And you, ye mortals, be your judgments slow;

133

For we, by whom the Godhead is descried,
Not yet the number of the elect do know.
And sweet it is in ignorance to be,
Because our bliss is doubly sanctified,

In that the will of God, and our's, agree."
So by the image of that Bird divine-

(Making my feeble vision more intense)
Was given to me a pleasant medicine.
And e'en as a good harper twangs the chord
In concert with the singer's voice, that thence
The greater pleasure may the song afford ;-
So, while it spoke, did those two sparks of love
(For I recal their perfect sympathies)
Their flames together with its accents move,
Like the accordant winking of the eyes!

139

145

NOTES.

Page 190. (Line 1.) i.e. As at sunset the stars appear, shining by a borrowed light; so, when the imperial eagle had ceased to speak, the various splendours of which it is composed, showed themselves, and broke forth into songs. (12.) These songs, says Dante, the frail memory of a mortal could not retain. See canto i. 9, and xxxiii. 57.

Page 191. (Line 19.) Thus Virgil, Georg. i. 109. "Illa cadens raucum per levia murmur saxa ciet."

Page 192. (Line 45.) For this story see Purg. x. 77, and note. (50.) Hezekiah prevailed with God to add fifteen years to his life, Isaiah xxxviii. and 2 Kings, xx. (52.) i.e. "The eternal counsels of God are indeed immutable, though they appear to us men to be altered by the prayers of the pious."— Cary. See a similar passage in the Purgatorio, vi. 37. (56.) Constantine carried the imperial eagle and the laws of Rome to Byzantium, and thus caused the evil arising from the union of temporal and spiritual power in the person of the Pope; so bitterly lamented by Dante in the Inferno, "Ah Constantine," &c., &c. xix. 115; and again in the De Monarchiâ, "O felicem populum, O Ausoniam gloriosam, si vel nunquam infirmator ille imperii tui natus fuisset, vel nunquam sua pia intentio ipsum fefellisset."

Page 193. (Line 61.) William II." William was a just Prince, who loved his subjects, and preserved them in such tranquillity that the life the Sicilians led might be considered that of the terrestrial Paradise."-Ottimo Commento. Charles II. and Frederick of Arragon are the two princes with whom he is contrasted. (68.) Of Ripheus, Virgil says, Æn. ii. 426. "Cadit et Ripheus, justissimus unus

Qui fuit in Teucris, et servantissimus æqui." (79.) i.e. Dante had expressed a doubt, in the last canto, whether those who knew not Christ can be saved.—"Though," says Dante," my conviction was visible through my person, as though it were transparent glass, yet I could not resist breaking out with the question; 'What are these?"... "As if he should have said; 'Here the divine Justice cannot take effect; since Trajan and Ripheus, both Heathen, are in

the most exalted station, the eye of the eagle, assigned to those who have believed in Christ.'"-Ottimo Commento. (82.) Dante feigns astonishment at finding heathen spirits in Paradise, in order to afford opportunity of further explanation on the subject.

Page 194. (Line 94.) "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force.”—Matt. xi. 12.—i.e. Heaven permits itself to be overcome by earnest and importunate prayer. (100.) The first light, Trajan-the fifth, Ripheus. "You may well be surprised that in Paradise should dwell the spirits of those whom you take for Heathen."

Page 196. (Line 110.) Trajan was released from death by the prayers of St. Gregory. "If Abraham 'rejoiced' in the expectation of His appearance ;-if in Christ all the nations of the earth were to be blessed;'-if He was 'the desire of all nations;'-if, 'as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive ;'-what can we infer, but that the benefits of redemption were to extend to the faithful through all ages, past, present, and to come?"-Bp. Van Mildert. Works, vol. v. p. 353. “He that endeavours really to mortify his lusts, and to comply with that truth in his life, which his conscience is convinced of, is nearer a Christian, though he never heard of Christ, than he that believes all the vulgar articles of the Christian faith, and plainly denieth Christ in his life."—Cudworth. Intell. Sys. Serm. i. p. 43. But the views of Dante on this subject cannot be better expressed than in the celebrated passage of Dryden, which is too excellent and apposite to be omitted:

"We grant, 'tis true, that Heaven from human sense
Has hid the secret paths of Providence:

But boundless Wisdom, boundless Mercy, may
Find e'en for those bewilder'd souls a way:

If from His nature foes may pity claim,

Much more may strangers who ne'er heard his name.
And though no name be for salvation known,

But that of his eternal Son alone;

Who knows how far transcending Goodness can

Extend the merits of that Son to man?

Who knows what reasons may his mercy lead;
Or ignorance invincible may plead?
Not only Charity bids hope the best,
But more the great Apostle has express'd:
That if the Gentiles, whom no law inspired,
By nature did what was by law required;
They, who the written rule had never known,
Were to themselves both rule and law alone:
To nature's plain indictment shall they plead;
And by their conscience be condemn'd or freed.
Most righteous doom! because a rule reveal'd
Is none to those from whom it was conceal'd.
Then those who follow'd Reason's dictates right,
Lived up, and lifted high their natural light,
With Socrates may see their Maker's face,
While thousand rubric-martyrs want a place."
Dryden. Religio Laici.

(128.) i.e. Faith, Hope, and Charity, who danced upon the right wheel of the triumphal car in the terrestrial Paradise, were sponsors for Ripheus 1000 years before our Saviour's birth." See Purg. xxix. 122.

CANTO X X I.

ARGUMENT.

In the planet Saturn, or seventh heaven, are found contemplative spirits. A vision of Jacob's ladder. St. Pietro Damiano reproves the luxury of modern prelates. The voice of vengeance against them is heard to sound.

Now on the face of my loved Lady were
My eyes and mind again intently stay'd;
Nor other object occupied my care :

Her look bore not the accustom'd smile divine;
"And should I but indulge a smile," she said,
"The fate of Semele would soon be thine;
For since my beauty-higher as we rise

Towards the eternal palace-glows more bright
At every step, as witness'd by thine eyes,-
Were not a veil before its radiance cast,

Your mortal vision, dazzled at the sight,

Would shrink as leaves before the lightning blast.

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