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THE VISION OF DANTE.

PARADISE.

CANTO I.

ARGUMENT,

The Poet ascends with Beatrice towards the first heaven; and is, by her, resolved of certain doubts which arise in his mind.

His glory, by whose might all things are moved,
Pierces the universe 1, and in one part [ven,
Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In hea-
That largeliest of his light partakes, was I,
Witness of things, which, to relate again,
Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence;
For that, so near approaching its desire,
Our intellect is to such depth absorb'd,
That memory cannot follow. Nathless all,
That in my thoughts I of that sacred realm
Could store, shall now2 be matter of my song.

1 Pierces the universe.] Per l'universo penetra, &c.
his magnetic beam, that gently warms
The universe, and to each inward part
With gentle penetration, though unseen,
Shoots invisible virtue ev'n to the deep.

Milton, P. L. b. iii. 586.

2 Shall now.] Sarà ora materia del mio canto.
Shall be the copious matter of my song.
Ibid. b. iii. 413.

cf.Ch.

"her"

Benign Apollo'! this last labour aid;
And make me such a vessel of thy worth,
As thy own laurel claims, of me beloved.
Thus far2 hath one of steep Parnassus' brows
Sufficed me; henceforth, there is need of both
For my remaining enterprize. Do thou3
Enter into my bosom, and there breathe
So, as when Marsyas by thy hand was dragg'd
Forth from his limbs, unsheathed. O power divine!
If thou to me of thine impart so much,

That of that happy realm the shadow'd form
Traced in my thoughts I may set forth to view;
Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd tree
Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves:
For to that honour thou, and my high theme
Will fit me. If but seldom, mighty Sire!
To grace his triumph, gathers thence a wreath
Cæsar, or bard 5, (more shame for human wills
Depraved) joy to the Delphic god must spring

1 Benign Apollo.] Chaucer has imitated this invocation very closely, at the beginning of the Third Booke of Fame. If, divine vertue, thou

Wilt helpe me to shewe now
That in my head ymarked is,

Thou shalt see me go as blive
Unto the next laurer I see,
And kisse it, for it is thy tree.

Now entre thou my breast anone.

2 Thus far.] He appears to mean nothing more than that this part of his poem will require a greater exertion of his powers than the former.

3 Do thou.] Make me thine instrument; and, through me, utter such sound as when thou didst contend with Marsyas.

Marsyas.] Ovid. Met. lib. vi. fab. 7. Compare Boccaccio. Il Filocopo. lib. v. p. 25. v. ii. Ediz. Fir. 1723. "Egli nel mio petto entri," &c.-"May he enter my bosom, and let my voice sound like his own, when he made that daring mortal deserve to come forth unsheathed from his limbs."

5 Cæsar, or bard.] So Petrarch. Son. Par. Prima.
Arbor vittoriosa trionfale,

Onor d' imperadori e di poeti.

And Frezzi. Il Quadrir. lib. iii. cap. 14.

alloro,

Che imperatori e' poeti corona.

And Spenser. F. Q. b. i. c. 1. st. 9.

The laurel, meed of mighty conquerours,
And poets sage.

From the Peneian foliage, when one breast
Is with such thirst inspired. From a small spark1
Great flame hath risen: after me, perchance,
Others with better voice may pray, and gain,
From the Cyrrhæan city, answer kind.

Through divers passages, the world's bright lamp
Rises to mortals; but through that2 which joins
Four circles with the threefold cross, in best
Course, and in happiest constellation3 set,
He comes; and, to the worldly wax, best gives
Its temper and impression. Morning there1,
Here eve was well nigh by such passage made;
And whiteness had o'erspread that hemisphere,
Blackness the other part; when to the left 5
I saw Beatrice turn'd, and on the sun
Gazing, as never eagle fix'd his ken.

As from the first a second beam is wont
To issue, and reflected upwards rise,
Even as a pilgrim bent on his return;

So of her act, that through the eyesight pass'd
Into my fancy, mine was form'd: and straight,
Beyond our mortal wont, I fix'd mine eyes
Upon the sun. Much is allow'd us there,

1 From a small spark.]

πολλάν τ' ὄρει πῦρ ἐξ ἑνὸς

Σπέρματος ἐνθορὸν ἀΐστωσεν ὕλαν.

Upon the mountain from one spark hath leapt
The fire, that hath a mighty forest burn'd.

Pindar. Pyth. iii. 67.

2 Through that.] "Where the four circles, the horizon, the zodiac, the equator, and the equinoctial colure join; the last three intersecting each other so as to form three crosses, as may be seen in the armillary sphere."

3 In happiest constellation.] Aries. Some understand the planet Venus by the "miglior stella."

4 Morning there.] It was morning where he then was, and about eventide on the earth.

5 To the left.] Being in the opposite hemisphere to ours, Beatrice, that she may behold the rising sun, turns herself to the left.

6 As from the first a second beam.] "Like a reflected sunbeam," which he compares to a pilgrim hastening homewards.

Ne simil tanto mai raggio secondo

Dal primo uscì.

Filicaja, canz. xv. st. 4.

Sicut vir in peregrinatione constitutus, omni studio, omnique conatu domum redire festinat, ac retrorsum non respicit sed ad domum, quam reliquerat, reverti desiderat. Alberici Visio, $ 25.

That here exceeds our power; thanks to the place
Made for the dwelling of the human kind.

I suffer'd it not long; and yet so long,
That I beheld it bickering sparks around,
As iron that comes boiling from the fire2.
And suddenly upon the day appear'd3
A day new-risen; as he, who hath the power,
Had with another sun bedeck'd the sky.

Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels1,
Beatrice stood unmoved; and I with ken
Fix'd upon her, from upward gaze removed,
At her aspect, such inwardly became

As Glaucus, when he tasted of the herb
That made him peer among the ocean gods:
Words may not tell of that transhuman change;
And therefore let the example serve, though weak,
For those whom grace hath better proof in store.

1 Made.] And therefore best adapted, says Venturi, to the good temperament and vigour of the human body and its faculties. The Poet speaks of the terrestrial paradise where he then was.

2 As iron that comes boiling from the fire.] Ardentem, et scintillas emittentem, ac si ferrum cum de fornace trahitur. Alberici Visio, 5. This simile is repeated, § 16.

So Milton. P. L. b. iii. 594.

As glowing iron with fire.

3 Upon the day appear'd.]

E

If the heaven had ywonne

All new of God another sunne.

par ch' aggiunga un altro sole al cielo.

Chaucer, First Booke of Fame.

Ariosto, O. F. c. x. st. 109.

Marino, Adone. c. xi. st. 27.

Ed ecco un lustro lampeggiar d' intorno
Che sole a sole aggiunse e giorno a giorno.

Quando a paro col sol ma più lucente

L'angelo gli apparì sull' oriente. Tasso, G. L. c. i.

seems another morn

Ris'n on mid-noon.

Milton, P. L. b. v. 311.

Compare Euripides. Ion. 1550. ̓Ανθήλιον πρόσωπον.

4 Eternal wheels.] The heavens, eternal, and always circling.

5 As Glaucus.] Ovid. Met. lib. xiii. fab. 9. Plato, in the tenth book of the Republic, makes a very noble comparison from Glaucus, but applies it differently. Edit. Bipont. vol. vii. p. 317. Berkeley appears not to have been aware of the passage, when he says that "Proclus compares the soul, in her descent, invested with growing prejudices, to Glaucus diving to the bottom of the sea, and there contracting divers coats of sea-weed, coral, and shells, which stick close to him, and conceal his true shape." Siris. Ed. 1744. p. 151.

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