THE VISION OF DANTE.

Purgatory.

CANTO I.

Argument.

The Poet describes the delight he experienced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions, into the pure air that surrounds the isle of Purgatory; and then relates how, turning to the right, he beheld four stars never seen before but by our first parents, and met on his left the shade of Cato of Utica, who, having warned him and Virgil what is needful to be done before they proceed on their way through Purgatory, disappears; and the two poets go towards the shore, where Virgil cleanses Dante's face with the dew, and girds him with a reed, as Cato had commanded.

O'ER better waves to speed her rapid course
The light bark of my genius lifts the sail,
Well pleased to leave so cruel sea behind';
And of that second region will I sing,

In which the human spirit from sinful blot
Is purged, and for ascent to Heaven prepares.
Here, O ye hallow'd Nine! for in your train
I follow, here the deaden'd strain revive;
Nor let Calliope refuse to sound

A somewhat higher song, of that loud tone

Which when the wretched birds of chattering note 2
Had heard, they of forgiveness lost all hope.

Sweet hue of eastern sapphire, that was spread
O'er the serene aspect of the pure air,

1 C'er better waves.] So Berni, Orl. Inn. lib. 2. c. i.:

Per correr maggior acqua alza le vele,

O debil navicella del mio ingegno.

2 Birds of chattering note.] For the fable of the daughters of Pierus, who challenged the Muses to sing, and were by them changed into magpies, see Ovid, Met. lib. 5. fab. 5.

High up as the first circle, to mine eyes
Unwonted joy renew'd, soon as I 'scaped
Forth from the atmosphere of deadly gloom,
That had mine eyes and bosom fill'd with grief.
The radiant planet,2 that to love invites,
Made all the orient laugh, and veil'd beneath
The Pisces' light, that in his escort came.

To the right hand I turn'd, and fix'd my mind
On the other pole attentive, where I saw
Four stars ne'er seen before save by the ken
Of our first parents. Heaven of their rays
Seem'd joyous. O thou northern site! bereft
Indeed, and widow'd, since of these deprived.

As from this view I had desisted, straight
Turning a little towards the other pole,

There from whence now the wain had disappear'd,
I saw an old man standing by my side

1 The first circle.] Either, as some suppose, the moon; or, as Lombardi (who likes to be as far off the rest of the commentators as possible) will have it, the highest circle of the stars.

2 Planet.] Venus.

3 Made all the orient laugh.] Hence Chaucer, Knight's Tale:

And all the orisont laugheth of the sight.

It is sometimes read "orient."

The Pisces' light.] The constellation of the Fish veiled by the more luminous body of Venus, then a morning star.

5 Four stars.] Venturi observes that "Dante here speaks as a poet, and almost in the spirit of prophecy; or, what is more likely, describes the heaven about that pole according to his own invention. In our days," he adds, "the cross, composed of four stars, three of the second and one of the third magnitude, serves as a guide to those who sail from Europe to the south; but in the age of Dante these discoveries had not been made" yet it appears probable, that either from long tradition, or from the relation of later voyagers, the real truth might not have been unknown to our Poet. Seneca's prediction of the discovery of America may be accounted for in a similar manner. But whatever may be thought of this, it is certain that the four stars are here symbolical of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. See Canto xxxi. v. 105. M. Artaud mentions a globe constructed by an Arabian in Egypt, with the date of the year 622 of the Hegira, corresponding to 1225 of our era, in which the southern cross is positively marked. See his Histoire de Dante, ch. xxxi. and xl. 8°. Par. 1841.

6 Our first parents.] In the terrestrial paradise, placed, as we shall see, by our Poet, on the summit of Purgatory.

7 The wain.] Charles's Wain, or Boötes.

8 An old man.] Cato.

Secretosque pios; his dantem jura Catonem. Virg. Æn. 8. 670. The commentators, and Lombardi amongst the rest, might have saved themselves and their readers much needless trouble if they would have consulted the prose writings of Dante with more diligence. In the Convito, p. 211, he has himself declared his opinion of the illustrious Roman: "Quale uomo," etc. "What earthly man was more worthy to follow God than Cato? Certainly none." And again, p. 212: "Nel nome di cui," etc. "In whose name, whatever needs be said concerning the signs of nobility may be concluded; for, in him, that nobility displays them all throughout all ages."

Alone, so worthy of reverence in his look,
That ne'er from son to father more was owed.
Low down his beard, and mix'd with hoary white,
Descended, like his locks, which, parting, fell
Upon his breast in double fold. The beams
Of those four luminaries on his face

So brightly shone, and with such radiance clear
Deck'd it, that I beheld him as the sun.

"Say who are ye, that stemming the blind stream,
Forth from the eternal prison-house have fled?"
He spoke and moved those venerable plumes.1
"Who hath conducted, or with lantern sure
Lights you emerging from the depth of night,
That makes the infernal valley ever black?
Are the firm statutes of the dread abyss
Broken, or in high heaven new laws ordain'd,
That thus, condemn'd, ye to my caves approach?"
My guide, then laying hold on me, by words
And intimations given with hand and head,
Made my bent knees and eye submissive pay
Due reverence; then thus to him replied:

"Not of myself I come; a Dame from heaven 2
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 farthest gloom; 3
But erring by his folly had approach'd
So near, that little space was left to turn.
Then, as before I told, I was dispatch'd

To work his rescue; and no way remain'd

1 Venerable plumes.] Insperata tuæ quum veniet pluma superbiæ.

Hor. Carm. lib. 4. ode 10.

The same metaphor has occurred in Hell, Canto xx. v. 41 :

-the plumes,

That mark'd the better sex.

It is used by Ford in the Lady's Trial, act iv. sc. 2:

-Now the down

Of softness is exchanged for plumes of age.

2 A Dame from heaven.] Beatrice. See Hell, ii. 54. 3 The farthest gloom.] L'ultima sera.

So Ariosto, O. F. Canto xxxiv. st. 59:

Che non han visto ancor l'ultima sera.

And Filicaja, Canto ix., Al Sonno:

L'ultima sera.

And Mr. Mathias, Canzone a Guglielmo Roscoe premessa alla Storia della

Poesia Italiana, p. 13:

Di morte non vedrà l'ultima sera.

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.
For us the eternal edicts are unmoved:
He breathes, and I of Minos am not bound,1
Abiding in that circle, where the eyes

Of thy chaste Marcia 2 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; for which, best thanks
I for thy favour 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,4
Which was ordain'd me, when I issued thence.
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.

1 Of Minos am not bound.] See Hell, v. 4.

2 Marcia.]

-Da fœdera prisci

Illibata tori: da tantum nomen inane
Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis
Martia.

Lucan, Phars. lib. 2. 344.

Our author's habit of putting an allegorical interpretation on everything, a habit which appears to have descended to that age from certain fathers of the church, is nowhere more apparent than in his explanation of this passage. See Convito, p. 211: "Marzia fu vergine," etc. "Marcia was a virgin, and in that state she signifies childhood; then she came to Cato, and in that state she represents youth; she then bare children, by whom are represented the virtues that we have said belong to that age." Dante would surely have done well to remember his own rule laid down in the De Monarch. lib. 3: "Advertendum," etc. "Concerning the mystical sense it must be observed that we may err in two ways, either by seeing it where it is not, or by taking it otherwise than it ought to be taken."

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

By that law.] When he was delivered by Christ from limbo, a change of affections accompanied his change of place,

Go therefore now: and with a slender reed1
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 2
The mountain in its casiest 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 apprized,

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.

Then on the solitary shore arrived,

That never sailing on its waters saw

Man that could after measure back his course,

1 A slender reed.] The reed is here supposed, with sufficient probability, to be meant for a type of simplicity and patience.

2 Where to take.]"Prendere il monte," a reading which Lombardi claims for his favourite Nidobeatina edition, is also found in Landino's of 1484. 3 I spied the trembling of the ocean stream.]

Conobbi il tremolar della marina.

So Trissino in the Sofonisba :

E resta in tremolar l'onda marina.

And Fortiguerra, Ricciardetto, Canto ix. st. 17:

--visto il tremolar della marina.