She knows who caused it by her presence dread. Soon as my powers to consciousness unfold,

The lady I had met alone1 did say,

Now seen above me, "Hold fast by me, hold !"
She made me through the river take my way

Up to the throat, and drew me on, while o'er
The stream, like shuttle swift, she sped away.
When I had almost reach'd the blessed shore,
I heard " Asperges me" so sweetly sung,
No thought or pen could now those tones restore.
The lovely dame her open arms then flung

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Around my head and plunged me, forced to brave Gulping the water as it pass'd my tongue.3 She took me thence, and from the cleansing wave Within the dance of those four maidens fair Led me, and each a sign of welcome gave. "Here we are nymphs, but stars in heaven, and there, Ere Beatrice did on the earth alight,

4

To be her handmaids we appointed were.
We'll lead thee to her eyes; but for the light
In them so joyous, those of deeper ken,
Yon three, will render more acute thy sight"5
Thus singing, they commenced; and with them then
Conducted me the Griffon's breast unto,

1

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Matilda, Canto xxviii. 40, who, after the preceding confession, brings him now through Lethe.

2 "Thou wilt wash me with hyssop," &c.—Psalm li. 7. The Antiphone, or Anthem, chanted in the Romish worship, while the priest sprinkles the congregation with holy water.

3 "Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul." Psalm lxix. 1.

The four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude.-Canto i. 39, and note.

5 The three Christian Graces, Faith, Hope, Charity.

Where towards us turn'd stood Beatrice. Again They said, "Spare not to take an ample view;

We've placed thee where those emeralds1 are display'd Whence Love erewhile his arms to gain thee drew.” A thousand longings, which like lightning play'd, Made fast mine eyes to eyes that brightly shone, Which yet were on the Griffon firmly stay'd. As in a mirror we may see the sun,

The two-fold animal within them beam'd, Now in one aspect, now another, shown.3 Think, reader, how astonishing I deem'd

An object standing steadfast in my sight Which in its image so transmuted seem'd. While fill'd with admiration and delight,

My soul partook that heavenly sustenance Which while it satiates gives new appetite. And then I saw the other three advance,

Of loftier line by their demeanour shown, Singing sweet songs to their angelic dance. "Turn, Beatrice, thy holy eyes on one

So faithful"-thus in chorus they appeal'd"Who hath to see thee such long journeys gone. Yield us the grace that now to him unveil'd

Thy lips may be, that he with joy supernal

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1 The eyes of Beatrice. The early French writers applied the epithet green to eyes which are peculiarly piercing. It may be considered equivalent to eagle-eyed. Thus also Shakespeare:"An eagle, madam,

Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye,

As Paris bath."-Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 5.

In the allegorical sense, Divine Love, or Christ.

3 In the eyes of Beatrice, or Divine Wisdom personified, He whose nature is two-fold shone reflected, now in one aspect, now in another; Divine, yet human; Crucified, then Glorified.

May see thy second beauty, now conceal'd."1 O splendour of the living light eternal !2

Who hath become beneath Parnassus shade
So pale, or quaff'd its fountain sempiternal,
That had not an o'erburden'd mind betray'd,

Attempting to describe thee standing there,
O'ershadow'd by the heavenly music made,
When thou appeard'st reveal'd in open air !3

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1 By the second beauty may be understood her celestial beauty, as distinguished from that which Dante had previously seen on earth, and which had hitherto remained concealed. Rosetti says,

In the Mystic Science brought from Egypt by the Templars, Manifestation was performed, first, by presenting to the candidate significant symbols; and secondly, by explaining to him their meaning through the Hierophant. These were called the eyes and mouth of Madonna, the Lady of the mind; and they constituted the first and second beauty. The Vita Nuova and the Convito are filled with descriptions of these."—Disquisitions, vol. ii. p. 53.

2 Solomon makes Wisdom say, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was;" &c. —Prov. viii. 22—31.

It is obvious that throughout this canto and elsewhere, in the description of Beatrice the literal sense is quite subordinate to the figurative. The language is too elevated to be applied to a mortal, however beautiful and virtuous. How could the spirit of Beatrice Portarini, to whom Dante had not been even affianced while she remained on earth, charge that on Dante as a fault, which would have been blameless, even had she been his wedded wife? His having admired others, or married Gemma Donati, after the soul of Beatrice had winged its flight to Paradise, could be no unfaithfulness to her; nor would he, when upbraided with having so slighted her, have stood abashed like a repentant criminal. He is reproved for his neglect of heavenly Wisdom and his preference of earthly vanities; and the full display of that Wisdom fills him with rapture, and transcends the power of poetry to describe.

CANTO XXXII.

THE ARGUMENT.

The poet's happiness in that sublime contemplation. The procession moves on and Dante and Statius follow it. The mystic Tree of Adam, and what befel it. Various Apocalyptical prodigies, which symbolise the unhappy state of Christendom.

MINE eyes were fix'd with ardour so intense

To quench the ten years' thirst I had endured,1
That all extinct was every other sense;2

On either side from heed they were immured
Of aught beside; so much that saintly smile
Drew them, and with its ancient net secured.

Then, as by force, my look made versatile

Swerved towards those goddesses, upon the left,3 Whence "Ah, too fix'd thy gaze!" they cried erewhile. As when the eyes have been of sight bereft Through having lately gazed upon the sun,1 So for a time was I in darkness left,

But when my vision had again begun

To notice things less bright than that full blaze
Of splendour whence I had by force been won,

Beatrice, who died A.D. 1290, had now been dead ten years. 2 See Canto iv. 1-12.

3 The seven Graces and the Car were at Dante's left hand.

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4 "We boast our light; but if we look not wisely on the sun itself, it smites us into darkness.”—MILTON's Areopagitica. Prose Works, p. 115, col. 1.

Upon the right hand side there met my gaze

That glorious army, as they turn'd and wheel'd, Facing the seven flames and the sun's bright rays. And as for their defence, with lifted shield,

A banner'd army at the signal sound,

Wheels round ere changing stations in the field; So that celestial soldiery first wound

Their path along, all marching in array,

Ere yet the car its draught-beam had turn'd round. Then to the wheels those ladies took their way,

Again the Griffon drew his blessed load,
Yet still his feathers all unruffled lay.

The lovely dame who led me to the flood,1
Statius, and I the chariot-wheel pursued

20

Which marked the lesser curve upon the road.2 30 So passing through the void and lofty wood,

Void through her fault who on the snake depended, Our steps were timed by notes of heavenly mood. Perhaps as far our journey had extended

As the wing'd arrow thrice projected flies,
When from the chariot Beatrice descended.
I heard the murmur'd name of "Adam" rise
From all; then circled they a wasted tree,
Whose every branch nor flower nor leaf supplies.

Its crest spread out the more luxuriantly

The higher up it rose, whose height if kenn'd

In Indian forests would a marvel be.3

1 Matilda.

40

2 The Car, following the celestial host, having wheeled about before Dante, passes on in a direction from his left to his right: he, on commencing his walk, follows the right wheel, which was the nearest to him and which in turning had described the lesser arc. 3 "Or the woods which India bears, nearer the ocean,

A recess at the confines of the world, where no arrows