Of singing from the fire's deep bosom came, Which made me not less anxious to look round: And I saw spirits walk amidst the flame. I look'd at them and, as I walk'd along, At my own steps, at each by turns the same. When they the hymn had sung, with voices strong, Their cry, "I do not know a man," ensued :1 Breviary (Breviarium Romanum) it appears with slight alteration, commencing, Summæ parens clementiæ." As a prayer for purity it is fitly put into the mouths of those who are undergoing chastisement for the opposite offence. The following is a translation: "God of supreme compassion, hear, In persons three in essence one. Benignly Good, our wants relieve, "Our inward hearts to virtue turn, "Throughout the silent hours of night "Benignant Father, be thou here, Thou Son, coequal, sole, and dear, With thy own Spirit's bright, pure flame, 1 The words of the Blessed Virgin to the Angel Gabriel.— Luke i. 34. 130 Then in low tones they recommenced their song. This done, again they cried out; "In the wood Stay'd Dian, and Callisto chased away, Whom Cytherea's poison had subdued."1 Next they renew'd their song; those ladies they Extoll'd aloud, and husbands, who were chaste, As virtue ruled and marriage laws held sway.2 And in this mode, I think, they daily paced, Long as on them the fires their hold maintain : Such cares employ their time, such food their taste ; So must the latest wound be closed again.3 1 Callisto was a daughter of Lycao, king of Arcadia, and one of Diana's attendants. Having been violated by Jupiter in the disguise of Diana, her pregnancy was discovered by the goddess, when they were about to bathe. "Hence, begone,' said Cynthia, 'nor pollute the sacred fountains:' And thus she commanded her to quit the virgin assembly." Juno, in revenge, transformed her into a bear, in which shape she was on the point of being slain unwittingly by her son Arcas while he hunted in the woods; but Jupiter snatched her from the danger and placed her in the sky, where she shines as Ursa major, but without ever bathing her forehead in the pure sea.—OVID. Metam. ii. 401, &c. 2 'Marriage is honorable in all." Dante does not speak of it as a state inferior to, or less holy than celibacy; a notion adopted from Paganism. Yet the Church of Rome, while forbidding marriage to all her clerical orders, whom she regards as too holy for such a state, with marvellous inconsistency declares marriage to be a sacrament. 3 The last of the P's branded by the angel on the Poet's brow to denote the sin of licentiousness. CANTO XXVI. THE ARGUMENT. The Shades converse about Dante; and one of them acquaints him with their eagerness to be informed. Before he has time to answer, another troop appears, and the two rush together and perform their penance, which consists in mutual salutation accompanied by opprobrious cries. One of the first party, having heard the account which Dante gives of himself, explains the occasion of their penance, and makes himself known to Dante as Guido Guinicelli, a famous Bolognese poet. He points out Arnault Daniel, chief of the Provençal poets, with whom Dante converses. WHILE one by one along the edge we went, Oft my good master said, "Be careful thou; The flame seem'd burning; and that prodigy 1 See Canto xxv. 118, 119. 2 The Poet, now proceeding south, had the setting sun on his right. 3 A fire, when the sun shines on it, appears less bright than when screened by some opaque object that casts its shadow on it. → Dante represents it as the constant theme of wonder to the disembodied souls, that he should thus cast a shade when he was expected to be one. It was on this occasion that of me They first began conversing; and they said, "This no fictitious body seems to be ;”1 Then towards me turn'd, far as they could, their tread, Not to evade the flames which on them fed.2 Thou hadst not in the toils of death been caught ?" So spake one shade; and I should then have met Their wishes, but my thoughts, now drawn away, Upon a new phenomenon were set: For in the middle of that flaming way, With face opposed to these a tribe came on, Together on all sides I saw them run, And each on either did a kiss impress, 10 20 Nor stay'd;-content with this brief greeting done. Even thus the swarthy tribes of ants express When in midway their greeting, snout to snout; Perhaps to ask their way, or wish success.3 1 See Inferno, viii. 84, 85; xii. 80—82; xxiii. 88. 30 2 Instead of eagerness to escape, as shown by the lost, Inferno, xii. 74, 75; xxii. 22, &c., they are anxious to fulfil the purpose of Heaven in the sufferings assigned them. 3 The marvellous instinct of ants has been the subject of remark from the days of Solomon, Prov. vi. 6-8, to the present time. When this kind welcome of the shades devout To lure the bull to her." As cranes that fly, 3 Resuming their first chant with many a tear, 66 To gain in hour most meet that heavenly rest, 40 50 Though mute they have the means of communicating to each other information of various occurrences, and use a kind of language which is mutually understood. M. Huber observed of the Formica herculanea, that when he disturbed those most distant from the rest, they ran towards the others, and shaking their heads against them communicated their cause of fear or anger, that these in turn communicated in the same way the intelligence to others, till the whole colony was in a ferment.See KIRBY and SPENCE's Introduction to Entomology, p. 321, Ed. 1857. 1 Inferno, xii. 14. 2 "One pole of heaven rises over Scythia and the Riphean summits, The other depressed is borne down to the southern parts of Lybia."-VIRGIL, Georgics i. 240, 241. 3 Inferno, v. 46. 4 The chant and shout mentioned Canto xxv. lines 121 and 128. |