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Page 201. (Line 37.) The picture is here given, after Dante's peculiar manner, in a few strokes. Rapidity both of thought and expression are most remarkable in the succeeding verses of the original. (59.) The Hypocrites.

Page 202. (Line 66.) Frederick the Second punished those guilty of treason by covering them with leaden caps, and then casting them into a furnace. This example had been set by the Popes. See Ducange, Glos. v. Cappa Plumbea.

Page 203. (Line 105.) In the year 1266, Florence being torn by the contending parties of the Guelfs and Ghibellins, it was agreed to appoint two governors from another country, who would be free from prejudice, and administer justice impartially. This good intention was defeated by the unfortunate choice made of two Bolognese knights of the order of Frati Godenti, N. Catalano and M. Loderingo. Great dependance was placed on the character of the order; and by their pretended virtues were the Florentines deceived. These two hypocrites, chosen to act as mediators, and preserve peace in the city, abused their power to promote their own interests. Bribed to support the Guelfs, they drove out the Ghibellins, and destroyed the houses of the family of the Uberti, which were in the street called Gardingo. See Villani, b. vii. c. 13.

Page 205. (Line 139.) "Virgil, ashamed of having given credence to Malacoda, whom he had consulted about the road (canto xxi. 111,) stands awhile in thought, and then exclaims against his duplicity."-Rosetti. (142.) Some irony seems intended relative to the University of Bologna. (145.) Virgil goes off in haste, indignant at having been deceived.

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ARGUMENT.

DANTE is alarmed at the appearance of Virgil, whose countenance betrays his fears. He receives comfort and assistance from his guide; and with great difficulty is enabled to reach the seventh division, where the thieves are persecuted by a swarm of serpents. Among these he meets with Vanni Fucci of Pistoia, who predicts the calamities of that city and of Florence.

In the new year, when Sol his tresses gay
Dips in Aquarius, and the tardy night
Divides her empire with the lengthening day,—
When o'er the earth the hoar frost pure

and bright

Assumes the image of her sister white,
Then quickly melts before the genial light-
The rustic, now exhausted his supply,

Rises betimes-looks out-and sees the land
All white around, whereat he strikes his thigh—
Turns back-and grieving-wanders here and there,
Like one disconsolate and at a stand;

Then issues forth, forgetting his despair,

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For lo! the face of nature he beholds

Changed on a sudden,-takes his crook again, And drives his flocks to pasture from the folds. With such alarm the master fill'd my breast,

Soon as his troubled visage met my ken;

13

And with such speed the mischief was redrest:
For when we reach'd the broken bridge, my guide 19
Turn'd himself to me with as sweet a look

As when I saw him by the mountain side.
The rugged steep minutely he survey'd,

25

And counsel with himself awhile he took,
Then in his arms upbore me undismay'd:
And like a man who on some work employ'd
Looks in advance beyond him ;-even so
My guide, whilst o'er one crag my weight he buoy'd,
Still tow'rds another cast his eager eye,

Exclaiming: "Grasp that firmly; but first know
That on its strength thou fully may'st rely."
No road for lead-capp'd travellers this indeed:
For he though light, and I from stone to stone
Assisted on, could scarce with toil proceed :
And if that rugged precinct's steep ascent

Had not been shorter than the adjoining one,
His fate I know not-I had been o'erspent.

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But Malebolge, since throughout it lies

All sloping down tow'rds hell's profoundest deep,
One side of every valley thus must rise-
The other fall. At last we forced our way

Up to the summit of the shatter'd steep,
Where the last stone, a massy fragment, lay.
So fail'd the breath within my lungs, what time
I reach'd the height, that on a crag I sate,
No strength remaining, other rocks to climb.
"Now must thou shake off sloth," my guide began;
"For not beneath rich canopies of state,

On beds of down, can Fame be won by man :-
And he who sinks unhonour'd to the

grave,
Leaves of himself on earth such vestige slight,
As smoke in air, or foam upon the wave.
Arise then, and o'er sloth a conquest gain
By strength of mind, which wins in every fight,
Unless the body's cumbrous weight restrain.

A longer flight of steps thou yet must scale;
Think not-these perils pass'd-to take thy rest :
If well thou mark me, let my words avail."
Then I arose, and with my voice display'd

Far better lungs than I in truth possess'd;
"Let's on-for I am bold and nought dismay'd."

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Among the rocks our upward course we bent,
Through craggy ways that scarce a track supplied;
And steeper than before was the ascent.

Still by the way, for fear of seeming weak,

I held discourse; when from the foss beside
Came presently a voice unapt to speak:
I know not what it said, although I stood

High on the arch which spans that fearful ground;
But he who spake appear'd in angry mood.

I stoop'd me down; but, though with life endued,
Mine eyes pierced not the gloomy pit profound;
Wherefore I said: "O master, it were good,
Descending by the wall, this round to leave;

For hence I hear, but do not understand, So down I look, but nought do I perceive." "My answer is-to do thy will"-said he ; every modest and sincere demand

"For
Met by fulfilment, not by words, should be."
The bridge we then descended from the height,
Where to the eighth embankment it is join'd;
And thence appear'd the baleful pit in sight.
Within--a crowd of serpents I behold,

So hideous and diversified in kind,

That at the very thought my blood runs cold.

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