to others, as having had their first residence in the rue Saint Jacques in that city. 25 Gusman, otherwise called Saint Dominic, institutor of the order of Dominican Friars, was born at Calahorta, a city of Arragon, in 1170. His mother dreamed, when pregnant of him, that she bore a dog, others say, a wolf, carrying in its jaws a blazing torch with which the universe was put into a general state of conflagration · a presage too fatal of the sanguinary humor of this fanatic preacher and of the bloody massacres performed by him and his demoniac followers. Dominic was no great scholar, and being made canon of the church of Osimo, repaired to Rome in order to offer his services to Pope Clement the Third for the extirpation of the Languedocians, called Albigenses, of whom were most barbarously slaughtered through his means upwards of a hundred thousand souls, simply on account of some dogmas of religion, and surely nothing could be more abominable than to extirpate by fire and sword a prince and his subjects under the pretext that their opinions differed from those which were professed by others. Proud of the success of this expedition, Dominic then began to found his new order, which, coinciding with the genius of Innocent the Third, was approved of by that pontiff and afterwards confirmed by Honorius the Third, in 1216. It was this same saintly murderer who established the abominable Inquisition, and who was afterwards canonized by Pope Gregory the Ninth. The order of the Dominicans spread with inconceivable rapidity, so much so that in 1494 there were computed to exist upwards of four thousand one hundred and forty-three convents of the order; after which period they continued to augment in a surprising manner. 20 We are informed in Holy Writ that Balaam, the son of Beor, being desired by Balac, king of the Moabites, to utter his malediction against the people of Israel, the former, notwithstanding the ordinance of the Lord, set out upon his ass in order to journey to Balac; but on the route the animal suddenly stopped short and dropped down, which highly incensed Balaam, who began to belabor the poor beast, when suddenly by the command of the Lord the animal was gifted with speech and demanded of Balaam the reason of this cruel treatment.- Numbers, chap. 22. 27 This war is only adverted to in a book very apocryphal, entitled Enoch, no mention whatsoever being made of it elsewhere in any Jewish work or tradition. The leader of the celestial army is stated to have been Michael, as designated by our poet; but the chief of the wicked angels was not Satan, but Semixiah. This inadvertency, however, is excusable in so long and arduous a poetic undertaking as the present. 28 Medusa, one of the three Gorgons, was daughter of Phorcys and Ceta, and celebrated for her personal charms and the beauty of her hair. Neptune, becoming enamored of her, procured her favors in the temple of Minerva, which violation of the sanctity of the place so exasperated the goddess that she changed the locks of Medusa into serpents. After Perseus had conquered Medusa he cut off her head, which was placed on the egis of Minerva and had the power of petrifying any persons who chanced to behold it. 29 Styx is the celebrated river of hell, around which it flows nine times. The gods were supposed to hold the waters of this stream in such veneration that they always swore by them-an oath which was inviolable. Vol. 40-13 CANTO VI. ARGUMENT. ADVENTURE OF AGNES AND MONROSE.-TEMPLE OF FAME.TRAGICAL RECITAL CONCERNING DOROTHY, FROM hell, that boundless gulf, my muse now turns, To view the world, and see what's passing there. Where innocence no longer dares to dwell; Where sense, refinement, taste, are run stark mad; Have joined the party, and are flown away, 1 There empty policy as loud as weak, Unhappy men! who, void of pleasure, sin; Oft Agnes Sorel would this precept prove, Each saint is not a maid in Paradise, When, in defence of honor, Joan was led What was it urged the wish! Love's ardent fire- Yet soft, dear reader, at some future time These feats of passion shall be told in rhyme; This sainted animal, by fancy led, 7 Towards Lombardy its course aerial sped; The reason, friend, perhaps you wish to know. |