I said, “My master, truly, aught so clear
Yet saw I never, as I now behold,

What my own genius found beyond her sphere;
That the mid circle, which above is roll❜d,

And called the Equator by a certain art,
Remains between the Sun and winter's cold,
And for the reason which thy words impart,
Lies northward from where we are now, although
Seen by the Hebrews toward the warmer part.1
But if it please thee, gladly I would know,

Since higher soars the mount than can be kenn'd
By these mine eyes, how far have we to go?"
And he to me; "The hill which we ascend,

Below and at the first is grievous ever;
Mounting, to be less ill we find it tend;
And then it will seem sweet; so that whenever
Ascending shall as easy seem to thee

As to a ship its gliding down a river,

Then of this road thou at the end wilt be. 2

There mayst thou from thy toils expect to rest :
I say no more, but this is verity."

And when to me these words he had address'd,
A voice was utter'd near us; "Yet, perchance,
Thou for some seat wilt be ere then distress'd."
And at the sound, we each one turn'd askance,
And a great rock we on our left hand view'd,
Which neither had perceived at the first glance.

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1 Although the Sun appeared in the North to Dante at the antipodes, to those in the latitude of Jerusalem he would still be seen in the South.

2 The difficulties of repentance and a religious life are chiefly at the commencement; they decrease as we advance; and when they cease altogether we are at the end of our journey.

Thither ourselves we drew, and there some stood
Behind the crag and loitering in its shade,1
Just as a man might stand in idle mood.
And one who seem'd quite weary I survey'd,

Who sitting clasp'd his knees and sluggishly
His face hung down, and low between them laid.
And I exclaim'd, "O my sweet master, see

The man who shows himself more indolent
Than if Sloth his own sister were.' Then he
Turn'd himself toward us, and with looks intent,
Raising his face at length above his thigh,
Exclaim'd, "Now mount, for thou art competent.'
Then who he was I knew; and although I
Still felt fatigue, as my quick breath betray'd,
I hasten'd to approach him; when close by

I stood, he scarcely lifted up his head,

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While saying, "Hast thou then mark'd well the Sun, How on thy left he doth his chariot lead ?" His motions indolent and speech soon done, Betray'd my lips to somewhat of a smile.

Then I commenced; "Belacqua, now I shun All dole for thee; but let me know meanwhile Why sitt'st thou here upright? Wait'st thou a guide? Or dost thou merely practise thy old style?"

1 "As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."-Isaiah xxxii. 2.

2 Said to have been an excellent musician of Dante's acquaintance, but of indolent habits. Piqued at the disparaging remark on his indolence, he answers the poet at first rather sarcastically, retorting on him the ignorance he had displayed as to the unusual appearance of the Sun.

3 "I cease to grieve on account of your death, because I find you are not lost."

66 Brother, what boots it me to climb ?" he cried;
"He would not let me to the sufferers go-
God's angel, who doth at the door preside:
First, round its outside, heaven with motion slow
Must bear me, long as life to me was given,
Who till the last postponed repentant woe;1
If prayer its aid afford not earlier, even

Sent from a heart that lives in gracious plight :
What other can avail, unheard in heaven ?"
The bard before me, mounting up the height,
Cried, "Come, for see the Sun is passing o'er
The line meridian; and already Night

Hath cover'd with her foot Marocco's shore."2

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"That vale you saw so dreadful for cutting cold and consuming flames, is the place in which the souls of those are tried and punished, who, delaying to confess and amend their wicked ways, at length betake themselves to repentance at the point of death, and so depart this life. Yet because they even at their death confessed and repented, they all shall at the day of judgment be received into the kingdom of heaven; but many are relieved before the day of judgment, by the prayers, alms, and fasts of the living, and especially the celebration of masses."—Drithelm's Vision: BEDE, Ecc. Hist. Ang. v. 13.

2 It was now noon in Purgatory, midnight at Jerusalem, and from three to four hours after sunset on the coast of Marocco. This coast is therefore said to be "covered with the foot of night," or far within the hemisphere of darkness.

CANTO V.

THE ARGUMENT.

Other shades of the indolent arrive, singing the Miserere. They are those whose repentance, though delayed until they were at the point of death, was nevertheless accepted. Among these Giacopo del Cassero, Buonconte di Montefeltro, and Pia, a lady of Siena, relate the manner of their death.

Now from those shades I had already gone,
Following my leader's footsteps, when behind,
Pointing his upraised finger at me, one
Exclaim'd, "See how no ray of light hath shined
On the left of the lower one,1 a token

That though here led, he hath not life resign'd." Mine eyes turn'd to the place where this was spoken, And in astonishment I saw them gaze

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On me, and on the light by me thus broken. My master said, "What gives thee such amaze, That thus thy walking has become so slow? Why need'st thou care what murmurs here they raise?

'Dante, following Virgil up the hill, was, of course, the lowest. When they sat facing the East, in the direction they had come, the Sun was on their left, but now they had risen and were pursuing their journey, it shone on their right hand, and threw the shadow of Dante to their left.

Come follow me, and let their talking go.1

Stand firm as any tower,2 which never shakes
Its lofty head, whatever wind may blow.
He in whose bosom thought on thought awakes
Is ever frustrated in his own aim :3

The force of one the other weaker makes."
What could I answer but, "I come," while shame
Tinged me a little as I spake less cheery,
For which so oft one may indulgence claim?
Meanwhile there came across that region dreary
A band before us distant some small way,
And verse by verse they sung the Miserere.1
When they perceived that I allow'd no ray

Of light a passage through my mortal frame,
They changed into a long hoarse "Oh!" their lay.
And two as messengers deputed came

Running to meet us, asking that we would

Some tidings of ourselves to them proclaim.

Return, and make it fully understood

By those who sent you," said my guide, "that he
Whom here you see is real flesh and blood.

If, as I deem, his shade they pause to see,
Enough I've answer'd; let them honour him,

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1 A good caution against over anxiety about what people say

of us.

2 << Stood like a tower."-Paradise Lost, i. 591.

3 "And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action.”—SHAKSPEARE, Hamlet, iii. 1. 4 The Penitential Psalm: in the Hebrew Bible and the English version, the fifty-first; in the Latin Vulgate, the fiftieth.