Conrad Palazzo, 1 the good Gherard too, 2
And Guido Castel,3 whom we may express
Best as plain Lombard; so in French they do.
The Church of Rome now fall'n in mire confess,
By her confounding these two regïments,
Herself makes filthy and her charge no less."
Marco," I said, "sound are thy arguments :
And for that law I now see reasons ample,
Which Levi's sons from heritage prevents.
But who is Gherard then, that as a sample
Remains, thou say'st, the perish'd race to show,
And chide our savage age by his example ?"
"Thy speech deceives, or thou wouldst try me so,"
He answer'd me, "that with thy Tuscan lore,

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2 Gherardo di Camino of Trevigi, of whom in the Convito Dante says, that his character would have ennobled the meanest family. Tiraboschi says, "This is probably the same Gherardo who, together with his sons, as early as before the year 1254, gave a kind and hospitable reception to the Provençal poets."

3 Guido da Castello, a virtuous and hospitable citizen of Reggio; of such simplicity that he obtained the name of "the plain Lom. bard;" according to the French custom of calling all Italians Lombards.

4 "Therefore before all things, we say, that every one should proportion the weight of the burden he takes on him, to the strength of his shoulders, lest haply, being too heavy for him, it fall into the mire."-DANTE, De Vulg. Eloq. ii. 4.

Chaucer says of the good parson—

“He settè not his benefice to hire,

And lette his shepe accombred in the mire."

Prologue to Canterbury Tales.

5 That being free from worldly associations, they might better attend to the duties of their sacred office.

Of the good Gherard thou shouldst nothing know. 1 I cannot say what surname else he bore,

2

But add his daughter Gaia's, by the way.

God bless you; I may walk with you no more.
See dawn, which darting through the smoke its ray,
Now brightens; ere the angel shall appear,
Who is at hand there, I must needs away.'
Thus having spoken, me no more he'd hear.

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1 "No doubt thou hast heard of a man so renowned, although thou affectest ignorance, just to hear what I have to say of him." Marco had not thought it necessary to mention Gherard's residence or surname, as he had those of the others who were less famous.

2 He now only adds Gherard's title to be known as the father of Gaia, a lady renowned through Italy for her beauty, virtue, and talents. Tiraboschi speaks of her, as having been first among the ladies of that country to cultivate Italian poetry.

CANTO XVII.

THE ARGUMENT.

The poets issue from the thick and noisome smoke, and again behold the Sun just before he sets. Dante has another trance, in which he sees the death of Haman and the suicide of Amata. His trance is dissipated by the overpowering light of an angel's presence, who conducts them to the next ascent. Beati pacifici is pronounced, and they ascend to the fourth round, where the slothful undergo castigation. A Psychological discourse, in which Virgil explains the vices corrected in the seven circles of Purgatory.

READER, if thou hast ever in the Alps

Been with a mist enclosed, and couldst from thence No better see than moles do through their scalps,1 Think, when the vapours round thee moist and dense Began to dissipate, how the pale sun

But feebly could through them his rays dispense, And thy imagination will thereon

With ease perceive how I again survey'd

His disk now shining ere the day was done. Thus in the trusty steps, with equal tread,

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1 The eyes of the mole are very small in proportion to its bulk, and are deeply sunk under the skin, which is covered with dark and glossy hair. The opening which admits their modicum of light, is itself scarcely perceptible. Dante was above the vulgar prejudice which denies that moles have any eyes; and he has here given another proof of his accurate acquaintance with natural history.

Of my good guide, I issued from that cloud,
To rays already on the sea-shores dead.1
O rapt imagination, thou canst shroud

Things outward, so that them we heed not, though
A thousand trumpets round are blown aloud;2
What moves thee, if no sense its aid bestow?
The light heaven-kindled moves thee, self-possess'd,
Or through His will who guides it here below.
Of her impiety whose form digress'd

Into the bird which most delights in song,3
The traces on my fancy were impress'd.
And here my mind's abstraction grew so strong
Within me, that no outward scene supplied
Aught that could enter there my thoughts among.
Then in my mood sublime, one crucified *

Rain'd thither down, with fierce despite and hate
Upon his countenance; and so he died.5

Around him were Ahasuerus great,

Esther his queen, and the just Mordecai,

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1 The setting sun was yet visible on the sides of the mountain,

but it had ceased to shine on the plain and shore.

2 See Rev. i. 10; iv. 1, 2.

3 Philomela, the sister of Progne.

See Canto ix. 15, and

note. Progne slew her son Itylus in his sixth year, and served up his flesh as a repast before his father, in revenge for her husband's infidelity, and his brutal outrage to her sister. Philomela, the poets say, was changed into the nightingale, and so continues her mournful strain.

4 In ancient phraseology to be "crucified" and to be "hanged,” were synonymous expressions. Thus of Christ crucified, St. Luke says, Whom they slew and hanged on a tree."-Acts x. 39.

5 Haman.-Esther vii. The punishment of Haman, by Michael Angelo, among the frescoes in the roof of the Sistine chapel, was painted from the inspiration of this passage.

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Who was in word and action so complete.
And then the scene broke and fled away
Even of itself, just as a bubble wrought
Of water, when that fails, is turn'd to spray.1
A damsel next before my sight was brought,
Weeping abundantly, who said, “O Queen,2
Why hast thou in thine ire destruction sought?
Fear of Lavinia's loss thy death hath been:
Now thou hast lost me, mother; and with sighs
I mourn for thine ere others' death I've seen.
As when with sudden flash on the closed eyes
Light newly strikes us, and in sleep we start,
Which broken, struggles ere it wholly dies,3
So did that imagery now depart,

Soon as the light upon my visage struck,
Outshining all that earth could e'er impart.
To know where then I was I turn'd to look,

1 "The earth hath bubbles, as the water hath,
And these are of them."-Macbeth, Act i. sc. 3.

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40

2 Amata, the wife of king Latinus, having betrothed her" daughter to Turnus, slew herself in a fit of despondency at the · prospect of seeing her the bride of Æneas.

"Devoting herself to death, she tears with her hand her purple garments,

And fasten'd to a high beam the cord of death most hateful: And after the Latin women had heard the tidings of her slaughter,

Her daughter Lavinia first, with her hands her yellow hair tearing,

And her roseate cheeks, and then the female crowd around her Grew furious with grief; the house resounded with lamentation."-Eneid. xii. 602.

3 It makes a person turn and heave, before sleep entirely departs.