Think, reader, if the wondrous history

That here begins, should also terminate,

109

How painful would thy dearth of knowledge be:
Then may'st thou tell if I were not possest

By strong desire to learn of these their state,
The moment they became thus manifest.
"O well-born spirit, whom Grace permits to see
The Thrones of the eternal triumph, ere
Closed is thine earthly warfare;-know that we
Are kindled by the light which fills the wide
Expanse of heaven :-if thou art fain to hear
Of our condition, be thy wish supplied."
One of those pious spirits thus I heard ;

When Beatrice: "Speak on without dismay; And trust, as they were Gods, their every word." "I see full well how in the light divine

Thou dwell'st; and that thine eyes a joy display,
Which when thou smilest more serenely shine:

But who thou art, I know not; neither why,
O worthy soul, a sphere is given to thee,
Hid by another's ray from mortal eye."
These words I spake unto the joyous light

That had been first to address itself to me;
Whereat it glow'd in radiance still more bright:

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121

127

And as the sun conceals himself from view
Amid the splendour of the new-born day,
When he hath chased away the early dew;
E'en so that holy form himself conceal'd
Within the lustre of his own pure ray;
And, shrouded closely, to mine ear reveal'd
Words that the ensuing canto shall display.

133

NOTES.

Page 41. (Line 1.) Alfieri explains this in an active sense, "S'io t'infiammo;"-the author of the Ottimo Commento, Landino, and others, in a neuter, as adopted in this translation:-the "perfetto veder" that follows, seems to decide the question, as applicable to Beatrice and not to Dante. The prostration of the poet before the splendour of Beatrice was the concluding scene of the last canto. (11.) "It should be known that the primal Agent, i.e. God, paints his virtue upon some things by a direct ray, and upon others by a reflected splendour. Hence the divine Light beams direct upon the Intelligences, and from these is reflected upon other things." -Dante. Convito.

Page 42. (Line 13.) See last canto, line 136. (19.) Here commences the answer to the question asked by Dante, at the end of the last canto, as to the manner in which vows may be fulfilled :-"Man being endued," he says, "with Freewill; and this not necessarily swayed by expediency, but absolute, and under his control, when he has once sacrificed that will by a vow to God, such vow must strictly be fulfilled." (29.) i.e

Freedom of will, spontaneously sacrificed to God, when we adopt His will instead of our own.

Page 43. (Line 57.) i.e. Without the authority of the Church, represented by the keys, said to be given by our Saviour to St. Peter,-"one of gold and the other of silver."Purg. ix. 118, where see note.

Page 44. (Line 64.) "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it."-Ecclesiastes v. 4. See also Numbers, xxx. 2. Of Jephthah, see Judges, cap. xi.; and Scripture Hist. p. 166, by the Hon. and very Rev. H. E. J. Howard, D.D., Dean of Lichfield. (70.) The passage of Lucretius, which Dante had in view, describing the sacrifice of Iphiginia, is too beautiful not to be referred to: "Aulide quo pacto," &c. B. 1. 85. (80.) See Inf. xxvi. 119.

Page 45. (Line 87.) i.e. That part where God more peculiarly dwells. (91.) See a like simile, canto ii. 23. The poet is now rapt to Mercury, the second kingdom, inhabited by spirits who were active in the pursuit of honour.

Page 46. (Line 116.) i.e. The Angels celebrating the triumph of Christ. This light "which fills the expanse of heaven," is that of charity-as universal there as light itself. (126.) Thus translated upon conjecture, before I met with the reading corruscan " of the Cod. Steward, adopted by Dionisi. (129.) Mercury, says Dante in his Convito, is more veiled by the splendour of the sun, to which it is contiguous, than any other planet. (131.) Justinian.-The spirit is so animated by the charitable desire of gratifying Dante's wishes, as to become veiled in his own splendour.

CANTO VI.

ARGUMENT,

JUSTINIAN recites the conquests and successes of the Romans in order to prove the divine right of the Emperors, and the criminality of the Guelfs and Ghibellines ;-the one in opposing their government, the other in endeavouring to turn it to party purposes. Among the inhabitants of Mercury is found Romeo, the unfortunate Steward of Raymond Berenger,

"WHEN Constantine had turn'd the Eagle back
Against the course of heaven, which it before
Had follow'd closely in Æneas' track;
Above two centuries the Bird of God

His seat maintain'd on Europe's utmost shore,

Near the same mountain where he first abode : There, 'neath the shade his sacred pinions cast, Passing from hand to hand, the world he sway'd; And thus to mine descending, came at last.

Cæsar I was Justinian now am I,

Who rid the laws, by the Holy Spirit's aid,
Of all defect and superfluity:

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7

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And ere unto that work my mind I bent,
One nature I to Christ attributed,

And rested in the erroneous faith content.
But blessed Agapetus bade me abjure

The error; and by counsel sage he led

My wandering thoughts unto a faith more pure. To him I gave belief;-and now I view

His doctrine clearly, e'en as thou may'st see In every opposite the false and true. Converted to the Church-by God's high will And favouring grace, I roused each energy, And strove the mighty labour to fulfil. Arms to my Belisarius I consign'd;

And turn'd me to repose in peaceful lore,

Seeing the hand of Heaven with him conjoin'd.

To thy first question have I made reply;

But such its nature is, that something more

Must here be added of necessity:

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25

That thou may'st see how great the blame of those 31
Who move against the sacred standard-first,
Those who are ranged beneath it,-next, its foes.
Behold through many a day what deeds renown'd
Have made it rev'renced, from the hour when erst
Young Pallas died, its sovereignty to found.