An act with misery to Bohemia fraught.
There shall be seen the woe that he shall pour
Along the Seine, by uttering coin debased,-
He who shall meet destruction from a boar.
There shall be seen the domineering pride
Which Scot and English equally befools,
Breaking the bounds in which they should abide :

121

There seen the effeminacy that o'er Spain

And likewise over the Bohemian rules,

Who virtue ne'er hath gained or wished to gain :

There seen the cripple of Jerusalem,

127

Whose good deeds by a unit may be told,
The opposite denoted by an M:

There seen his lust of gold and cowardice,

Who guards the isle of fire, in which of old
Anchises closed his mortal destinies.
Tald be his story in a fragment;-so
To designate how trivial is his worth,
And in small space much degradation show.

133

There shall the evil actions be displayed

Of the Uncle and the Brother, who such birth,

And two such crowns have in dishonour laid.

And he of Portugal, and Norway too,

139

And he of Rascia shall be there confest,

Who well the sight of Venice' coin may rue.

Blest Hungary, if thou couldest set thee free

From future injuries! Navarre too blest,

Couldest thou but arm the mount that circles thee! Presaging this, e'en now the cries we hear,

145

118. Philip the fair-Having been defeated by the Flemings at the battle of Coutrai. in 1302, he paid his army in spurious coin. He died from the wound of a wild boar in 1314. 121. Alluding to the war 124. Alphonso,

between Edward I. of England, and John Baliol. King of Spain, and Winceslaus, King of Bohemia. are referred to. See Purg. vii. 101. 127. Charles II. King of Jerusalem and Apulin. See Purg. vii. 124. 131. Frederick of Sicily. See Purg. vii. 119. 137. James, King of Majorca and Minorca, and James II. King of Arragon. 140. Ladislaus, guilty, it seems, of forgery. 142 The throne of Hungary was at this time disputed. 143. Navarre was subject to

France, but soon after had a king of its own-and" armed the mount," 1.e. defended the Pyrenees. 145. ie. "Presaging this defence anu delivery from the French yoke, Famagosta and Nicosia are now incensed against their King, who is on a par with the Kings described above.”

Whence Famagosta and Nicosia rings Against the raging beast, who will not be To separate himself from other Kings."

CANTO XX.

ARGUMENT.

The Eagle speaks. Seated in the pupil of its eye is seen David, surrounded by Hezekiah, Constantine, William II. of Sicily, Trajan, Ripheua. By these instances Dante shows that the Heathen are not precluded firm salvation.

WHEN he, who with his universal ray

The world illumines, quits our hemisphere,
And from each quarter daylight wears away;
The heaven, late kindled by his beam alone,
Sudden its lost effulgence doth repair
By many lights, illumined but by one.
Such was the scene presented; when the beak
Of that blest sign imperial, and its throngs
Of various leaders, now had ceased to speak:
For all those living souls, in light arrayed,

1

7

And more transcendent now, began their songs,—
Songs that from memory too swiftly fade.

Sweet Love, who deckest thyself with smiles! how glowea
Thy rays with fervour in those sparks divine,
Which unto holy thoughts their rapture owed!

14

Soon as the luminous and precious stones

With which engemmed I saw the sixth star shine,
Had put to silence the angelic tones,
Methought I heard a stream, whose limpid course
From rock to rock its murmuring waters rolled,
Showing the abundant richness of its source.
And as along the cithern's neck, the sound

19

Is tuned and tempered; or the wind, controlled
Through pastoral reed, breathes grateful notes around;

So, no delay allowed to interpose,

Up through the neck, as though it hollow were,

A murmur from the imperial Bird arose:

25

7. ie. As at sunset the stars appear, shining by a borrowed light; so. when the imperial eagle had ceased to speak, the various splendours of which it is composed, showed themselves, and broke forth into songs.

Then utterance followed; and the words that feli
Forth from the beak, articulate and clear,
My heart foreboded, and retains full well.
"Behold that part of me which dares the day
In mortal eagles," he began; "and give
All the attention that thy mind can pay:
For, of the flames by which my form is dight,
Those whence mine eye its sparkles doth derive
Surpass the others in excess of light.

This in the midst, like pupil of the eye,

Was he who bore the ark from town to town,
And sang in notes of heaven-taught psalmody.
Now he perceives the merit of his strains
And love of his Inspirer, by the crown
Which he in guerdon of his song obtains.
Of the five who round mine eyelid form a zone,
The one, whom nearest to my beak you see,
Consoled the widow for her murdered son.

31

37

43

Now knows he by experience of this

Sweet life, and of the opposite, how he

Who walks not after Christ falls short of bliss.

He who comes next in the circumference,

49

And forms the upper arch, his death delayed
By tears unfeigned, and real penitence:

Now knows he that God's Justice changeth not,
Though, at the prayer of piety, be stayed
The hand that for to-day had fixed the lot.
The next you view (his good intent defeated)

A Greek became with me and with the laws,
That in his room the Pastor might be seated.
Now knoweth he that the ill consequence

55

Of his good deed no harm upon him draws,
Although the world hath been perverted thence.

61

He, lower in the arch, was William, who
With many a tear is wished for by that land
Which doth the living Charles and Frederick rue:
Now knows he how in heaven a righteous king
Is loved; and this the more to understand,

56. Constantine.

61.

45. See Purg. x. 77. 50. Hezekiah. William II. of Sicily-a just Prince, who loved his subjects,--is contrasted with Charles II. and Frederick of Arragon.

The brightness of his face a proof may bring.
Who, in the world below to error given,

Would think the Trojan Ripheus e'er could be
Fifth 'mid the holy splendours of this heaven?
Full well discerns he now the heavenly Grace,
Which mortals, blindly groping, cannot see,
Though its profundity he cannot trace."
E'en as the lark high soaring pours its throat
Awhile, then rests in silence, as though still
Dwelling enamoured of its last sweet note;
Such was the semblance of that Image blest,
Stamped by the Eternal Pleasure, at whose will
Are all things with their proper form imprest.
And though my wish was to be seen as plain

As colour through the glass on which 'tis laid,
I could not patiently my lips restrain;
But," who are these ?" with eagerness inquired;
Whereat the imperial Bird its joy betrayed,
In garb of greater brilliancy attired.

Then nearer, and with eye that glowed intense,
To me the blessed Eagle made reply,
Lest admiration keep me in suspense:
"I plainly see, thou hast these things believed,
Because I told thee; but concealed they lie-
Not understood by thee, although received.
Thou art like one who apprehendeth well

A thing by name, but cannot see the why,
Unless another doth the reason tell.

67

73

79

55

91

Heaven's kingdom suffereth violence-by love
And lively hope assailed-whose ardency

Hath power the will of the Most High to move : Not by the mode that man his fellow sways,

But because God is willing to be swayed, And rules but by the kindness he displays. The first and fifth light of the arch may well

97

68. "Cadit et Ripheus, justissimus unus Qui fuit in Teucris, et servantissimus æqui." - En. ii. 426. 79. To know whether any but Christians can be saved. 82. i.e. How is it that heathen are placed in the eye of the eagle, among those who have believed in Christ?"" 94. "And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force."—Matt. xi. 1o. 100 Trajan and Ripheus.

Wonder excite, that with such gems arrayed
Should be the region where the Angels dwell.
They left their bodies, not as you presume,

Gentiles, but Christians, firm in faith-the one
Before, the other after Jesus' doom.
For know, the one his flesh and bone regained
From hell, where saving penitence is none;
And this reward of lively hope obtained,-
Of lively hope,-which wholly placed its strength
In prayers to God that life he would restore,-
Endued with power to move His will at length.
The glorious soul whose name I have disclosed
(Returning for short space to life once more)
In the All-wise his confidence reposed;
And kindled into such a flame of love,

Through faith, that at his second death was he
Deemed worthy of this joyous seat above.
The other, through the assistance of that Grace
Which flows from source of such profundity,
That mortal eye could ne'er that fountain trace,
On Justice all his earthly love bestowed;

Whence God, of his own mercy infinite
To him a sight of our Redemption showed.
Believing in its truth, thenceforth he scorned
To persevere in filth of Pagan rite;

And of their sin the crooked nations warned.
A thousand years ere baptism was ordained,

For him were sponsors those three Ladies, who
The car's right wheel for their high station gained.
Predestination! oh how distant lies

Thy root from those who do not wholly view
The Primal Cause unfolded to their eyes!

And you, ye mortals, be your judgments slow;
For we, by whom the Godhead is descried,
Not yet the number of the elect do know:
And sweet it is in ignorance to be,

103

109

115

121

127

133

110. Trajan is said to have been released from death by the prayers of St. Gregory. 128. i.e. Faith, Hope, and Charity, who danced upon the right wheel of the triumphal car in the terrestrial Paradise, were sponsors for Ripheus 1000 years before our Saviour's birth. The views of Dante on this subject cannot be better expressed than in the celebrated passage of Dryden, in his Religio Laici, "We grant, 'tis true," &c.