Canto XXVI…

Canto XXVI

With dazzled eyes, whilst wond’ring I remain’d, Forth of the beamy flame which dazzled me, Issued a breath, that in attention mute Detain’d me; and these words it spake: “’Twere well, That, long as till thy vision, on my form O’erspent, regain its virtue, with discourse Thou compensate the brief delay. Say then, Beginning, to what point thy soul aspires: And meanwhile rest assur’d, that sight in thee Is but o’erpowered a space, not wholly quench’d: Since thy fair guide and lovely, in her look Hath potency, the like to that which dwelt In Ananias’ hand.” I answering thus: “Be to mine eyes the remedy or late Or early, at her pleasure; for they were The gates, at which she enter’d, and did light Her never dying fire. My wishes here Are centered; in this palace is the weal, That Alpha and Omega, is to all The lessons love can read me.” Yet again The voice which had dispers’d my fear, when daz’d With that excess, to converse urg’d, and spake: “Behooves thee sift more narrowly thy terms, And say, who level’d at this scope thy bow.”

“Philosophy,” said I, “hath arguments, And this place hath authority enough ’T’ imprint in me such love: for, of constraint, Good, inasmuch as we perceive the good, Kindles our love, and in degree the more, As it comprises more of goodness in ’t. The essence then, where such advantage is, That each good, found without it, is naught else But of his light the beam, must needs attract The soul of each one, loving, who the truth Discerns, on which this proof is built. Such truth Learn I from him, who shows me the first love Of all intelligential substances Eternal: from his voice I learn, whose word Is truth, that of himself to Moses saith, ‘I will make all my good before thee pass.’ Lastly from thee I learn, who chief proclaim’st, E’en at the outset of thy heralding, In mortal ears the mystery of heav’n.”

“Through human wisdom, and th’ authority Therewith agreeing,” heard I answer’d, “keep The choicest of thy love for God. But say, If thou yet other cords within thee feel’st That draw thee towards him; so that thou report How many are the fangs, with which this love Is grappled to thy soul.” I did not miss, To what intent the eagle of our Lord Had pointed his demand; yea noted well Th’ avowal, which he led to; and resum’d: “All grappling bonds, that knit the heart to God, Confederate to make fast our clarity. The being of the world, and mine own being, The death which he endur’d that I should live, And that, which all the faithful hope, as I do, To the foremention’d lively knowledge join’d, Have from the sea of ill love sav’d my bark, And on the coast secur’d it of the right. As for the leaves, that in the garden bloom, My love for them is great, as is the good Dealt by th’ eternal hand, that tends them all.”

I ended, and therewith a song most sweet Rang through the spheres; and “Holy, holy, holy,” Accordant with the rest my lady sang. And as a sleep is broken and dispers’d Through sharp encounter of the nimble light, With the eye’s spirit running forth to meet The ray, from membrane on to the membrane urg’d; And the upstartled wight loathes that be sees; So, at his sudden waking, he misdeems Of all around him, till assurance waits On better judgment: thus the saintly came Drove from before mine eyes the motes away, With the resplendence of her own, that cast Their brightness downward, thousand miles below. Whence I my vision, clearer shall before, Recover’d; and, well nigh astounded, ask’d Of a fourth light, that now with us I saw.

And Beatrice: “The first diving soul, That ever the first virtue fram’d, admires Within these rays his Maker.” Like the leaf, That bows its lithe top till the blast is blown; By its own virtue rear’d then stands aloof; So I, the whilst she said, awe-stricken bow’d. Then eagerness to speak embolden’d me; And I began: “O fruit! that wast alone Mature, when first engender’d! Ancient father! That doubly seest in every wedded bride Thy daughter by affinity and blood! Devoutly as I may, I pray thee hold Converse with me: my will thou seest; and I, More speedily to hear thee, tell it not “

It chanceth oft some animal bewrays, Through the sleek cov’ring of his furry coat. The fondness, that stirs in him and conforms His outside seeming to the cheer within: And in like guise was Adam’s spirit mov’d To joyous mood, that through the covering shone, Transparent, when to pleasure me it spake: “No need thy will be told, which I untold Better discern, than thou whatever thing Thou holdst most certain: for that will I see In Him, who is truth’s mirror, and Himself Parhelion unto all things, and naught else To him. This wouldst thou hear; how long since God Plac’d me high garden, from whose hounds She led me up in this ladder, steep and long; What space endur’d my season of delight; Whence truly sprang the wrath that banish’d me; And what the language, which I spake and fram’d Not that I tasted of the tree, my son, Was in itself the cause of that exile, But only my transgressing of the mark Assign’d me. There, whence at thy lady’s hest The Mantuan mov’d him, still was I debarr’d This council, till the sun had made complete, Four thousand and three hundred rounds and twice, His annual journey; and, through every light In his broad pathway, saw I him return, Thousand save sev’nty times, the whilst I dwelt Upon the earth. The language I did use Was worn away, or ever Nimrod’s race Their unaccomplishable work began. For naught, that man inclines to, ere was lasting, Left by his reason free, and variable, As is the sky that sways him. That he speaks, Is nature’s prompting: whether thus or thus, She leaves to you, as ye do most affect it. Ere I descended into hell’s abyss, El was the name on earth of the Chief Good, Whose joy enfolds me: Eli then ’twas call’d And so beseemeth: for, in mortals, use Is as the leaf upon the bough; that goes, And other comes instead. Upon the mount Most high above the waters, all my life, Both innocent and guilty, did but reach From the first hour, to that which cometh next (As the sun changes quarter), to the sixth.

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Canto XXVII

Then “Glory to the Father, to the Son, And to the Holy Spirit,” rang aloud Throughout all Paradise, that with the song My spirit reel’d, so passing sweet the strain: And what I saw was equal ecstasy; One universal smile it seem’d of all things, Joy past compare, gladness unutterable, Imperishable life of peace and love, Exhaustless riches and unmeasur’d bliss.

Before mine eyes stood the four torches lit; And that, which first had come, began to wax In brightness, and in semblance such became, As Jove might be, if he and Mars were birds, And interchang’d their plumes. Silence ensued, Through the blest quire, by Him, who here appoints Vicissitude of ministry, enjoin’d; When thus I heard: “Wonder not, if my hue Be chang’d; for, while I speak, these shalt thou see All in like manner change with me. My place He who usurps on earth (my place, ay, mine, Which in the presence of the Son of God Is void), the same hath made my cemetery A common sewer of puddle and of blood: The more below his triumph, who from hence Malignant fell.” Such colour, as the sun, At eve or morning, paints and adverse cloud, Then saw I sprinkled over all the sky. And as th’ unblemish’d dame, who in herself Secure of censure, yet at bare report Of other’s failing, shrinks with maiden fear; So Beatrice in her semblance chang’d: And such eclipse in heav’n methinks was seen, When the Most Holy suffer’d. Then the words Proceeded, with voice, alter’d from itself So clean, the semblance did not alter more. “Not to this end was Christ’s spouse with my blood, With that of Linus, and of Cletus fed: That she might serve for purchase of base gold: But for the purchase of this happy life Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed, And Urban, they, whose doom was not without Much weeping seal’d. No purpose was of our That on the right hand of our successors Part of the Christian people should be set, And part upon their left; nor that the keys, Which were vouchsaf’d me, should for ensign serve Unto the banners, that do levy war On the baptiz’d: nor I, for sigil-mark Set upon sold and lying privileges; Which makes me oft to bicker and turn red. In shepherd’s clothing greedy wolves below Range wide o’er all the pastures. Arm of God! Why longer sleepst thou? Caorsines and Gascona Prepare to quaff our blood. O good beginning To what a vile conclusion must thou stoop! But the high providence, which did defend Through Scipio the world’s glory unto Rome, Will not delay its succour: and thou, son, Who through thy mortal weight shall yet again Return below, open thy lips, nor hide What is by me not hidden.” As a Hood Of frozen vapours streams adown the air, What time the she-goat with her skiey horn Touches the sun; so saw I there stream wide The vapours, who with us had linger’d late And with glad triumph deck th’ ethereal cope. Onward my sight their semblances pursued; So far pursued, as till the space between From its reach sever’d them: whereat the guide Celestial, marking me no more intent On upward gazing, said, “Look down and see What circuit thou hast compass’d.” From the hour When I before had cast my view beneath, All the first region overpast I saw, Which from the midmost to the bound’ry winds; That onward thence from Gades I beheld The unwise passage of Laertes’ son, And hitherward the shore, where thou, Europa! Mad’st thee a joyful burden: and yet more Of this dim spot had seen, but that the sun, A constellation off and more, had ta’en His progress in the zodiac underneath.

Then by the spirit, that doth never leave Its amorous dalliance with my lady’s looks, Back with redoubled ardour were mine eyes Led unto her: and from her radiant smiles, Whenas I turn’d me, pleasure so divine Did lighten on me, that whatever bait Or art or nature in the human flesh, Or in its limn’d resemblance, can combine Through greedy eyes to take the soul withal, Were to her beauty nothing. Its boon influence From the fair nest of Leda rapt me forth, And wafted on into the swiftest heav’n.

What place for entrance Beatrice chose, I may not say, so uniform was all, Liveliest and loftiest. She my secret wish Divin’d; and with such gladness, that God’s love Seem’d from her visage shining, thus began: “Here is the goal, whence motion on his race Starts; motionless the centre, and the rest All mov’d around. Except the soul divine, Place in this heav’n is none, the soul divine, Wherein the love, which ruleth o’er its orb, Is kindled, and the virtue that it sheds; One circle, light and love, enclasping it, As this doth clasp the others; and to Him, Who draws the bound, its limit only known. Measur’d itself by none, it doth divide Motion to all, counted unto them forth, As by the fifth or half ye count forth ten. The vase, wherein time’s roots are plung’d, thou seest, Look elsewhere for the leaves. O mortal lust! That canst not lift thy head above the waves Which whelm and sink thee down! The will in man Bears goodly blossoms; but its ruddy promise Is, by the dripping of perpetual rain, Made mere abortion: faith and innocence Are met with but in babes, each taking leave Ere cheeks with down are sprinkled; he, that fasts, While yet a stammerer, with his tongue let loose Gluts every food alike in every moon. One yet a babbler, loves and listens to His mother; but no sooner hath free use Of speech, than he doth wish her in her grave. So suddenly doth the fair child of him, Whose welcome is the morn and eve his parting, To negro blackness change her virgin white.

“Thou, to abate thy wonder, note that none Bears rule in earth, and its frail family Are therefore wand’rers. Yet before the date, When through the hundredth in his reck’ning drops Pale January must be shor’d aside From winter’s calendar, these heav’nly spheres Shall roar so loud, that fortune shall be fain To turn the poop, where she hath now the prow; So that the fleet run onward; and true fruit, Expected long, shall crown at last the bloom!”

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Canto XXVIII

So she who doth imparadise my soul, Had drawn the veil from off our pleasant life, And bar’d the truth of poor mortality; When lo! as one who, in a mirror, spies The shining of a flambeau at his back, Lit sudden ore he deem of its approach, And turneth to resolve him, if the glass Have told him true, and sees the record faithful As note is to its metre; even thus, I well remember, did befall to me, Looking upon the beauteous eyes, whence love Had made the leash to take me. As I turn’d; And that, which, in their circles, none who spies, Can miss of, in itself apparent, struck On mine; a point I saw, that darted light So sharp, no lid, unclosing, may bear up Against its keenness. The least star we view From hence, had seem’d a moon, set by its side, As star by side of star. And so far off, Perchance, as is the halo from the light Which paints it, when most dense the vapour spreads, There wheel’d about the point a circle of fire, More rapid than the motion, which first girds The world. Then, circle after circle, round Enring’d each other; till the seventh reach’d Circumference so ample, that its bow, Within the span of Juno’s messenger, lied scarce been held entire. Beyond the sev’nth, Follow’d yet other two. And every one, As more in number distant from the first, Was tardier in motion; and that glow’d With flame most pure, that to the sparkle’ of truth Was nearest, as partaking most, methinks, Of its reality. The guide belov’d Saw me in anxious thought suspense, and spake: “Heav’n, and all nature, hangs upon that point. The circle thereto most conjoin’d observe; And know, that by intenser love its course Is to this swiftness wing’d. “To whom I thus: “It were enough; nor should I further seek, Had I but witness’d order, in the world Appointed, such as in these wheels is seen. But in the sensible world such diff’rence is, That is each round shows more divinity, As each is wider from the centre. Hence, If in this wondrous and angelic temple, That hath for confine only light and love, My wish may have completion I must know, Wherefore such disagreement is between Th’ exemplar and its copy: for myself, Contemplating, I fail to pierce the cause.”

“It is no marvel, if thy fingers foil’d Do leave the knot untied: so hard ’tis grown For want of tenting.” Thus she said: “But take,” She added, “if thou wish thy cure, my words, And entertain them subtly. Every orb Corporeal, doth proportion its extent Unto the virtue through its parts diffus’d. The greater blessedness preserves the more. The greater is the body (if all parts Share equally) the more is to preserve. Therefore the circle, whose swift course enwheels The universal frame answers to that, Which is supreme in knowledge and in love Thus by the virtue, not the seeming, breadth Of substance, measure, thou shalt see the heav’ns, Each to the’ intelligence that ruleth it, Greater to more, and smaller unto less, Suited in strict and wondrous harmony.”

As when the sturdy north blows from his cheek A blast, that scours the sky, forthwith our air, Clear’d of the rack, that hung on it before, Glitters; and, With his beauties all unveil’d, The firmament looks forth serene, and smiles; Such was my cheer, when Beatrice drove With clear reply the shadows back, and truth Was manifested, as a star in heaven. And when the words were ended, not unlike To iron in the furnace, every cirque Ebullient shot forth scintillating fires: And every sparkle shivering to new blaze, In number did outmillion the account Reduplicate upon the chequer’d board. Then heard I echoing on from choir to choir, “Hosanna,” to the fixed point, that holds, And shall for ever hold them to their place, From everlasting, irremovable.

Musing awhile I stood: and she, who saw by inward meditations, thus began: “In the first circles, they, whom thou beheldst, Are seraphim and cherubim. Thus swift Follow their hoops, in likeness to the point, Near as they can, approaching; and they can The more, the loftier their vision. Those, That round them fleet, gazing the Godhead next, Are thrones; in whom the first trine ends. And all Are blessed, even as their sight descends Deeper into the truth, wherein rest is For every mind. Thus happiness hath root In seeing, not in loving, which of sight Is aftergrowth. And of the seeing such The meed, as unto each in due degree Grace and good-will their measure have assign’d. The other trine, that with still opening buds In this eternal springtide blossom fair, Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram, Breathe up in warbled melodies threefold Hosannas blending ever, from the three Transmitted. hierarchy of gods, for aye Rejoicing, dominations first, next then Virtues, and powers the third. The next to whom Are princedoms and archangels, with glad round To tread their festal ring; and last the band Angelical, disporting in their sphere. All, as they circle in their orders, look Aloft, and downward with such sway prevail, That all with mutual impulse tend to God. These once a mortal view beheld. Desire In Dionysius so intently wrought, That he, as I have done rang’d them; and nam’d Their orders, marshal’d in his thought. From him Dissentient, one refus’d his sacred read. But soon as in this heav’n his doubting eyes Were open’d, Gregory at his error smil’d Nor marvel, that a denizen of earth Should scan such secret truth; for he had learnt Both this and much beside of these our orbs, From an eye-witness to heav’n’s mysteries.”

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Canto XXIX

No longer than what time Latona’s twins Cover’d of Libra and the fleecy star, Together both, girding the’ horizon hang, In even balance from the zenith pois’d, Till from that verge, each, changing hemisphere, Part the nice level; e’en so brief a space Did Beatrice’s silence hold. A smile Bat painted on her cheek; and her fix’d gaze Bent on the point, at which my vision fail’d: When thus her words resuming she began: “I speak, nor what thou wouldst inquire demand; For I have mark’d it, where all time and place Are present. Not for increase to himself Of good, which may not be increas’d, but forth To manifest his glory by its beams, Inhabiting his own eternity, Beyond time’s limit or what bound soe’er To circumscribe his being, as he will’d, Into new natures, like unto himself, Eternal Love unfolded. Nor before, As if in dull inaction torpid lay. For not in process of before or aft Upon these waters mov’d the Spirit of God. Simple and mix’d, both form and substance, forth To perfect being started, like three darts Shot from a bow three-corded. And as ray In crystal, glass, and amber, shines entire, E’en at the moment of its issuing; thus Did, from th’ eternal Sovran, beam entire His threefold operation, at one act Produc’d coeval. Yet in order each Created his due station knew: those highest, Who pure intelligence were made: mere power The lowest: in the midst, bound with strict league, Intelligence and power, unsever’d bond. Long tract of ages by the angels past, Ere the creating of another world, Describ’d on Jerome’s pages thou hast seen. But that what I disclose to thee is true, Those penmen, whom the Holy Spirit mov’d In many a passage of their sacred book Attest; as thou by diligent search shalt find And reason in some sort discerns the same, Who scarce would grant the heav’nly ministers Of their perfection void, so long a space. Thus when and where these spirits of love were made, Thou know’st, and how: and knowing hast allay’d Thy thirst, which from the triple question rose. Ere one had reckon’d twenty, e’en so soon Part of the angels fell: and in their fall Confusion to your elements ensued. The others kept their station: and this task, Whereon thou lookst, began with such delight, That they surcease not ever, day nor night, Their circling. Of that fatal lapse the cause Was the curst pride of him, whom thou hast seen Pent with the world’s incumbrance. Those, whom here Thou seest, were lowly to confess themselves Of his free bounty, who had made them apt For ministries so high: therefore their views Were by enlight’ning grace and their own merit Exalted; so that in their will confirm’d They stand, nor feel to fall. For do not doubt, But to receive the grace, which heav’n vouchsafes, Is meritorious, even as the soul With prompt affection welcometh the guest. Now, without further help, if with good heed My words thy mind have treasur’d, thou henceforth This consistory round about mayst scan, And gaze thy fill. But since thou hast on earth Heard vain disputers, reasoners in the schools, Canvas the’ angelic nature, and dispute Its powers of apprehension, memory, choice; Therefore, ’tis well thou take from me the truth, Pure and without disguise, which they below, Equivocating, darken and perplex.

“Know thou, that, from the first, these substances, Rejoicing in the countenance of God, Have held unceasingly their view, intent Upon the glorious vision, from the which Naught absent is nor hid: where then no change Of newness with succession interrupts, Remembrance there needs none to gather up Divided thought and images remote

“So that men, thus at variance with the truth Dream, though their eyes be open; reckless some Of error; others well aware they err, To whom more guilt and shame are justly due. Each the known track of sage philosophy Deserts, and has a byway of his own: So much the restless eagerness to shine And love of singularity prevail. Yet this, offensive as it is, provokes Heav’n’s anger less, than when the book of God Is forc’d to yield to man’s authority, Or from its straightness warp’d: no reck’ning made What blood the sowing of it in the world Has cost; what favour for himself he wins, Who meekly clings to it. The aim of all Is how to shine: e’en they, whose office is To preach the Gospel, let the gospel sleep, And pass their own inventions off instead. One tells, how at Christ’s suffering the wan moon Bent back her steps, and shadow’d o’er the sun With intervenient disk, as she withdrew: Another, how the light shrouded itself Within its tabernacle, and left dark The Spaniard and the Indian, with the Jew. Such fables Florence in her pulpit hears, Bandied about more frequent, than the names Of Bindi and of Lapi in her streets. The sheep, meanwhile, poor witless ones, return From pasture, fed with wind: and what avails For their excuse, they do not see their harm? Christ said not to his first conventicle, ‘Go forth and preach impostures to the world,’ But gave them truth to build on; and the sound Was mighty on their lips; nor needed they, Beside the gospel, other spear or shield, To aid them in their warfare for the faith. The preacher now provides himself with store Of jests and gibes; and, so there be no lack Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl Distends, and he has won the meed he sought: Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood, They scarce would wait to hear the blessing said. Which now the dotards hold in such esteem, That every counterfeit, who spreads abroad The hands of holy promise, finds a throng Of credulous fools beneath. Saint Anthony Fattens with this his swine, and others worse Than swine, who diet at his lazy board, Paying with unstamp’d metal for their fare.

“But (for we far have wander’d) let us seek The forward path again; so as the way Be shorten’d with the time. No mortal tongue Nor thought of man hath ever reach’d so far, That of these natures he might count the tribes. What Daniel of their thousands hath reveal’d With finite number infinite conceals. The fountain at whose source these drink their beams, With light supplies them in as many modes, As there are splendours, that it shines on: each According to the virtue it conceives, Differing in love and sweet affection. Look then how lofty and how huge in breadth The’ eternal might, which, broken and dispers’d Over such countless mirrors, yet remains Whole in itself and one, as at the first.”

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Canto XXX

Noon’s fervid hour perchance six thousand miles From hence is distant; and the shadowy cone Almost to level on our earth declines; When from the midmost of this blue abyss By turns some star is to our vision lost. And straightway as the handmaid of the sun Puts forth her radiant brow, all, light by light, Fade, and the spangled firmament shuts in, E’en to the loveliest of the glittering throng. Thus vanish’d gradually from my sight The triumph, which plays ever round the point, That overcame me, seeming (for it did) Engirt by that it girdeth. Wherefore love, With loss of other object, forc’d me bend Mine eyes on Beatrice once again.

If all, that hitherto is told of her, Were in one praise concluded, ’twere too weak To furnish out this turn. Mine eyes did look On beauty, such, as I believe in sooth, Not merely to exceed our human, but, That save its Maker, none can to the full Enjoy it. At this point o’erpower’d I fail, Unequal to my theme, as never bard Of buskin or of sock hath fail’d before. For, as the sun doth to the feeblest sight, E’en so remembrance of that witching smile Hath dispossess my spirit of itself. Not from that day, when on this earth I first Beheld her charms, up to that view of them, Have I with song applausive ever ceas’d To follow, but not follow them no more; My course here bounded, as each artist’s is, When it doth touch the limit of his skill.

She (such as I bequeath her to the bruit Of louder trump than mine, which hasteneth on, Urging its arduous matter to the close), Her words resum’d, in gesture and in voice Resembling one accustom’d to command: “Forth from the last corporeal are we come Into the heav’n, that is unbodied light, Light intellectual replete with love, Love of true happiness replete with joy, Joy, that transcends all sweetness of delight. Here shalt thou look on either mighty host Of Paradise; and one in that array, Which in the final judgment thou shalt see.”

As when the lightning, in a sudden spleen Unfolded, dashes from the blinding eyes The visive spirits dazzled and bedimm’d; So, round about me, fulminating streams Of living radiance play’d, and left me swath’d And veil’d in dense impenetrable blaze. Such weal is in the love, that stills this heav’n; For its own flame the torch this fitting ever!

No sooner to my list’ning ear had come The brief assurance, than I understood New virtue into me infus’d, and sight Kindled afresh, with vigour to sustain Excess of light, however pure. I look’d; And in the likeness of a river saw Light flowing, from whose amber-seeming waves Flash’d up effulgence, as they glided on ’Twixt banks, on either side, painted with spring, Incredible how fair; and, from the tide, There ever and anon, outstarting, flew Sparkles instinct with life; and in the flow’rs Did set them, like to rubies chas’d in gold; Then, as if drunk with odors, plung’d again Into the wondrous flood; from which, as one Re’enter’d, still another rose. “The thirst Of knowledge high, whereby thou art inflam’d, To search the meaning of what here thou seest, The more it warms thee, pleases me the more. But first behooves thee of this water drink, Or ere that longing be allay’d.” So spake The day-star of mine eyes; then thus subjoin’d: “This stream, and these, forth issuing from its gulf, And diving back, a living topaz each, With all this laughter on its bloomy shores, Are but a preface, shadowy of the truth They emblem: not that, in themselves, the things Are crude; but on thy part is the defect, For that thy views not yet aspire so high.” Never did babe, that had outslept his wont, Rush, with such eager straining, to the milk, As I toward the water, bending me, To make the better mirrors of mine eyes In the refining wave; and, as the eaves Of mine eyelids did drink of it, forthwith Seem’d it unto me turn’d from length to round, Then as a troop of maskers, when they put Their vizors off, look other than before, The counterfeited semblance thrown aside; So into greater jubilee were chang’d Those flowers and sparkles, and distinct I saw Before me either court of heav’n displac’d.

O prime enlightener! thou who crav’st me strength On the high triumph of thy realm to gaze! Grant virtue now to utter what I kenn’d, There is in heav’n a light, whose goodly shine Makes the Creator visible to all Created, that in seeing him alone Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far, That the circumference were too loose a zone To girdle in the sun. All is one beam, Reflected from the summit of the first, That moves, which being hence and vigour takes, And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes Its image mirror’d in the crystal flood, As if ’t admire its brave appareling Of verdure and of flowers: so, round about, Eyeing the light, on more than million thrones, Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth Has to the skies return’d. How wide the leaves Extended to their utmost of this rose, Whose lowest step embosoms such a space Of ample radiance! Yet, nor amplitude Nor height impeded, but my view with ease Took in the full dimensions of that joy. Near or remote, what there avails, where God 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-wint’ring 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 stall, On which, the crown, already o’er its state Suspended, holds thine eyes—or ere thyself Mayst at the wedding sup,—shall rest the soul Of the great Harry, he who, by the world Augustas 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 he, who in the sacred forum sways, Openly or in secret, shall with him Accordant walk: Whom God will not endure I’ th’ holy office long; but thrust him down To Simon Magus, where Magna’s priest Will sink beneath him: such will be his meed.”

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Canto XXXI

In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then Before my view the saintly multitude, Which in his own blood Christ espous’d. Meanwhile That other host, that soar aloft to gaze And celebrate his glory, whom they love, Hover’d around; and, like a troop of bees, Amid the vernal sweets alighting now, Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows, Flew downward to the mighty flow’r, or rose From the redundant petals, streaming back Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy. Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold; 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 charmst them thus, Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below!

If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roam’d, (Where helice, forever, 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 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 choose 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 Cours’d 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 rov’d my ken, and 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, Rob’d, as the rest, in glory. Joy benign Glow’d in his eye, and o’er his cheek diffus’d, 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, “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 plac’d her.” Answering not, mine eyes I rais’d, 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,

“O 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 smil’d; then tow’rds th’ eternal fountain turn’d.

And thus the senior, holy and rever’d: “That thou at length mayst happily conclude Thy voyage (to which end I was dispatch’d, By supplication mov’d 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 heav’n’s queen, whom fervent I adore, All gracious aid befriend us; for that I Am her own faithful Bernard.” Like a wight, Who haply from Croatia wends to see Our Veronica, and the while ’tis 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 gaz’d I then Adoring; for the charity of him, Who musing, in the world that peace enjoy’d, Stood lively 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 queen, that of this realm Is sovran.” Straight mine eyes I rais’d; and bright, As, at the birth of morn, the eastern clime Above th’ horizon, where the sun declines; To mine eyes, that upward, as from vale To mountain sped, at th’ extreme bound, a part Excell’d in lustre all the front oppos’d. And as the glow burns ruddiest o’er the wave, That waits the sloping beam, which Phaeton Ill knew to guide, and on each part the light Diminish’d fades, intensest in the midst; So burn’d the peaceful oriflamb, and slack’d On every side the living flame decay’d. And in that midst their sportive pennons wav’d Thousands of angels; in resplendence each Distinct, and quaint adornment. At their glee And carol, smil’d the Lovely One of heav’n, That joy was in the eyes of all the blest.

Had I a tongue in eloquence as rich, As is the colouring in fancy’s loom, ’Twere all too poor to utter the least part Of that enchantment. When he saw mine eyes Intent on her, that charm’d him, Bernard gaz’d With so exceeding fondness, as infus’d Ardour into my breast, unfelt before.

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Canto XXXII

Freely the sage, though wrapt in musings high, Assum’d the teacher’s part, and mild began: “The wound, that Mary clos’d, she open’d first, Who sits so beautiful at Mary’s feet. The third in order, underneath her, lo! Rachel with Beatrice. Sarah next, Judith, Rebecca, and the gleaner maid, Meek ancestress of him, who sang the songs Of sore repentance in his sorrowful mood. All, as I name them, down from deaf to leaf, Are in gradation throned on the rose. And from the seventh step, successively, Adown the breathing tresses of the flow’r Still doth the file of Hebrew dames proceed. For these are a partition wall, whereby The sacred stairs are sever’d, as the faith In Christ divides them. On this part, where blooms Each leaf in full maturity, are set Such as in Christ, or ere he came, believ’d. On th’ other, where an intersected space Yet shows the semicircle void, abide All they, who look’d to Christ already come. And as our Lady on her glorious stool, And they who on their stools beneath her sit, This way distinction make: e’en so on his, The mighty Baptist that way marks the line (He who endur’d the desert and the pains Of martyrdom, and for two years of hell, Yet still continued holy), and beneath, Augustin, Francis, Benedict, and the rest, Thus far from round to round. So heav’n’s decree Forecasts, this garden equally to fill. With faith in either view, past or to come, Learn too, that downward from the step, which cleaves Midway the twain compartments, none there are Who place obtain for merit of their own, But have through others’ merit been advanc’d, On set conditions: spirits all releas’d, Ere for themselves they had the power to choose. And, if thou mark and listen to them well, Their childish looks and voice declare as much.

“Here, silent as thou art, I know thy doubt; And gladly will I loose the knot, wherein Thy subtle thoughts have bound thee. From this realm Excluded, chalice no entrance here may find, No more shall hunger, thirst, or sorrow can. A law immutable hath establish’d all; Nor is there aught thou seest, that doth not fit, Exactly, as the finger to the ring. It is not therefore without cause, that these, O’erspeedy comers to immortal life, Are different in their shares of excellence. Our Sovran Lord—that settleth this estate In love and in delight so absolute, That wish can dare no further—every soul, Created in his joyous sight to dwell, With grace at pleasure variously endows. And for a proof th’ effect may well suffice. And ’tis moreover most expressly mark’d In holy scripture, where the twins are said To, have struggled in the womb. Therefore, as grace Inweaves the coronet, so every brow Weareth its proper hue of orient light. And merely in respect to his prime gift, Not in reward of meritorious deed, Hath each his several degree assign’d. In early times with their own innocence More was not wanting, than the parents’ faith, To save them: those first ages past, behoov’d That circumcision in the males should imp The flight of innocent wings: but since the day Of grace hath come, without baptismal rites In Christ accomplish’d, innocence herself Must linger yet below. Now raise thy view Unto the visage most resembling Christ: For, in her splendour only, shalt thou win The pow’r to look on him.” Forthwith I saw Such floods of gladness on her visage shower’d, From holy spirits, winging that profound; That, whatsoever I had yet beheld, Had not so much suspended me with wonder, Or shown me such similitude of God. And he, who had to her descended, once, On earth, now hail’d in heav’n; and on pois’d wing. “Ave, Maria, Gratia Plena,” sang: To whose sweet anthem all the blissful court, From all parts answ’ring, rang: that holier joy Brooded the deep serene. “Father rever’d: Who deign’st, for me, to quit the pleasant place, Wherein thou sittest, by eternal lot! Say, who that angel is, that with such glee Beholds our queen, and so enamour’d glows Of her high beauty, that all fire he seems.” So I again resorted to the lore Of my wise teacher, he, whom Mary’s charms Embellish’d, as the sun the morning star; Who thus in answer spake: “In him are summ’d, Whatever of buxomness and free delight May be in Spirit, or in angel, met: And so beseems: for that he bare the palm Down unto Mary, when the Son of God Vouchsaf’d to clothe him in terrestrial weeds. Now let thine eyes wait heedful on my words, And note thou of this just and pious realm The chiefest nobles. Those, highest in bliss, The twain, on each hand next our empress thron’d, Are as it were two roots unto this rose. He to the left, the parent, whose rash taste Proves bitter to his seed; and, on the right, That ancient father of the holy church, Into whose keeping Christ did give the keys Of this sweet flow’r: near whom behold the seer, That, ere he died, saw all the grievous times Of the fair bride, who with the lance and nails Was won. And, near unto the other, rests The leader, under whom on manna fed Th’ ungrateful nation, fickle and perverse. On th’ other part, facing to Peter, lo! Where Anna sits, so well content to look On her lov’d daughter, that with moveless eye She chants the loud hosanna: while, oppos’d To the first father of your mortal kind, Is Lucia, at whose hest thy lady sped, When on the edge of ruin clos’d thine eye.

“But (for the vision hasteneth so an end) Here break we off, as the good workman doth, That shapes the cloak according to the cloth: And to the primal love our ken shall rise; That thou mayst penetrate the brightness, far As sight can bear thee. Yet, alas! in sooth Beating thy pennons, thinking to advance, Thou backward fall’st. Grace then must first be gain’d; Her grace, whose might can help thee. Thou in prayer Seek her: and, with affection, whilst I sue, Attend, and yield me all thy heart.” He said, And thus the saintly orison began.

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Canto XXXIII

“O virgin mother, daughter of thy Son, Created beings all in lowliness Surpassing, as in height, above them all, Term by th’ eternal counsel pre-ordain’d, Ennobler of thy nature, so advanc’d In thee, that its great Maker did not scorn, Himself, in his own work enclos’d to dwell! For in thy womb rekindling shone the love Reveal’d, whose genial influence makes now This flower to germin in eternal peace! Here thou to us, of charity and love, Art, as the noon-day torch: and art, beneath, To mortal men, of hope a living spring. So mighty art thou, lady! and so great, That he who grace desireth, and comes not To thee for aidance, fain would have desire Fly without wings. Nor only him who asks, Thy bounty succours, but doth freely oft Forerun the asking. Whatsoe’er may be Of excellence in creature, pity mild, Relenting mercy, large munificence, Are all combin’d in thee. Here kneeleth one, Who of all spirits hath review’d the state, From the world’s lowest gap unto this height. Suppliant to thee he kneels, imploring grace For virtue, yet more high to lift his ken Toward the bliss supreme. And I, who ne’er Coveted sight, more fondly, for myself, Than now for him, my prayers to thee prefer, (And pray they be not scant) that thou wouldst drive Each cloud of his mortality away; That on the sovran pleasure he may gaze. This also I entreat of thee, O queen! Who canst do what thou wilt! that in him thou Wouldst after all he hath beheld, preserve Affection sound, and human passions quell. Lo! Where, with Beatrice, many a saint Stretch their clasp’d hands, in furtherance of my suit!”

The eyes, that heav’n with love and awe regards, Fix’d on the suitor, witness’d, how benign She looks on pious pray’rs: then fasten’d they On th’ everlasting light, wherein no eye Of creature, as may well be thought, so far Can travel inward. I, meanwhile, who drew Near to the limit, where all wishes end, The ardour of my wish (for so behooved), Ended within me. Beck’ning smil’d the sage, That I should look aloft: but, ere he bade, Already of myself aloft I look’d; For visual strength, refining more and more, Bare me into the ray authentical Of sovran light. Thenceforward, what I saw, Was not for words to speak, nor memory’s self To stand against such outrage on her skill. As one, who from a dream awaken’d, straight, All he hath seen forgets; yet still retains Impression of the feeling in his dream; E’en such am I: for all the vision dies, As ’twere, away; and yet the sense of sweet, That sprang from it, still trickles in my heart. Thus in the sun-thaw is the snow unseal’d; Thus in the winds on flitting leaves was lost The Sybil’s sentence. O eternal beam! (Whose height what reach of mortal thought may soar?) Yield me again some little particle Of what thou then appearedst, give my tongue Power, but to leave one sparkle of thy glory, Unto the race to come, that shall not lose Thy triumph wholly, if thou waken aught Of memory in me, and endure to hear The record sound in this unequal strain.

Such keenness from the living ray I met, That, if mine eyes had turn’d away, methinks, I had been lost; but, so embolden’d, on I pass’d, as I remember, till my view Hover’d the brink of dread infinitude.

O grace! unenvying of thy boon! that gav’st Boldness to fix so earnestly my ken On th’ everlasting splendour, that I look’d, While sight was unconsum’d, and, in that depth, Saw in one volume clasp’d of love, whatever The universe unfolds; all properties Of substance and of accident, beheld, Compounded, yet one individual light The whole. And of such bond methinks I saw The universal form: for that whenever I do but speak of it, my soul dilates Beyond her proper self; and, till I speak, One moment seems a longer lethargy, Than five-and-twenty ages had appear’d To that emprize, that first made Neptune wonder At Argo’s shadow darkening on his flood.

With fixed heed, suspense and motionless, Wond’ring I gaz’d; and admiration still Was kindled, as I gaz’d. It may not be, That one, who looks upon that light, can turn To other object, willingly, his view. For all the good, that will may covet, there Is summ’d; and all, elsewhere defective found, Complete. My tongue shall utter now, no more E’en what remembrance keeps, than could the babe’s That yet is moisten’d at his mother’s breast. Not that the semblance of the living light Was chang’d (that ever as at first remain’d) But that my vision quickening, in that sole Appearance, still new miracles descry’d, And toil’d me with the change. In that abyss Of radiance, clear and lofty, seem’d methought, Three orbs of triple hue clipt in one bound: And, from another, one reflected seem’d, As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third Seem’d fire, breath’d equally from both. Oh speech How feeble and how faint art thou, to give Conception birth! Yet this to what I saw Is less than little. Oh eternal light! Sole in thyself that dwellst; and of thyself Sole understood, past, present, or to come! Thou smiledst; on that circling, which in thee Seem’d as reflected splendour, while I mus’d; For I therein, methought, in its own hue Beheld our image painted: steadfastly I therefore por’d upon the view. As one Who vers’d in geometric lore, would fain Measure the circle; and, though pondering long And deeply, that beginning, which he needs, Finds not; e’en such was I, intent to scan The novel wonder, and trace out the form, How to the circle fitted, and therein How plac’d: but the flight was not for my wing; Had not a flash darted athwart my mind, And in the spleen unfolded what it sought.

Here vigour fail’d the tow’ring fantasy: But yet the will roll’d onward, like a wheel In even motion, by the Love impell’d, That moves the sun in heav’n and all the stars.

NOTES TO PARADISE

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Canto 1

Verse 12. Benign Apollo.] Chaucer has imitated this invention very closely at the beginning of the Third Booke of Fame.

If, divine vertue, thou Wilt helpe me to shewe now That in my head ymarked is,

* * * * * Thou shalt see me go as blive Unto the next laurer I see, And kisse it for it is thy tree Now entre thou my breast anone.

v. 15. Thus for.] He appears to mean nothing more than that this part of his poem will require a greater exertion of his powers than the former.

v. 19. Marsyas.] Ovid, Met. 1. vi. fab. 7. Compare Boccaccio, II Filocopo, 1. 5. p. 25. v. ii. Ediz. Fir. 1723. “Egli nel mio petto entri,” &c. - “May he enter my bosom, and let my voice sound like his own, when he made that daring mortal deserve to come forth unsheathed from his limbs. “ v. 29. Caesar, or bard.] So Petrarch, Son. Par. Prima.

Arbor vittoriosa e trionfale, Onor d’imperadori e di poeti.

And Spenser, F. Q. b. i. c. 1. st. 9, The laurel, meed of mighty conquerours And poets sage.

v. 37. Through that.] “Where the four circles, the horizon, the zodiac, the equator, and the equinoctial colure, join; the last threeintersecting each other so as to form three crosses, as may be seen in the armillary sphere.”

v. 39. In happiest constellation.] Aries. Some understand the planetVenus by the “miglior stella “

v. 44. To the left.] Being in the opposite hemisphere to ours, Beatrice that she may behold the rising sun, turns herself to the left.

v. 47. As from the first a second beam.] “Like a reflected sunbeam,” which he compares to a pilgrim hastening homewards.

Ne simil tanto mal raggio secondo Dal primo usci. Filicaja, canz. 15. st. 4.

v. 58. As iron that comes boiling from the fire.] So Milton, P. L. b. iii. 594. —As glowing iron with fire.

v. 69. Upon the day appear’d.

—If the heaven had ywonne, All new of God another sunne. Chaucer, First Booke of Fame

E par ch’ agginuga un altro sole al cielo. Ariosto, O F. c. x. st. 109.

Ed ecco un lustro lampeggiar d’ intorno Che sole a sole aggiunse e giorno a giorno. Manno, Adone. c. xi. st. 27.

Quando a paro col sol ma piu lucente L’angelo gli appari sull; oriente Tasso, G. L. c. i.

-Seems another morn Ris’n on mid-noon. Milton, P. L. b. v. 311.

Compare Euripides, Ion. 1550. [GREEK HERE] 66. as Glaucus. ] Ovid, Met. 1. Xiii. Fab. 9

v. 71. If.] “Thou O divine Spirit, knowest whether 1 had not risen above my human nature, and were not merely such as thou hadst then, formed me.”

v. 125. Through sluggishness.] Perch’ a risponder la materia e sorda.

So Filicaja, canz. vi. st 9. Perche a risponder la discordia e sorda

“The workman hath in his heart a purpose, he carrieth in mind the whole form which his work should have; there wanteth not him skill and desire to bring his labour to the best effect, only the matter, which he hath to work on is unframeable.” Hooker’s Eccl. Polity, b. 5. 9.

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Canto II

v. 1. In small bark.]

Con la barchetta mia cantando in rima Pulci, Morg. Magg. c. xxviii.

Io me n’andro con la barchetta mia, Quanto l’acqua comporta un picciol legno Ibid.

v. 30. This first star.] the moon

v. 46. E’en as the truth.] Like a truth that does not need demonstration, but is self-evident.”

v. 52. Cain.] Compare Hell, Canto XX. 123. And Note

v. 65. Number1ess lights.] The fixed stars, which differ both in bulk and splendor.

v. 71. Save one.] “Except that principle of rarity and denseness which thou hast assigned.” By “formal principles, “principj formali, are meant constituent or essential causes.” Milton, in imitation of this passage, introduces the angel arguing with Adam respecting the causes of the spots on the moon.

But, as a late French translator of the Paradise well remarks, his reasoning is physical; that of Dante partly metaphysical and partly theologic.

v. 111. Within the heaven.] According to our Poet’s system, there are ten heavens; the seven planets, the eighth spheres containing the fixed stars, the primum mobile, and the empyrean.

v. 143. The virtue mingled.] Virg. Aen. 1. vi 724. Principio coelum, &c.

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Canto III

v. 16. Delusion.] “An error the contrary to that of Narcissus, because he mistook a shadow for a substance, I a substance for a shadow.”

v. 50. Piccarda.] The sister of Forese whom we have seen in the Purgatory, Canto XXIII.

v. 90. The Lady.] St. Clare, the foundress of the order called after her She was born of opulent and noble parents at Assisi, in 1193, and died in 1253. See Biogr. Univ. t. 1. p. 598. 8vo. Paris, 1813.

v. 121. Constance.] Daughter of Ruggieri, king of Sicily, who, being taken by force out of a monastery where she had professed, was married to the Emperor Henry Vl. and by him was mother to Frederick 11. She was fifty years old or more at the time, and “because it was not credited that she could have a child at that age, she was delivered in a pavilion and it was given out, that any lady, who pleased, was at liberty to see her. Many came, and saw her, and the suspicion ceased.” Ricordano Malaspina in Muratori, Rer. It. Script. t. viii. p. 939; and G. Villani, in the same words, Hist. I v. c. 16

The French translator above mentored speaks of her having poisoned her husband. The death of Henry Vl. is recorded in the Chronicon Siciliae, by an anonymous writer, (Muratori, t. x.) but not a word of his having been poisoned by Constance, and Ricordano Malaspina even mentions her decease as happening before that of her husband, Henry V., for so this author, with some others, terms him. v. 122. The second.] Henry Vl. son of Frederick I was the second emperor of the house of Saab; and his son Frederick II “the third and last.”

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Canto IV

v. 6. Between two deer]

Tigris ut auditis, diversa valle duorum Extimulata fame, mugitibus armentorum Neseit utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque. Ovid, Metam. 1. v. 166

v. 13. Daniel.] See Daniel, c. ii.

v. 24. Plato.] [GREEK HERE] Plato Timaeus v. ix. p. 326. Edit. Bip. “The Creator, when he had framed the universe, distributed to the stars an equal number of souls, appointing to each soul its several star.”

v. 27. Of that.] Plato’s opinion.

v. 34. The first circle.] The empyrean.

v. 48. Him who made Tobias whole.]

Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign’d To travel with Tobias, and secur’d His marriage with the sev’n times wedded maid, Milton, P. L. b. v. 223.

v. 67. That to the eye of man.] “That the ways of divine justice are often inscrutable to man, ought rather to be a motive to faith than an inducement to heresy.” Such appears to me the most satisfactory explanation of the passage.

v. 82. Laurence.] Who suffered martyrdom in the third century.

v. 82. Scaevola.] See Liv. Hist. D. 1. 1. ii. 12.

v. 100. Alcmaeon.] Ovid, Met. 1. ix. f. 10.

—Ultusque parente parentem Natus, erit facto pius et sceleratus eodem.

v. 107. Of will.] “What Piccarda asserts of Constance, that she retained her affection to the monastic life, is said absolutely and without relation to circumstances; and that which I affirm is spoken of the will conditionally and respectively: so that our apparent difference is without any disagreement.” v. 119. That truth.] The light of divine truth.

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Canto V

v. 43. Two things.] The one, the substance of the vow; the other, the compact, or form of it.

v. 48. It was enjoin’d the Israelites.] See Lev. e. xii, and xxvii.

v. 56. Either key.] Purgatory, Canto IX. 108.

v. 86. That region.] As some explain it, the east, according to others the equinoctial line.

v. 124. This sphere.] The planet Mercury, which, being nearest to the sun, is oftenest hidden by that luminary

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Canto VI

v. 1. After that Constantine the eagle turn’d.] Constantine, in transferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, carried the eagle, the Imperial ensign, from the west to the east. Aeneas, on the contrary had moved along with the sun’s course, when he passed from Troy to Italy.

v. 5. A hundred years twice told and more.] The Emperor Constantine entered Byzantium in 324, and Justinian began his reign in 527.

v. 6. At Europe’s extreme point.] Constantinople being situated at the extreme of Europe, and on the borders of Asia, near those mountains in the neighbourhood of Troy, from whence the first founders of Rome had emigrated.

v. 13. To clear th’ incumber’d laws.] The code of laws was abridged and reformed by Justinian.

v. 15. Christ’s nature merely human.] Justinian is said to have been a follower of the heretical Opinions held by Eutyches,” who taught that in Christ there was but one nature, viz. that of the incarnate word.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, t. ii. Cent. v. p. ii. c. v. 13.

v. 16. Agapete.] Agapetus, Bishop of Rome, whose Scheda Regia, addressed to the Emperor Justinian, procured him a place among the wisest and most judicious writers of this century.” Ibid. Cent. vi. p. ii c. ii. 8.

v. 33. Who pretend its power.] The Ghibellines.

v. 33. And who oppose ] The Guelphs.

v. 34. Pallas died.] See Virgil, Aen. 1. X.

v. 39. The rival three.] The Horatii and Curiatii.

v. 41. Down.] “From the rape of the Sabine women to the violation of Lucretia.” v. 47. Quintius.] Quintius Cincinnatus.

E Cincinnato dall’ inculta chioma. Petrarca.

v. 50. Arab hordes.] The Arabians seem to be put for the barbarians in general.

v. 54. That hill.] The city of Fesulae, which was sacked by the Romans after the defeat of Cataline.

v. 56. Near the hour.] Near the time of our Saviour’s birth.

v. 59. What then it wrought.] In the following fifteen lines the Poet has comprised the exploits of Julius Caesar.

v. 75. In its next bearer’s gripe.] With Augustus Caesar.

v. 89. The third Caesar.] “Tiberius the third of the Caesars, had it in his power to surpass the glory of all who either preceded or came after him, by destroying the city of .Jerusalem, as Titus afterwards did, and thus revenging the cause of God himself on the Jews.”

v. 95. Vengeance for vengeance ] This will be afterwards explained by the Poet himself. v. 98. Charlemagne.] Dante could not be ignorant that the reign of Justinian was long prior to that of Charlemagne; but the spirit of the former emperor is represented, both in this instance and in what follows, as conscious of the events that had taken place after his own time.

v. 104. The yellow lilies.] The French ensign.

v. 110. Charles.] The commentators explain this to mean Charles II, king of Naples and Sicily. Is it not more likely to allude to Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France, who was sent for, about this time, into Italy by Pope Boniface, with the promise of being made emperor? See G. Villani, 1. viii. c. 42.

v. 131. Romeo’s light.] The story of Romeo is involved in some uncertainty. The French writers assert the continuance of his ministerial office even after the decease of his soverign Raymond Berenger, count of Provence: and they rest this assertion chiefly on the fact of a certain Romieu de Villeneuve, who was the contemporary of that prince, having left large possessions behind him, as appears by his will, preserved in the archives of the bishopric of Venice. There might however have been more than one person of the name of Romieu, or Romeo which answers to that of Palmer in our language. Nor is it probable that the Italians, who lived so near the time, were misinformed in an occurrence of such notoriety. According to them, after he had long been a faithful steward to Raymond, when an account was required from him of the revenues whichhe had carefully husbanded, and his master as lavishly disbursed, “He demanded the little mule, the staff, and the scrip, with which he had first entered into the count’s service, a stranger pilgrim from the shrine of St. James in Galicia, and parted as he came; nor was it ever known whence he was or wither he went.” G. Villani, 1. vi. c. 92.

v. 135. Four daughters.] Of the four daughters of Raymond Berenger, Margaret, the eldest, was married to Louis IX of France; Eleanor; the next, to Henry III, of England; Sancha, the third, to Richard, Henry’s brother, and King of the Romans; and the youngest, Beatrice, to Charles I, King of Naples and Sicily, and brother to Louis.

v. 136. Raymond Berenger.] This prince, the last of the house of Barcelona, who was count of Provence, died in 1245. He is in the list of Provencal poets. See Millot, Hist, Litt des Troubadours, t. ii. P. 112.

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Canto VII

v. 3. Malahoth.] A Hebrew word, signifying “kingdoms.”

v. 4. That substance bright.] Justinian.

v. 17. As might have made one blest amid the flames.] So Giusto de’ Conti, Bella Mano. “Qual salamandra.”

Che puommi nelle fiammi far beato.

v. 23. That man who was unborn.] Adam.

v. 61. What distils.] “That which proceeds immediately from God, and without intervention of secondary causes, in immortal.”

v. 140. Our resurrection certain.] “Venturi appears to mistake the Poet’s reasoning, when he observes: “Wretched for us, if we had not arguments more convincing, and of a higher kind, to assure us of the truth of our resurrection.” It is here intended, I think, that the whole of God’s dispensations to man should be considered as a proof of our resurrection. The conclusion is that as before sin man was immortal, so being restored to the favor of heaven by the expiation made for sin, he necessarily recovers his claim to immortality.

There is much in this poem to justify the encomium which the learned Salvini has passed on it, when, in an epistle to Redi, imitating what Horace had said of Homer, that the duties of life might be better learnt from the Grecian bard than from the teachers of the porch or the academy, he says—

And dost thou ask, what themes my mind engage? The lonely hours I give to Dante’s page; And meet more sacred learning in his lines Than I had gain’d from all the school divines.

Se volete saper la vita mia, Studiando io sto lungi da tutti gli nomini Ed ho irnparato piu teologia In questi giorni, che ho riletto Dante, Che nelle scuole fattto io non avria.

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Canto VIII

v. 4. Epicycle,] “In sul dosso di questo cerchio,” &c. Convito di Dante, Opere, t. i. p. 48, ed. Ven. 1793. “Upon the back of this circle, in the heaven of Venus, whereof we are now treating, is a little sphere, which has in that heaven a revolution of its own: whose circle the astronomers term epicycle.”

v. 11. To sit in Dido’s bosom.] Virgil. Aen. 1. i. 718,

v. 40. ‘O ye whose intellectual ministry.] Voi ch’ intendendo il terzo ciel movete. The first line in our Poet” first canzone. See his Convito, Ibid. p. 40.

v. 53. had the time been more.] The spirit now speaking is Charles Martel crowned king of Hungary, and son of Charles 11 king of Naples and Sicily, to which dominions dying in his father’s lifetime, he did not succeed.

v. 57. Thou lov’dst me well.] Charles Martel might have been known to our poet at Florence whither he came to meet his father in 1295, the year of his death. The retinue and the habiliments of the young monarch are minutely described by G. Villani, who adds, that “he remained more than twenty days in Florence, waiting for his father King Charles and his brothers during which time great honour was done him by the, Florentines and he showed no less love towards them, and he was much in favour with all.” 1. viii. c. 13. His brother Robert, king of Naples, was the friend of Petrarch.

v. 60. The left bank.] Provence.

v. 62. That horn Of fair Ausonia.] The kingdom of Naples.

v. 68. The land.] Hungary.

v. 73. The beautiful Trinaeria.] Sicily, so called from its three promontories, of which Pachynus and Pelorus, here mentioned, are two.

v. 14 Typhaeus.] The giant whom Jupiter is fabled to have overwhelmed under the mountain Aetna from whence he vomits forth smoke and flame.

v. 77. Sprang through me from Charles and Rodolph.] “Sicily would be still ruled by a race of monarchs, descended through me from Charles I and Rodolph I the former my grandfather king of Naples and Sicily; the latter emperor of Germany, my father-in-law; “both celebrated in the Purgatory Canto, Vll.

v. 78. Had not ill lording.] “If the ill conduct of our governors in Sicily had not excited the resentment and hatred of the people and stimulated them to that dreadful massacre at the Sicilian vespers;” in consequence of which the kingdom fell into the hands of Peter III of Arragon, in 1282

v. 81. My brother’s foresight.] He seems to tax his brother Robert with employing necessitous and greedy Catalonians to administer the affairs of his kingdom.

v. 99. How bitter can spring up.] “How a covetous son can spring from a liberal father.” Yet that father has himself been accused of avarice in the Purgatory Canto XX. v. 78; though his general character was that of a bounteous prince.

v. 125. Consult your teacher.] Aristole. [GREEK HERE] De Rep. 1. iii. c. 4. “Since a state is made up of members differing from one another, (for even as an animal, in the first instance, consists of soul and body, and the soul, of reason and desire; and a family, of man and woman, and property of master and slave; in like manner a state consists both of all these and besides these of other dissimilar kinds,) it necessarily follows that the excellence of all the members of the state cannot be one and the same.”

v. 136. Esau.] Genesis c. xxv. 22.

v. 137. Quirinus.] Romulus, born of so obscure a father, that his parentage was attributed to Mars.

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Canto IX

v. 2. O fair Clemenza.] Daughter of Charles Martel, and second wife of Louis X. of France.

v. 2. The treachery.] He alludes to the occupation of the kingdom of Sicily by Robert, in exclusion of his brother s son Carobert, or Charles. Robert, the rightful heir. See G. Villani, 1. viii. c. 112.

v. 7. That saintly light.] Charles Martel.

v. 25. In that part.] Between Rialto and the Venetian territory, and the sources of the rivers Brenta and Piava is situated a castle called Romano, the birth-place of the famous tyrant Ezzolino or Azzolino, the brother of Cunizza, who is now speaking. The tyrant we have seen in “the river of blood.” Hell, Canto XII. v. 110.

v. 32. Cunizza.] The adventures of Cunizza, overcome by the influence of her star, are related by the chronicler Rolandino of Padua, 1. i. c. 3, in Muratori Rer. It. Script. t. viii. p. 173.

She eloped from her first husband, Richard of St. Boniface, in the company of Sordello, (see Purgatory, Canto VI. and VII. ) with whom she is supposed to have cohabited before her marriage: then lived with a soldier of Trevigi, whose wife was living at the same time in the same city, and on his being murdered by her brother the tyrant, was by her brother married to a nobleman of Braganzo, lastly when he also had fallen by the same hand she, after her brother’s death, was again wedded in Verona.

v. 37. This.] Folco of Genoa, a celebrated Provencal poet, commonly termed Folques of Marseilles, of which place he was perhaps bishop. Many errors of Nostradamus, regarding him, which have been followed by Crescimbeni, Quadrio, and Millot, are detected by the diligence of Tiraboschi. Mr. Matthias’s ed. v. 1. P. 18. All that appears certain, is what we are told in this Canto, that he was of Genoa, and by Petrarch in the Triumph of Love, c. iv. that he was better known by the appellation he derived from Marseilles, and at last resumed the religious habit. One of his verses is cited by Dante, De Vulg. Eloq. 1. ii. c. 6.

v. 40. Five times.] The five hundred years are elapsed: and unless the Provencal MSS. should be brought to light the poetical reputation of Folco must rest on the mention made of him by the more fortunate Italians.

v. 43 The crowd.] The people who inhabited the tract of country bounded by the river Tagliamento to the east, and Adice to the west.

v. 45. The hour is near.] Cunizza foretells the defeat of Giacopo da Carrara, Lord of Padua by Can Grande, at Vicenza, on the 18th September 1314. See G. Villani, 1. ix. c. 62. v. 48. One.] She predicts also the fate of Ricciardo da Camino, who is said to have been murdered at Trevigi, where the rivers (Sile and Cagnano meet) while he was engaged in playing at chess.

v. 50. The web.] The net or snare into, which he is destined to fall.

v. 50. Feltro.] The Bishop of Felto having received a number of fugitives from Ferrara, who were in opposition to the Pope, under a promise of protection, afterwards gave them up, so that they were reconducted to that city, and the greater part of them there put to death.

v. 53. Malta’s.] A tower, either in the citadel of Padua, which under the tyranny of Ezzolino, had been “with many a foul and midnight murder fed,” or (as some say) near a river of the same name, that falls into the lake of Bolsena, in which the Pope was accustomed to imprison such as had been guilty of an irremissible sin.

v. 56 This priest.] The bishop, who, to show himself a zealous partisan of the Pope, had committed the above-mentioned act of treachery.

v. 58. We descry.] “We behold the things that we predict, in the mirrors of eternal truth.”

v. 64. That other joyance.] Folco.

v. 76. Six shadowing wings.] “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings.” Isaiah, c. vi. 2.

v. 80. The valley of waters.] The Mediterranean sea.

v. 80. That.] The great ocean.

v. 82. Discordant shores.] Europe and Africa.

v. 83. Meridian.] Extending to the east, the Mediterranean at last reaches the coast of Palestine, which is on its horizon when it enters the straits of Gibraltar. “Wherever a man is,” says Vellutello, “there he has, above his head, his own particular meridian circle.”

v. 85. —’Twixt Ebro’s stream And Macra’s.] Eora, a river to the west, and Macra, to the east of Genoa, where Folco was born.

v. 88. Begga.] A place in Africa, nearly opposite to Genoa.

v. 89. Whose haven.] Alluding to the terrible slaughter of the Genoese made by the Saracens in 936, for which event Vellutello refers to the history of Augustino Giustiniani.

v. 91. This heav’n.] The planet Venus.

v. 93. Belus’ daughter.] Dido.

v. 96. She of Rhodope.] Phyllis.

v. 98. Jove’s son.] Hercules.

v. 112. Rahab.] Heb. c. xi. 31.

v. 120. With either palm.] “By the crucifixion of Christ”

v. 126. The cursed flower.] The coin of Florence, called the florin.

v. 130. The decretals.] The canon law.

v. 134. The Vatican.] He alludes either to the death of Pope Boniface VIII. or, as Venturi supposes, to the coming of the Emperor Henry VII. into Italy, or else, according to the yet more probable conjecture of Lombardi, to the transfer of the holy see from Rome to Avignon, which took place in the pontificate of Clement V.

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Canto X

v. 7. The point.] “To that part of heaven,” as Venturi explains it, “in which the equinoctial circle and the Zodiac intersect each other, where the common motion of the heavens from east to west may be said to strike with greatest force against the motion proper to the planets; and this repercussion, as it were, is here the strongest, because the velocity of each is increased to the utmost by their respective distance from the poles. Such at least is the system of Dante.”

v. 11. Oblique.] The zodiac.

v. 25. The part.] The above-mentioned intersection of the equinoctial circle and the zodiac.

v. 26. Minister.] The sun.

v. 30. Where.] In which the sun rises every day earlier after the vernal equinox.

v. 45. Fourth family.] The inhabitants of the sun, the fourth planet.

v. 46. Of his spirit and of his offspring.] The procession of the third, and the generation of the second person in the Trinity.

v. 70. Such was the song.] “The song of these spirits was ineffable.

v. 86. No less constrained.] “The rivers might as easily cease to flow towards the sea, as we could deny thee thy request.”

v. 91. I then.] “I was of the Dominican order.”

v. 95. Albert of Cologne.] Albertus Magnus was born at Laugingen, in Thuringia, in 1193, and studied at Paris and at Padua, at the latter of which places he entered into the Dominican order. He then taught theology in various parts of Germany, and particularly at Cologne. Thomas Aquinas was his favourite pupil. In 1260, he reluctantly accepted the bishopric of Ratisbon, and in two years after resigned it, and returned to his cell in Cologne, where the remainder of his life was passed in superintending the school, and in composing his voluminous works on divinity and natural science. He died in 1280. The absurd imputation of his having dealt in the magical art is well known; and his biographers take some pains to clear him of it. Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, by Quetif and Echard, Lut. Par. 1719. fol. t. 1. p. 162.

v. 96. Of Aquinum, Thomas.] Thomas Aquinas, of whom Bucer is reported to have said, “Take but Thomas away, and I will overturn the church of Rome,” and whom Hooker terms “the greatest among the school divines,” (Eccl. Pol. b. 3. 9), was born of noble parents, who anxiously, but vainly, endeavoured to divert him from a life of celibacy and study; and died in 1274, at the age of fourty-seven. Echard and Quetif, ibid. p. 271. See also Purgatory Canto XX. v. 67.

v. 101. Gratian.] “Gratian, a Benedictine monk belonging to the convent of St. Felix and Nabor, at Bologna, and by birth a Tuscan, composed, about the year 1130, for the use of the schools, an abridgment or epitome of canon law, drawn from the letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the writings of the ancient doctors.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, v. iii. cent. 12. part 2. c. i. 6.

v. 101. To either forum.] “By reconciling,” as Venturi explains it “the civil with the canon law.”

v. 104. Peter.] “Pietro Lombardo was of obscure origin, nor is the place of his birth in Lombardy ascertained. With a recommendation from the bishop of Lucca to St. Bernard, he went into France to continue his studies, and for that purpose remained some time at Rheims, whence he afterwards proceeded to Paris. Here his reputation was so great that Philip, brother of Louis VII., being chosen bishop of Paris, resigned that dignity to Pietro, whose pupil he had been. He held his bishopric only one year, and died in 1160. His Liber Sententiarum is highly esteemed. It contains a system of scholastic theology, so much more complete than any which had been yet seen, that it may be deemed an original work.” Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. t. iii. 1. 4. c. 2.

v. 104. Who with the widow gave.] This alludes to the beginning of the Liber Sententiarum, where Peter says: “Cupiens aliquid de penuria ac tenuitate nostra cum paupercula in gazophylacium domini mittere,” v. 105. The fifth light.] Solomon.

v. 112. That taper’s radiance.] St. Dionysius the Areopagite. “The famous Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out for Dionysius the Areopagite, disciple of St. Paul, and who, under the protection of this venerable name, gave laws and instructions to those that were desirous of raising their souls above all human things in order to unite them to their great source by sublime contemplation, lived most probably in this century (the fourth), though some place him before, others after, the present period.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, v. i. cent. iv. p. 2. c. 3. 12.

v. 116. That pleader.] 1n the fifth century, Paulus Orosius, “acquired a considerable degree of reputation by the History he wrote to refute the cavils of the Pagans against Christianity, and by his books against the Pelagians and Priscillianists.” Ibid. v. ii. cent. v. p. 2. c. 2. 11. A similar train of argument was pursued by Augustine, in his book De Civitate Dei. Orosius is classed by Dante, in his treatise De Vulg. Eloq. I ii c. 6. as one of his favourite authors, among those “qui usi sunt altissimas prosas,”—” who have written prose with the greatest loftiness of style.”

v. 119. The eighth.] Boetius, whose book De Consolatione Philosophiae excited so much attention during the middle ages, was born, as Tiraboschi conjectures, about 470. “In 524 he was cruelly put to death by command of Theodoric, either on real or pretended suspicion of his being engaged in a conspiracy.” Della Lett. Ital. t. iii. 1. i. c. 4.

v. 124. Cieldauro.] Boetius was buried at Pavia, in the monastery of St. Pietro in Ciel d’oro.

v. 126. Isidore.] He was Archbishop of Seville during forty years, and died in 635. See Mariana, Hist. 1. vi. c. 7. Mosheim, whose critical opinions in general must be taken with some allowance, observes that “his grammatical theological, and historical productions, discover more learning and pedantry, than judgment and taste.”

v. 127. Bede.] Bede, whose virtues obtained him the appellation of the Venerable, was born in 672 at Wearmouth and Jarrow, in the bishopric of Durham, and died in 735. Invited to Rome by Pope Sergius I., he preferred passing almost the whole of his life in the seclusion of a monastery. A catalogue of his numerous writings may be seen in Kippis’s Biographia Britannica, v. ii.

v. 127. Richard.] Richard of St. Victor, a native either of Scotland or Ireland, was canon and prior of the monastery of that name at Paris and died in 1173. “He was at the head of the Mystics in this century and his treatise, entitled the Mystical Ark, which contains as it were the marrow of this kind of theology, was received with the greatest avidity.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, v. iii. cent. xii. p. 2. c. 2. 23.

v. 132. Sigebert.] “A monk of the abbey of Gemblours who was in high repute at the end of the eleventh, and beginning of the twelfth century.” Dict. de Moreri.

v. 131. The straw-litter’d street.] The name of a street in Paris: the “Rue du Fouarre.”

v. 136. The spouse of God.] The church.

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Canto XI

v. 1. O fond anxiety of mortal men.] Lucretius, 1. ii. 14

O miseras hominum mentes ! O pectora caeca Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis Degitur hoc aevi quodcunque est!

v. 4. Aphorisms,] The study of medicine.

v. 17. The lustre.] The spirit of Thomas Aquinas

v. 29. She.] The church.

v. 34. One.] Saint Francis.

v. 36. The other.] Saint Dominic.

v. 40. Tupino.] A rivulet near Assisi, or Ascesi where Francis was born in 1182.

v. 40. The wave.] Chiascio, a stream that rises in a mountain near Agobbio, chosen by St. Ubaldo for the place of his retirement.

v. 42. Heat and cold.] Cold from the snow, and heat from the reflection of the sun.

v. 45. Yoke.] Vellutello understands this of the vicinity of the mountain to Nocera and Gualdo; and Venturi (as I have taken it) of the heavy impositions laid on those places by the Perugians. For GIOGO, like the Latin JUGUM, will admit of either sense.

v. 50. The east.]

This is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Shakespeare.

v. 55. Gainst his father’s will.] In opposition to the wishes of his natural father

v. 58. In his father’s sight.] The spiritual father, or bishop, in whose presence he made a profession of poverty.

v. 60. Her first husband.] Christ.

v. 63. Amyclas.] Lucan makes Caesar exclaim, on witnessing the secure poverty of the fisherman Amyclas:

—O vite tuta facultas Pauperis, angustique lares! O munera nondum Intellecta deum! quibus hoc contingere templis, Aut potuit muris, nullo trepidare tumultu, Caesarea pulsante manu? Lucan Phars. 1. v. 531.

v. 72. Bernard.] One of the first followers of the saint.

v. 76. Egidius.] The third of his disciples, who died in 1262. His work, entitled Verba Aurea, was published in 1534, at Antwerp See Lucas Waddingus, Annales Ordinis Minoris, p. 5.

v. 76. Sylvester.] Another of his earliest associates.

v. 83. Pietro Bernardone.] A man in an humble station of life at Assisi.

v. 86. Innocent.] Pope Innocent III.

v. 90. Honorius.] His successor Honorius III who granted certain privileges to the Franciscans.

v. 93. On the hard rock.] The mountain Alverna in the Apennine.

v. 100. The last signet.] Alluding to the stigmata, or marks resembling the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the saint’s body.

v. 106. His dearest lady.] Poverty.

v. 113. Our Patriarch ] Saint Dominic.

v. 316. His flock ] The Dominicans.

v. 127. The planet from whence they split.] “The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe.”

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Canto XII

v. 1. The blessed flame.] Thomas Aquinas

v. 12. That voice.] The nymph Echo, transformed into the repercussion of the voice.

v. 25. 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.

v. 28. 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 St. Francis.

v. 42. In that clime.] Spain.

v. 48. Callaroga.] Between Osma and Aranda, in Old Castile, designated by the royal coat of arms.

v. 51. The loving minion of the Christian faith.] Dominic was born April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221. His birthplace, 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 Praedicatorum. Par. 1719. fol. t 1. 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.

v. 55. 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 its mouth.

v. 59. 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.

v. 73. Felix.] Felix Gusman.

v. 75. As men interpret it.] Grace or gift of the Lord.

v. 77. Ostiense.] A cardinal, who explained the decretals.

v. 77. Taddeo.] A physician, of Florence.

v. 82. 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.”

v. 85. No dispensation.] Dominic did not ask license to compound for the use of unjust acquisitions, by dedicating a part of them to pious purposes.

v. 89. In favour of that seed.] “For that seed of the divine word, from which have sprung up these four-and-twenty plants, that now environ thee.”

v. 101. But the track.] “But the rule of St. Francis is already deserted and the lees of the wine are turned into mouldiness.”

v. 110. Tares.] He adverts to the parable of the taxes and the wheat.

v. 111. I question not.] “Some indeed might be found, who still observe the rule of the order, but such would come neither from Casale nor Acquasparta:” of the former of which places was Uberto, one master general, by whom the discipline had been relaxed; and of the latter, Matteo, another, who had enforced it with unnecessary rigour.

v. 121. -Illuminato here, And Agostino.] Two among the earliest followers of St. Francis.

v. 125. Hugues of St. Victor.] A Saxon of the monastery of Saint Victor at Paris, who fed ill 1142 at the age of forty-four. “A man distinguished by the fecundity of his genius, who treated in his writings of all the branches of sacred and profane erudition that were known in his time, and who composed several dissertations that are not destitute of merit.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. v. iii . cent. xii. p. 2. 2. 23. I have looked into his writings, and found some reason for this high eulogium.

v. 125. Piatro Mangiadore.] “Petrus Comestor, or the Eater, born at Troyes, was canon and dean of that church, and afterwards chancellor of the church of Paris. He relinquished these benefices to become a regular canon of St. Victor at Paris, where he died in 1198. Chaudon et Delandine Dict. Hist. Ed. Lyon. 1804. The work by which he is best known, is his Historia Scolastica, which I shall have occasion to cite in the Notes to Canto XXVI.

v. 126. He of Spain.] “To Pope Adrian V succeeded John XXI a native of Lisbon a man of great genius and extraordinary acquirements, especially in logic and in medicine, as his books, written in the name of Peter of Spain (by which he was known before he became Pope), may testify. His life was not much longer than that of his predecessors, for he was killed at Viterbo, by the falling in of the roof of his chamber, after he had been pontiff only eight months and as many days. A.D. 1277. Mariana, Hist. de Esp. l. xiv. c. 2.

v. 128. Chrysostom.] The eloquent patriarch of Constantinople.

v. 128. Anselmo.] “Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Aosta, about 1034, and studied under Lanfrane at the monastery of Bec, in Normandy, where he afterwards devoted himself to a religious life, in his twenty-seventh year. In three years he was made prior, and then abbot of that monastery! from whence he was taken, in 1093, to succeed to the archbishopric, vacant by the death of Lanfrane. He enjoyed this dignity till his death, in 1109, though it was disturbed by many dissentions with William II and Henry I respecting the immunities and investitures. There is much depth and precisian in his theological works.” Tiraboschi, Stor. della Lett. Ital. t. iii.

1. iv. c. 2. Ibid. c. v. “It is an observation made by many modern writers, that the demonstration of the existence of God, taken from the idea of a Supreme Being, of which Des Cartes is thought to be the author, was so many ages back discovered and brought to light by Anselm. Leibnitz himself makes the remark, vol. v. Oper. p. 570. Edit. Genev. 1768.”

v. 129. Donatus.] Aelius Donatus, the grammarian, in the fourth century, one of the preceptors of St. Jerome.

v. 130. Raban.] “Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mentz, is deservedly placed at the head of the Latin writers of this age.” Mosheim, v. ii. cent. ix. p. 2 c. 2. 14.

v. 131. Joachim.] Abbot of Flora in Calabria; “whom the multitude revered as a person divinely inspired and equal to the most illustrious prophets of ancient times.” Ibid. v. iii. cent. xiii. p. 2. c. 2. 33.

v. 134. A peer.] St. Dominic.

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Canto XIII

v. 1. Let him.] “Whoever would conceive the sight that now presented itself to me, must imagine to himself fifteen of the brightest stars in heaven, together with seven stars of Arcturus Major and two of Arcturus Minor, ranged in two circles, one within the other, each resembling the crown of Ariadne, and moving round m opposite directions.”

v. 21. The Chiava.] See Hell, Canto XXIX. 45.

v. 29. That luminary.] Thomas Aquinas.

v. 31. One ear.] “Having solved one of thy questions, I proceed to answer the other. Thou thinkest, then, that Adam and Christ were both endued with all the perfection of which the human nature is capable and therefore wonderest at what has been said concerning Solomon”

v. 48. That.] “Things corruptible and incorruptible, are only emanations from the archetypal idea residing in the Divine mind.”

v. 52. His brightness.] The Word: the Son of God.

v. 53. His love triune with them.] The Holy Ghost.

v. 55. New existences.] Angels and human souls.

v. 57. The lowest powers.] Irrational life and brute matter.

v. 62. Their wax and that which moulds it.] Matter, and the virtue or energy that acts on it.

v. 68. The heav’n.] The influence of the planetary bodies.

v. 77. The clay.] Adam.

v. 88. Who ask’d.] “He did not desire to know the number of the stars, or to pry into the subtleties of metaphysical and mathematical science: but asked for that wisdom which might fit him for his kingly office.”

v. 120. —Parmenides Melissus Bryso.] For the singular opinions entertained by the two former of these heathen philosophers, see Diogenes Laertius, 1. ix. and Aristot. de Caelo, 1. iii. c. 1 and Phys. l. i. c. 2. The last is also twice adduced by 2. Aristotle (Anal Post. 1. i. c. 9. and Rhet. 1. iii. c. 2.) as 3. affording instances of false reasoning.

v. 123. Sabellius, Arius.] Well-known heretics.

v. 124. Scymitars.] A passage in the travels of Bertradon de la Brocquiere, translated by Mr. Johnes, will explain this allusion, which has given some trouble to the commentators. That traveler, who wrote before Dante, informs us, p. 138, that the wandering Arabs used their scymitars as mirrors.

v. 126. Let not.] “Let not short-sighted mortals presume to decide on the future doom of any man, from a consideration of his present character and actions.”

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Canto XIV

v. 5. Such was the image.] The voice of Thomas Aquinas proceeding, from the circle to the centre and that of Beatrice from the centre to the circle.

v. 26. Him.] Literally translated by Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide.

Thou one two, and three eterne on live That raignest aie in three, two and one Uncircumscript, and all maist circonscrive,

v. 81. The goodliest light.] Solomon.

v. 78. To more lofty bliss.] To the planet Mars.

v. 94. The venerable sign.] The cross.

v. 125. He.] “He who considers that the eyes of Beatrice became more radiant the higher we ascended, must not wonder that I do not except even them as I had not yet beheld them since our entrance into this planet.”

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Canto XV

v. 24. Our greater Muse.] Virgil Aen. 1. vi. 684. v. 84. I am thy root.] Cacciaguida, father to Alighieri, of whom our Poet was the great-grandson.

v. 89. The mountain.] Purgatory.

v. 92. Florence.] See G. Villani, l. iii. c. 2.

v. 93. Which calls her still.] The public clock being still within the circuit of the ancient walls.

v. 98. When.] When the women were not married at too early an age, and did not expect too large a portion.

v. 101. Void.] Through the civil wars.

v. 102 Sardanapalus.] The luxurious monarch of Assyria Juvenal is here imitated, who uses his name for an instance of effeminacy. Sat.

v. 103. Montemalo ] Either an elevated spot between Rome and Viterbo, or Monte Mario, the site of the villa Mellini, commanding a view of Rome.

v. 101. Our suburban turret.] Uccellatojo, near Florence, from whence that city was discovered.

v. 103. Bellincion Berti.] Hell, Canto XVI. 38. nd Notes. There is a curious description of the simple manner in which the earlier Florentines dressed themselves in G. Villani, 1 vi. c. 71.

v. 110. Of Nerli and of Vecchio.] Two of the most opulent families in Florence.

v. 113. Each.] “None fearful either of dying in banishment, or of being deserted by her husband on a scheme of battle in France.

v. 120. A Salterello and Cianghella.] The latter a shameless woman of the family of Tosa, married to Lito degli Alidosi of Imola: the former Lapo Salterello, a lawyer, with whom Dante was at variance.

v. 125. Mary.] The Virgin was involved in the pains of child-birth Purgatory, Canto XX. 21.

v. 130 Valdipado.] Cacciaguida’s wife, whose family name was Aldighieri; came from Ferrara, called Val di Pado, from its being watered by the Po.

v. 131. Conrad.] The Emperor Conrad III who died in 1152. See G. Villani, 1. iv. 34.

v. 136. Whose people.] The Mahometans, who were left in possession of the Holy Land, through the supineness of the Pope.

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Canto XVI

v. 10. With greeting.] The Poet, who had addressed the spirit, not knowing him to be his ancestor, with a plain “Thou,” now uses more ceremony, and calls him “You,” according to a custom introduced among the Romans in the latter times of the empire.

v. 15. Guinever.] Beatrice’s smile encouraged him to proceed just as the cough of Ginevra’s female servant gave her mistress assurance to admit the freedoms of Lancelot. See Hell, Canto V. 124.

v. 23. The fold.] Florence, of which John the Baptist was the patron saint.

v. 31. From the day.] From the Incarnation to the birth of Cacciaguida, the planet Mars had returned five hundred and fifty-three times to the constellation of Leo, with which it is supposed to have a congenial influence. His birth may, therefore, be placed about 1106.

v. 38. The last.] The city was divided into four compartments. The Elisei, the ancestors of Dante, resided near the entrance of that named from the Porta S. Piero, which was the last reached by the competitor in the annual race at Florence. See G. Villani, 1. iv. c. 10.

v. 44. From Mars.] “Both in the times of heathenish and of Christianity.” Hell, Canto XIII. 144.

v. 48. Campi and Certaldo and Fighine.] Country places near Florence.

v. 50. That these people.] That the inhabitants of the above- mentioned places had not been mixed with the citizens: nor the limits of Florence extended beyond Galluzzo and Trespiano.”

v. 54. Aguglione’s hind and Signa’s.] Baldo of Aguglione, and Bonifazio of Signa.

v. 56. Had not the people.] If Rome had continued in her allegiance to the emperor, and the Guelph and Ghibelline factions had thus been prevented, Florence would not have been polluted by a race of upstarts, nor lost the most respectable of her ancient families.

v. 61. Simifonte.] A castle dismantled by the Florentines. G. Villani, 1. v. c. 30. The individual here alluded to is no longer known.

v. 69. The blind bull.] So Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide. b. 2.

For swifter course cometh thing that is of wight When it descendeth than done things light.

Compare Aristotle, Ethic. Nic. l. vi. c. 13. [GREEK HERE]

v. 72. Luni, Urbisaglia.] Cities formerly of importance, but then fallen to decay.

v. 74. Chiusi and Sinigaglia.] The same.

v. 80. As the moon.] “The fortune of us, that are the moon’s men doth ebb and flow like the sea.” Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV. a. i. s. 2.

v. 86. The Ughi.] Whoever is curious to know the habitations of these and the other ancient Florentines, may consult G. Villani, l. iv.

v. 91. At the poop.] Many editions read porta, “gate.” -The same metaphor is found in Aeschylus, Supp. 356, and is there also scarce understood by the critics. [GREEK HERE] Respect these wreaths, that crown your city’s poop.

v. 99. The gilded hilt and pommel.] The symbols of knighthood

v. 100. The column cloth’d with verrey.] The arms of the Pigli.

v. 103. With them.] Either the Chiaramontesi, or the Tosinghi one of which had committed a fraud in measuring out the wheat from the public granary. See Purgatory, Canto XII. 99

v. 109. The bullets of bright gold.] The arms of the Abbati, as it is conjectured.

v. 110. The sires of those.] “Of the Visdomini, the Tosinghi and the Cortigiani, who, being sprung from the founders of the bishopric of Florence are the curators of its revenues, which they do not spare, whenever it becomes vacant.”

v. 113. Th’ o’erweening brood.] The Adimari. This family was so little esteemed, that Ubertino Donato, who had married a daughter of Bellincion Berti, himself indeed derived from the same stock (see Note to Hell Canto XVI. 38.) was offended with his father-in-law, for giving another of his daughters in marriage to one of them.

v. 124. The gateway.] Landino refers this to the smallness of the city: Vellutello, with less probability, to the simplicity of the people in naming one of the gates after a private family.

v. 127. The great baron.] The Marchese Ugo, who resided at Florence as lieutenant of the Emperor Otho III, gave many of the chief families license to bear his arms. See G. Villani, 1. iv. c. 2., where the vision is related, in consequence of which he sold all his possessions in Germany, and founded seven abbeys, in one whereof his memory was celebrated at Florence on St. Thomas’s day. v. 130. One.] Giano della Bella, belonging to one of the families thus distinguished, who no longer retained his place among the nobility, and had yet added to his arms a bordure or. See Macchiavelli, 1st. Fior. 1. ii. p. 86. Ediz. Giolito.

v. 132. -Gualterotti dwelt And Importuni.] Two families in the compartment of the city called Borgo.

v. 135. The house.] Of Amidei. See Notes to Canto XXVIII. of Hell. v. 102.

v. 142. To Ema.] “It had been well for the city, if thy ancestor had been drowned in the Ema, when he crossed that stream on his way from Montebuono to Florence.”

v. 144. On that maim’d stone.] See Hell, Canto XIII. 144. Near the remains of the statue of Mars. Buondelmonti was slain, as if he had been a victim to the god; and Florence had not since known the blessing of peace.

v. 150. The lily.] “The arms of Florence had never hung reversed on the spear of her enemies, in token of her defeat; nor been changed from argent to gules;” as they afterwards were, when the Guelfi gained the predominance.

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Canto XVII

v. 1. The youth.] Phaeton, who came to his mother Clymene, to inquire of her if he were indeed the son of Apollo. See Ovid, Met. 1. i. ad finem.

v. 6. That saintly lamp.] Cacciaguida.

v. 12. To own thy thirst.] “That thou mayst obtain from others a solution of any doubt that may occur to thee.”

v. 15. Thou seest as clear.] “Thou beholdest future events, with the same clearness of evidence, that we discern the simplest mathematical demonstrations.”

v. 19. The point.] The divine nature.

v. 27. The arrow.] Nam praevisa minus laedere tela solent. Ovid.

Che piaga antiveduta assai men duole. Petrarca, Trionfo del Tempo

v. 38. Contingency.] “The evidence with which we see the future portrayed in the source of all truth, no more necessitates that future than does the image, reflected in the sight by a ship sailing down a stream, necessitate the motion of the vessel.”

v. 43. From thence.] “From the eternal sight; the view of the Deity.

v. 49. There.] At Rome, where the expulsion of Dante’s party from Florence was then plotting, in 1300.

v. 65. Theirs.] “They shall be ashamed of the part they have taken aga’nst thee.”

v. 69. The great Lombard.] Either Alberto della Scala, or Bartolommeo his eldest son. Their coat of arms was a ladder and an eagle.

v. 75. That mortal.] Can Grande della Scala, born under the influence of Mars, but at this time only nine years old

v. 80. The Gascon.] Pope Clement V.

v. 80. Great Harry.] The Emperor Henry VII.

v. 127. The cry thou raisest.] “Thou shalt stigmatize the faults of those who are most eminent and powerful.”

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Canto XVIII

v. 3. Temp’ring the sweet with bitter.] Chewing the end of sweet and bitter fancy. Shakespeare, As you Like it, a. 3. s. 3.

v. 26. On this fifth lodgment of the tree.] Mars, the fifth ot the @

v. 37. The great Maccabee.] Judas Maccabeus.

v. 39. Charlemagne.] L. Pulci commends Dante for placing Charlemagne and Orlando here: Io mi confido ancor molto qui a Dante Che non sanza cagion nel ciel su misse Carlo ed Orlando in quelle croci sante, Che come diligente intese e scrisse. Morg. Magg. c. 28.

v. 43. William and Renard.] Probably not, as the commentators have imagined, William II of Orange, and his kinsman Raimbaud, two of the crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon, (Maimbourg, Hist. des Croisades, ed. Par. 1682. 12mo. t. i. p. 96.) but rather the two more celebrated heroes in the age of Charlemagne. The former, William l. of Orange, supposed to have been the founder of the present illustrious family of that name, died about 808, according to Joseph de la Piser, Tableau de l’Hist. des Princes et Principante d’Orange. Our countryman, Ordericus Vitalis, professes to give his true life, which had been misrepresented in the songs of the itinerant bards.” Vulgo canitur a joculatoribus de illo, cantilena; sed jure praeferenda est relatio authentica.” Eccl. Hist. in Duchesne, Hist. Normann Script. p. 508. The latter is better known by having been celebrated by Ariosto, under the name of Rinaldo.

v. 43. Duke Godfey.] Godfrey of Bouillon.

v. 46. Robert Guiscard.] See Hell, Canto XXVIII. v. 12.

v. 81. The characters.] Diligite justitiam qui judicatis terrarm. “Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth “ Wisdom of Solomon, c. i. 1.

v. 116. That once more.] “That he may again drive out those who buy and sell in the temple.”

v. 124. Taking the bread away.] “Excommunication, or the interdiction of the Eucharist, is now employed as a weapon of warfare.”

v. 126. That writest but to cancel.] “And thou, Pope Boniface, who writest thy ecclesiastical censures for no other purpose than to be paid for revoking them.”

v. 130. To him.] The coin of Florence was stamped with the impression of John the Baptist.

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Canto XIX

v. 38. Who turn’d his compass.] Compare Proverbs, c. viii. 27. And Milton, P. L. b. vii 224.

v. 42. The Word] “The divine nature still remained incomprehensible. Of this Lucifer was a proof; for had he thoroughly comprehended it, he would not have fallen.”

v. 108. The Ethiop.] Matt. c. xii. 41.

v. 112. That volume.] Rev. c. xx. 12.

v. 114. Albert.] Purgatory, Canto VI. v. 98.

v. 116. Prague.] The eagle predicts the devastation of Bohemia by Albert, which happened soon after this time, when that Emperor obtained the kingdom for his eldest son Rodolph. See Coxe’s House of Austria, 4to. ed. v. i. part 1. p. 87

v. 117. He.] Philip IV of France, after the battle of Courtrai, 1302, in which the French were defeated by the Flemings, raised the nominal value of the coin. This king died in consequence of his horse being thrown to the ground by a wild boar, in 1314

v. 121. The English and Scot.] He adverts to the disputes between John Baliol and Edward I, the latter of whom is commended in the Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 130.

v. 122. The Spaniard’s luxury.] The commentators refer this to Alonzo X of Spain. It seems probable that the allusion is to Ferdinand IV who came to the crown in 1295, and died in 1312, at the age of twenty four, in consequence, as it was supposed, of his extreme intemperance. See Mariana, Hist I. xv. c. 11.

v. 123. The Bohemian.] Winceslaus II. Purgatory, Canto VII. v.

v. 125. The halter of Jerusalem.] Charles II of Naples and Jerusalem who was lame. See note to Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 122, and XX. v. 78.

v. 127. He.] Frederick of Sicily son of Peter III of Arragon. Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 117. The isle of fire is Sicily, where was the tomb of Anchises.

v. 133. His uncle.] James, king of Majorca and Minorca, brother to Peter III.

v. 133. His brother.] James II of Arragon, who died in 1327. See Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 117.

v. 135. Of Portugal.] In the time of Dante, Dionysius was king of Portugal. He died in 1328, after a reign of near forty-six years, and does not seem to have deserved the stigma here fastened on him. See Mariana. and 1. xv. c. 18. Perhaps the rebellious son of Dionysius may be alluded to.

v. 136. Norway.] Haquin, king of Norway, is probably meant; who, having given refuge to the murderers of Eric VII king of Denmark, A D. 1288, commenced a war against his successor, Erie VIII, “which continued for nine years, almost to the utter ruin and destruction of both kingdoms.” Modern Univ. Hist. v. xxxii p. 215.

v. 136. -Him Of Ratza.] One of the dynasty of the house of Nemagna, which ruled the kingdom of Rassia, or Ratza, in Sclavonia, from 1161 to 1371, and whose history may be found in Mauro Orbino, Regno degli Slavi, Ediz. Pesaro. 1601. Uladislaus appears to have been the sovereign in Dante’s time, but the disgraceful forgery adverted to in the text, is not recorded by the historian v. 138. Hungary.] The kingdom of Hungary was about this time disputed by Carobert, son of Charles Martel, and Winceslaus, prince of Bohemia, son of Winceslaus II. See Coxe’s House of Austria, vol. i. p. 1. p. 86.

4to edit.

v. 140. Navarre.] Navarre was now under the yoke of France. It soon after (in 1328) followed the advice of Dante and had a monarch of its own. Mariana, 1. xv. c. 19.

v. 141. Mountainous girdle.] The Pyrenees.

v. 143. -Famagosta’s streets And Nicosia’s.]

Cities in the kingdom of Cyprus, at that time ruled by Henry II a pusillanimous prince. Vertot. Hist. des Chev. de Malte, 1. iii. iv. The meaning appears to be, that the complaints made by those cities of their weak and worthless governor, may be regarded as an earnest of his condemnation at the last doom.

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Canto XX

v. 6. Wherein one shines.] The light of the sun, whence he supposes the other celestial bodies to derive their light

v. 8. The great sign.] The eagle, the Imperial ensign.

v. 34. Who.] David.

v. 39. He.] Trajan. See Purgatory, Canto X. 68.

v. 44. He next.] Hezekiah.

v. 50. The other following.] Constantine. There is no passage in which Dante’s opinion of the evil; that had arisen from the mixture of the civil with the ecclesiastical power, is more unequivocally declared.

v. 57. William.] William II, king of Sicily, at the latter part of the twelfth century He was of the Norman line of sovereigns, and obtained the appellation of “the Good” and, as the poet says his loss was as much the subject of regret in his dominions, as the presence of Charles I of Anjou and Frederick of Arragon, was of sorrow and complaint.

v. 62. Trojan Ripheus.] Ripheus, justissimus unus Qui fuit in Teneris, et servantissimus aequi. Virg. Aen. 1. ii. 4—.

v. 97. This.] Ripheus.

v. 98. That.] Trajan.

v. 103. The prayers,] The prayers of St. Gregory

v. 119. The three nymphs.] Faith, Hope, and Charity. Purgatory, Canto XXIX. 116. v. 138. The pair.] Ripheus and Trajan.

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Canto XXI

v. 12. The seventh splendour.] The planet Saturn

v. 13. The burning lion’s breast.] The constellation Leo.

v. 21. In equal balance.] “My pleasure was as great in complying with her will as in beholding her countenance.”

v. 24. Of that lov’d monarch.] Saturn. Compare Hell, Canto XIV. 91.

v. 56. What forbade the smile.] “Because it would have overcome thee.”

v. 61. There aloft.] Where the other souls were.

v. 97. A stony ridge.] The Apennine.

v. 112. 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 Aveliana, 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. t. iii. 1. iv. c. 2.

v. 114. Beside the Adriatic.] At Ravenna. Some editions have FU instead of FUI, according to which reading, Pietro distinguishes himself from another Pietro, who was termed “Peccator,” the sinner.

v. 117. The hat.] The cardinal’s hat.

v. 118. Cephas.] St. Peter.

v. 119 The Holy Spirit’s vessel.] St. Paul. See Hell, Canto II. 30.

v. 130. Round this.] Round the spirit of Pietro Damiano.

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Canto XXII

v. 14. The vengeance.] Beatrice, it is supposed, intimates the approaching fate of Boniface VIII. See Purgatory, Canto XX. 86.

v. 36. Cassino.] A castle in the Terra di Lavoro.

v. 38. 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 Nursis, a man of piety and reputation for the age he lived in.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. v. ii. cent. vi. p. 2. ch. 2 - 6.

v. 48. Macarius.] There are two of this name enumerated by Mosheim among the Greek theologians of the fourth century, v. i. cent. iv p. 11 ch. 2 - 9. In the following chapter, 10, it is said, “Macarius, an Egyptian monk, undoubtedly deserves the first rank among the practical matters of this time, as his works displayed, some few things excepted, the brightest and most lovely portraiture of sanctity and virtue.”

v. 48. 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.

v. 70. The patriarch Jacob.] So Milton, P. L. b. iii. 510: The stairs were such, as whereon Jacob saw Angels ascending and descending, bands Of guardians bright.

v. 107. The sign.] The constellation of Gemini.

v. 130. This globe.] So Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide, b. v,

And down from thence fast he gan avise This little spot of earth, that with the sea Embraced is, and fully gan despite This wretched world.

Compare Cicero, Somn. Scip. “Jam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est.” &c. Lucan, Phar 1. ix. 11; and Tasso, G. L. c. xiv. st, 9, 10, 11.

v. 140. Maia and Dione.] The planets Mercury and Venus.

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Canto XXIII

v. 11. That region.] Towards the south, where the course of the sun appears less rapid, than, when he is in the east or the west.

v. 26. Trivia.] A name of Diana.

v. 26. Th’ eternal nymphs.] The stars.

v. 36. The Might.] Our Saviour

v. 71. The rose.] The Virgin Mary.

v. 73. The lilies.] The apostles.

v. 84. Thou didst exalt thy glory.] The diving light retired upwards, to render the eyes of Dante more capable of enduring the spectacle which now presented itself.

v. 86. The name of that fair flower.] The name of the Virgin.

v. 92. A cresset.] The angel Gabriel.

v. 98. That lyre.] By synecdoche, the lyre is put for the angel

v. 99. The goodliest sapphire.] The Virgin

v. 126. Those rich-laden coffers.] Those spirits who, having sown the seed of good works on earth, now contain the fruit of their pious endeavours.

v. 129. In the Babylonian exile.] During their abode in this world.

v. 133. He.] St. Peter, with the other holy men of the Old and New testament.

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Canto XXIV

v. 28. Such folds.] Pindar has the same bold image: [GREEK HERE?] On which Hayne strangely remarks: Ad ambitus stropharum vldetur

v. 65. Faith.] Hebrews, c. xi. 1. So Marino, in one of his sonnets, which calls Divozioni:

Fede e sustanza di sperate cose, E delle non visioili argomento.

v. 82. Current.] “The answer thou hast made is right; but let me know if thy inward persuasion is conformable to thy profession.”

v. 91. The ancient bond and new.] The Old and New Testament.

v. 114. That Worthy.] Quel Baron. In the next Canto, St. James is called “Barone.” So in Boccaccio, G. vi. N. 10, we find “Baron Messer Santo Antonio.” v. 124. As to outstrip.] Venturi insists that the Poet has here, “made a slip;” for that John came first to the sepulchre, though Peter was the first to enter it. But let Dante have leave to explain his own meaning, in a passage from his third book De Monarchia: “Dicit etiam Johannes ipsum (scilicet Petrum) introiisse SUBITO, cum venit in monumentum, videns allum discipulum cunctantem ad ostium.” Opere de Dante, Ven. 1793. T. ii. P. 146.

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Canto XXV

v. 6. The fair sheep-fold.] Florence, whence he was banished.

v. 13. For its sake.] For the sake of that faith.

v. 20. Galicia throng’d with visitants.] See Mariana, Hist. 1. xi.

v. 13. “En el tiempo,” &c. “At the time that the sepulchre of the apostle St. James was discovered, the devotion for that place extended itself not only over all Spain, but even round about to foreign nations. Multitudes from all parts of the world came to visit it. Many others were deterred by the difficulty for the journey, by the roughness and barrenness of those parts, and by the incursions of the Moors, who made captives many of the pilgrims. The canons of St. Eloy afterwards (the precise time is not known), with a desire of remedying these evils, built, in many places, along the whole read, which reached as far as to France, hospitals for the reception of the pilgrims.”

v. 31. Who.] The Epistle of St. James is here attributed to the elder apostle of that name, whose shrine was at Compostella, in Galicia. Which of the two was the author of it is yet doubtful. The learned and candid Michaelis contends very forcibly for its having been written by James the Elder. Lardner rejects that opinion as absurd; while Benson argues against it, but is well answered by Michaelis, who after all, is obliged to leave the question undecided. See his Introduction to the New Testament, translated by Dr. Marsh, ed. Cambridge, 1793. V. iv. c. 26. - 1, 2, 3.

v. 35. As Jesus.] In the transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

v. 39. The second flame.] St. James.

v. 40. I lifted up.] “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Ps. Cxxi. 1.

v. 59. From Egypt to Jerusalem.] From the lower world to heaven.

v. 67. Hope.] This is from the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus. “Est autem spes virtus, qua spiritualia et aeterna bona speratam, id est, beatitudinem aeternam. Sine meritis enim aliquid sperare non spes, sed praesumptio, dici potest.” Pet. Lomb. Sent. 1. Iii. Dist. 26. Ed. Bas. 1486. Fol.

v. 74. His anthem.] Psalm ix. 10.

v. 90. Isaias ] Chap. lxi. 10.

v. 94. Thy brother.] St. John in the Revelation, c. vii. 9.

v. 101. Winter’s month.] “If a luminary, like that which now appeared, were to shine throughout the month following the winter solstice during which the constellation Cancer appears in the east at the setting of the sun, there would be no interruption to the light, but the whole month would be as a single day.”

v. 112. This.] St. John, who reclined on the bosom of our Saviour, and to whose charge Jesus recommended his mother.

v. 121. So I.] He looked so earnestly, to descry whether St. John were present there in body, or in spirit only, having had his doubts raised by that saying of our Saviour’s: “If I will, that he tarry till I come what is that to thee.”

v. 127. The two.] Christ and Mary, whom he has described, in the last Canto but one, as rising above his sight

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Canto XXVI

v. 2. The beamy flame.] St. John.

v. 13. Ananias’ hand.] Who, by putting his hand on St. Paul, restored his sight. Acts, c. ix. 17.

v. 36. From him.] Some suppose that Plato is here meant, who, in his Banquet, makes Phaedrus say: “Love is confessedly amongst the eldest of beings, and, being the eldest, is the cause to us of the greatest goods “ Plat. Op. t. x. p. 177. Bip. ed. Others have understood it of Aristotle, and others, of the writer who goes by the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, referred to in the twenty-eighth Canto.

v. 40. I will make.] Exodus, c. xxxiii. 19.

v. 42. At the outset.] John, c. i. 1. &c.

v. 51. The eagle of our Lord.] St. John

v. 62. The leaves.] Created beings.

v. 82. The first living soul.] Adam.

v. 107. Parhelion.] Who enlightens and comprehends all things; but is himself enlightened and comprehended by none.

v. 117. Whence.] That is, from Limbo. See Hell, Canto II. 53. Adam says that 5232 years elapsed from his creation to the time of his deliverance, which followed the death of Christ.

v. 133. EL] Some read UN, “One,” instead of EL: but the latter of these readings is confirmed by a passage from Dante’s Treatise De Vulg. Eloq. 1. i. cap. 4. “Quod prius vox primi loquentis sonaverit, viro sanae mentis in promptu esse non dubito ipsum fuisse quod Deus est, videlicet El.” St. Isidore in the Origines, 1. vii. c. 1. had said, “Primum apud Hebraeos Dei nomen El dicitur.”

v. 135. Use.] From Horace, Ars. Poet. 62.

v. 138. All my life.] “I remained in the terrestrial Paradise only tothe seventh hour.” In the Historia Scolastica of Petrus Comestor, it is said of our first parents: Quidam tradunt eos fuisse in Paradiso septem horae.” I. 9. ed. Par. 1513. 4to.

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Canto XXVII

v. 1. Four torches.] St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and Adam.

v. 11. That.] St. Peter’ who looked as the planet Jupiter would, if it assumed the sanguine appearance of liars.

v. 20. He.] Boniface VIII.

v. 26. such colour.] Qui color infectis adversi solis ab ietu Nubibus esse solet; aut purpureae Aurorae. Ovid, Met. 1. iii. 184.

v. 37. Of Linus and of Cletus.] Bishops of Rome in the first century.

v. 40. Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed And Urban.] The former two, bishops of the same see, in the second; and the others, in the fourth century. v. 42. No purpose was of ours.] “We did not intend that our successors should take any part in the political divisions among Christians, or that my figure (the seal of St. Peter) should serve as a mark to authorize iniquitous grants and privileges.”

v. 51. Wolves.] Compare Milton, P. L. b. xii. 508, &c.

v. 53. Cahorsines and Gascons.] He alludes to Jacques d’Ossa, a native of Cahors, who filled the papal chair in 1316, after it had been two years vacant, and assumed the name of John XXII., and to Clement V, a Gascon, of whom see Hell, Canto XIX. 86, and Note.

v. 63. The she-goat.] When the sun is in Capricorn.

v. 72. From the hour.] Since he had last looked (see Canto XXII.) he perceived that he had passed from the meridian circle to the eastern horizon, the half of our hemisphere, and a quarter of the heaven.

v. 76. From Gades.] See Hell, Canto XXVI. 106

v. 78. The shore.] Phoenicia, where Europa, the daughter of Agenor mounted on the back of Jupiter, in his shape of a bull.

v. 80. The sun.] Dante was in the constellation Gemini, and the sun in Aries. There was, therefore, part of those two constellations, and the whole of Taurus, between them.

v. 93. The fair nest of Leda.] “From the Gemini;” thus called, because Leda was the mother of the twins, Castor and Pollux

v. 112. Time’s roots.] “Here,” says Beatrice, “are the roots, from whence time springs: for the parts, into which it is divided, the other heavens must be considered.” And she then breaks out into an exclamation on the degeneracy of human nature, which does not lift itself to the contemplation of divine things.

v. 126. The fair child of him.] So she calls human nature. Pindar by a more easy figure, terms the day, “child of the sun.”

v. 129. None.] Because, as has been before said, the shepherds are become wolves.

v. 131. Before the date.] “Before many ages are past, before those fractions, which are drops in the reckoning of every year, shall amount to so large a portion of time, that January shall be no more a winter month.” By this periphrasis is meant “ in a short time,” as we say familiarly, such a thing will happen before a thousand years are over when we mean, it will happen soon.

v. 135. Fortune shall be fain.] The commentators in general suppose that our Poet here augurs that great reform, which he vainly hoped would follow on the arrival of the Emperor Henry VII. in Italy. Lombardi refers the prognostication to Can Grande della Scala: and, when we consider that this Canto was not finished till after the death of Henry, as appears from the mention that is made of John XXII, it cannot be denied but the conjecture is probable.

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Canto XXVIII

v. 36. Heav’n, and all nature, hangs upon that point.] [GREEK HERE] Aristot. Metaph. 1. xii. c. 7. “From that beginning depend heaven and nature.”

v. 43. Such diff’rence.] The material world and the intelligential (the copy and the pattern) appear to Dante to differ in this respect, that the orbits of the latter are more swift, the nearer they are to the centre, whereas the contrary is the case with the orbits of the former. The seeming contradiction is thus accounted for by Beatrice. In the material world, the more ample the body is, the greater is the good of which itis capable supposing all the parts to be equally perfect. But in the intelligential world, the circles are more excellent and powerful, the more they approximate to the central point, which is God. Thus the first circle, that of the seraphim, corresponds to the ninth sphere, or primum mobile, the second, that of the cherubim, to the eighth sphere, or heaven of fixed stars; the third, or circle of thrones, to the seventh sphere, or planet of Saturn; and in like manner throughout the two other trines of circles and spheres.

In orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood, Orb within orb Milton, P. L. b. v. 596.

v. 70. The sturdy north.] Compare Homer, II. b. v. 524.

v. 82. In number.] The sparkles exceeded the number which would be produced by the sixty-four squares of a chess-board, if for the first we reckoned one, for the next, two; for the third, four; and so went on doubling to the end of the account.

v. 106. Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram.] Not injured, like the productions of our spring, by the influence of autumn, when the constellation Aries rises at sunset.

v. 110. Dominations.] Hear all ye angels, progeny of light, Thrones, domination’s, princedoms, virtues, powers. Milton, P. L. b. v. 601.

v. 119. Dionysius.] The Areopagite, in his book De Caelesti Hierarchia.

v. 124. Gregory.] Gregory the Great. “Novem vero angelorum ordines diximus, quia videlicet esse, testante sacro eloquio, scimus: Angelos, archangelos, virtutes, potestates, principatus, dominationae, thronos, cherubin atque seraphin.” Divi Gregorii, Hom. xxxiv. f. 125. ed. Par. 1518. fol.

v. 126. He had learnt.] Dionysius, he says, had learnt from St. Paul. It is almost unnecessary to add, that the book, above referred to, which goes under his name, was the production of a later age.

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Canto XXIX

v. 1. No longer.] As short a space, as the sun and moon are in changing hemispheres, when they are opposite to one another, the one under the sign of Aries, and the other under that of Libra, and both hang for a moment, noised as it were in the hand of the zenith.

v. 22. For, not in process of before or aft.] There was neither “before nor after,” no distinction, that is, of time, till the creation of the world.

v. 30. His threefold operation.] He seems to mean that spiritual beings, brute matter, and the intermediate part of the creation, which participates both of spirit and matter, were produced at once.

v. 38. On Jerome’s pages.] St. Jerome had described the angels as created before the rest of the universe: an opinion which Thomas Aquinas controverted; and the latter, as Dante thinks, had Scripture on his side.

v. 51. Pent.] See Hell, Canto XXXIV. 105.

v. 111. Of Bindi and of Lapi.] Common names of men at Florence

v. 112. The sheep.] So Milton, Lycidas. The hungry sheep look up and are not fed, But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly.

v. 121. The preacher.] Thus Cowper, Task, b. ii.

’Tis pitiful To court a grin, when you should woo a soul, &c.

v. 131. Saint Anthony. Fattens with this his swine.] On the sale of these blessings, the brothers of St. Anthony supported themselves and their paramours. From behind the swine of St. Anthony, our Poet levels a blow at the object of his inveterate enmity, Boniface VIII, from whom, “in 1297, they obtained the dignity and privileges of an independent congregation.” See Mosheim’s Eccles. History in Dr. Maclaine’s Translation, v. ii. cent. xi. p. 2. c. 2. - 28.

v. 140. Daniel.] “Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” Dan. c. vii. 10.

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Canto XXX

v. 1. Six thousand miles.] He compares the vanishing of the vision to the fading away of the stars at dawn, when it is noon-day six thousand miles off, and the shadow, formed by the earth over the part of it inhabited by the Poet, is about to disappear.

v. 13. Engirt.] “ ppearing to be encompassed by these angelic bands, which are in reality encompassed by it.”

v. 18. This turn.] Questa vice. Hence perhaps Milton, P. L. b. viii. 491. This turn hath made amends.

v. 39. Forth.] From the ninth sphere to the empyrean, which is more light.

v. 44. Either mighty host.] Of angels, that remained faithful, and of beatified souls, the latter in that form which they will have at the last day. v. 61. Light flowing.] “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Rev. cxxii. I.

—underneath a bright sea flow’d Of jasper, or of liquid pearl. Milton, P. L. b. iii. 518.

v. 80. Shadowy of the truth.] Son di lor vero ombriferi prefazii. So Mr. Coleridge, in his Religious Musings, v. 406. Life is a vision shadowy of truth.

v. 88. —the eves Of mine eyelids.] Thus Shakespeare calls the eyelids “penthouse lids.” Macbeth, a, 1. s, 3.

v. 108. As some cliff.] A lake That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown’d Her crystal mirror holds. Milton, P. L. b. iv. 263.

v. 118. My view with ease.] Far and wide his eye commands For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, But all sunshine. Milton, P. l. b. iii. 616.

v. 135. Of the great Harry.] The Emperor Henry VII, who died in 1313.

v. 141. He.] Pope Clement V. See Canto XXVII. 53.

v. 145. Alagna’s priest.] Pope Boniface VIII. Hell, Canto XIX.

79.

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Canto XXXI

v. 6. Bees.] Compare Homer, Iliad, ii. 87. Virg. Aen. I. 430, and Milton, P. L. b. 1. 768.

v. 29. Helice.] Callisto, and her son Arcas, changed into the constellations of the Greater Bear and Arctophylax, or Bootes. See Ovid, Met. l. ii. fab. v. vi.

v. 93. 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’oeuvres de sentiment et de force.” Abrege Chron. de l’Hist. de Fr. 1145. They have even been preferred to al1 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.

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 supposed her being honoured with a privilegewhich belonged to Christ Alone Dr. Maclaine’s Mosheim, v. iii. cent. xii. p. ii. c. 3 - 19.

v. 95. Our Veronica ] The holy handkerchief, then preserved at Rome, on which the countenance of our Saviour was supposed to have been imprest.

v. 101. Him.] St. Bernard.

v. 108. The queen.] The Virgin Mary.

v. 119. Oriflamb.] Menage on this word quotes the Roman des Royau -Iignages of Guillaume Ghyart. Oriflamme est une banniere De cendal roujoyant et simple Sans portraiture d’autre affaire,

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Canto XXXII

v. 3. She.] Eve.

v. 8. Ancestress.] Ruth, the ancestress of David.

v. 60. In holy scripture.] Gen. c. xxv. 22. v. 123. Lucia.] See Hell, Canto II. 97.

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Canto XXXIII

v. 63. The Sybil’s sentence.] Virg. Aen. iii. 445.

v. 89. One moment.] “A moment seems to me more tedious, than five-and-twenty ages would have appeared to the Argonauts, when they had resolved on their expedition.

v. 92. Argo’s shadow] Quae simul ac rostro ventosnm proscidit aequor, Tortaque remigio spumis incanduit unda, Emersere feri candenti e gurgite vultus Aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes. Catullus, De Nupt. Pel. et Thet. 15.

v. 109. Three orbs of triple hue, clipt in one bound.] The Trinity.

v. 118. That circling.] The second of the circles, “Light of Light,” in which he dimly beheld the mystery of the incarnation.

End Paradise.

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Preface

In the years 1805 and 1806, I published the first part of the following translation, with the text of the original. Since that period, two impressions of the whole of the Divina Commedia, in Italian, have made their appearance in this country. It is not necessary that I should add a third: and I am induced to hope that the Poem, even in the present version of it, may not be without interest for the mere English reader.

The translation of the second and third parts, “The Purgatory” and “The Paradise,” was begun long before the first, and as early as the year 1797; but, owing to many interruptions, not concluded till the summer before last. On a retrospect of the time and exertions that have been thus employed, I do not regard those hours as the least happy of my life, during which (to use the eloquent language of Mr. Coleridge) “my individual recollections have been suspended, and lulled to sleep amid the music of nobler thoughts;” nor that study as misapplied, which has familiarized me with one of the sublimest efforts of the human invention.

To those, who shall be at the trouble of examining into the degree of accuracy with which the task has been executed, I may be allowed to suggest, that their judgment should not be formed on a comparison with any single text of my Author; since, in more instances than I have noticed, I have had to make my choice out of a variety of readings and interpretations, presented by different editions and commentators.

In one or two of those editions is to be found the title of “The Vision,” which I have adopted, as more conformable to the genius of our language than that of “The Divine Comedy.” Dante himself, I believe, termed it simply “The Comedy;” in the first place, because the style was of the middle kind: and in the next, because the story (if story it may be called) ends happily.

Instead of a Life of my Author, I have subjoined, in chronological order, a view not only of the principal events which befell him, but of the chief public occurrences that happened in his time: concerning both of which the reader may obtain further information, by turning to the passages referred to in the Poem and Notes.

January, 1814

A CHRONOLOGICAL VIEW

OF

THE AGE OF DANTE

A. D.

1265. Dante, son of Alighieri degli Alighieri and Bella, is born at Florence. Of his own ancestry he speaks in the Paradise, Canto XV. and XVI.

In the same year, Manfredi, king of Naples and Sicily, is defeated and slain by Charles of Anjou. Hell, C. XXVIII. 13. And Purgatory, C. III. 110.

Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna. H. C. XXVII. 38.

1266. Two of the Frati Godenti chosen arbitrators of the differences at Florence. H. C. XXIII. 104. Gianni de’ Soldanieri heads the populace in that city. H. C. XXXII. 118.

1268. Charles of Anjou puts Conradine to death, and becomes King of Naples. H. C. XXVIII. 16 and Purg C. XX. 66.

1272. Henry III. of England is succeeded by Edward I. Purg. C. VII. 129.

1274. Our Poet first sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari.

Fra. Guittone d’Arezzo, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 56. Thomas Aquinas dies. Purg. C. XX. 67. and Par. C. X. 96. Buonaventura dies. Par. C. XII. 25.

1275. Pierre de la Brosse, secretary to Philip III. of France, executed. Purg. C. VI. 23.

1276. Giotto, the painter, is born. Purg. C. XI. 95. Pope Adrian V. dies. Purg. C. XIX. 97. Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XI. 96. and C. XXVI. 83.

1277. Pope John XXI. dies. Par. C. XII. 126.

1278. Ottocar, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 97.

1279. Dionysius succeeds to the throne of Portugal. Par. C. XIX. 135.

1280. Albertus Magnus dies. Par. C. X. 95.

1281. Pope Nicholas III. dies. H. C. XIX 71. Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua.

1282. The Sicilian vespers. Par. C. VIII. 80. The French defeated by the people of Forli. H. C. XXVII. 41. Tribaldello de’ Manfredi betrays the city of Faenza. H. C. XXXII. 119.

1284. Prince Charles of Anjou is defeated and made prisoner by Rugiez de Lauria, admiral to Peter III. of Arragon. Purg. C. XX. 78. Charles I. king of Naples, dies. Purg. C. VII. 111.

1285. Pope Martin IV. dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 23. Philip III. of France, and Peter III. of Arragon, die. Purg. C. VII. 101 and 110. Henry II. king of Cyprus, comes to the throne. Par. C. XIX. 144.

1287. Guido dalle Colonne (mentioned by Dante in his De Vulgari Eloquio) writes “The War of Troy.”

1288. Haquin, king of Norway, makes war on Denmark. Par. C. XIX. 135. Count Ugolino de’ Gherardeschi dies of famine. H. C. XXXIII. 14.

1289. Dante is in the battle of Campaldino, where the Florentines defeat the people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. C. V. 90.

1290. Beatrice dies. Purg. C. XXXII. 2. He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans, and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. C. XXI. 92.

1291. He marries Gemma de’ Donati, with whom he lives unhappily.

By this marriage he had five sons and a daughter. Can Grande della Scala is born, March 9. H. C. I. 98. Purg. C. XX. 16. Par. C. XVII. 75. and XXVII. 135. The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to recover St. John D’Acre. H. C. XXVII. 84. The Emperor Rodolph dies. Purg. C. VI. 104. and VII. 91. Alonzo III. of Arragon dies, and is succeeded by James II. Purg. C. VII. 113. and Par. C. XIX. 133.

1294. Clement V. abdicates the papal chair. H. C. III. 56. Dante writes his Vita Nuova.

1295. His preceptor, Brunetto Latini, dies. H. C. XV. 28. Charles Martel, king of Hungary, visits Florence, Par. C. VIII. 57. and dies in the same year. Frederick, son of Peter III. of Arragon, becomes king of Sicily. Purg. C. VII. 117. and Par. C. XIX. 127.

1296. Forese, the companion of Dante, dies. Purg. C. XXXIII. 44.

1300. The Bianca and Nera parties take their rise in Pistoia. H. C. XXXII. 60. This is the year in which he supposes himself to see his Vision. H. C. I. 1. and XXI. 109. He is chosen chief magistrate, or first of the Priors of Florence; and continues in office from June 15 to August 15. Cimabue, the painter, dies. Purg. C. XI. 93. Guido Cavalcanti, the most beloved of our Poet’s friends, dies. H. C. X. 59. and Purg C. XI. 96.

1301. The Bianca party expels the Nera from Pistoia. H. C. XXIV. 142.

1302. January 27. During his absence at Rome, Dante is mulcted by his fellow-citizens in the sum of 8000 lire, and condemned to two years’ banishment. March 10. He is sentenced, if taken, to be burned. Fulcieri de’ Calboli commits great atrocities on certain of the Ghibelline party. Purg. C. XIV. 61. Carlino de’ Pazzi betrays the castle di Piano Travigne, in Valdarno, to the Florentines. H. C. XXXII. 67. The French vanquished in the battle of Courtrai. Purg. C. XX. 47. James, king of Majorca and Minorca, dies. Par. C. XIX. 133.

1303. Pope Boniface VIII. dies. H. C. XIX. 55. Purg. C. XX. 86. XXXII. 146. and Par. C. XXVII. 20. The other exiles appoint Dante one of a council of twelve, under Alessandro da Romena. He appears to have been much dissatisfied with his colleagues. Par. C. XVII. 61.

1304. He joins with the exiles in an unsuccessful attack on the city of Florence. May. The bridge over the Arno breaks down during a representation of the infernal torments exhibited on that river. H. C. XXVI. 9. July 20. Petrarch, whose father had been banished two years before from Florence, is born at Arezzo.

1305. Winceslaus II. king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 99. and Par. C. XIX 123. A conflagration happens at Florence. H. C. XXVI. 9.

1306. Dante visits Padua.

1307. He is in Lunigiana with the Marchese Marcello Malaspina. Purg. C. VIII. 133. and C. XIX. 140. Dolcino, the fanatic, is burned. H. C. XXVIII. 53.

1308. The Emperor Albert I. murdered. Purg. C. VI. 98. and Par. C. XIX. 114. Corso Donati, Dante’s political enemy, slain. Purg. C. XXIV. 81. He seeks an asylum at Verona, under the roof of the Signori della

Scala. Par. C. XVII. 69. He wanders, about this time, over various parts of Italy. See his Convito. He is at Paris twice; and, as one of the early commentators reports, at Oxford.

1309. Charles II. king of Naples, dies. Par. C. XIX. 125.

1310. The Order of the Templars abolished. Purg. C. XX. 94.

1313. The Emperor Henry of Luxemburg, by whom he had hoped to be restored to Florence, dies. Par. C. XVII. 80. and XXX. 135. He takes refuge at Ravenna with Guido Novello da Polenta.

1314. Pope Clement V. dies. H. C. XIX. 86. and Par. C. XXVII. 53. and XXX. 141. Philip IV. of France dies. Purg. C. VII. 108. and Par. C. XIX. 117. Ferdinand IV. of Spain, dies. Par. C. XIX. 122. Giacopo da Carrara defeated by Can Grande. Par. C. IX. 45.

1316. John XXII. elected Pope. Par. C. XXVII. 53.

1321. July. Dante dies at Ravenna, of a complaint brought on by disappointment at his failure in a negotiation which he had been conducting with the Venetians, for his patron Guido Novello da Polenta. His obsequies are sumptuously performed at Ravenna by Guido, who himself died in the ensuing year.

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