Since forth of thee thy family hath gone,
And many, hating evil, join'd their steps?
Well doeth he, that bids his lineage cease,
Bagnacavallo; Castracaro ill,

And Conio worse 2, who care to propagate3
A race of Counties 3 from such blood as theirs.
Well shall ye also do, Pagani4, then

When from amongst you hies your demon child;
Not so howe'er 5, that thenceforth there remain
True proof of what ye were. O Hugolin",
Thou sprung of Fantolini's line! thy name
Is safe; since none is look'd for after thee
To cloud its lustre, warping from thy stock.
But, Tuscan! go thy ways; for now I take
Far more delight in weeping, than in words.
Such pity for your sakes hath wrung my heart."
We knew those gentle spirits, at parting, heard
Our steps. Their silence therefore, of our way,
Assured us. Soon as we had quitted them,
Advancing onward, lo! a voice, that seem'd

them, a ring being assigned to each, and that accordingly as a stranger on his arrival hung his horse's bridle on one or other of these, he became his guest to whom the ring belonged.

1 Bagnacavallo.]

2

A castle betwen Imola and Ravenna. Castracaro ill,

And Conio worse.] Both in Romagna.

3 Counties.] I have used this word here for "Counts," as it is in Shakspeare.

4 Pagani.] The Pagani were lords of Faenza and Imola. One of them, Machinardo, was named the Demon, from his treachery. See Hell, canto xxvii. 47. and note.

5 Not so howe'er.] "Yet your offspring will be stained with some vice, and will not afford true proof of the worth of your ancestors."

6 Hugolin.] Ugolino Ubaldini, a noble and virtuous person in Faenza, who, on account of his age probably, was not likely to leave any offspring behind him. He is enumerated among the poets by Crescimbeni, and by Tiraboschi, Mr. Mathias's edit. vol. i. p. 143.; and Perticari cites a beautiful little poem by him in the Apologia di Dante, parte ii. c. 27., but with so little appearance of antiquity that nothing less than the assurance of so able a critic could induce one for a moment to receive it as genuine.

7 Such.] Here again the Nidobeatina edition adopted by Lombardi, and the Monte Casino MS. differ from the common reading, and both have

Si m' ha nostra region la mente stretta.
Our country's sorrow has so wrung my heart.

instead of

Si m' ha vostra ragion &c.

Like volley'd lightening, when it rives the air,
Met us, and shouted, "Whosoever finds

Will slay me1;" then fled from us, as the bolt
Lanced sudden from a downward-rushing cloud.
When it had given short truce unto our hearing,
Behold the other with a crash as loud

As the quick-following thunder: "Mark in me
Aglauros, turn'd to rock." I, at the sound
Retreating, drew more closely to my guide.
Now in mute stilness rested all the air;
And thus he spake : "There was the galling bit3,
Which should keep man within his boundary.
But your old enemy so baits the hook,

He drags you eager to him. Hence nor curb
Avails you, nor reclaiming call. Heaven calls 5,
And, round about you wheeling, courts your gaze
With everlasting beauties. Yet your eye
Turns with fond doting still upon the earth.
Therefore He smites you who discerneth all."

CANTO XV.

ARGUMENT.

An angel invites them to ascend the next steep. On their way Dante suggests certain doubts, which are resolved by Virgil; and, when they reach the third cornice, where the sin of anger is purged, our Poet, in a kind of waking dream, beholds remarkable instances of patience; and soon after they are enveloped in a dense fog.

As much as 'twixt the third hour's close and dawn, Appeareth of heaven's sphere, that ever whirls

Will slay me.] The words of Cain, Gen. iv. 14.

2 Aglauros.] Ovid. Met. lib. ii. fab. 12.

3 There was the galling bit.] Referring to what had been before said, Canto xiii. 35. The commentators remark the unusual word "camo," which occurs here in the original; but they have not observed, I believe, that Dante himself uses it in the De Monarchiâ, lib. iii. p. 155. For the Greek word xúpov see a fragment by S. Petrus Alex. in Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ, vol. iii. p. 342. and note.

4 Which.] Mr. Darley has noticed the omission of this line in the former editions.

5 Heaven calls.]

Or ti solleva a più beata spene,

Mirando il ciel, che ti si volve intorno

Immortal ed adorno. Petrarca, Canzone. I'vo pensando.

6 As much.] It wanted three hours of sunset.

As restless as an infant in his play;

So much appear'd remaining to the sun
Of his slope journey towards the western goal.
Evening was there, and here the noon of night;
And full upon our forehead smote the beams.
For round the mountain, circling, so our path
Had led us, that toward the sun-set now
Direct we journey'd; when I felt a weight
Of more exceeding splendour, than before,
Press on my front. The cause unknown, amaze
Possess'd me; and both hands1 against my brows
Lifting, I interposed them, as a screen,
That of its gorgeous superflux of light
Clips the diminish'd orb. As when the ray2,
Striking on water or the surface clear
Of mirror, leaps unto the opposite part,
Ascending at a glance, e'en as it fell,

And as much differs from the stone, that falls
Through equal space, (so practic skill hath shown ;)
Thus, with refracted light, before me seem'd
The ground there smitten; whence, in sudden haste,
My sight recoil'd. "What is this, sire beloved!
'Gainst which I strive to shield the sight in vain?"
Cried I," and which toward us moving seems?"
"Marvel not, if the family of heaven,"

He answer'd, " yet with dazzling radiance dim
Thy sense. It is a messenger who comes,

1 Both hands.]

Raising his hand to save the dazzled sense.

2 As when the ray.]

Southey's Thalaba, b. xii.

Sicut aquæ tremulum labris ubi lumen aënis
Sole repercussum, aut radiantis imagine lunæ,
Omnia pervolitat late loca, jamque sub auras
Erigitur, summique ferit laquearia tecti.

Compare Apoll. Rhodius, iii. 755.

3 Ascending at a glance.]

En. lib. viii. 25.

Quod simul ac primum sub divo splendor aquai
Ponitur: extemplo, cœlo stellante, serena
Sidera respondent in aquâ radiantia mundi.
Jamne vides igitur, quam parvo tempore imago
Etheris ex oris ad terrarum accidat oras.

Lucret. lib. iv. 215.

4 And as much.] Lombardi, I think justly, observes that this does not refer to the length of time which a stone is in falling to the ground, but to the perpendicular line which it describes when falling, as contrasted with the angle of incidence formed by light reflected from water or from a mirror.

Inviting man's ascent. Such sights ere long,
Not grievous, shall impart to thee delight,
As thy perception is by nature wrought

Up to their pitch." The blessed angel, soon
As we had reach'd him, hail'd us with glad voice:
"Here enter on a ladder far less steep

Than ye have yet encounter'd." We forthwith
Ascending, heard behind us chanted sweet,
"Blessed the merciful'," and "Happy thou,
That conquer'st." Lonely each, my guide and I,
Pursued our upward way; and as we went,
Some profit from his words I hoped to win,
And thus of him inquiring, framed my speech:
What meant Romagna's spirit2, when he spake
Of bliss exclusive, with no partner shared ?"

66

He straight replied: "No wonder, since he knows, What sorrow waits on his own worst defect, If he chide others, that they less may mourn. Because ye point your wishes at a mark, Where, by communion of possessors, part Is lessen'd, envy bloweth up men's sighs. No fear of that might touch ye, if the love Of higher sphere exalted your desire. For there, by how much more they call it ours, So much propriety of each in good Encreases more, and heighten'd charity Wraps that fair cloister in a brighter flame." "Now lack I satisfaction more," said I, "Than if thou hadst been silent at the first; And doubt more gathers on my labouring thought. How can it chance, that good distributed, The many, that possess it, makes more rich, Than if 't were shared by few ?" He answering thus: "Thy mind, reverting still to things of earth, Strikes darkness from true light. The highest good Unlimited, ineffable, doth so speed

To love, as beam to lucid body darts,

Blessed the merciful.] Matt. v. 7.

2 Romagna's spirit.] Guido del Duca, of Brettinoro, whom we have seen in the preceding canto.

3 For there.] Landino has here cited, in addition to Seneca and Boetius, the two following apposite passages from Augustine and Saint Gregory: "Nullo modo fit minor accedente consortio possessio bonitatis, quam tanto latius quanto concordius individua sociorum possidet caritas." Augustin. de civitate Dei. "Qui facibus invidiæ carere desiderat, illam possessionem appetat, quam numerus possidentium non angustat."

Giving as much of ardour as it finds.
The sempiternal effluence streams abroad,
Spreading, wherever charity extends.
So that the more aspirants to that bliss
Are multiplied, more good is there to love,
And more is loved; as mirrors, that reflect,
Each unto other, propagated light.

If these my words avail not to allay
Thy thirsting, Beatrice thou shalt see,
Who of this want, and of all else thou hast,
Shall rid thee to the full. Provide but thou1,
That from thy temples may be soon erased,
E'en as the two already, those five scars, [heal."
That, when they pain thee worst, then kindliest

"Thou," I had said, "content'st me;" when I saw
The other round was gain'd, and wondering eyes
Did keep me mute. There suddenly I seem'd
By an extatic vision wrapt away;

And in a temple saw, methought, a crowd
Of many persons; and at the entrance stood
A dame2, whose sweet demeanour did express
A mother's love, who said, "Child! why hast thou
Dealt with us thus? Behold thy sire and I
Sorrowing have sought thee;" and so held her peace;
And straight the vision fled. A female next
Appear'd before me, down whose visage coursed
Those waters, that grief forces out from one
By deep resentment stung, who seem'd to say:
"If thou, Pisistratus, be lord indeed

Over this city3, named with such debate

Of adverse gods, and whence each science sparkles,
Avenge thee of those arms, whose bold embrace
Hath clasp'd our daughter;" and to her, meseem'd,
Benign and meek, with visage undisturb'd,
Her sovran spake : "How shall we those requite1
Who wish us evil, if we thus condemn

The man that loves us ?" After that I saw

1 Provide but thou.] "Take heed that thou be healed of the five remaining sins, as thou already art of the two, namely, pride and envy."

2 A dame.] Luke, ii. 48.

3 Over this city.] Athens, named after 'Anvn, Minerva, in consequence of her having produced a more valuable gift for it in the olive, than Neptune had done in the horse.

4 How shall we those requite.] The answer of Pisistratus the tyrant to his wife, when she urged him to inflict the punishment of death on a young man, who, inflamed with love for his daughter, had snatched a kiss from her in public. The story is told by Valerius Maximus, lib. v. 1.