Return the signal, so remote, that scarce
The eye could catch its beam. I, turning round
To the deep source of knowledge, thus inquired:
Say what this means; and what, that other light
In answer set: what agency doth this ?"

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There on the filthy waters," he replied, "E'en now what next awaits us mayst thou see, If the marsh-gender'd fog conceal it not." Never was arrow from the cord dismiss'd, That ran its way so nimbly through the air, As a small bark, that through the waves I spied Toward us coming, under the sole sway

Of one that ferried it, who cried aloud:

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[gyas1,
Art thou arrived, fell spirit ?"—"Phlegyas, Phle-
This time thou criest in vain," my lord replied;
No longer shalt thou have us, but while o'er
The slimy pool we pass." As one who hears
Of some great wrong he hath sustain'd, whereat
Inly he pines; so Phlegyas inly pined

In his fierce ire. My guide, descending, stepp'd
Into the skiff, and bade me enter next,
Close at his side; nor, till my entrance, seem'd
The vessel freighted. Soon as both embark'd,
Cutting the waves, goes on the ancient prow,
More deeply than with others it is wont.

While we our course2 o'er the dead channel held, One drench'd in mire before me came, and said: "Who art thou, that thus comest ere thine hour ?" I answer'd: "Though I come, I tarry not; But who art thou, that art become so foul ?"

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One,

as thou seest, who mourn:" he straight replied.

To which I thus: "In mourning and in woe, Curst spirit! tarry thou. I know thee well, E'en thus in filth disguised." Then stretch'd he forth Hands to the bark; whereof my teacher sage Aware, thrusting him back: "Away! down there To the other dogs!" then, with his arms my neck Encircling, kiss'd my cheek, and spake: "O soul, Justly disdainful! blest was she in whom

1 Phlegyas.] Phlegyas, who was so incensed against Apollo, for having violated his daughter Coronis, that he set fire to the temple of that deity, by whose vengeance he was cast into Tartarus. See Virg. Æn. 1. vi. 618.

2 While

we our course.]

Solcando noi per quella morta gora.

Frezzi, Il Quadrir. lib. ii. cap. 7.

G

Thou wast conceived1. He in the world was one For arrogance noted: to his memory

No virtue lends its lustre ; even so

Here is his shadow furious. There above,
How many now hold themselves mighty kings,
Who here like swine shall wallow in the mire,
Leaving behind them horrible dispraise."

I then "Master! him fain would I behold
Whelm'd in these dregs, before we quit the lake.”
He thus: "Or ever to thy view the shore
Be offer'd, satisfied shall be that wish,

Which well deserves completion." Scarce his words
Were ended, when I saw the miry tribes
Set on him with such violence, that yet
For that render I thanks to God, and praise.
"To Filippo Argenti2!” cried they all :
And on himself the moody Florentine

Turn'd his avenging fangs. Him here we left,
Nor speak I of him more.

But on mine ear

Sudden a sound of lamentation smote,

Whereat mine eye unbarr'd I sent abroad.
And thus the good instructor: "Now, my son
Draws near the city, that of Dis is named3,
With its grave denizens, a mighty throng."
I thus: "The minarets already, Sir!
There, certes, in the valley I descry,
Gleaming vermilion, as if they from fire
Had issued." He replied: "Eternal fire,
That inward burns, shows them with ruddy flame
Illumed; as in this nether hell thou seest."

We came within the fosses deep, that moat
This region comfortless. The walls appear'd
As they were framed of iron. We had made
Wide circuit, ere a place we reach'd, where loud
The mariner cried vehement: "Go forth :
The entrance is here." Upon the gates I spied

Thou wast conceiv'd.] "Che 'n te s'incinse." Several of the commentators have stumbled at this word, which is the same as "enceinte" in French, and "inciens" in Latin. For many instances, in which it is thus used, see the notes on Boccaccio's Decameron, p. 101. in the Giunti edition, 1573. 2 Filippo Argenti.] Boccaccio tells us, "he was a man remarkable for the large proportions and extraordinary vigour of his bodily frame, and the extreme waywardness and irascibility of his temper." Decam. g. ix. n. 8.

3 The city, that of Dis is named.] So Ariosto. Orl. Fur. c. xl. st. 32: Fatto era un stagno più sicuro e brutto,

Di quel che cinge la città di Dite.

More than a thousand, who of old from heaven
Were shower'd'. With ireful gestures,

this,"

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Who is [through

They cried," that, without death first felt, goes
The regions of the dead ?" My sapient guide
Made sign that he for secret parley wish'd;
Whereat their angry scorn abating, thus

They spake: "Come thou alone; and let him go,
Who hath so hardily enter'd this realm.
Alone return he by his witless way;

If well he know it, let him prove. For thee,
Here shalt thou tarry, who through clime so dark
Hast been his escort." Now bethink thee, reader!
What cheer was mine at sound of those curst words.
I did believe I never should return.

"O my loved guide! who more than seven times?
Security hast render'd me, and drawn
From peril deep, whereto I stood exposed,
Desert me not," I cried, " in this extreme.
And, if our onward going be denied,

Together trace we back our steps with speed."
My liege, who thither had conducted me,
Replied; "Fear not for of our passage none
Hath power to disappoint us, by such high
Authority permitted. But do thou

Expect me here; meanwhile, thy wearied spirit
Comfort, and feed with kindly hope, assured
I will not leave thee in this lower world."
This said, departs the sire benevolent,

And quits me. Hesitating I remain

At war, 'twixt will and will not3, in my thoughts.

Li maladetti piovuti da cielo.

Il Quad. lib. iv. cap. 4. And Pulci, in the passage cited in the note to C. xxi. Î17.

2 Seven times.] The commentators, says Venturi, perplex themselves with the inquiry what seven perils these were from which Dante had been delivered by Virgil. Reckoning the beasts in the first Canto as one of them, and adding Charon, Minos,. Cerberus, Plutus, Phlegyas, and Filippo Argenti, as so many others, we shall have the number; and if this be not satisfactory, we may suppose a determinate to have been put for an indeterminate number.

3 At war 'twixt will and will not.]

Che sì, e nò nel capo mi tenzona.

Thus our poet in his eighth Canzone:

Ch' il sì, e'l nò tututto in vostra mano
Ha posto amore.

I could not hear what terms he offer'd them, But they conferr'd not long, for all at once Pellmell1 rush'd back within. Closed were the gates, By those our adversaries, on the breast Of my liege lord: excluded, he return'd To me with tardy steps. Upon the ground His eyes were bent, and from his brow erased All confidence, while thus in sighs he spake : Who hath denied me these abodes of woe ?" Then thus to me; "That I am anger'd, think No ground of terror: in this trial I

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Shall vanquish, use what arts they may within
For hindrance. This their insolence, not new2,
Erewhile at gate less secret they display'd,
Which still is without bolt; upon its arch
Thou saw'st the deadly scroll: and even now,
On this side of its entrance, down the steep,
Passing the circles, unescorted, comes

One whose strong might can open us this land."

CANTO IX.

ARGUMENT.

After some hindrances, and having seen the hellish furies and other monsters, the Poet, by the help of an angel, enters the city of Dis, wherein he discovers that the heretics are punished in tombs burning with intense fire and he, together with Virgil, passes onwards between the sepulchres and the walls of the city.

THE hue3, which coward dread on my pale cheeks
Imprinted when I saw my guide turn back,
Chased that from his which newly they had worn,

And Boccaccio, Ninf. Fiesol. st. 233:

Il sì e il nò nel capo gli contende.

The words I have adopted as a translation, are Shakspeare's, Measure for Measure, a. ii. s. 1.

1 Pellmell.] A pruova. "Certatim." "A l'envi." I had before translated "To trial"; and have to thank Mr. Carlyle for detecting the error.

2 This their insolence, not new.] Virgil assures our poet, that these evil spirits had formerly shown the same insolence when our Saviour descended into hell. They attempted to prevent him from entering at the gate, over which Dante had read the fatal inscription. "That gate which," says the Roman poet, "an angel had just passed, by whose aid we shall overcome this opposition, and gain admittance into the city."

3 The hue.] Virgil, perceiving that Dante was pale with fear, restrained those outward tokens of displeasure which his own countenance had betrayed.

And inwardly restrain'd it. He, as one
Who listens, stood attentive: for his eye
Not far could lead him through the sable air,
And the thick-gathering cloud. "It yet behoves
We win this fight;" thus he began: "if not,
Such aid to us is offer'd.-Oh! how long
Me seems it, ere the promised help arrive."
I noted, how the sequel of his words
Cloked their beginning; for the last he spake
Agreed not with the first. But not the less
My fear was at his saying; sith I drew

To import worse, perchance, than that he held,
His mutilated speech.
Doth ever any

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Into this rueful concave's extreme depth
Descend, out of the first degree, whose pain
Is deprivation merely of sweet hope ?”

Thus I inquiring.

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Rarely," he replied, "It chances, that among us any makes

This journey, which I wend. Erewhile, 't is true,
Once came I here beneath, conjured by fell
Erictho1, sorceress, who compell'd the shades
Back to their bodies. No long space my flesh
Was naked of me2, when within these walls
She made me enter, to draw forth a spirit
From out of Judas' circle. Lowest place
Is that of all, obscurest, and removed
Farthest from heaven's all-circling orb.
Full well I know: thou therefore rest secure.
That lake, the noisome stench exhaling, round
The city of grief encompasses, which now
We may not enter without rage." Yet more
He added: but I hold it not in mind,
For that mine eye toward the lofty tower
Had drawn me wholly, to its burning top;
Where, in an instant, I beheld uprisen

The road

1 Erictho.] Erictho, a Thessalian sorceress, according to Lucan, Pharsal. 1. vi. was employed by Sextus, son of Pompey the Great, to conjure up a spirit, who should inform him of the issue of the civil wars between his father and Cæsar.

2

No long space my flesh

Was naked of me.]

Quæ corpus complexa animæ tam fortis inane.

Ovid. Met. 1. xiii. fab. 2.

Dante appears to have fallen into an anachronism. Virgil's death did not happen till long after this period. But Lombardi shows, in opposition to the other commentators, that the anachronism is only apparent. Erictho might well have survived the battle of Pharsalia long enough to be employed in her magical practices at the time of Virgil's decease.