1 lived a life of spotless innocence; And there the fourth part of a day remained."

CANTO XXVII.

ARGUMENT.

St. Peter severely animadverts upon the avarice of his successors; and the angels sympathise in his indignation. Dante is borne up to the ninth heaven.

"GLORY to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"

Now throughout Paradise was heard to sound;

So that my soul in ecstacy was lost.

All that I saw appeared to me one smile
Caught from the universal world around,--
Mine eyes and ears inebriate the while.

O bliss ineffable! O rapture pure!

O life of love and peace! O wealth, that knows

No wish beyond, unsullied and secure!

Stood the four Torches burning in my sight;

When lo, the one that first before me rose
Began to clothe itself in stronger light;

And manifested shortly such aspect

As would be Jupiter's, if Mars and he

Were birds, and change of plumage should effect.
That foresight, which to all who here abide
Assigns their proper lot and ministry,
Had silenced the blest band on every side,
When I these accents heard: "If changed in hue
My countenance should be, feel no surprise;
E'en while I speak will all the choir you view
Their colour change. He who on earth, my place,
My place usurps,-my place, which in the eyes

.7

13

19

11.

1. This hymn is sung at the conclusion of Dante's examination by the Apostles. 10. St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and Adam. St. Peter, through indignation. becomes red and inflamed like the planet Mars. 16. God himself having silenced the heavenly choir, they remain listening, while St. Peter addresses Dante. 22. "And here he directs his indignation against Boniface, who by simony was elected Pope in 1294. And he repeats three times my place' to show how inflamed he was against him. And he says that the said place, i. e. the Papal seat, is vacant in the sight of God, because the election of Boniface was not legitimate."-Ottimo Commento. See Inf. xix. 77.

Of God's own Son is vacant, hath long space Rendered my burial ground a sink abhorred

Of blood and filth, which to the inveterate foe Who fell from heaven, doth high delight afford." Dyes of the selfsame tint which eve and morn

The clouds assume, from Phoebus' ardent glow, Beheld I then the expanse of heaven adorn. And like a modest damsel, who not fearing

For her own self, yet wears a timid mien, The story of another's shame but hearing; Such change the look of Beatrice displayed;

And such eclipse the heaven endured, I ween, As when the Godhead was an offering made. Words then proceeded from his lips, in tone

-66

So greatly changed from what they were before,
Not greater was the change his face had shown.
"The spouse of Christ was nourished not of old
On mine, on Linus', and on Cletus' gore,
To teach the practice of amassing gold:

But to attain this life of happiness
Calixtus, Pius, Sextus, holy band,

With Urban suffered after long distress.

We never meant that Christians should be placed,
By our successors, part on the right hand,

37

43

The other part upon the left, disgraced:

Or that the keys entrusted to my care
Should be a sign for warriors to unfold,
And, as a standard, against Christians bear:

49

Or, that my image on a seal should show,
Attached to lying privileges sold;

Whence oft suffused with ruddy shame I glow. Rapacious wolves, in shepherd's clothing dressed,

25. The city of Rome.

55

30. Heaven shows its sympathy with St.

Peter by glowing with indignation; and an eclipse is said to follow, such as took place at the death of our Saviour. 40. i. e." The Church was not nourished by my blood, and that of my successors, in order to encourage it in avaricious pursuits." 46. "We never meant that

Bishops, abandoning their character like Boniface, should set up their standards as factious chieftains, and siding with the Guelfs, treat the Ghibelines with indignity." 53. i. e. Bulls and Indulgences. 55. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves " Matt. vii. 15.

Are hence beheld throughout the pastures fair:
O arm of God, why art thou still at rest?
Our blood do Gascons now prepare to drink,

And Cahors' greedy sons.-O promise rare,
To what a vile conclusion dost thou sink!
But that high Providence which won for Rome
By Scipio's hand a glorious eminence,
Shall soon, I deem, reverse the present doom;
And thou, my son, do thou this truth reveal;

Since unto earth thou must return from hence :
What I conceal not, do not thou conceal."
As vapours through our atmosphere descending
Come charged with flakes of snow, when Capricorn
His horned head unto the sun is bending;
So I beheld the bright and smiling air,

Decked with triumphant Meteors, upward borne,
Which had with us been making sojourn there.
Their countenances did mine eye essay

To follow, till the intermediate space
Became so great, the foremost passed away.

61

67

78

Whereat my Lady, who anon discerned

That lost to sight was now their every trace,

Exclaimed: "Look down, and see how thou hast turned.”

On bending down, I saw that from the time

79

I looked before, my progress I had made

Through a fourth portion of that sphere sublime;

So that I kenned Ulysses' track, beyond

The pass of Gades; and the shore surveyed,
Whence Jove erst bore Europa, burden fond:
And further glimpses of this little spot

Had I attained; but Phoebus 'neath my feet,
Entering another sign, permitted not.

The enamoured Mind, that with my Lady never
Ceases to interchange communion sweet,
Strove to attract me to her more than ever:

56. i. e. Bishoprics and churches.

55

58. Pope Clement V., a Gascon. 59. John XXII. of Cahors.-See Inf. xix. 83. 63. i. e. Through the instrumentality of the Emperor Henry VII.; or of Can Grande. 67. St. Peter having finished his speech, immediately the immense triumphant crowd of splendours who had descended with Cnrist, mount again on high. (See xxii. 131.) 82. See Inf. xxvi. 107.

And if or Nature, forms of flesh unfolding-
Or Art, her images of fairest dye-
E'er captive led the souls of those beholding;
All these collected would appear as nought

Compared to the delight that met mine eye,
When from her face one smile divine I caught.
Then she, by whom the inspiring look was given,

Snatched me from Leda's beauteous nest away;
And bore me upward to the swiftest heaven;
Whose liveliest and most lofty regions were
So like each other-that I cannot say
The part which Beatrice selected there.
But she, who saw the longing I betrayed,

Broke into smiles, with such delight impressed,
That God's own joy her countenance displayed.

The nature of the motion which maintains
The centre quiet, and moves all the rest,
As from a goal its origin here gains.
This heaven exists but in the Mind Divine,

Where kindled is the love that whirls it round;
And thence is showered its influence benign.
Pure light and love gird this with single zone,
E'en as it girds the rest. He who this bound
Hath fixed-He comprehendeth it alone.
Its motion doth no other heaven contain;
But others take from this their measurement,
As ten is measured both by five and twain.
How in such vessel Time its roots receives

Unto thy mind is now made evident;
And how in others are contained the leaves.
O lust of gold, by which is man immersed

To such a depth, that he attempts in vain
To draw his eyes from out thy waves accurst!
Some buds of promise may the will put forth;

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97

103

109

115

121

100. The

98. The Gemini,-of whom Leda was the mother. uniformity of the highest sphere is intended to convey an idea of God's presence levelling all distinctions of time and place. understand the properties of the ninth heaven. circular motion, or Primum Mobile.-See "Material Heavens."

103. i. e. To

106. i. e. Of the

121

It is Beatrice who breaks out into this exclamation on the degeneracy of human nature.