Immediate rules, and Nature, awed, suspends
Her sway? Into the yellow of the rose
Perennial, which, in bright expansiveness,
Lays forth its gradual blooming, redolent
Of praises to the never-wintering sun,

As one, who fain would speak yet holds his peace,
Beatrice led me; and, "Behold," she said,
"This fair assemblage; stoles of snowy white,
How numberless. The city, where we dwell,
Behold how vast; and these our seats so throng'd,
Few now are wanting here. In that proud stall1,
On which, the crown, already o'er its state
Suspended, holds thine eyes-or e'er thyself
Mayst at the wedding sup,-shall rest the soul
Of the great Harry2, he who, by the world
Augustus hail'd, to Italy must come,
Before her day be ripe. But ye are sick,
And in your tetchy wantonness as blind,
As is the bantling, that of hunger dies,
And drives away the nurse. Nor may it be,
That he3, who in the sacred forum sways,
Openly or in secret, shall with him

Accordant walk: whom God will not endure
I' the holy office long; but thrust him down
To Simon Magus, where Alagna's priest1

Will sink beneath him: such will be his meed."

m

CANTO XXXI.

ARGUMENT.

The Poet expatiates further on the glorious vision described

1 In that proud stall.] "Ostenditque mihi circa Paradisum lectum claris et splendidissimis operimentis adornatum-in quo lecto quendam jacere conspexi cujus nomen ab Apostolo audivi, sed prohibuit ne cui illud dicerem." Alberici Visio, § 31.

2 Of the great Harry.] The Emperor Henry VII. who died in 1313. "Henry, Count of Luxemburgh, held the imperial power three years, seven months, and eighteen days, from his first coronation to his death. He was a man wise, and just, and gracious; brave and intrepid in arms; a man of honour and a good catholic; and although by his lineage he he was of no great condition, yet he was of a magnanimous heart, much feared and held in awe; and if he had lived longer, would have done the greatest things." G. Villani. lib. ix. cap. 1. Compare Dino Compagni. Muratori. Rer. Ital. Script. tom. ix. lib. iii. p. 524. and Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo. L. ii. cap. 30.

3 He.] Pope Clement V. See Canto xxvii. 53.

▲ Alagna's priest.] Pope Boniface VIII. Hell, Canto xix. 79.

in the last Canto. On looking round for Beatrice, he finds that she has left him, and that an old man is at his side. This proves to be Saint Bernard, who shows him that Beatrice has returned to her throne, and then points out to him the blessedness of the Virgin Mother. IN fashion, as a snow white rose, lay then Before my view the saintly multitude1, Which in his own blood Christ espoused. That other host2, that soar aloft to gaze And celebrate his glory, whom they love, Hover'd around; and, like a troop of bees3, Amid the vernal sweets alighting now,

[while, Mean

Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows,
Flew downward to the mighty flower, or rose
From the redundant petals, streaming back
Unto the stedfast dwelling of their joy.
Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold 4;
The rest was whiter than the driven snow;
And, as they flitted down into the flower,

From range to range, fanning their plumy loins,
Whisper'd the peace and ardour, which they won
From that soft winnowing. Shadow none, the vast
Interposition of such numerous flight

Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view
Obstructed aught. For, through the universe,
Wherever merited, celestial light
Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.

All there, who reign in safety and in bliss,
Ages long past or new, on one sole mark
Their love and vision fix'd. O trinal beam
Of individual star, that charm'st them thus!
Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below 5.

If the grim brood", from Arctic shores that roam'd,

1 The saintly multitude.] Human souls, advanced to this state of glory through the mediation of Christ.

2 That other host.] The angels.

3 Bees.]

Compare Homer. Iliad, ii. 87, Virg. Æn. i. 430,

and Milton. P. L. b. i. 768.

4 Wings of gold.]

the middle pair

Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold.

Milton, P. L. b. v. 282. 5 To gild our storm below.] To guide us through the dangers to which we are exposed in this tempestuous life.

6 If the grim brood.] The northern hordes who invaded Rome. Landino justly observes, that "this is a most excellent, comparison to show how great his astonishment was at beholding the realms of the blest."

(Where Helice1 for ever, as she wheels,
Sparkles a mother's fondness on her son)
Stood in mute wonder 'mid the works of Rome,
When to their view the Lateran arose 2
In greatness more than earthly; I, who then
From human to divine had past, from time
Unto eternity, and out of Florence

To justice and to truth, how might I chuse
But marvel too? "Twixt gladness and amaze,
In sooth no will had I to utter aught,

Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests
Within the temple of his vow, looks round
In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell
Of all its goodly state; e'en so mine eyes
Coursed up and down along the living light,
Now low, and now aloft, and now around,
Visiting every step. Looks I beheld,
Where charity in soft persuasion sat;

Smiles from within, and radiance from above;
And, in each gesture, grace and honour high.
So roved my ken, and in its general form
All Paradise survey'd: when round I turn'd
With purpose of my lady to inquire

Once more of things, that held my thought suspense,
But answer found from other than I ween'd;
For, Beatrice when I thought to see,

I saw instead a senior, at my side,

Robed, as the rest, in glory. Joy benign
Glow'd in his eye, and o'er his cheek diffused,
With gestures such as spake a father's love.

And, "Whither is she vanish'd?" straight I ask'd. 'By Beatrice summon'd," he replied,

1 Helice.] Callisto, and her son Arcas, changed into the constellations of the Greater Bear and Arctophylax, or Boötes. See Ovid. Met. lib. ii. fab. v. vi.

2 The Lateran arose.]

quando Laterano

Alle cose mortali andò di sopra.

This reminds us of the celebrated passage in Akenside:
Mark how the dread Pantheon stands,

Amid the domes of modern hands.

Ode xviii. b. i.

It is remarkable that Dante has no allusion to the magnificence of Gothic architecture, which was then in so much perfection, and which, as Tiraboschi endeavours to show, by a passage in Cassiodorus, describing its peculiar character of slender columns and lanceated arches, was introduced into Italy so early as the end of the fifth century. See Stor. della Lett. Ital. tom. iii. lib. i.

"I come to aid thy wish. Looking aloft

To the third circle from the highest, there
Behold her on the throne, wherein her merit
Hath placed her." Answering not, mine eyes I
raised,

And saw her, where aloof she sat, her brow
A wreath reflecting of eternal beams.
Not from the centre of the sea so far
Unto the region of the highest thunder,

As was my ken from hers; and yet the form Came through that medium down, unmix'd and pure.

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lady! thou in whom my hopes have rest; Who, for my safety, hast not scorn'd, in hell To leave the traces of thy footsteps mark'd; For all mine eyes have seen, I to thy power And goodness, virtue owe and grace.

Of slave

Thou hast to freedom brought me and no means,
For my deliverance apt, hast left untried.
Thy liberal bounty still toward me keep:

That, when my spirit, which thou madest whole,
Is loosen'd from this body, it may find
Favour with thee." So I my suit preferr'd:
And she, so distant, as appear'd, look'd down,
And smiled; then towards the eternal fountain
And thus the senior, holy and revered: [turn'd.
"That thou at length mayst happily conclude
Thy voyage (to which end I was dispatch'd,
By supplication moved and holy love)
Let thy upsoaring vision range, at large,
This garden through: for so, by ray divine
Kindled, thy ken a higher flight shall mount;
And from heaven's queen, whom fervent I adore,
All gracious aid befriend us; for that I
Am her own faithful Bernard'." Like a wight,

1 Bernard.] St. Bernard, the venerable abbot of Clairvaux, and the great promoter of the second crusade, who died A. D. 1153, in his sixty-third year. His sermons are called by Henault," chefs-d'œuvres de sentiment et de force." Abrégé Chron. de l'Hist. de Fr. 1145. They have even been preferred to all the productions of the ancients, and the author has been termed the last of the fathers of the church. It is uncertain whether they were not delivered originally in the French tongue. Ibid.

That the part he acts in the present poem should be assigned to him, appears somewhat remarkable, when we consider that he severely censured the new festival established in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, and opposed the doctrine itself with the greatest vigour, as it

66

Who haply from Croatia wends to see
Our Veronica1; and, the while 't is shown,
Hangs over it with never-sated gaze,

And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith
Unto himself in thought: "And didst thou look
E'en thus, O Jesus, my true Lord and God?
And was this semblance thine ?" So gazed I then
Adoring; for the charity of him2,

Who musing, in this world that peace enjoy'd,
Stood livelily before me. Child of grace!"
Thus he began: "thou shalt not knowledge gain
Of this glad being, if thine eyes are held
Still in this depth below. But search around
The circles, to the furthest, till thou spy
Seated in state, the queen3, that of this realm
Is sovran." Straight mine eyes I raised; and bright,
As, at the birth of morn, the eastern clime
Above the horizon, where the sun declines;
So to mine eyes, that upward, as from vale
To mountain sped, at the extreme bound, a part
Excell'd in lustre all the front opposed.

And as the glow burns ruddiest o'er the wave,
That waits the ascending team, which Phaëton
Ill knew to guide, and on each part the light
Diminish'd fades, intensest in the midst;

supposed her being honoured with a privilege which belonged to Christ alone." Dr. Maclaine's Mosheim, vol. iii. cent. xii. part ii. c. iii. § 19.

1 Our Veronica.]

A vernicle had he sewed upon his cappe.

Chaucer, Prol. to the Canterbury Tales. "Vernicle, diminutive of Veronike, Fr. A copy in miniature of the picture of Christ, which is supposed to have been miraculously imprinted upon a handkerchief preserved in the church of St. Peter at Rome. Du Cange in v. Veronica. Madox, Form. Angl. 1. p. 428. Testam. Joh. de Nevill. an. 1386. Item Domino Archiepiscopo Eborum fratri meo, vestimentum rubeum de velvet cum le verouike (r. Veronike) in granis rosarum de super Brondata (r. broudata). It was usual for persons returning from pilgrimages, to bring with them certain tokens of the several places which they had visited; and therefore the Pardoner, who is just arrived from Rome, is represented with a vernicle sewed upon his cappe. See Pierce Plowman, 28, b." Tyrwhitt's Glossary to Chaucer. Our Poet alludes to this custom in his Vita Nuova, p. 275. "Avvenne in quel tempo, &c." "It happened, at that time, that many people were going to see that blessed image, which Jesus Christ left to us for a pattern of his most beautiful form, which my lady now beholds in glory."

2 Him.] St. Bernard.

3 The queen.] The Virgin Mary.