Despoil'd of flowers and leaf, on every bough. Was warp'd to evil." Round the stately trunk 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 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; Endured the harmony. Had I the skill To pencil forth how closed the unpitying eyes1 The blossoming of that fair tree2, whose fruit The piteous one 4, who, cross the stream, had brought 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. сс 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. : Devout, at her behest, my thought and eyes, I, as she bade, directed. Never fire, With so swift motion, forth a stormy cloud Down through the tree; and, as he rush'd, the rind Next, springing up into the chariot's womb, 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; They mingled kisses. But, her lustful eyes 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, Before her then she marshal'd all the seven; 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. Sono imperfette e quasi d'uom che sogna. |