Descending, him besought me in my charge

To bring. But since thy will implies, that more
Our true condition I unfold at large,
Mine is not to deny thee thy request.

This mortal ne'er hath seen the furthest gloom;
But erring by his folly had approach'd
So near, that little space was left to turn.
Then, as before I told, I was despatch'd
To work his rescue; and no way remain'd
Save this which I have ta'en. I have display'd
Before him all the regions of the bad;
And purpose now those spirits to display,
That under thy command are purged from sin.
How I have brought him would be long to say.
From high descends the virtue, by whose aid
I to thy sight and hearing him have led.
Now may our coming please thee. In the search
Of liberty he journeys: that how dear,
They know who for her sake have life refused.
Thou knowest, to whom death for her was sweet
In Utica, where thou didst leave those weeds,
That in the last great day will shine so bright.
He breathes, and I of Minos am not bound,
For us the eternal edicts are unmoved.
Abiding in that circle, where the eyes

Of thy chaste Marcia beam, who still in look

Prays thee, O hallow'd spirit! to own her thine
Then by her love we implore thee, let us pass

Through thy seven regions;10 for which, best thanks
I for thy favor will to her return,

If mention there below thou not disdain."

Marcia so pleasing in my sight was found,"
He then to him rejoin'd, "while I was there,
That all she ask'd me I was fain to grant.
Now that beyond the accursed stream she dwells,
She may no longer move me, by that law,"
Which was ordain'd me, when I issued thence.

10" Through thy seven regions." The seven rounds of Purgatory, in which the seven capital sins are punished.

11 44 By that law." When he was de

ΙΟ

11

livered by Christ from Limbo, a change of affections accompanied his change of place.

Not so, if Dame from heaven, as thou sayst,
Moves and directs thee; then no flattery needs.
Enough for me that in her name thou ask.
Go therefore now: and with a slender reed 12
See that thou duly gird him, and his face
Lave, till all sordid stain thou wipe from thence.
For not with eye, by any cloud obscured,
Would it be seemly before him to come,
Who stands the foremost minister in Heaven.
This islet all around, there far beneath,
Where the wave beats it, on the oozy bed
Produces store of reeds. No other plant,
Cover'd with leaves, or harden'd in its stalk,
There lives, not bending to the water's sway.
After, this way return not; but the sun
Will show you, that now rises, where to take
The mountain in its easiest ascent."

He disappear'd; and I myself upraised
Speechless, and to my guide retiring close,
Toward him turn'd mine eyes. He thus began:
"My son! observant thou my steps pursue.
We must retreat to rereward; for that way
The champain to its low extreme declines."

The dawn had chased the matin hour of prime,
Which fled before it, so that from afar
I spied the trembling of the ocean stream.

We traversed the deserted plain, as one
Who, wander'd from his track, thinks every step
Trodden in vain till he regain the path.

When we had come, where yet the tender dew
Strove with the sun, and in a place where fresh
The wind breathed o'er it, while it slowly dried;
Both hands extended on the watery grass
My master placed, in graceful act and kind.
Whence I of his intent before apprised,

Stretch'd out to him my cheeks suffused with tears.
There to my visage he anew restored

That hue which the dun shades of hell conceal'd.

12 "A slender reed." The reed is here supposed, with sufficient proba

bility, to be meant for a type of simplicity and patience.

Then on the solitary shore arrived,
That never sailing on its waters saw

Man that could after measure back his course,
He girt me in such manner as had pleased
Him who instructed; and, oh strange to tell!
As he selected every humble plant,

Wherever one was pluck'd another there
Resembling, straightway in its place arose.

CANTO II

ARGUMENT.-They behold a vessel under conduct of an angel, coming over the waves with spirits to Purgatory, among whom, when the passengers have landed, Dante recognizes his friend Casella; but, while they are entertained by him with a song, they hear Cato exclaiming against their negligent loitering, and at that rebuke hasten forward to the mountain.

OW had the sun 1 to that horizon reach'd,

N°

That covers, with the most exalted point
Of its meridian circle, Salem's walls;

And night, that opposite to him her orb

Rounds, from the stream of Ganges issued forth,
Holding the scales, that from her hands are dropt
When she reigns highest:3 so that where I was,
Aurora's white and vermeil-tinctured cheek
To orange turn'd as she in age increased.

Meanwhile we linger'd by the water's brink,
Like men, who, musing on their road, in thought
Journey, while motionless the body rests.
When lo! as near upon the hour of dawn,
Through the thick vapors Mars with fiery beam
Glares down in the West, over the ocean floor;
So seem'd, what once again I hope to view,
A light, so swiftly coming through the sea,
No winged course might equal its career.

1"Now had the sun." Dante was now antipodal to Jerusalem; so that while the sun was setting with respect to that place, which he supposes to be the middle of the inhabited earth, to him it was rising.

bra.

"The scales." The constellation Li

816 When she reigns highest " ("Quando soverchia ") is (according to Venturi, whom I have followed) "when the autumnal equinox is passed." Lombardi supposes it to mean "when the nights begin to increase, that is, after the summer solstice."

From which when for a space I had withdrawn
Mine eyes, to make inquiry of my guide,
Again I look'd, and saw it grown in size
And brightness: then on either side appear'd
Something, but that I knew not, of bright hue,
And by degrees from underneath it came
Another. My preceptor silent yet

Stood, while the brightness, that we first discern'd,
Open'd the form of wings: then when he knew
The pilot, cried aloud, "Down! Down! Bend low
Thy knees! Behold God's angel! Fold thy hands!
Now shalt thou see true ministers indeed!

Lo! how all human means he sets at naught;

So that nor oar he needs, nor other sail

Except his wings, between such distant shores.
Lo! how straight up to heaven he holds them rear'd,
Winnowing the air with those eternal plumes,
That not like mortal hairs fall off or change."

As more and more toward us came, more bright
Appear'd the bird of God, nor could the eye
Endure his splendor near: I mine bent down.
He drove ashore in a small bark so swift
And light, that in its course no wave it drank.
The heavenly steersman at the prow was seen,
Visibly written "Blessed" in his looks.
Within, a hundred spirits and more there sat.
"In Exitu Israel de Egypto,"

All with one voice together sang, with what
In the remainder of that hymn is writ.
Then soon as with the sign of Holy Cross

He bless'd them, they at once leap'd out on land:
He, swiftly as he came, return'd. The crew,
There left, appear'd astounded with the place,
Gazing around, as one who sees new sights.

From every side the sun darted his beams,
And with his arrowy radiance from mid heaven
Had chased the Capricorn, when that strange tribe,
Lifting their eyes toward us: "If ye know,
Declare what path will lead us to the mount."

"In Exitu." When Israel came out of Egypt." Ps. cxiv.

Them Virgil answer'd: "Ye suppose, perchance,
Us well acquainted with this place: but here,
We, as yourselves, are strangers. Not long erst
We came, before you but a little space,

By other road so rough and hard, that now
The ascent will seem to us as play." The spirits,
Who from my breathing had perceived I lived,
Grew pale with wonder. As the multitude
Flock round a herald sent with olive branch,
To hear what news he brings, and in their haste
Tread one another down; e'en so at sight
Of me those happy spirits were fix'd, each one
Forgetful of its errand to depart

Where, cleansed from sin, it might be made all fair.
Then one I saw darting before the rest

With such fond ardor to embrace me, I

To do the like was moved. O shadows vain!
Except in outward semblance: thrice my hands
I clasp'd behind it, they as oft return'd

Empty into my breast again. Surprise

I need must think was painted in my looks,
For that the shadow smiled and backward drew.
To follow it I hasten'd, but with voice
Of sweetness it enjoin'd me to desist.
Then who it was I knew, and pray'd of it,
To talk with me it would a little pause.

It answer'd: "Thee as in my mortal frame

I loved, so loosed from it I love thee still,

And therefore pause: but why walkest thou here?"
"Not without purpose once more to return,

Thou find'st me, my Casella, where I am,
Journeying this way;" I said: "but how of thee

Hath so much time been lost?" He answer'd straight: "No outrage hath been done to me, if he,

Who when and whom he chooses takes, hath oft

"My Casella." A Florentine, celebrated for his skill in music, "in whose company, says Landino, "Dante often recreated his spirits, wearied by severer studies.' See Dr. Burney's History of Music," vol. ii. cap. iv. p. 322. Milton has a fine allusion to this meeting in his sonnet to Henry Lawes:

"Dante shall give fame leave to set thee higher

Than his Casella, whom he wooed to sing,

Met in the milder shades of Purga

tory.

"He." The conducting angel.