Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

Ill understood, this doctrine led of yore

Mankind astray; whence Mercury, and Jove,

And Mars, became the names that planets bore. The other doubt that in thy mind holds sway,

Has less of venom, since it will not prove
Able to lure thee from my side astray.-
That Heavenly Justice should to mortal eye
Appear unjust, affords an argument

To firmer faith, and not to heresy :
But since thy mind has power to comprehend
And pierce this truth, I will thy wish content,
And bring my reasonings to a speedy end.

If violence be, when he who is constrain'd

Contributes nought to the necessity, These souls no real violence sustain'd: Since will, unwilling, is not to be quench'd, But, like to fire, persists incessantly,

Though thousand times by violence it be wrench'd. Therefore, if more or less it bend,--to force

It gives assistance ;-as did these, who ought
Back to the holy place to have held their course.
For had their will been under their command,

Such as kept Laurence on the bars, and wrought
In Mutius, cruel to his own right hand-

D

61

67

73

79

Loos'd from their bonds, they surely had retraced 85
The path whence they had forcibly been rent;
But rare indeed is will so firmly braced.
Thus if my words be rightly apprehended,
Falls to the ground the specious argument
By which thy soul might oft have been offended.
But now thy mind is cross'd by other doubt,

Such, that beneath its troublous weight opprest,
Thou would'st, unaided, have been wearied out.
Falsehood, as I before convinced thee, never
May harbour'd be within a holy breast,
Which near the primal truth remaineth ever ;
Yet from Piccarda mightest thou have heard
That Constance to the veil was stedfast still;
Which now appears to contradict my word.
Oft it befals, O brother, that to shun

A coming danger, we, against our will
Do perpetrate what should not have been done:
E'en as Alcmæon, too obedient son,

His mother slew, to please his sire; and hence
Impious became, impiety to shun.

Here it is fitting thou should'st bear in mind
That with the will accords the violence;

And such offences no excuse may find.

91

97

103

Absolute will consents not to ill deed

So far consenting only, as it fears

Lest, drawing back, worse evil should succeed. Absolute will Piccarda meant forsooth;

Another sense the will I spake of bears;

So that we both express'ed ourselves with truth." Such was the current of that River blest,

109

115

Pour'd from the Fountain whence all truth doth flow; Whereat my doubts were wholly laid to rest. "O Sovereign dearling of the primal Love, Goddess," I said, "whose speech inflames me so, That more and more its genial warmth I prove; Depth of affection have I not, that may

Sufficient be thy favour to requite:

Let Him, who vieweth, and who can, repay. I see full well the mind can ne'er exist

Content, unless illumed by that True Light, From which dissever'd may no truth consist. Therein it rests, like beast within its lair, Delighted, when 'tis reach'd; for otherwise

All human efforts unavailing were.

And hence springs Doubt, like to a tender shoot,
At foot of Truth :-from height to height we rise;
Since Nature ever prompteth the pursuit.

121

127

This doth invite me, this my heart assure
To ask, O Lady, reverently of thee
Another question which is yet obscure.
I wish to know if vows defective may
Cancell'd by other deed of virtue be,
Which in your balance will not lightly weigh."
Then Beatrice, her eyes divinely bright,

Sparkling, and full of love upon me threw;
So that, unable to endure the sight,
Mine from her gaze, bewilder'd, I withdrew.

133

139

NOTES

Page 30. (Line 4.) Thus Ovid. Met. v.
"Tigris ut auditis diversa valle duorum
Extimulata fame mugitibus armentorum

Nescit utro potius ruat, et nunc ardet utroque;
Sic dubius Perseus, dextrâ lævâne feratur."

Page 31. (Line 13.) As Daniel explained Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and thereby appeased his wrath against the Magi, so Beatrice removed the doubts of Dante. (19.) This "righteous will" means the intention of the Nuns to fulfil their vows. Piccarda and Constance, mentioned in the last canto, are here alluded to. (23.) "Plato taught that our souls were created before our bodies, and distributed among the stars, whither they returned, after the union with the body was dissolved; and remained there a shorter or longer time, according to their merits or demerits on earth."-Lombardi. "Atque ille, qui

recte et honeste curriculum vivendi a naturâ datum confecerit, ad illum astrum quocum aptus fuerit, revertetur.”—Cicero. Frag. de Universo. Thus Shakspeare, 1st pt. Henry VI. act i, sc. 1. "A far more glorious star thy soul will make Than Julius Cæsar, &c. And, Spenser, Hymn to Love.

"But that fair lamp, from whose celestial ray
That light proceeds which kindles lover's fire,
Shall never be extinguish'd or decay;
But when the vital spirits do expire
Unto her native planet shall retire,

For it is heavenly born, and cannot die,

Being a parcel of the purest sky."

(27.) The answer to the first question commences line 67. In reply to the second, Beatrice here shows that Plato's philosophy is not applicable to heaven; and that angels and spirits are said, humanly speaking, to have different mansions assigned them, merely to show their different degrees of glory.

.in

Page 32. (Line 37.) Viz. "Piccarda and Constance :-not that this lunar sphere is chosen by them, but to signify that as it is the lowest and farthest from God, they enjoy but a small degree of glory among the blessed saints."-Costa. (43.) “The sacred poets were under the necessity of speaking of God in a manner adapted to human conceptions, and of attributing to him the actions, the passions, and the faculties of man... conformity with the weakness of the human understanding." -Louth, Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews, vol. i. p. 359. In his mode of illustration, Dante imitates St. Paul.-"St. Paul likens the different degrees of glory which the blessed shall enjoy to the different degrees of splendour in the heavenly bodies, as 'one star differeth from another.'"-1 Cor. xv. 41. Bp. Van Mildert. Works, vol. vii. p. 497. "It is true, whilst

« PoprzedniaDalej »