And for the Workman dearer to my sight; “Behold a crowd," the poet whisper'd me,

"Are journeying, but with tardy steps, this way.
These to the lofty stairs our guides will be."1
Mine eyes, intent at all times to survey
New things, now eagerly the call obey'd,
And towards them turn'd without the least delay.
Reader, I would not have thee shrink dismay'd
From thy good purpose for what I shall show,
How God has order'd that our debts be paid.
Consider not these forms of martyr-woe:

100

Think of what follows: think that they at worst 110 Beyond the last Great Sentence cannot go.2 "Master, the forms I see," I said at first,

"Which towards us move, as men I scarce can rate : Nor know I what; in fog I seem immers'd."

And he to me;

"Such is their burden'd state

Of torment that they towards the earth are pressed, Whence first mine eyes of them had some debate. But look, and of all doubt thy gaze divest,

What under those vast stones take their slow pace: Now thou canst see how each smites on his breast. 120 O Christians proud! O wretched, weary race!

Whose mental sight such soul diseases mar,

In backward steps perverse your trust ye place. Do ye not now perceive what worms we are,

tion of the Proud and Arrogant, the sculptures on the rock exhibit examples of meek humility.

1 The higher circles in Purgatory.

2 "This is, in truth, an unanswerable objection to the doctrine of Purgatory. It is difficult to conceive how the best can meet death without horror, if they believe that it must be followed by immediate and intense suffering."-CARY.

Born to become the angelic butterfly,'

Which flies to Sovereign Justice without bar? Wherefore doth your ambition soar so high?

Ye are, as 'twere, imperfect insects, blind,
Like worms ere yet by nature form'd to fly.
As to support a roof or floor we find

A figure which the human form doth wear,
In which the knees unto the breast are join'd, 2
Which, with the grief that is not real there,

Breeds real grief in us when seen; thus made,
When I look'd carefully, I saw they were.
'Tis true, they more or less were downward weigh'd,
As to each back its load proportion bore:
Yet he whose patience was the most display'd
Seem'd to say weeping, "I can bear no more!"

130

1 Besides the beautiful image of Man in his three stages of existence, Nature, Death, and Immortality, afforded by the natural history of the Butterfly, there may be an allusion here to the fable of Psyche (the ancient personification of the Soul), who was married to Cupid, and by him conveyed to a place of bliss.—APULEIUS, Metam. lib. iv. She is generally represented with the wings of a butterfly, while her husband has the pinions of a dove. The Greek word uxn signifies the Soul; and it also signifies a butterfly, in which shape the Greek sculptors often represented Psyche as subject to Cupid.

2 "Those crouching antics, which seem in great buildings to labour under the weight they bear."-CHILLINGWORTH, vi. 54.

CANTO XI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Virgil

The Pater noster paraphrased and sung by the shades.
inquires the way, and is answered by Omberto. Dante recog-
nises and converses with Oderisi of Gubbio, a famous Illumi-
nator, who gives the preference to his rival in art, Franco of
Bologna, and speaks of the comparative merits of Cimabue,
Giotto, and the two Guidos. He moralises on the brevity of
human glory, points out Provenzan Salvani, and obscurely in-
timates Dante's future fame and exile.

"O THOU, our Sire in heaven, with light array'd,
Not circumscribed, but that thy greatest love
To thy most glorious works is there display'd ;1
Let every creature waft thy name above,

1

And spread thy hallow'd praise o'er earth and main, And bless thy sacred, pure, inspiring Dove.

Hasten the advent of thy tranquil reign;

Whose peace if thou do not on us bestow,

With our best efforts we cannot attain.

And as the angels with devotion glow,

Offering free homage while they sing 'Hosanna,'s
So let thy will be done by us below.

10

1 Not confined to heaven, but there more especially manifested. 2 The first four lines of this canto have been borrowed by Pulci, and form the commencement of Canto vi. of Morgante Maggiore.

3

3 A Hebrew acclamation, siguifying, "Save now!"-Psalm cxviii. 25; Matt. xxi. 9, &c.

And give us day by day our daily manna,
Without which we should fall, though we exert
Our utmost in this waste and wild savanna.
And as we pardon others for the hurt

We suffer, pardon us thy creatures frail,
Benign One, and look not on our desert,
Risk not our virtue, which so soon might fail,
Against the ancient foe of human kind;
But save us from him when his darts assail.
Yet this last prayer, not for ourselves design'd,

Since now, dear Lord, we have thereof no need,1
We make for those whom we have left behind."
Thus for themselves, and for our happy speed,

Those Shades went praying, each beneath a weight Like that oppression which our dreams may breed. Round the first cornice they ascend the height,

20

30

All woeful, weary, with unequal share, Purging the darkness of their former state. If then for us they offer constant prayer, What from the root of our good-will can here Be said or done that may avail them there ?2 Sure we should aid them from the stains to clear Themselves, which they bore hence, that pure and light They may ascend above the starry sphere. "Ah! so may justice and compassion straight

1 In St. Patrick's Purgatory, and the Emperor Charles's Vision, ugly demons take a very active part, and greatly increase the perils of the visitor. But here the serpent finds no access beyond the lower and outer department: and as he is excluded by the gate and walls, the petition against the evil one is not needed by those who offer it; hence the saving clause, which represents that they offer it vicariously.

2 Our prayers for them, it is intimated, are but a return for those they offer up for us.

40

Remove your burden, that expanding each Your wings you may where'er you please take flight; Show us how soonest we the stair may reach : Or if there's more than one pass up the hill, To us the path least steep we pray you teach. For my companion, since from Adam still The burden of the flesh doth him invest,1

Is slow to mount, in spite of his good-will." Then in these words they answer'd the request

Which had been utter'd by my trusty guide; From whom they came was not yet manifest; But it was said, "If on the bank's right side

You come with us, a path you shall be shown,
Such as a man may mount who has not died.
And if I were not hinder'd by the stone

Laid on me, here my neck of pride to tame,
Whence I'm compell'd to hold my visage down,
Him who yet lives, but whom thou dost not name
I'd scan-to know if e'er I've seen his face,
And that my load might his compassion claim.
I from a Latin peer of Tuscan race,

Gulielm' Aldobrandeschi, drew my birth:

I know not if the name with you found place.
The ancient blood, and acts which all admire,

Of my forefathers, made my pride outgrow
All thought of what our common wants require.
Each one I held in scorn, so that—as know

The Sienese-on that account I died :
All know it too in Compagnatico.

I am Omberto :2 not alone has pride

1 See Funeral Service, and 2 Cor. v. 4.

50

60

2 He was Count of Santafiore, in the territory of Siena. His