The Vision of Dante Alighiere or Hell, Purgatory and Paradise Read online

In thee, that its great Maker did not scorn,

  Himself, in his own work enclos'd to dwell!

  For in thy womb rekindling shone the love

  Reveal'd, whose genial influence makes now

  This flower to germin in eternal peace!

  Here thou to us, of charity and love,

  Art, as the noon-day torch: and art, beneath,

  To mortal men, of hope a living spring.

  So mighty art thou, lady! and so great,

  That he who grace desireth, and comes not

  To thee for aidance, fain would have desire

  Fly without wings. Nor only him who asks,

  Thy bounty succours, but doth freely oft

  Forerun the asking. Whatsoe'er may be

  Of excellence in creature, pity mild,

  Relenting mercy, large munificence,

  Are all combin'd in thee. Here kneeleth one,

  Who of all spirits hath review'd the state,

  From the world's lowest gap unto this height.

  Suppliant to thee he kneels, imploring grace

  For virtue, yet more high to lift his ken

  Toward the bliss supreme. And I, who ne'er

  Coveted sight, more fondly, for myself,

  Than now for him, my prayers to thee prefer,

  (And pray they be not scant) that thou wouldst drive

  Each cloud of his mortality away;

  That on the sovran pleasure he may gaze.

  This also I entreat of thee, O queen!

  Who canst do what thou wilt! that in him thou

  Wouldst after all he hath beheld, preserve

  Affection sound, and human passions quell.

  Lo! Where, with Beatrice, many a saint

  Stretch their clasp'd hands, in furtherance of my suit!"

  The eyes, that heav'n with love and awe regards,

  Fix'd on the suitor, witness'd, how benign

  She looks on pious pray'rs: then fasten'd they

  On th' everlasting light, wherein no eye

  Of creature, as may well be thought, so far

  Can travel inward. I, meanwhile, who drew

  Near to the limit, where all wishes end,

  The ardour of my wish (for so behooved),

  Ended within me. Beck'ning smil'd the sage,

  That I should look aloft: but, ere he bade,

  Already of myself aloft I look'd;

  For visual strength, refining more and more,

  Bare me into the ray authentical

  Of sovran light. Thenceforward, what I saw,

  Was not for words to speak, nor memory's self

  To stand against such outrage on her skill.

  As one, who from a dream awaken'd, straight,

  All he hath seen forgets; yet still retains

  Impression of the feeling in his dream;

  E'en such am I: for all the vision dies,

  As 't were, away; and yet the sense of sweet,

  That sprang from it, still trickles in my heart.

  Thus in the sun-thaw is the snow unseal'd;

  Thus in the winds on flitting leaves was lost

  The Sybil's sentence. O eternal beam!

  (Whose height what reach of mortal thought may soar?)

  Yield me again some little particle

  Of what thou then appearedst, give my tongue

  Power, but to leave one sparkle of thy glory,

  Unto the race to come, that shall not lose

  Thy triumph wholly, if thou waken aught

  Of memory in me, and endure to hear

  The record sound in this unequal strain.

  Such keenness from the living ray I met,

  That, if mine eyes had turn'd away, methinks,

  I had been lost; but, so embolden'd, on

  I pass'd, as I remember, till my view

  Hover'd the brink of dread infinitude.

  O grace! unenvying of thy boon! that gav'st

  Boldness to fix so earnestly my ken

  On th' everlasting splendour, that I look'd,

  While sight was unconsum'd, and, in that depth,

  Saw in one volume clasp'd of love, whatever

  The universe unfolds; all properties

  Of substance and of accident, beheld,

  Compounded, yet one individual light

  The whole. And of such bond methinks I saw

  The universal form: for that whenever

  I do but speak of it, my soul dilates

  Beyond her proper self; and, till I speak,

  One moment seems a longer lethargy,

  Than five-and-twenty ages had appear'd

  To that emprize, that first made Neptune wonder

  At Argo's shadow darkening on his flood.

  With fixed heed, suspense and motionless,

  Wond'ring I gaz'd; and admiration still

  Was kindled, as I gaz'd. It may not be,

  That one, who looks upon that light, can turn

  To other object, willingly, his view.

  For all the good, that will may covet, there

  Is summ'd; and all, elsewhere defective found,

  Complete. My tongue shall utter now, no more

  E'en what remembrance keeps, than could the babe's

  That yet is moisten'd at his mother's breast.

  Not that the semblance of the living light

  Was chang'd (that ever as at first remain'd)

  But that my vision quickening, in that sole

  Appearance, still new miracles descry'd,

  And toil'd me with the change. In that abyss

  Of radiance, clear and lofty, seem'd methought,

  Three orbs of triple hue clipt in one bound:

  And, from another, one reflected seem'd,

  As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third

  Seem'd fire, breath'd equally from both. Oh speech

  How feeble and how faint art thou, to give

  Conception birth! Yet this to what I saw

  Is less than little. Oh eternal light!

  Sole in thyself that dwellst; and of thyself

  Sole understood, past, present, or to come!

  Thou smiledst; on that circling, which in thee

  Seem'd as reflected splendour, while I mus'd;

  For I therein, methought, in its own hue

  Beheld our image painted: steadfastly

  I therefore por'd upon the view. As one

  Who vers'd in geometric lore, would fain

  Measure the circle; and, though pondering long

  And deeply, that beginning, which he needs,

  Finds not; e'en such was I, intent to scan

  The novel wonder, and trace out the form,

  How to the circle fitted, and therein

  How plac'd: but the flight was not for my wing;

  Had not a flash darted athwart my mind,

  And in the spleen unfolded what it sought.

  Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy:

  But yet the will roll'd onward, like a wheel

  In even motion, by the Love impell'd,

  That moves the sun in heav'n and all the stars.

  NOTES TO PARADISE

  CANTO 1

  Verse 12. Benign Apollo.] Chaucer has imitated this invention

  very closely at the beginning of the Third Booke of Fame.

  If, divine vertue, thou

  Wilt helpe me to shewe now

  That in my head ymarked is,

  * * * * *

  Thou shalt see me go as blive

  Unto the next laurer I see,

  And kisse it for it is thy tree

  Now entre thou my breast anone.

  v. 15. Thus for.] He appears to mean nothing more than that

  this part of his poem will require a greater exertion of his

  powers than the former.

  v. 19. Marsyas.] Ovid, Met. 1. vi. fab. 7. Compare Boccaccio,

  II Filocopo, 1. 5. p. 25. v. ii. Ediz. Fir. 1723. "Egli
nel

  mio petto entri," &c. - "May he enter my bosom, and let my voice

  sound like his own, when he made that daring mortal deserve to

  come forth unsheathed from his limbs. "

  v. 29. Caesar, or bard.] So Petrarch, Son. Par. Prima.

  Arbor vittoriosa e trionfale,

  Onor d'imperadori e di poeti.

  And Spenser, F. Q. b. i. c. 1. st. 9,

  The laurel, meed of mighty conquerours

  And poets sage.

  v. 37. Through that.] "Where the four circles, the horizon, the

  zodiac, the equator, and the equinoctial colure, join; the last

  threeintersecting each other so as to form three crosses, as may

  be seen in the armillary sphere."

  v. 39. In happiest constellation.] Aries. Some understand the

  planetVenus by the "miglior stella "

  v. 44. To the left.] Being in the opposite hemisphere to ours,

  Beatrice that she may behold the rising sun, turns herself to the

  left.

  v. 47. As from the first a second beam.] "Like a reflected

  sunbeam," which he compares to a pilgrim hastening homewards.

  Ne simil tanto mal raggio secondo

  Dal primo usci.

  Filicaja, canz. 15. st. 4.

  v. 58. As iron that comes boiling from the fire.] So Milton,

  P. L. b. iii. 594.

  --As glowing iron with fire.

  v. 69. Upon the day appear'd.

  --If the heaven had ywonne,

  All new of God another sunne.

  Chaucer, First Booke of Fame

  E par ch' agginuga un altro sole al cielo.

  Ariosto, O F. c. x. st. 109.

  Ed ecco un lustro lampeggiar d' intorno

  Che sole a sole aggiunse e giorno a giorno.

  Manno, Adone. c. xi. st. 27.

  Quando a paro col sol ma piu lucente

  L'angelo gli appari sull; oriente

  Tasso, G. L. c. i.

  -Seems another morn

  Ris'n on mid-noon.

  Milton, P. L. b. v. 311.

  Compare Euripides, Ion. 1550. [GREEK HERE]

  66. as Glaucus. ] Ovid, Met. 1. Xiii. Fab. 9

  v. 71. If.] "Thou O divine Spirit, knowest whether 1 had not

  risen above my human nature, and were not merely such as thou

  hadst then, formed me."

  v. 125. Through sluggishness.]

  Perch' a risponder la materia e sorda.

  So Filicaja, canz. vi. st 9.

  Perche a risponder la discordia e sorda

  "The workman hath in his heart a purpose, he carrieth in mind the

  whole form which his work should have; there wanteth not him

  skill and desire to bring his labour to the best effect, only the

  matter, which he hath to work on is unframeable." Hooker's Eccl.

  Polity, b. 5. 9.

  CANTO II

  v. 1. In small bark.]

  Con la barchetta mia cantando in rima

  Pulci, Morg. Magg. c. xxviii.

  Io me n'andro con la barchetta mia,

  Quanto l'acqua comporta un picciol legno

  Ibid.

  v. 30. This first star.] the moon

  v. 46. E'en as the truth.] Like a truth that does not need

  demonstration, but is self-evident."

  v. 52. Cain.] Compare Hell, Canto XX. 123. And Note

  v. 65. Number1ess lights.] The fixed stars, which differ both

  in bulk and splendor.

  v. 71. Save one.] "Except that principle of rarity and

  denseness which thou hast assigned." By "formal principles,

  "principj formali, are meant constituent or essential causes."

  Milton, in imitation of this passage, introduces the angel

  arguing with Adam respecting the causes of the spots on the moon.

  But, as a late French translator of the Paradise well remarks,

  his reasoning is physical; that of Dante partly metaphysical and

  partly theologic.

  v. 111. Within the heaven.] According to our Poet's system,

  there are ten heavens; the seven planets, the eighth spheres

  containing the fixed stars, the primum mobile, and the empyrean.

  v. 143. The virtue mingled.] Virg. Aen. 1. vi 724.

  Principio coelum, &c.

  CANTO III

  v. 16. Delusion.] "An error the contrary to that of Narcissus,

  because he mistook a shadow for a substance, I a substance for a

  shadow."

  v. 50. Piccarda.] The sister of Forese whom we have seen in the

  Purgatory, Canto XXIII.

  v. 90. The Lady.] St. Clare, the foundress of the order called

  after her She was born of opulent and noble parents at Assisi, in

  1193, and died in 1253. See Biogr. Univ. t. 1. p. 598. 8vo.

  Paris, 1813.

  v. 121. Constance.] Daughter of Ruggieri, king of Sicily, who,

  being taken by force out of a monastery where she had professed,

  was married to the Emperor Henry Vl. and by him was mother to

  Frederick 11. She was fifty years old or more at the time, and

  "because it was not credited that she could have a child at that

  age, she was delivered in a pavilion and it was given out, that

  any lady, who pleased, was at liberty to see her. Many came, and

  saw her, and the suspicion ceased." Ricordano Malaspina in

  Muratori, Rer. It. Script. t. viii. p. 939; and G. Villani, in

  the same words, Hist. I v. c. 16

  The French translator above mentored speaks of her having

  poisoned her husband. The death of Henry Vl. is recorded in the

  Chronicon Siciliae, by an anonymous writer, (Muratori, t. x.) but

  not a word of his having been poisoned by Constance, and

  Ricordano Malaspina even mentions her decease as happening before

  that of her husband, Henry V., for so this author, with some

  others, terms him. v. 122. The second.] Henry Vl. son of

  Frederick I was the second emperor of the house of Saab; and his

  son Frederick II "the third and last."

  CANTO IV

  v. 6. Between two deer]

  Tigris ut auditis, diversa valle duorum

  Extimulata fame, mugitibus armentorum

  Neseit utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque.

  Ovid, Metam. 1. v. 166

  v. 13. Daniel.] See Daniel, c. ii.

  v. 24. Plato.] [GREEK HERE] Plato Timaeus v. ix. p. 326.

  Edit. Bip. "The Creator, when he had framed the universe,

  distributed to the stars an equal number of souls, appointing to

  each soul its several star."

  v. 27. Of that.] Plato's opinion.

  v. 34. The first circle.] The empyrean.

  v. 48. Him who made Tobias whole.]

  Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd

  To travel with Tobias, and secur'd

  His marriage with the sev'n times wedded maid,

  Milton, P. L. b. v. 223.

  v. 67. That to the eye of man.] "That the ways of divine

  justice are often inscrutable to man, ought rather to be a motive

  to faith than an inducement to heresy." Such appears to me the

  most satisfactory explanation of the passage.

  v. 82. Laurence.] Who suffered martyrdom in the third century.

  v. 82. Scaevola.] See Liv. Hist. D. 1. 1. ii. 12.

  v. 100. Alcmaeon.] Ovid, Met. 1. ix. f. 10.

  --Ultusque parente parentem

  Natus, erit facto pius et sceleratus eodem.

  v. 107. Of will.] "What Piccarda asserts of Constance, that she

  retained her affection to the monastic life, is said absolutely
r />   and without relation to circumstances; and that which I affirm is

  spoken of the will conditionally and respectively: so that our

  apparent difference is without any disagreement."

  v. 119. That truth.] The light of divine truth.

  CANTO V

  v. 43. Two things.] The one, the substance of the vow; the

  other, the compact, or form of it.

  v. 48. It was enjoin'd the Israelites.] See Lev. e. xii, and

  xxvii.

  v. 56. Either key.] Purgatory, Canto IX. 108.

  v. 86. That region.] As some explain it, the east, according to

  others the equinoctial line.

  v. 124. This sphere.] The planet Mercury, which, being nearest

  to the sun, is oftenest hidden by that luminary

  CANTO VI

  v. 1. After that Constantine the eagle turn'd.] Constantine,

  in transferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium,

  carried the eagle, the Imperial ensign, from the west to the

  east. Aeneas, on the contrary had moved along with the sun's

  course, when he passed from Troy to Italy.

  v. 5. A hundred years twice told and more.] The Emperor

  Constantine entered Byzantium in 324, and Justinian began his

  reign in 527.

  v. 6. At Europe's extreme point.] Constantinople being situated

  at the extreme of Europe, and on the borders of Asia, near those

  mountains

  in the neighbourhood of Troy, from whence the first founders of

  Rome had emigrated.

  v. 13. To clear th' incumber'd laws.] The code of laws was

  abridged and reformed by Justinian.

  v. 15. Christ's nature merely human.] Justinian is said to have

  been a follower of the heretical Opinions held by Eutyches," who

  taught that in Christ there was but one nature, viz. that of the

  incarnate word."

  Maclaine's Mosheim, t. ii. Cent. v. p. ii. c. v. 13.

  v. 16. Agapete.] Agapetus, Bishop of Rome, whose Scheda Regia,

  addressed to the Emperor Justinian, procured him a place among

  the wisest and most judicious writers of this century."

  Ibid. Cent. vi. p. ii c. ii. 8.

  v. 33. Who pretend its power.] The Ghibellines.

  v. 33. And who oppose ] The Guelphs.

  v. 34. Pallas died.] See Virgil, Aen. 1. X.

  v. 39. The rival three.] The Horatii and Curiatii.

  v. 41. Down.] "From the rape of the Sabine women to the

  violation of Lucretia."

  v. 47. Quintius.] Quintius Cincinnatus.

  E Cincinnato dall' inculta chioma.

  Petrarca.

  v. 50. Arab hordes.] The Arabians seem to be put for the

  barbarians in general.

  v. 54. That hill.] The city of Fesulae, which was sacked by the

  Romans after the defeat of Cataline.

  v. 56. Near the hour.] Near the time of our Saviour's birth.

  v. 59. What then it wrought.] In the following fifteen lines

  the Poet has comprised the exploits of Julius Caesar.

  v. 75. In its next bearer's gripe.] With Augustus Caesar.

  v. 89. The third Caesar.] "Tiberius the third of the Caesars,

  had it in his power to surpass the glory of all who either

  preceded or came after him, by destroying the city of .Jerusalem,

  as Titus afterwards did, and thus revenging the cause of God

  himself on the Jews."

  v. 95. Vengeance for vengeance ] This will be afterwards

  explained by the Poet himself.

  v. 98. Charlemagne.] Dante could not be ignorant that the reign

  of Justinian was long prior to that of Charlemagne; but the

  spirit of the former emperor is represented, both in this

  instance and in what follows, as conscious of the events that had

  taken place after his own time.

  v. 104. The yellow lilies.] The French ensign.

  v. 110. Charles.] The commentators explain this to mean Charles

  II, king of Naples and Sicily. Is it not more likely to allude to

  Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France, who was sent for,

  about this time, into Italy by Pope Boniface, with the promise of

  being made emperor? See G. Villani, 1. viii. c. 42.

  v. 131. Romeo's light.] The story of Romeo is involved in some

  uncertainty. The French writers assert the continuance of his

  ministerial office even after the decease of his soverign

  Raymond Berenger, count of Provence: and they rest this assertion

  chiefly on the fact of a certain Romieu de Villeneuve, who was

  the contemporary of that prince, having left large possessions

  behind him, as appears by his will, preserved in the archives of