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No righteous spirit ever passeth here;

And, therefore, if with anger Charon met
Thy coming, what his words import is clear.'

With that the dismal land beneath my feet
Shook with such violence, that yet again
The awful memory floods my limbs with sweat.
A gust of wind swept thro' the tear-sown glen;
Vermilion lightning flash'd along the deep,

Bereaving me of every sense :—and then
I fell, as one oppress'd by sudden sleep.

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CANTO IV.

Ruppemi l'alto.

ARGUMENT.

The Poets descend into the first circle of Hell, or Limbo, wherein are placed the spirits of those, who, not having sinned in the theological sense, have yet, owing to their want of baptism, come short of salvation; and also of those, who, having lived in pre-Christian times, neglected the dictates of natural religion. Emerging from the dense crowd of souls in the direction of a light shining in the darkness, they meet the shades of Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, by whom they are accompanied into the separate abode of the great spirits of antiquity.

The sleep that bound my head was broken by
A thunder peal so loud that I sprung up,
As one that is awaken'd forcibly.

Uplifted on my feet I moved around

My rested eyes, and looked with eagerness,

To ascertain the place wherein I was.

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'Tis true—upon the margin of the Abyss
I found myself, whose caverns dolorous
Gather the thunderous sound of agonies
Innumerable. It was so dark, profound,
And nebulous, that we on bending down

Our steadfast gaze discern'd no single thing. 'Descend we now to the blind world below ;'

My Teacher thus his speech all pale as death
Began, 'I first, thou after me.' And I,
Who had remark'd his pallid hue, forthwith

Replied; 'How shall I go, if thou dost fear,
Whose strength alone my wavering comforteth?'
And he return'd; 'The anguish of the souls

That are down here pourtrays upon my face
That sympathy, which thou mistak'st for fear.
Hasten we on, for the long way doth press.'
'Twas thus he enter'd, thus he made me enter

ΙΟ

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The foremost circle that surrounds the Abyss.

Within, far as the listening ear could hear,

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No wailing sound arose, save that of sighs
Alone, that shook the everlasting air,

Of sorrow born, without tormenting pain—

Sorrow, that held the crowds thick-banded there

Of infants, and of women, and of men.

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Said the good Master then; 'Dost thou forbear

To ask what spirits are these that here thou seest? Yet would I have thee know, ere thou draw near, These have not sinn'd:1 and, if they have their merits, 'Tis not enough, for, being unbaptised,

They enter'd not the portal of thy Faith : And, if they lived before the birth of Christ, They render'd not due worship unto God. And these are they with whom my lot is cast. For these defects—these only—we are lost,

Guiltless besides : yet only in this afflicted,

That without hope in vain desire unblest

We live.' Great sorrow then my heart possess'd,

Soon as I heard, because I knew that souls

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Of highest worth were in that Limbo placed.
And 'Tell me, O my lord—O Master, tell;'

Thus I began, that I might of that Faith
Be assured, which every error doth excel;
'Went any forth from hence by his own merit,
Or by Another's aid, who from on high

Appear'd?' He saw my hidden drift, and made

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1 Sin is 'the transgression of the law,' or 'the rejection of divine grace.' The heathen, having had no divine law, and the unbaptized, lacking divine grace, had not 'sinned' in the technical theological sense of the term. This, I presume, is the meaning of the Poet.

Response, and said; 'New in this state was I,
When lo! to us there came One full of might,
And on His brow the wreath of victory.

He took from us the shade of our first parent,

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With that of Abel, and his who 'scaped the flood,

Moses the lawgiver obedient,

Abram the patriarch, and royal David,

Israel, with his father, and his children,

And Rachel, for whose sake so long he labour'd,

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And many more; and led them up to heaven:
And thou must know that earlier than these
No human spirit e'er attain'd salvation.'
Not for his speaking slacken'd we our pace,
Still thro' that dismal forest onward moving-

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The forest, I mean, form'd by the surging mass

Of souls. We were at no great distance from

The highest elevation, when I saw

A light that shone amid the encircling gloom. 2

Onward a little farther yet in haste

We went, until I could perceive in part

That honourable people held that place.

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2 The light of the wisdom of the ancients shining amid the darkness

of the heathen world.

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