Helm'd to right point; and such our Patriarch1 was.
Therefore who follow him as he enjoins,
Thou mayst be certain, take good lading in.
But hunger of new viands tempts his flock2;
So that they needs into strange pastures wide
Must spread them: and the more remote from him
The stragglers wander, so much more they come
Home, to the sheep-fold, destitute of milk.
There are of them, in truth, who fear their harm,
And to the shepherd cleave; but these so few,
A little stuff may furnish out their cloaks.

"Now, if my words be clear; if thou have ta'en Good heed; if that, which I have told, recal To mind; thy wish may be in part fulfill'd: For thou wilt see the plant from whence they split3; And he shall see, who girds him, what that means1, · That well they thrive, not swoln with vanity.''

A second circle of glorified souls encompasses the first. Buonaventura, who is one of them, celebrates the praises of Saint Dominic, and informs Dante who the other eleven are, that are in this second circle or garland.

Soon as its final word the blessed flame 5
Had raised for utterance, straight the holy mill6
Began to wheel; nor yet had once revolved,
Or ere another, circling, compass'd it,
Motion to motion, song to song, conjoining;
Song, that as much our muses doth excel,
Our Syrens with their tuneful pipes, as ray

1 Our Patriarch.] Saint Dominic, to whose order Thomas Aquinas belonged.

2 His flock.] The Dominicans.

3 The plant from whence they split.] "The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe."

4 And he shall see, who girds him, what that means.] Lombardi, after the Nidobeatina edition, together with four MSS. reads" il correggiar," or "il coregier," which gives the sense that now stands in the text of this version. The Dominicans might be called "coreggieri," from their wearing a leathern girdle, as the Franciscans were called "cordiglieri," from their being girt with a cord. I had before followed the common reading, "il corregger;" and translated the line according to Venturi's interpretation of it :Nor miss of the reproof which that implies.

5 The blessed flame.] Thomas Aquinas. 6 The holy mill.] The circle of spirits.

Of primal splendour doth its faint reflex.

As when, if Juno bid her handmaid forth,
Two arches parallel, and trick'd alike,
Span the thin cloud, the outer taking birth
From that within (in manner of that voice1
Whom love did melt away, as sun the mist)
And they who gaze, presageful call to mind
The compact, made with Noah, of the world
No more to be o'erflow'd; about us thus,
Of sempiternal roses, bending, wreathed
Those garlands twain; and to the innermost
E'en thus the external answer'd. When the footing,
And other great festivity, of song,

And radiance, light with light accordant, each
Jocund and blythe, had at their pleasure still'd,
(E'en as the eyes, by quick volition moved,
Are shut and raised together) from the heart
Of one amongst the new lights3 moved a voice,
That made me seem like needle to the star,
In turning to its whereabout; and thus

4

Began: "The love, that makes me beautiful,

1 In manner of that voice.] One rainbow giving back the image of the other, as sound is reflected by Echo, that nymph, who was melted away by her fondness for Narcissus, as vapour is melted by the sun. The reader will observe in the text not only a second and third simile within the first, but two mythological and one sacred allusion bound up together with the whole. Even after this accumulation of imagery, the two circles of spirits, by whom Beatrice and Dante were encompassed, are by a bold figure termed two garlands of never-fading roses. Indeed there is a fulness of splendour, even to prodigality, throughout the beginning of this Canto.

2 One.] Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan order, in which he effected some reformation; and one of the most profound divines of his age. "He refused the archbishopric of York, which was offered him by Clement IV. but afterwards was prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal's hat. He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D. 1221, and died in 1274." Dict. Histor. par Chaudon et Delandine. Ed. Lyon. 1804.

3 Amongst the new lights.] In the circle that had newly surrounded the first.

4 That made me seem.] "That made me turn to it, as the magnetic needle does to the pole."

5 To its whereabout.] Al suo dove.

The very stones prate of my whereabout.

Shakspeare, Macbeth, act ii. sc. 1.

6 The love.] By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura, a Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic, as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of

Prompts me to tell of the other guide, for whom
Such good of mine is spoken. Where one is,
The other worthily should also be;
That as their warfare was alike, alike

Should be their glory. Slow, and full of doubt,
And with thin ranks, after its banner moved
The army of Christ, (which it so dearly cost
To reappoint) when its imperial Head,
Who reigneth ever, for the drooping host
Did make provision, thorough grace alone,
And not through its deserving. As thou heard'st1,
Two champions to the succour of his spouse
He sent, who by their deeds and words might join
Again his scatter'd people. In that clime2
Where springs the pleasant west-wind to unfold
The fresh leaves, with which Europe sees herself
New-garmented; nor from those billows3 far,
Beyond whose chiding, after weary course,
The sun doth sometimes hide him; safe abides
The happy Callaroga5, under guard

Of the great shield, wherein the lion lies
Subjected and supreme. And there was born
The loving minion of the Christian faith",

St. Francis; and in like manner each blames the irregularities, not of the other's order, but of that to which himself belonged.

Even Macchiavelli, no great friend to the church, attributes the revival of Christianity to the influence of these two saints. "Quanto alle Sette, si vede ancora queste rinovazioni esser necessarie, per l'essempio della nostra Religione, la quale, se non fusse stata ritirata verso il suo principio da San Francesco e da San Domenico, sarebbe al tutto spenta." Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di T. Livio, lib. iii. c. 1. "As to sects, it is seen that these renovations are necessary, by the example of our religion, which, if it had not been drawn back to its principle by St. Francis and St. Dominic, would be entirely extinguished."

As thou heard'st.] See the last Canto, v. 33.

2 In that clime.] Spain.

3 Those billows,] The Atlantic.

4 Sometimes.] During the summer solstice.

5 Callaroga.] Between Osma and Aranda, in Old Castile designated by the royal coat of arms,

Dominic was

6 The loving minion of the Christian faith.] born April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221. His birth-place Callaroga; his father and mother's names, Felix and Joanna; his mother's dream; his name of Dominic, given him in consequence of a vision by a noble matron who stood sponsor to him, are all told in an anonymous life of the saint, said to be written in the thirteenth century, and published by Quetif and Echard. Scriptores Ordinis Prædicatorum. Par.

The hallow'd wrestler, gentle1 to his own,
And to his enemies terrible. So replete
His soul with lively virtue, that when first
Created, even in the mother's womb2,

It prophesied. When, at the sacred font,
The spousals were complete 'twixt faith and him,
Where pledge of mutual safety was exchanged,
The dame, who was his surety, in her sleep
Beheld the wondrous fruit, that was from him
And from his heirs to issue. And that such
He might be construed, as indeed he was,
She was inspired to name him of his owner,
Whose he was wholly; and so called him Dominic.
And I speak of him, as the labourer,

Whom Christ in his own garden chose to be
His help-mate. Messenger he seem'd, and friend
Fast-knit to Christ; and the first love he show'd,
Was after the first counsel4 that Christ gave.
Many a time his nurse, at entering, found
That he had risen in silence, and was prostrate,
As who should say, 'My errand was for this.'
O happy father! Felix rightly named.
O favour'd mother! rightly named Joanna ;
If that do mean, as men interpret it7.

1719. fol. tom. i. p. 25. These writers deny his having been an inquisitor, and indeed the establishment of the inquisition itself before the fourth Lateran Council. Ibid. p. 88.

1 Gentle.]

Βαρεῖαν ἐχθροῖς, καὶ φίλοισιν εὐμενῆ.

Eurip. Medea, v. 805. Lofty and sour to those, that loved him not, But to those men, that sought him, sweet as summer. Shakspeare, Henry VIII. act iv. sc. 2. 2 In the mother's womb.] His mother, when pregnant with him, is said to have dreamt that she should bring forth a white and black dog with a lighted torch in his mouth, which were signs of the habit to be worn by his order, and of his fervent zeal.

3 The dame.] His godmother's dream was, that he had one star in his forehead and another in the nape of his neck, from which he communicated light to the east and the west.

4 After the first counsel.] "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." Matth. xix. 21. Dominic is said to have followed this advice.

5 Many a time.] His nurse, when she returned to him, often found that he had left his bed, and was prostrate, and in prayer.

6 Felix.] Felix Gusman.

7 As men interpret it.] Grace or gift of the Lord.

Not for the world's sake, for which now they toil
Upon Ostiense1 and Taddeo's lore,
But for the real manna, soon he grew
Mighty in learning; and did set himself
To go about the vineyard, that soon turns
To wan and wither'd, if not tended well :
And from the see3, (whose bounty to the just
And needy is gone by, not through its fault,
But his who fills it basely) he besought,
No dispensation 4 for commuted wrong,
Nor the first vacant fortune 5, nor the tenths
That to God's paupers rightly appertain,
But, 'gainst an erring and degenerate world,
Licence to fight, in favour of that seed

From which the twice twelve cions gird thee round.
Then, with sage doctrine and good will to help,
Forth on his great apostleship he fared,

Like torrent bursting from a lofty vein;

1 Ostiense.] Arrigo a native of Susa, formerly a considerable city in Piedmont, and cardinal of Ostia and Velletri, whence he acquired the name of Ostiense, was celebrated for his lectures on the five books of the Decretals. He flourished about the year 1250. He is classed by Frezzi with Accorso the Florentine.

Poi Ostiense, e'l Fiorentino Accorso,

Che fè le chiose, e dichiarò 'l mio testo,
E alle leggi diede gran soccorso.

Il Quadrir. lib. iv. cap. 13.

2 Taddeo.] It is uncertain whether he speaks of the physician or the lawyer of that name. The former, Taddeo d'Alderotto, a Florentine, called the Hippocratean, translated the ethics of Aristotle into Latin; and died at an advanced age towards the end of the thirteenth century. The other, who was of Bologna and celebrated for his legal knowledge, left no writings behind him. He is also spoken of by Frezzi: Azzo e Taddeo già funno li maggiori; E ora ognun' e oscuro, e tal appare Qual'è la luna alli febei splendori.

Il Quadrir. lib. iv. cap. 13.

3 The see.] "The apostolic see, which no longer continues its wonted liberality towards the indigent and deserving; not indeed through its own fault, as its doctrines are still the same, but through the fault of the pontiff, who is seated in it."

4 No dispensation.] Dominic did not ask licence to compound for the use of unjust acquisitions by dedicating a part of them to pious purposes.

5 Nor the first vacant fortune.] Not the first benefice that fell vacant.

6 In favour of that seed.] "For that seed of the divine word, from which have sprung up these four and twenty plants, these holy spirits that now environ thee."