzano Salvani humbled himself so far for the sake of one of his friends, who was detained in captivity by Charles I. of Sicily, as personally to supplicate the people of Sienna to contribute the sum required by the king for his ransom: and this act of self-abasement atoned for his general ambition and pride. He fell in the battle of Vald 'Elsa, wherein the Florentines discomfited the Siennese in June, 1269. G. Villani relates some curious particulars of his fate. "Messer Provenzano Salvani, the lord and conductor of the army, was taken, and his head cut off and carried through all the camp fixed upon a lance. And well was accomplished the prophecy and revelation made to him by the Devil by way of witchcraft, but he understood it not; for having compelled him to answer how he should succeed in the said engagement, he told him lyingly: 'Thou shalt go, fight, conquer not, die in the battle, and thy head shall be the highest in the camp.' And he thought to have the victory, and from these words thought to remain master of all, and noted not the fallacy, where he said 'conquer not die.' And therefore it is great folly to trust such counsel as that of the Devil." Lib. vii. cap. 31.

3 Thy neighbours soon.] "Thou wilt know in the time of thy banishment, which is near at hand, what it is to solicit favours of others, and tremble through every vein,' lest they should be refused thee."

with imagery exhibiting various instances of pride recorded in history and fable. They leave the first cornice, and are ushered to the next by an angel who points out the way.

WITH equal pace, as oxen in the yoke,

I, with that laden spirit, journey'd on,
Long as the mild instructor suffer'd me;
But, when he bade me quit him, and proceed,
(For "Here," said he, "behoves with sail and oars
Each man, as best he may, push on his bark")
Upright, as one disposed for speed, I raised
My body, still in thought submissive bow'd.

I now my leader's track not loth pursued;
And each had shown how light we fared along,
When thus he warn'd me: "Bend thine eyesight
For thou, to ease the way, shalt find it good [down:
To ruminate the bed beneath thy feet."

As, in memorial of the buried, drawn Upon earth-level tombs, the sculptured form Of what was once, appears, (at sight whereof Tears often stream forth, by remembrance waked, Whose sacred stings the piteous often feel) So saw I there, but with more curious skill Of portraiture o'erwrought, whate'er of space From forth the mountain stretches. On one part Him I beheld, above all creatures erst Created noblest, lightening fall from heaven : On the other side, with bolt celestial pierced, Briareus; cumbering earth he lay, through dint Of mortal ice-stroke. The Thymbræan god', With Mars2, I saw, and Pallas, round their sire, Arm'd still, and gazing on the giants' limbs Strewn o'er the ethereal field. Nimrod I saw : At foot of the stupendous work he stood, As if bewilder'd, looking on the crowd Leagued in his proud attempt on Sennaar's plain3.

The Thymbræan god.] Apollo.

Si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbræus Apollo.
Virg. Georg. iv. 323.

2 Mars.]

With such a grace,

The giants that attempted to scale heaven,

When they lay dead on the Phlegræan plain,

Mars did appear to Jove.

Beaumont and Fletcher. The Prophetess, act. ii. sc. 3.

3 Sennaar's plain.]

The builders such of Babel on the plain

Of Sennaar.

Milton, P. L. b. iii. 467.

O Niobe! in what a trance of woe
Thee I beheld, upon that highway drawn,
Seven sons on either side thee slain.

O Saul!

How ghastly didst thou look, on thine own sword
Expiring, in Gilboa, from that hour

Ne'er visited with rain from heaven, or dew.
O fond Arachne! thee I also saw,
Half spider now, in anguish, crawling up
The unfinish'd web thou weaved'st to thy bane.
O Rehoboam! here thy shape doth seem
Louring no more defiance; but fear-smote,
With none to chase him, in his chariot whirl'd.
Was shown beside upon the solid floor,
How dear Alcmeon2 forced his mother rate
That ornament, in evil hour received:
How, in the temple, on Sennacherib3 fell
His sons, and how a corpse they left him there.
Was shown the scath, and cruel mangling made
By Tomyris on Cyrus, when she cried,

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Blood thou didst thirst for: take thy fill of blood." Was shown how routed in the battle fled The Assyrians, Holofernes 5 slain, and e'en The relics of the carnage. Troy I mark'd, In ashes and in caverns. Oh! how fallen, How abject, Ilion, was thy semblance there.

What master of the pencil or the style [made Had traced the shades and lines, that might have The subtlest workman wonder? Dead, the dead; The living seem'd alive with clearer view, His eye beheld not, who beheld the truth, Than mine what I did tread on, while I went Low bending. Now swell out, and with stiff necks. Pass on, ye sons of Eve! vale not your looks, Lest they descry the evil of your path.

I noted not (so busied was my thought) How much we now had circled of the mount;

10 Rehoboam.] 1 Kings, xii. 18.

2 Alemaon.] Virg. Æn. lib. vi. 445, and Homer Od. xi. 325. 3 Sennacherib.] 2 Kings, xix. 37.

4 Tomyris.] Caput Cyri amputatum in utrem humano sanguine repletum conjici Regina jubet cum hac exprobatione crudelitatis, Satia te, inquit, sanguine quem sitisti, cujusque insatiabilis semper fuisti. Justin. lib. i. cap. 8. 5 Holofernes.] Judith, xiii.

6 What master of the pencil or the style.]

inimitable on earth

By model, or by shading pencil drawn.

Milton, P. L. b. iii. 509.

And of his course yet more the sun had spent ;
When he, who with still wakeful caution went,
Admonish'd: "Raise thou up thy head: for know
Time is not now for slow suspense. Behold,
That way, an angel hasting towards us. Lo,
Where duly the sixth handmaid1 doth return
From service on the day. Wear thou, in look
And gesture, seemly grace of reverent awe;
That gladly he may forward us aloft.
Consider that this day ne'er dawns again."

Time's loss he had so often warn'd me 'gainst,
I could not miss the scope at which he aim'd.
The goodly shape approach'd us, snowy white
In vesture, and with visage casting streams
Of tremulous lustre like the matin star.
His arms he open'd, then his wings; and spake
"Onward! the steps, behold, are near; and now
The ascent is without difficulty gain'd."

A scanty few are they, who, when they hear
Such tidings, hasten. O, ye race of men!
Though born to soar, why suffer ye a wind
So slight to baffle ye? He led us on

Where the rock parted; here, against my front,
Did beat his wings; then promised I should fare
In safety on my way. As to ascend

That steep, upon whose brow the chapel stands2,
(O'er Rubaconte, looking lordly down
On the well-guided city 3) up the right
The impetuous rise is broken by the steps
Carved in that old and simple age, when still
The registry and label rested safe;
Thus is the acclivity relieved, which here,
Precipitous, from the other circuit falls :
But, on each hand, the tall cliff presses close.
As, entering, there we turn'd, voices, in strain
Ineffable, sang: "Blessed are the poor

1 The sixth handmaid.] Compare Canto xxii. 116.

2 The chapel stands.] The church of San Miniato in Florence, situated on a height that overlooks the Arno, where it is crossed by the bridge Rubaconte, so called from Messer Rubaconte da Mandella, of Milan, chief magistrate of Florence, by whom the bridge was founded in 1237. See G. Villani, lib. vi. cap. 27.

3 The well-guided city.] This is said ironically of Florence. 4 The registry.] In allusion to certain instances of fraud committed in Dante's time with respect to the public accounts and measures. See Paradise, Canto xvi. 103.

5 Blessed.] "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Matth. v. 3.