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"Down with Argenti !" 'shouted one and all;

And with his teeth, his furious wrath to vent,

Himself this savage Florentine did maul :

-so him no more I name.

We journey'd on,—

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Then smote mine ear a loud and shrill lament,

Whereat I stretch'd mine eye to whence it came.
Behold, my son," to me the master cried,

"We now draw near the far famed city Dis,

Where crowds of guilty citizens reside."
'Master,” I said, “already I discern

Its bright vermillion mosques in the abyss,
Which, as in furnace heated, seem to burn."

And he to me: “The fire that ever glows

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Within the walls, that ruddy hue supplies,
Which these infernal battlements disclose."
Then we arrived within the trench profound
That compasseth this wretched land of sighs;
And framed of iron seem'd the walls around.
A tedious circuit made, at last we came
Where, "Disembark-the entrance is in sight,"-
We heard the pilot's thundering voice exclaim.
More than a thousand on the gates I spied,

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Rain'd down from heaven ;-and shouting in despite ; "Say who is this, that (death's dread power untried)

Stalks through the dusky regions of the dead?"

To them a signal made my sapient guide,
That secret parley he solicited.

Their mighty wrath they somewhat then restrain'd;
"Come thou alone, and let him go," they cried,
Who so audaciously hath entrance gained:
Let him retrace alone his foolish way :-

Thou, by whose guidance hither he was brought
Through this benighted land, with us shalt stay."
Think, reader, how disconsolate was I,

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At sound of words with such deep malice fraught;

It seem'd I never should return on high.

"O thou dear guide, who safety hast bestow'd

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Sev'n times at least, and borne me scathless through,

When direst peril hath beset my road

O leave me not," I said, "in this dismay;
And if such dreaded obstacles ensue,
Together let us speed our backward way."
Then answer'd me my kind and faithful guide:
"Fear not, for none a passage can deny ;
By one so potent is our strength supplied:
Wait my return, and feed thy heavy sprite
With goodly hope ;-for be assured that I
Will ne'er desert thee in these realms of night."

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He thus departs.-Abandon'd by my friend,
Alone I stand in sorrowful suspense,

While no and yes within my heart contend:
Nor could I aught distinguish what he said;

But scarce had he begun a conference,
When back within the walls they quickly sped.
Against my master's breast our spiteful foe

The portals closed :- shut out he came away,
And turn'd him back to me with footsteps slow.

His

eyes cast down, and from his brow all trace
Of boldness gone-in sighs he seem'd to say,

Who bars my entrance to this mournful place?
Then unto me he said: "Be not afraid

At this my wrath ;-their pride we shall abate;
Whate'er resistance may within be made;
This their impertinence is nothing new :

For erst 'twas shown at a less secret gate

Which, void of fastening, still remains in view.

Its deadly motto thou thyself hast read:

And lo, already one descendeth down,
Passing the circles by no escort led,

Who yet with victory our attempt shall crown."

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NOTES.

Page 68. (Line 5.) The distant flame which answered the signal, is shown, by the context of this and the next canto, to have proceeded from one of the towers of the city of Dis, whence the poets were separated by the Stygian lake. The signal was made by one set of Demons to advise another that strangers were approaching. (7.) i.e., to Virgil.

Page 69. (Line 19.) Flegias was a son of Mars, sentenced to hell for burning the temple of Apollo at Delphi. His name signifies fire, and he is the conductor to the city of fire, Virgil informs him, exulting over his supposed victims, that for once he would be disappointed.. (27.) "Gemuit sub pondere cymba Sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem."-Virg. Æn. vi. 413. (32) Filippo Argenti-a very wealthy man, most proud and irascible. It is remarkable that he is the only soul in whose punishment Dante delights.

Page 70. (Line 49.) Thus Spencer. Ruins of Rome:-
"How many great ones may remember'd be
Who in their days most famously did flourish,
Of whom no word we have, nor sign now see,

But as things wiped out with a sponge do perish."
Page 71. (Line 72.) "Cyclopum educta caminis

Moenia conspicio."-En. vi. 630. (83.) From these

words the Demons appear to be fallen Angels.

Page 73. (Line 111.) "Spemque metumque inter dubii." -Virg. Æn. i. 218. (125.) The gate at the entrance into hell-supposed by Dante to have been broken open by our Saviour, when, coming to liberate the souls of the Fathers, he was resisted by these Demons. (129.) An Angel is sent from heaven to their assistance, who in the next canto enables them to enter the city of Dis.

CANTO IX.

ARGUMENT.

DANTE, alarmed at some doubts expressed by Virgil as to their success in forcing an entrance into the city of Dis, is comforted by the assurance of his guide, that he has been the road before, and knows it well. Appearance of the Furies. An angel sent from heaven opens the gate of the city. The poets enter, and find it full of tombs intensely heated by fire, in which are punished the Arch-heretics.

THAT hue, which fear had o'er my features spread,

When I beheld my leader backward turn,
Caused him to check his own unwonted dread.
Attent he stood, as one with listening ear;
For with his eye he could not far discern
Through the black cloud and heavy atmosphere.
He then began: "Yet shall we win the day :

...

If not so great a One hath proffer'd aid

But oh !—how long he lingers on his way!"
I saw full well how he design'd to cloak

The doubts.he at the outset had betray'd,
His last words differing from the first he spoke.

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