Where I had enter'd; when, behold! my path
Was bounded by a rill, which, to the left,
With little rippling waters bent the grass
That issued from its brink. On earth no wave
How clean soe'er, that would not seem to have
Some mixture in itself, compared with this,
Transpicuous clear; yet darkly on it roll'd,
Darkly beneath perpetual gloom, which ne'er
Admits or sun or moon-light there to shine.
My feet advanced not; but my wondering eyes
Pass'd onward, o'er the streamlet, to survey
The tender may-bloom, flush'd through many a hue,
In prodigal variety and there,

:

As object, rising suddenly to view,

That from our bosom every thought beside
With the rare marvel chases, I beheld

A lady all alone, who, singing, went,

And culling flower from flower, wherewith her way Was all o'er painted.

66

Lady beautiful!

Thou, who (if looks, that use to speak the heart,
Are worthy of our trust) with love's own beam
Dost warm thee," thus to her my speech I framed;
"Ah! please thee hither towards the streamlet bend
Thy steps so near, that I may list thy song.
Beholding thee and this fair place, methinks,
I call to mind where wander'd and how look'd
Proserpine, in that season, when her child
The mother lost, and she the bloomy spring."
As when a lady, turning in the dance,
Doth foot it featly, and advances scarce
One step before the other to the ground;
Over the yellow and vermilion flowers
Thus turn'd she at my suit, most maiden-like,
Valing her sober eyes; and came so near,
That I distinctly caught the dulcet sound.
Arriving where the limpid waters now

1 A lady.] Most of the commentators suppose, that by this lady, who in the last Canto is called Matilda, is to be understood the Countess Matilda, who endowed the holy see with the estates called the Patrimony of St. Peter, and died in 1115. See G. Villani, lib. iv. cap. xx. But it seems more probable that she should be intended for an allegorical personage. Venturi accordingly supposes that she represents the active life. But, as Lombardi justly observes, we have had that already shadowed forth in the character of Leah; and he therefore suggests, that by Matilda may be understood that affection which we ought to bear towards the holy church, and for which the lady above mentioned was so remarkable.

Laved the green swerd, her eyes she deign'd to raise,
That shot such splendour on me, as I ween
Ne'er glanced from Cytherea's, when her son
Had sped his keenest weapon to her heart.
Upon the opposite bank she stood and smiled;
As through her graceful fingers shifted still
The intermingling dyes, which without seed
That lofty land unbosoms. By the stream
Three paces only were we sunder'd: yet,
The Hellespont, where Xerxes pass'd it o'er,
(A curb for ever to the pride of man1)
Was by Leander not more hateful held
For floating, with inhospitable wave,
"Twixt Sestus and Abydos, than by me
That flood, because it gave no passage thence.
"Strangers ye come; and haply in this place,
That cradled human nature in her birth,
Wondering, ye not without suspicion view
My smiles: but that sweet strain of psalmody,
Thou, Lord! hast made me glad",' will give ye
light,
[stand❜st
Which may uncloud your minds. And thou, who
The foremost, and didst make thy suit to me,
Say if aught else thou wish to hear for I
Came prompt to answer every doubt of thine."
She spake; and I replied: "I know not how 3
To reconcile this wave, and rustling sound
Of forest leaves, with what I late have heard
Of opposite report." She answering thus:
"I will unfold the cause, whence that proceeds,
Which makes thee wonder; and so purge the cloud
That hath enwrapt thee. The First Good, whose
Is only in himself, created man,
For happiness; and gave this goodly place,
His pledge and earnest of eternal peace.
Favour'd thus highly, through his own defect
He fell; and here made short sojourn; he fell,
And, for the bitterness of sorrow, changed
Laughter unblamed and ever-new delight.
That vapours none, exhaled from earth beneath,
Or from the waters, (which, wherever heat

:

[joy

1 A curb for ever to the pride of man.] Because Xerxes had been so humbled, when he was compelled to repass the Hellespont in one small bark, after having a little before crossed with a prodigious army, in the hopes of subduing Greece. 2 Thou, Lord! hast made me glad.] Psalm xcii. 4. 3 I know not how.] See Canto xxi. 45.

Attracts them, follow) might ascend thus far
To vex man's peaceful state, this mountain rose
So high toward the heaven, nor fears the rage
Of elements contending1; from that part
Exempted, where the gate his limit bars.
Because the circumambient air, throughout,
With its first impulse circles still, unless
Aught interpose to check or thwart its course;
Upon the summit, which on every side
To visitation of the impassive air

Is open, doth that motion strike, and makes
Beneath its sway the umbrageous wood resound:
And in the shaken plant such power resides,
That it impregnates with its efficacy

The voyaging breeze, upon whose subtle plume
That, wafted, flies abroad; and the other land2,
Receiving, (as 't is worthy in itself,

Or in the clime, that warms it) doth conceive;
And from its womb produces many a tree
Of various virtue. This when thou hast heard,
The marvel ceases, if in yonder earth

Some plant, without apparent seed, be found
To fix its fibrous stem. And further learn,
That with prolific foison of all seeds
This holy plain is fill'd, and in itself

Bears fruit that ne'er was pluck'd on other soil.
"The water, thou behold'st, springs not from vein,
Restored by vapour, that the cold converts;
As stream that intermittently repairs

And spends his pulse of life; but issues forth
From fountain, solid, undecaying, sure:
And, by the will omnific, full supply
Feeds whatsoe'er on either side it pours;
On this, devolved with power to take away
Remembrance of offence; on that, to bring
Remembrance back of every good deed done.
From whence its name of Lethe on this part;

Of elements contending.] In the Dittamondo of Fazio degli Uberti, 1. i. cap. xi. there is a description of the terrestrial Paradise, in which the poet has had Dante before him.

2 The other land.] The continent, inhabited by the living, and separated from Purgatory by the ocean, is affected (and that diversely, according to the nature of the soil, or the climate) by a virtue, or efficacy, conveyed to it by the winds from plants growing in the terrestrial Paradise, which is situated on the summit of Purgatory; and this is the cause why some plants are found on earth without any apparent seed to produce them.

On the other, Eunoe: both of which must first
Be tasted, ere it work; the last exceeding
All flavours else. Albeit thy thirst may now
Be well contented, if I here break off,
No more revealing; yet a corollary

I freely give beside: nor deem my words
Less grateful to thee, if they somewhat pass
The stretch of promise. They, whose verse of yore
The golden age recorded and its bliss,

On the Parnassian mountain1, of this place
Perhaps had dream'd. Here was man guiltless; here
Perpetual spring2, and every fruit; and this
The far-famed nectar." Turning to the bards,
When she had ceased, I noted in their looks
A smile at her conclusion; then my face
Again directed to the lovely dame.

The lady, who in a following Canto is called Matilda, moves along the side of the stream in a contrary direction to the current, and Dante keeps equal pace with her on the opposite bank. A marvellous sight, preceded by music, appears in view.

SINGING, as if enamour'd, she resumed

And closed the song, with "Blessed they 4 whose sins
Are cover'd." Like the wood-nymphs then, that
Singly across the sylvan shadows; one [tripp'd
Eager to view, and one to 'scape the sun;
So moved she on, against the current, up
The verdant rivage. I, her mincing step
Observing, with as tardy step pursued.

Between us not an hundred paces trod,
The bank, on each side bending equally,
Gave me to face the orient. Nor our way
Far onward brought us, when to me at once

1 On the Parnassian mountain.]

In bicipiti somniasse Parnasso.

2 Perpetual spring.]

Persius, Prol.

Ver erat æternum, placidique tepentibus auris
Mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine flores.

Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant.

Ovid. Metam. lib. i. v. 111.

3 Singing.] Cantava come fosse innamorata.

Guido Cavalcanti, Poeti del primo secolo, v. 2. p. 253.

4 Blessed they.] Psalm xxxii. 1.

She turn'd, and cried: " My brother! look, and
And lo! a sudden lustre ran across [hearken."
Through the great forest on all parts, so bright,
I doubted whether lightning were abroad;
But that, expiring ever in the spleen
That doth unfold it, and this during still,
And waxing still in splendour, made me question
What it might be and a sweet melody

Ran through the luminous air. Then did I chide,
With warrantable zeal, the hardihood

Of our first parent; for that there, where earth
Stood in obedience to the heavens, she only,
Woman, the creature of an hour, endured not
Restraint of any veil, which had she borne
Devoutly, joys, ineffable as these,

Had from the first, and long time since, been mine.
While, through that wilderness of primy sweets
That never fade, suspense I walk'd, and yet
Expectant of beatitude more high;

Before us, like a blazing fire, the air

Under the green boughs glow'd; and, for a song, Distinct the sound of melody was heard.

O ye thrice holy virgins! for your sakes If e'er I suffer'd hunger, cold, and watching, Occasion calls on me to crave your bounty. Now through my breast let Helicon his stream Pour copious, and Urania' with her choir Arise to aid me; while the verse unfolds Things, that do almost mock the grasp of thought. Onward a space, what seem'd seven trees of gold The intervening distance to mine eye Falsely presented; but, when I was come So near them, that no lineament was lost Of those, with which a doubtful object, seen Remotely, plays on the misdeeming sense; Then did the faculty, that ministers Discourse to reason, these for tapers of gold2

1 Urania.] Landino observes, that intending to sing of heavenly things, he rightly invokes Urania. Thus Milton: Descend from Heaven, Urania, by that name

If rightly thou art call'd.

P. L. b. vii. 1.

2 Tapers of gold.] See Rev. i. 12. The Commentators are not agreed whether the seven sacraments of the Church, or the seven gifts of the Spirit are intended. In his Convito, our author says: "Because these gifts proceed from ineffable charity, and divine charity is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, hence, also, it is that they are called gifts of the Holy Spirit, the which, as Isaiah distinguishes them, are seven." P. 189.