The love that did inhabit there, replied:
"Splendour eternal, piercing through these folds,
Its virtue to my vision knits; and thus
Supported, lifts me so above myself,

That on the sovran essence, which it wells from,
I have the power to gaze: and hence the joy,
Wherewith I sparkle, equaling with my blaze
The keenness of my sight. But not the soul1,
That is in heaven most lustrous, nor the seraph,
That hath his eyes most fix'd on God, shall solve
What thou hast ask'd: for in the abyss it lies
Of th' everlasting statute sunk so low,
That no created ken may fathom it.

And, to the mortal world when thou return'st,
Be this reported: that none henceforth dare
Direct his footsteps to so dread a bourn.
The mind, that here is radiant, on the earth
Is wrapt in mist. Look then if she may do
Below, what passeth her ability

When she is ta'en to heaven." By words like these
Admonish'd, I the question urged no more;

And of the spirit humbly sued alone

To instruct me of its state. ""Twixt either shore2 Of Italy, nor distant from thy land,

A stony ridge3 ariseth; in such sort,

The thunder doth not lift his voice so high.

They call it Catria1: at whose foot, a cell
Is sacred to the lonely Eremite;

For worship set apart and holy rites."

A third time thus it spake; then added: "There
So firmly to God's service I adhered,

That with no costlier viands than the juice
Of olives, easily I pass'd the heats

Of summer and the winter frosts; content

In heaven-ward musings. Rich were the returns And fertile, which that cloister once was used

1 Not the soul.] The particular ends of Providence being concealed from the very angels themselves.

2 'Twixt either shore.] Between the Adriatic gulf and the Mediterranean sea.

3 A stony ridge.] A part of the Apennine. Gibbo is literally a "hunch." Thus Archilochus calls the island of Thasus, ovou páxs. See Gaisford's Poetæ Minores Græci, t. i. p. 298.

4 Catria.] Now the abbey of Santa Croce, in the duchy of Urbino, about half way between Gubbio and La Pergola. Here Dante is said to have resided for some time. See the Life prefixed.

To render to these heavens: now 't is fallen
Into a waste so empty, that ere long
Detection must lay bare its vanity.
Pietro Damiano' there was I y-clept :
Pietro the sinner, when before I dwelt,
Beside the Adriatic2, in the house

Of our blest Lady. Near upon my close
Of mortal life, through much importuning
I was constrain'd to wear the hat3, that still
From bad to worse is shifted.-Cephas1 came;
He came, who was the Holy Spirit's vessel;
Barefoot and lean; eating their bread, as chanced,
At the first table. Modern Shepherds need
Those who on either hand may prop and lead them,
So burly are they grown; and from behind,
Others to hoist them. Down the palfrey's sides

1 Pietro Damiano.] "S. Pietro Damiano obtained a great and well-merited reputation, by the pains he took to correct the abuses among the clergy. Ravenna is supposed to have been the place of his birth, about 1007. He was employed in several important missions, and rewarded by Stephen IX. with the dignity of cardinal, and the bishopric of Ostia, to which, however, he preferred his former retreat in the monastery of Fonte Avellana, and prevailed on Alexander II. to permit him to retire thither. Yet he did not long continue in this seclusion, before he was sent on other embassies. He died at Faenza in 1072. His letters throw much light on the obscure history of these times. Besides them, he has left several treatises on sacred and ecclesiastical subjects. His eloquence is worthy of a better age." Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. tom. iii. lib. iv. cap. ii. He is mentioned by Petrarch de Vita Solit. lib. ii. iii. cap. xvii. "Siquidem statum illum, pompasque sæculi suis contribulibus linquens, ipse Italiæ medio, ad sinistrum Apennini latus, quietissimam solitudinem, de qua multa conscripsit, et quæ vetus adhuc fontis Avellanæ nomen servat, perituris honoribus preferendam duxit, ubi non minus gloriose postmodum latuit quam innotuerat primum Romæ, nec dedecori illi fuit alti verticis rutilum decus squalenti cilicio permutasse." Petrarchæ Opera. Basil. 1571. p. 266.

2 Beside the Adriatic.] Some editions and manuscripts have "fu," instead of fui." According to the former of these readings, S. Pietro Damiano is made to distinguish himself from S. Pietro degli Onesti, surnamed "Il Peccator," founder of the monastery of S. Maria del Porto, on the Adriatic coast, near Ravenna, who died 1119, at about eighty years of age. If it could be ascertained that there was no religious house dedicated to the blessed Virgin, before that founded by Pietro degli Onesti, to which the other Pietro might have belonged, this reading would, no doubt, be preferable; but at present it seems very uncertain which is the right.

3 The hat.] The cardinal's hat.

4 Cephas.] St. Peter.

5 The Holy Spirit's vessel.] St. Paul. See Hell, Canto ii. 30.

Spread their broad mantles, so as both the beasts Are cover'd with one skin. O patience! thou That look'st on this, and dost endure so long."

I at those accents saw the splendours down From step to step alight, and wheel, and wax, Each circuiting, more beautiful. Round this1 They came, and stay'd them; utter'd then a shout So loud, it hath no likeness here: nor I

Wist what it spake, so deafening was the thunder.

CANTO XXII.

ARGUMENT.

He beholds many other spirits of the devout and contemplative; and amongst these is addressed by Saint Benedict, who, after disclosing his own name and the names of certain of his companions in bliss, replies to the request made by our Poet that he might look on the form of the saint, without that covering of splendour, which then invested it; and then proceeds, lastly, to inveigh against the corruption of the monks. Next Dante mounts with his heavenly conductress to the eighth heaven, or that of the fixed stars, which he enters at the constellation of the Twins; and thence looking back, reviews all the space he has past between his present station and the earth. ASTOUNDED, to the guardian of my steps I turn'd me, like the child, who alway runs Thither for succour, where he trusteth most: And she was like the mother2, who her son Beholding pale and breathless, with her voice Soothes him, and he is cheer'd; for thus she spake, Soothing me: "Know'st not thou, thou art in heaven? And know'st not thou, whatever is in heaven, Is holy; and that nothing there is done, But is done zealously and well? Deem now, What change in thee the song, and what my smile Had wrought, since thus the shout had power to move thee;

In which, couldst thou have understood their prayers, The vengeance3 were already known to thee, Which thou must witness ere thy mortal hour.

1 Round this.] Round the spirit of Pietro Damiano. 2 Like the mother.]

Come la madre, che 'l figliuol ascolta

Dietro a se piangner, si volge, ed aspetta,
Poi il prende per mano e da la volta.

Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo. lib. iii. cap. 21. 3 The vengeance.] Beatrice, it is supposed, intimates the approaching fate of Boniface VIII. See Purgatory, Canto

xx. 86.

The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite,
Nor yet doth linger; save unto his seeming,
Who, in desire or fear, doth look for it.
But elsewhere now I bid thee turn thy view;
So shalt thou many a famous spirit behold."
Mine eyes directing, as she will'd, I saw
A hundred little spheres, that fairer grew
By interchange of splendour. I remain'd,
As one, who fearful of o'er-much presuming,
Abates in him the keenness of desire,

Nor dares to question; when, amid those pearls,
One largest and most lustrous onward drew,
That it might yield contentment to my wish;
And, from within it, these the sounds I heard.

"If thou, like me, beheld'st the charity

That burns amongst us; what thy mind conceives,
Were utter'd. But that, ere the lofty bound
Thou reach, expectance may not weary thee;
I will make answer even to the thought,
Which thou hast such respect of. In old days,
That mountain, at whose side Cassino1 rests,
Was, on its height, frequented by a race2
Deceived and ill disposed: and I it was3,

"The

1 Cassino.] A castle in the Terra di Lavoro. learned Benedictine, D. Angelo della Noce, in his notes on the chronicle of the monastery of Cassino, (Not. cxi.) corrects the error of Cluverius and Eftenus, who describe Cassino as situated in the same place where the monastery now is; at the same time commending the veracity of our author in this passage, which places Cassino on the side of the mountain, and points out the monastery founded by Saint Benedict on its summit." Lombardi.

Mons

2 Frequented by a race.] Lombardi here cites an apposite passage from the writings of Pope Saint Gregory. tria millia, &c." Dialog. lib. ii. cap. 8. "The mountain rising for the space of three miles stretches its top towards the sky, where was a very ancient temple, in which, after the manner of the old heathens, Apollo was worshiped by the foolish rustics. On every side, groves had sprung up in honour of the false gods; and in these, the mad multitude of unbelievers still tended on their unhallowed sacrifices. There then the man of God (Saint Benedict) arriving, beat in pieces the idols; overturned the altar; cut down the groves; and, in the very temple of Apollo, built the shrine of Saint Martin, placing that of Saint John where the altar of Apollo had stood; and, by his continual preaching, called the multitude that dwelt round about, to the true faith."

3 I it was.] "A new order of monks, which in a manner absorbed all the others that were established in the west, was instituted, A.D. 529, by Benedict of Nursia, a man of piety and reputation for the age he lived in." Maclaine's Mosheim. Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. cent. vi. p. 2. C. 2. § 6.

Who thither carried first the name of Him,
Who brought the soul-subliming truth to man.
And such a speeding grace shone over me,
That from their impious worship I reclaim'd
The dwellers round about, who with the world
Were in delusion lost. These other flames,
The spirits of men contemplative, were all
Enliven'd by that warmth, whose kindly force
Gives birth to flowers and fruits of holiness.
Here is Macarius1; Romoaldo2 here;

And here my brethren, who their steps refrain'd
Within the cloisters, and held firm their heart."
I answering thus: Thy gentle words and kind,
And this the cheerful semblance I behold,
Not unobservant, beaming in ye all,

Have raised assurance in me; wakening it
Full-blossom'd in my bosom, as a rose

Before the sun, when the consummate flower
Has spread to utmost amplitude. Of thee
Therefore intreat I, father, to declare
If I may gain such favour, as to gaze
Upon thine image by no covering veil'd."

3

"Brother!" he thus rejoin'd, "in the last sphere 3 Expect completion of thy lofty aim:

For there on each desire completion waits,
And there on mine; where every aim is found
Perfect, entire, and for fulfilment ripe.
There all things are as they have ever been:
For space is none to bound; nor pole divides.
Our ladder reaches even to that clime;
And so, at giddy distance, mocks thy view.
Thither the patriarch Jacob1 saw it stretch

1 Macarius.] There are two of this name enumerated by Mosheim among the Greek theologians of the fourth century, vol. i. cent. iv. p. 11. chap. 2. § 9. In the following chapter, 10. it is said, "Macarius, an Egyptian monk, undoubtedly deserves the first rank among the practical writers of this time, as his works displayed, some few things excepted, the brightest and most lovely portraiture of sanctity and virtue."

2 Romoaldo.] S. Romoaldo, a native of Ravenna, and the founder of the order of Camaldoli, died in 1027. He was the author of a commentary on the Psalms.

3 In the last sphere.] The Empyrean, where he afterwards sees Saint Benedict, Canto xxxii. 30. Beatified spirits, though they have different heavens allotted them, have all their seat in that higher sphere.

4 The patriarch Jacob.] "And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to