Mid the deep ocean ye your course may take,
My track pursuing the pure waters through,
Ere reunites the quickly closing wake.
Those glorious ones who drove of yore their prow
To Colchos, wonder'd not as ye will do,

When they saw Jason working at the plough.
The innate thirst, which nought may e'er allay,

Of God's blest realm, was bearing us on high, Swift as ye see the starry heaven make way,— I, gazing upon Beatrice, and she

Looking above;-and quickly as may fly

An arrow to its rest, so quickly we

Were to an elevated region brought,

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Where things of wondrous aspect met my gaze; Whence she, to whom was known my every thought,

Turn'd to me, glad as beautiful; and said:

"See that a grateful heart to God thou raise, By whom to this first star we have been led.”

Methought a cloud enveloped us-all bright,

Polish'd, and solid, and of brilliancy

Like diamond sparkling with the solar light.

The eternal pearl receiv'd us, as a ray

In water is received-not parted by

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The beams that through its substance make their way.

If I were in the body,-(and in vain
The human intellect desires to know

How one dimension others can contain,)
With greater ardour should we be incited

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To see that Essence, which reveal'd, will show How God and man in substance were united. That which, not proved, through faith we now believe, 43 Then shall we see, all open to our view,

Like the first truth our youthful mînds receive.

I answer'd: "Lady, unto Him I pay

The tribute of my heart-most deeply due,

Who from the earth hath borne me thus away. But if it please thee, the dark spots explain

Upon the surface of this body shown,

Which cause on earth the fabling tales of Cain."
At this she gently smiled; then answer'd me :
"If man's opinion be to error prone,”
(And sense supplies a most defective key)
Surely thou should'st not quail beneath the stings
Of wonder now, since unto thee 'tis clear
That reason, following sense, hath feeble wings.
But tell me what to thee these shadows seem ?”
Then I: "The different colours that

appear,

Proceed from bodies dense or rare, I deem."

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She then replied: "Full surely shalt thou see
How sunk in error thy belief, if well
Thou list my reasoning to the contrary.-
In the eighth sphere is found full many a star
Differing in size and light, as thou may'st tell,
Judging from what they in appearance are.

If dense or rare brought such effect about,
Distributed in different degrees,

One single influence would prevail throughout;
But various influences needs must owe

Their source to formal principles—yet these,

Save one, thy argument destroy'd would show.

Again, if it were true that rarity

Cause of the darkness on its surface were,

Void in some places must this planet be,

As in a body, fat and lean abound

In different proportions: e'en so here

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This volume's leaves to differ would be found. The sun's eclipse would prove this, were it true; As when one rare is on another brought,

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The light thus added shines transparent through.

But this is not the fact; and if I show

The one case false, the other falls to nought;

And thus thy supposition I o'erthrow.

And some impediment there needs must be,

If the light may not through the substance pass,
So that the dense resist its contrary.

Hence is the ray reflected back again,

As colours are reflected from a glass,

Which lead conceal'd behind it doth contain. Now thou wilt say the beams appear more black In one place than another; since the force That throws them out is seated further back. Of this thy doubt would'st thou be satisfied,

Experience will instruct thy mind, that source Whence are the rivers of your arts supplied. Three mirrors take, and of them move away

Two in like mode, and let thine eye the one
At greater distance 'twixt the two survey.
Then let a lamp behind thee station'd be,

So that its light on all of them be thrown,
And come again reflected back to thee.
Although the distant one not through so vast
A space extend, yet hence thou wilt behold
From all the three an equal radiance cast.
Now as the ground beneath the sparkling snow
Loses its colour, and becomes less cold,

When struck by Phoebus' ardent rays-e'en so

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Thy mind, of error disabused, with light
So vivid would I fain illuminate,

That it shall quiver on thy wondering sight.
Beneath the heaven where peace eternal lives

Circles a body, fraught with power so great,
That all within it motion thence receivės.
The heaven that follows, lit with many a star,
Imparts this motion to the essences
Which, though distinct, by it encompass'd are.
Their varied properties each other heaven
Doth variously dispose of, so that these
Are each to their own seed and object given.
Thus do the organs of the universe

Proceed from step to step, as thou may'st see,
Gifted on high with what they here disperse.
Observe attentively how I my way

Make tow'rds the truth so much desired by thee;

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That henceforth from the ford thou may'st not stray.

From blest Intelligences needs must flow

Motion and influence to each several round;

As to the hammer from the artist's blow:
And that same heaven with stars resplendent dight
Receives its impress from the Mind profound
That rolls it ever through the fields of light.

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