So day was sinking, when the angel of God Appear'd before us. Joy was in his mien. Forth of the flame he stood upon the brink; And with a voice, whose lively clearness far Surpass'd our human, " Blessed1 are the pure In heart," he sang: then near him as we came, "Go ye not further, holy spirits!" he cried, "Ere the fire pierce you enter in; and list Attentive to the song ye hear from thence." I, when I heard his saying, was as one Laid in the grave2. My hands together clasp'd, And upward stretching, on the fire I look'd; And busy fancy conjured up the forms Erewhile beheld alive consumed in flames.

The escorting spirits turn'd with gentle looks Toward me; and the Mantuan spake: "My son, Here torment thou mayst feel, but canst not death. Remember thee, remember thee, if I

Safe e'en on Geryon brought thee; now I come
More near to God, wilt thou not trust me now?
Of this be sure; though in its womb that flame
A thousand years contain'd thee, from thy head
No hair should perish. If thou doubt my truth,
Approach; and with thy hands thy vesture's hem
Stretch forth, and for thyself confirm belief.
Lay now all fear, oh! lay all fear aside.
Turn hither, and come onward undismay'd."

I still, though conscience urged, no step advanced.
When still he saw me fix'd and obstinate,
Somewhat disturb'd he cried: "Mark now, my son,
From Beatrice thou art by this wall
Divided." As at Thisbe's name the eye

"Colui,"

Lombardi understands this of a man who is taken to execu-
tion in the manner described in Hell, c. xix. 52.
he thinks, cannot be properly applied to a corse. Yet Boc-
caccio's imitation confirms the opinion of the other com-
mentators:-

Essa era tale, a guardarla nel viso,
Qual donna morta alla fossa portata.

Il Filostrato, p. v. st. 83.

which Chaucer has thus translated :

She was right soche to sene in her visage,
As is that wight that men on bere ybinde.

Troilus and Creseide, b. iv

Of Pyramus was open'd, (when life ebb'd
Fast from his veins) and took one parting glance,
While vermeil dyed the mulberry; thus I turn'd
To my sage guide, relenting, when I heard

The name that springs for ever in my breast.

66

He shook his forehead; and, "How long," he said, Linger we now?" then smiled, as one would smile Upon a child that eyes the fruit and yields. Into the fire before me then he walk'd; And Statius, who erewhile no little space Had parted us, he pray'd to come behind. I would have cast me into molten glass To cool me, when I enter'd; so intense Raged the conflagrant mass. To comfort me, as he proceeded, still Of Beatrice talk'd. 66 Her eyes," saith he, "E'en now I seem to view." From the other side A voice, that sang, did guide us; and the voice Following, with heedful ear, we issued forth, [heard, There where the path led upward. "Come2," we

66

The sire beloved,

Our way

Come, blessed of my Father." Such the sounds, That hail'd us from within a light, which shone So radiant, I could not endure the view. "The sun," it added, "hastes: and evening comes. Delay not: ere the western sky is hung With blackness, strive ye for the pass." Upright within the rock arose, and faced Such part of heaven, that from before my steps The beams were shrouded of the sinking sun. Nor many stairs were overpast, when now By fading of the shadow we perceived The sun behind us couch'd; and ere one face Of darkness o'er its measureless expanse Involved the horizon, and the night her lot Held individual, each of us had made A stair his pallet; not that will, but power, Had fail'd us, by the nature of that mount Forbidden further travel. As the goats, That late have skipt and wanton'd rapidly Upon the craggy cliffs, ere they had ta'en Their supper on the herb, now silent lie And ruminate beneath the umbrage brown, While noon-day rages; and the goatherd leans Upon his staff, and leaning watches them :

1 While vermeil dyed the mulberry.] Ovid. Metam. lib. iv. 125. 2 Come.] Matt. xxv. 34.

And as the swain, that lodges out all night
In quiet by his flock, lest beast of prey
Disperse them even so all three abode,
I as a goat, and as the shepherds they,
Close pent on either side by shelving rock.
A little glimspe of sky was seen above;
Yet by that little I beheld the stars,
In magnitude and lustre shining forth
With more than wonted glory. As I lay,
Gazing on them, and in that fit of musing,
Sleep overcame me, sleep, that bringeth oft
Tidings of future hap. About the hour,
As I believe, when Venus from the east
First lighten'd on the mountain, she whose orb
Seems alway glowing with the fire of love,
A lady young and beautiful, I dream'd,
Was passing o'er a lea; and, as she came,
Methought I saw her ever and anon

Bending to cull the flowers; and thus she sang :
"Know ye, whoever of my name would ask,
That I am Leah': for my brow to weave
A garland, these fair hands unwearied ply.
To please me2 at the crystal mirror, here
I deck me. But my sister Rachel, she3
Before her glass abides the livelong day,
Her radiant eyes beholding, charm'd no less,
Than I with this delightful task. Her joy
In contemplation, as in labour mine." [breaks
And now as glimmering dawn appear'd, that
More welcome to the pilgrim still, as he
Sojourns less distant on his homeward way,
Darkness from all sides fled, and with it fled
My slumber; whence I rose, and saw my guide
Already risen. "That delicious fruit,

Which through so many a branch the zealous care
Of mortals roams in quest of, shall this day

1 I am Leah.] By Leah is understood the active life, as Rachael figures the contemplative. Michel Angelo has made these allegorical personages the subject of two statues on the monument of Julius II. in the church of S. Pietro in Vincolo. See Mr. Duppa's Life of Michel Angelo, Sculpture viii. and x. and p. 247.

2 To please me.] "For the sake of that enjoyment which I shall have in beholding my God face to face, I thus exercise myself in good works.,'

3 She.] "Her delight is in admiring in her mirror, that is, in the Supreme Being, the light, or knowledge, that He vouchsafes her."

Appease thy hunger." Such the words I heard
From Virgil's lip; and never greeting heard,
So pleasant as the sounds. Within me straight
Desire so grew upon desire to mount,
Thenceforward at each step I felt the wings
Increasing for my flight. When we had run
O'er all the ladder to its topmost round,
As there we stood, on me the Mantuan fix'd
His eyes, and thus he spake: "Both fires, my son,
The temporal and eternal, thou hast seen;
And art arrived, where of itself my ken
No further reaches. I, with skill and art,
Thus far have drawn thee. Now thy pleasure take
For guide. Thou hast o'ercome the steeper way,
O'ercome the straiter. Lo! the sun, that darts
His beam upon thy forehead: lo! the herb1,
The arborets and flowers, which of itself [eyes2
This land pours forth profuse. Till those bright
With gladness come, which, weeping, made me haste
To succour thee, thou mayst or seat thee down,
Or wander where thou wilt. Expect no more
Sanction of warning voice or sign from me,
Free of thy own arbitrement to chuse,
Discreet, judicious. To distrust thy sense
Were henceforth error. I invest thee then
With crown and mitre, sovereign o'er thyself."

Dante wanders through the forest of the terrestrial Paradise, till he is stopped by a stream, on the other side of which he beholds a fair lady, culling flowers. He speaks to her; and she, in reply, explains to him certain things touching the nature of that place, and tells that the water, which flows between them, is here called Lethe, and in another place has the name of Eunoe.

1 Lo! the herb.] "In alium campum transit amænissimum.- Ipse vero campus splendidus, suavis ac decorus quantæ magnitudinis, quantæ gloriæ, quantæque sit pulchritudinis, nulla lingua, nullusque sermo, potest enarrare: plenus est enim omni jucunditate, et gaudio, et lætitia. Ibi liliorum, et rosarum odor, ibi odoramentorum omnium redolet fragrantia, ibi mannæ, omniumque eternarum deliciarum redundat abundantia. In hujus campi medio paradisus est." Alberici Visio, § 20.

2 Those bright eyes.] The eyes of Beatrice.

THROUGH that celestial forest, whose thick shade
With lively greenness the new-springing day
Attemper'd, eager now to roam, and search
Its limits round, forthwith I left the bank;
Along the champain leisurely my way
Pursuing, o'er the ground, that on all sides
Delicious odour breathed. A pleasant air1,
That intermitted never, never veer'd,
Smote on my temples, gently, as a wind
Of softest influence: at which the sprays,
Obedient all, lean'd trembling to that part2
Where first the holy mountain casts his shade;
Yet were not so disorder'd, but that still
Upon their top the feather'd quiristers
Applied their wonted art, and with full joy
Welcomed those hours of prime, and warbled shrill
Amid the leaves, that to their jocund lays
Kept tenour; even as from branch to branch,
Along the piny forests on the shore

Of Chiassi, rolls the gathering melody,
When Eolus hath from his cavern loosed
The dripping south. Already had my steps,
Though slow, so far into that ancient wood
Transported me, I could not ken the place

1 A pleasant air.]

Cantan fra i rami gli augelletti vaghi,
Azzurri, e bianchi, e verdi, e rossi, e gialli;
Mormoranti ruscelli, e cheti laghi

Di limpidezza vincono i cristalli.

Una dole' aura, che ti par che vaghi

A un modo sempre, e dal suo stil non falli,
Facea si l'aria tremolar d'intorno,

Che non potea nojar calor del giorno.

Ariosto, Orl. Fur. c. xxxiv. st. 50.

Therewith a winde, unnethe it might be less,

Made in the levis grene a noise soft,

Accordant to the foulis song on loft.

2 To that part.] The west.

Chuucer, The Assemble of Foules.

3 The feather'd quiristers.] Imitated by Boccaccio, Fiammetta, lib. iv. "Odi i queruli uccelli," &c.-"Hear the querulous birds plaining with sweet songs, and the boughs trembling, and, moved by a gentle wind, as it were keeping tenour to their notes."

4 Chiassi.] This is the wood, where the scene of Boccaccio's sublimest story (taken entirely from Elinaud, as I learn in the notes to the Decameron, Ediz. Giunti, 1573, p. 62.) is laid. See Dec. G. 5. N. 8. and Dryden's Theodore and Honoria. Our Poet perhaps wandered in it during his abode with Guido Novello da Polenta.