When Love Divine those glorious worlds along No harm would spring :7 yet not so that my dread That onward came right in my path with head Aloft and glaring wild with hungry eye, That ev'n the air seem'd to shrink back afraid. And a She-wolf, 9 whose leanness seem'd to be Full fraught with all inordinate desire, And like as one that kindleth with the glow 40 45 50 55 Of gain—and then, to mar his full delight, There cometh loss—he sinks o'erwhelm'd with woe; So by that beast was I dishearten'd quite, That still with stealthy tread approaching nigh Downward involved me in the shades of night. бо 7 The hour of the day, and the season of the year, induced the hope that the Leopard would prove harmless. This animal is said to retire to its den at sun-rise in the spring. Allegorically, envy is subdued by the tranquillizing influence of the morning, and by love inspired by the season. Thus hurrying down the shelter'd ground to reach Who thro' long silence seem'd bereft of speech.10 When I descried him in the desert lone, 'Have pity on me!' I cried out,' whate'er Thou art, or living man, or shade undone.' He made response; 'Not living man, tho' once 65 Of Lombard ancestors in Mantua fair, When mightiest Julius did the world adorn : 70 I lived at Rome 'neath good Augustus' sway, Of just Anchises' son, who came from Troy, 75 Why lingerest thou where grovelling cares annoy? What hinders thee to scale the beauteous mountain, 'Art thou then Virgil, that perennial fountain, Whence welleth out of speech so large a river?' 80 'O light and glory 10 This line is said to refer to the neglect of classical literature in Italy during the dark ages. 6 Of other bards! now may the long endeavour Thy sacred page avail me! Thou wert ever Alone, for 'twas from thee I won the fair Style that with honour's wreath adorns my brow. Yon wolf, that made me turn, still hovering there Thou seest save me from her, renownèd sage, 85 Whose presence shakes each pulse, each vein with fear.' 90 'Meet is it thou another pilgrimage Should'st make,' he answer'd, when he saw my tears, 'Would'st thou escape this desert, and the rage Of yonder beast.11 For whosoe'er appears Upon the slope of this delightful hill, Hindering his upward course she rends and tears And shall with more till that Greyhound arise,12 95 100 11 Contemplation, and not action, was the vocation of the Poet. It was indirectly—by means of his poem—that he was to benefit his country and mankind. 15 Comparing this passage with Parad. xvii. 76—90, and especially Not of the earth or earthly vanities, But wisdom, virtue, love his food shall be : 'Twixt either Feltro 13 his dominion lies. 105 Deliverer of down-fallen Italy,14 For whom died brave Camilla, virgin pure, Thro' every land and town with scourge severe Back to the mouth of Hell yon wolf shall chase, My mind discerns that thou thro' Heaven's grace Where thou wilt hear the shriekings of despair, And see the ancient spirits rack'd with pain— 115 the line with the lines 'Questi non ciberà terra nè peltro' 'Parran faville della sua virtute In non curar d' argento, nè d' affanni,' it seems probable that the Veltro, or Greyhound, is intended to denote Can Grande della Scala, who is unquestionably the person referred to in the above passage from the Paradiso. Can Grande was one of Dante's chief friends in exile. He was called catulus Veronæ.' Other references to him are traced in Purg. xx.13; xxxiii. 40. 13 Feltro, in the Marca Trivigiana, and Montefeltro, in Romagna. Cary and others think 14 Umile Italia.' So interpreted by Buti. And thou shalt see those others, who are fain In fire to purge them, hopeful in the end Unto whose glory if thou would'st ascend, Another soul15 must come worthier than I : Thither with her may'st thou thy footsteps wend. For that dread Emperor, who reigns on high, Suffers me not—for that I did rebel Against His law 16—within the empyreal sky Enthroned He the universe doth sway. 120 125 To lead thee. There in lofty citadel Oh, blest are they with Him elect to dwell!' Outspake I then, and said; 'Poet, I pray 130 Thee by that Holy One thou didst not know, that the expression was suggested by Virgil's 'Cum procul obscuros colles, humilemque videmus Æn. III. 522. 15 Beatrice, the daughter of Folco Portinari, whom Dante met for the first time in A.D. 1274, when he was nine years old. He describes this meeting and its effect upon him at the opening of 'La vita nuova.' 16 Dante's words, ribellante alla sua legge,' must be taken to mean simply as Signor Bianchi remarks—' alieno dalla sua legge o non seguace di essa.' Otherwise the passage is directly at variance with the statement in Canto iv., that the spirits in Limbo, of whom Virgil was one, had not 'sinned.' See Cant. iv, 34, &c. |