If thou considerest this sentence well,

And duly callest to thy memory

Those who without, in deep repentance, dwell,
Soon wilt thou see why from these shades of guilt
They are remov'd; and why a less degree
Of punishment hath heavenly justice dealt.”
O sun, that healest all distemper'd sight,

Such joy I feel when clouds thou hast dispers'd, That doubt no less than knowledge gives delight! "Turn thee,"-quoth I,-" a little back again

To where, thou said'st, the usurer dwells accurst, And why he God offendeth, now explain."

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To him," he said, "who rightly marks the sense, 97 Philosophy not once alone hath told

How clearly, from Divine Intelligence,

Nature derives the knowledge of ner course:
And thou wilt find, ere turning many a fold,
(If well thou note thy physical discourse,)
That as the youth obeys his master's nod,

E'en so is nature's path pursued by art:
Thus art is second in descent from God.
These too, if Genesis thou call to mind,
Should wisdom in the ways of life impart,
And man instruct to benefit his kind.

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But since the usurer works by other ways,
Daring both art and nature to despise,
Towards his Maker he contempt betrays.
But let us on,-for twinkling in the east
High in the welkin now the Pisces rise;

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O'er Caurus, Charles's Wain appears to rest,

And far the steep descent in prospect lies.

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INFERNO.

CANTO XII.

ARGUMENT.

DESCENT into the seventh circle, guarded by the Minotaur. Those who have done violence to their neighbour are tormented in a river of blood; and when they endeavour to escape, are shot at by a troop of Centaurs. Three of these latter oppose the progress of the Poets, but are appeased by Virgil; and Nessus is prevailed upon to carry Dante across the stream.

INFERNO.

CANTO XII.

ROUGH was the stair we came to, and there lay
Upon the brink such object terrible

As every eye would shudder to survey.

Like to the cliff, which, or by earthquake riven,
Or wanting prop, on this side Trento fell,
Down into Adicë with ruin driven,

So that, dissever'd by the mighty shock,

E'en from the summit to the bottom, it
Affords no road to one upon the rock,-
So rough and rugged was this dread descent:
And prostrate lay before the broken pit,
The shame of Crete, in all his foul extent,

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