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Despoil'd of flowers and leaf, on every bough.
Its tresses, spreading more as more they rose,
Were such, as 'midst their forest wilds, for height,
The Indians 2 might have gazed at. "Blessed thou,
Gryphon! whose beak hath never pluck'd that tree
Pleasant to taste: for hence the appetite

Was warp'd to evil." Round the stately trunk
Thus shouted forth the rest, to whom return'd
The animal twice-gender'd: "Yea! for so
The generation of the just are saved."
And turning to the chariot-pole, to foot
He drew it of the widow'd branch, and bound
There, left unto the stock whereon it grew.

As when large floods of radiance 5 from above Stream, with that radiance mingled, which ascends Next after setting of the scaly sign,

Our plants then burgein, and each wears anew
His wonted colours, ere the sun have yoked

ledge of good and evil, but that the Roman empire is figured by it. Among the maxims maintained by our Poet, as the same commentator observes, were these: that one monarchy had been willed by Providence, and was necessary for universal peace; and that this monarchy, by right of justice and by the divine ordinance belonged to the Roman people only. His Treatise de Monarchia was written indeed to inculcate these maxims, and to prove that the temporal monarchy depends immediately on God, and should be kept as distinct as possible from the authority of the pope.

1 Its tresses.] "I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great." Daniel, iv. 10. 2 The Indians.]

3

Quos oceano proprior gerit India lucos.

Virg. Georg. lib. ii. 122.

Such as at this day to Indians known.

-Blessed thou,

Milton, P. L. b. ix. 1102.

Gryphon!] Our Saviour's submission to the Roman empire appears to be intended, and particularly his injunction, to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's.'

4 There, left unto the stock.] Dante here seems, I think, to intimate what he has attempted to prove at the conclusion of the second book de Monarchia; namely, that our Saviour, by his suffering under the sentence, not of Herod, but of Pilate who was the delegate of the Roman emperor, acknowledged and confirmed the supremacy of that emperor over the whole world; for if, as he argues, all mankind were become sinners through the sin of Adam, no punishment, that was inflicted by one who had a right of jurisdiction over less than the whole human race, could have been sufficient to satisfy for the sins of all men. See note to Paradise, c. vi. 89.

5 When large floods of radiance.] When the sun enters into Aries, the constellation next to that of the Fish.

Beneath another star his flamy steeds;
Thus putting forth a hue more faint than rose,
And deeper than the violet, was renew'd
The plant, erewhile in all its branches bare.
Unearthly was the hymn, which then arose.
I understood it not, nor to the end

Endured the harmony. Had I the skill

To pencil forth how closed the unpitying eyes1
Slumbering, when Syrinx warbled, (eyes that paid
So dearly for their watching) then, like painter,
That with a model paints, I might design
The manner of my falling into sleep.
But feign who will the slumber cunningly,
I pass it by to when I waked; and tell,
How suddenly a flash of splendour rent
The curtain of my sleep, and one cries out,
"Arise: what dost thou ?" As the chosen three,
On Tabor's mount, admitted to behold

The blossoming of that fair tree2, whose fruit
Is coveted of angels, and doth make
Perpetual feast in heaven; to themselves
Returning, at the word whence deeper sleeps3
Were broken, they their tribe diminish'd saw ;
Both Moses and Elias gone, and changed
The stole their master wore; thus to myself
Returning, over me beheld I stand

The piteous one 4, who, cross the stream, had brought
My steps. "And where," all doubting, I exclaim'd,
"Is Beatrice ?"-" See her," she replied,
"Beneath the fresh leaf, seated on its root.
Behold the associate choir, that circles her.
The others, with a melody more sweet
And more profound, journeying to higher realms,
Upon the Gryphon tend." If there her words
Were closed, I know not; but mine eyes had now
Ta'en view of her, by whom all other thoughts
Were barr'd admittance. On the very ground
Alone she sat, as she had there been left
A guard upon the wain, which I beheld
Bound to the twyform beast. The seven nymphs

1 The unpitying eyes.] See Ovid. Met. lib. i. 689.

2 The blossoming of that fair tree.] Our Saviour's transfiguration. "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons." Solomon's Song, ii. 3.

3 Deeper sleeps.] The sleep of death, in the instance of the ruler of the Synagogue's daughter and of Lazarus. 4 The piteous one.] Matilda.

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Did make themselves a cloister round about her; And, in their hands, upheld those lights1 secure From blast septentrion and the gusty south.

"A little while thou shalt be forester here; And citizen shalt be, for ever with me,

Of that true Rome 2, wherein Christ dwells a Roman.
To profit the misguided world, keep now
Thine eyes upon the car; and what thou seest,
Take heed thou write, returning to that place3."
Thus Beatrice at whose feet inclined

:

Devout, at her behest, my thought and eyes,

I, as she bade, directed. Never fire,

With so swift motion, forth a stormy cloud
Leap'd downward from the welkin's farthest bound,
As I beheld the bird of Jove1 descend

Down through the tree; and, as he rush'd, the rind
Disparting crush beneath him; buds much more,
And leaflets. On the car, with all his might
He struck; whence, staggering, like a ship it reel'd,
At random driven, to starboard now, o'ercome,
And now to larboard, by the vaulting waves.

Next, springing up into the chariot's womb,
A fox" I saw, with hunger seeming pined
Of all good food. But, for his ugly sins
The saintly maid rebuking him, away
Scampering he turn'd, fast as his hide-bound corpse
Would bear him. Next, from whence before he came,
I saw the eagle dart into the hull

O'the car, and leave it with his feathers lined": And then a voice, like that which issues forth From heart with sorrow rived, did issue forth From heaven, and, "O poor bark of mine!" it cried, "How badly art thou freighted." Then it seem'd That the earth open'd, between either wheel; And I beheld a dragon7 issue thence,

1 Those lights.] The tapers of gold.

2 Of that true Rome.] Of heaven.

3 To that place.] To the earth.

4 The bird of Jove.] This, which is imitated from Ezekiel xvii. 3, 4, is typical of the persecutions which the church sustained from the Roman emperors.

5 A for.] By the fox probably is represented the treachery of the heretics.

6 With his feathers lined.] In allusion to the donations made by Constantine to the church.

1 A dragon.] Probably Mahomet; for what Lombardi offers to the contrary is far from satisfactory.

That through the chariot fix'd his forked train;
And like a wasp, that draggeth back the sting,
So drawing forth his baleful train, he dragg'd
Part of the bottom forth; and went his way,
Exulting. What remain'd, as lively turf
With green herb, so did clothe itself with plumes1,
Which haply had, with purpose chaste and kind,
Been offer'd; and therewith were clothed the wheels,
Both one and other, and the beam, so quickly,
A sigh were not breathed sooner. Thus transform'd,
The holy structure, through its several parts,
Did put forth heads2; three on the beam, and one
On every side: the first like oxen horn'd;
But with a single horn upon their front,
The four. Like monster, sight hath never seen.
O'er it3 methought there sat, secure as rock
On mountain's lofty top, a shameless whore,
Whose ken roved loosely round her. At her side,
As 't were that none might bear her off, I saw
A giant stand; and ever and anon

They mingled kisses. But, her lustful eyes
Chancing on me to wander, that fell minion
Scourged her from head to foot all o'er; then full
Of jealousy, and fierce with rage, unloosed
The monster, and dragg'd on, so far across
The forest, that from me its shades alone
Shielded the harlot and the new-form'd brute.

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After a hymn sung, Beatrice leaves the tree, and takes with her the seven virgins, Matilda, Statius, and Dante. She 1 With plumes.] The increase of wealth and temporal dominion, which followed the supposed gift of Constantine.

2 Heads.] By the seven heads, it is supposed with sufficient probability, are meant the seven capital sins: by the three with two horns, pride, anger, and avarice, injurious both to man himself and to his neighbour: by the four with one horn, gluttony, gloominess, concupiscence, and envy, hurtful, at least in their primary effects, chiefly to him who is guilty of them. Vellutello refers to Rev. xvii. Landino, who is followed by Lombardi, understands the seven heads to signify the seven sacraments, and the ten horns the ten commandments. Compare Hell, c. xix. 112.

3 O'er it.] The harlot is thought to represent the state of the church under Boniface VIII. and the giant to figure Philip IV. of France.

4 Dragg'd on.] The removal of the Pope's residence from Rome to Avignon is pointed at.

then darkly predicts to our Poets some future events. Lastly, the whole band arrive at the fountain, from whence the two streams, Lethe and Eunoe, separating, flow different ways; and Matilda, at the desire of Beatrice, causes our Poet to drink of the latter stream.

"THE heathen', Lord! are come :" responsive thus,
The trinal now, and now the virgin band
Quaternion, their sweet psalmody began,
Weeping; and Beatrice listen'd, sad
And sighing, to the song, in such a mood,
That Mary, as she stood beside the cross, [place
Was scarce more changed. But when they gave her
To speak, then, risen upright on her feet,
She, with a colour glowing bright as fire,
Did answer: "Yet a little while2, and ye
Shall see me not; and, my beloved sisters!
Again a little while, and ye shall see me."

Before her then she marshal'd all the seven;
And, beckoning only, motion'd me, the dame,
And that remaining sage3, to follow her.

So on she pass'd; and had not set, I ween, Her tenth step to the ground, when, with mine eyes, Her eyes encounter'd; and, with visage mild, "So mend thy pace," she cried, "that if my words Address thee, thou mayst still be aptly placed To hear them." Soon as duly to her side I now had hasten'd: "Brother!" she began, "Why makest thou no attempt at questioning, As thus we walk together ?" Like to those Who, speaking with too reverent an awe Before their betters, draw not forth the voice Alive unto their lips, befel me then That I in sounds imperfect thus began: "Lady! what I have need of, that thou know'st; And what will suit my need." She answering thus: "Of fearfulness and shame, I will that thou Henceforth do rid thee; that thou speak no more, As one who dreams 4. Thus far be taught of me: The vessel which thou saw'st the serpent break,

1 The heathen.] "O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance." Psalm lxxix. 1.

2 Yet a little while.] "A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again a little while, and ye shall see me." John

xvi. 16.

3 That remaining sage.]

4 As one who dreams.]

Statius.

Imitated by Petrarch. L. i. s. 41.
Se parole fai,

Sono imperfette e quasi d'uom che sogna.

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