Such truth is render'd plain unto my mind
By him who the first love to me displays
Of all the eternal substances :- I find
That by the unerring One the same is seal❜d,
Who, speaking of Himself to Moses, says:
'To thee shall all my goodness be reveal'd.'
Declared moreover is this truth by thee

At the opening of thy pages, which proclaim
In clearest terms the mighty mystery."
Then heard I this: "Since reason's voice approves,

And Revelation too enjoins the same

Reserve for God the choicest of thy loves. But tell me if by other cords thou feel

Thyself attracted unto God;-and so

All the constraining bonds of love reveal." Why Christ's blest Eagle this inquiry made,

66

I straight discover'd, and the point whereto
He wish'd to lead me; wherefore I obey'd.-

"Every incentive that the soul can bind,

And make it turn to God, accordant is

With the warm gratitude that fills my mind The existence of the world,-my being,—and The death He bore that I might live, and this Bright object of our hope, the promised land,

37

43

49

55

With the conviction spoken of before,

Have drawn me from the sea of erring love,

And of the true have set me on the shore. Love for each plant that in the garden grows Of the Eternal Gardener I prove,

Proportion'd to the goodness he bestows."

61

I ceased; when through the heaven resounded slowly, 67
By myriads sung, a strain surpassing sweet,—

My Lady joining-"Holy, Holy, Holy."
And as through fervour of the piercing light,
Which the soul's active spirit runs to meet,
Is broken through the slumber of the night;
And the awaken'd one hates what he sees;
(So lost to sense of all around he is,
Till judgment re-illume his faculties);
Thus from my eyes was each impediment
Dash'd by a ray from those of Beatrice,

Which thousand miles their bright effulgence sent. Wherefore my dazzled eyesight now revived,

I made enquiry, still in some amaze, Who was the soul that newly had arrived. "Within these beams," to me my Lady said, "Views his Creator with admiring gaze

The earliest soul that primal Wisdom made."

73

79

Like leaves that bend before the passing breeze
And presently upraise themselves again,
Through impulse of their native energies;
Thus to the ground I bow'd me as she spoke,
Awe-struck-then raised my confidence amain;
So strong a wish to speak my spirit woke.
"O thou, sole fruit," I answer'd, "upon earth
Brought into being, ripe-O sire of man,
To whom is daughter both by law and birth
Each married woman--thee do I implore

Devoutly; and since thou my wish dost scan,
Through eagerness to hear I say no more."
As by the movement of his furry skin
His feelings oft an animal makes known,
Displaying outwardly the joy within-
So did the first created soul attest

85

91

97

By the outward lustre of his form alone
How great his joy to answer my request:
Then breathed: "Thy wish is understood by me- 103
Though utter'd not-with impress clearer far
Than whatsoe'er is best perceived by thee;
Since I behold it in that Mirror true,

In which-though other things reflected are,
No image of Itself is given to view.

You ask of me how long the time, since I

109

Was placed in that high garden, whence a stair

So lofty brought you to this region high-
How long its lovely prospects I enjoy'd-
Why to God's wrath I was obnoxious there-
And what the dialect by me employ'd.
"Twas not alone through tasting of the tree,
My son, that I so long in banishment

Remain'd, but that I broke God's high decree.
There, whence thy faithful Lady Virgil drew,

115

Wishing to reach these blessed courts, I spent Four thousand, and three hundred years, and two.

121

And while I dwelt on earth 'twas mine to ken
The sun relume the lights he passes through
Nine hundred times united to thrice ten.
The language that I spoke was lost to man,
Ere Nimrod and his most audacious crew
Their not-to-be-accomplish'd work began:

For no effect by human reason wrought

Was ever lasting through the strong desire
Of man for change, by starry influence taught.
Nature ordaineth man to speak; but she

Leaves it to you a language to acquire,
Or this, or that, as may your pleasure be.

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Ere I descended to the gulph of hell,

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The Good Supreme, from whom proceeds that joy Which swathes me round, was called by mortals El : Eli the name that afterwards men chose,

Since custom, altering the words they employ,
Is like the leaf-one comes, another goes.
In that blest mount which hath an eminence

Highest above the sea-while without stain

I lived a life of spotless innocence,

The fourth part of a day did I remain.

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NOTES.

Page 244. (Line 1.) Dazzled with the contemplation of St. John, at the end of the last canto, the poet is in doubt whether he shall ever recover his sight, and see Beatrice again. (12.) The Apostle tells him that the look of Beatrice has the same power as the hand of Ananias.

Page 245. (Line 17.) i.e. The Alpha and the Omega. (22.) The voice that speaks is that of St. John. (25.) The poet replies that he was first led to the love of God by Natural Philosophy, and secondly by Revelation. He places the study of Nature before that of Revelation, in point of time.

Page 246. (Line 38.) Plato is here intended. (42.) From Exodus, xxxiii. 19. “I will make all my goodness pass before thee." (44.) The first chapter of St. John is referred to.