The mountain, that he murder'd Polydorus.1

2

'Tell us, O Crassus, thou must surely know, What is the taste of gold ?' This our last chorus. Sometimes our voice is loud and sometimes low, As we to talk are by the feeling spurr'd, Now at a quicker pace and now more slow. Hence I, in what of good by day3 is heard,

Was not alone, but, though not intermitted,
None else close by to sing aloud were stirr'd."
We now the presence of that shade had quitted;
And while to climb the rugged road we sped,
As fast as our ability permitted,

I felt the mountain shake beneath my tread,
As if about to fall: whence I was taken
Ice-cold, like one who forth to death is led.
Not so vehemently was Delos shaken

Before Latona had, to bring forth those

Twin eyes of heaven, thereto herself betaken.*

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1 Polymnestor, king of Thrace, who murdered his brother-inlaw Polydorus, to obtain the wealth he had brought with him.— Inferno, xiii. 46; xxx. 21, notes.

2 Marcus Crassus, the Roman general, whose ruling passion appears to have been the sordid lust of gold. Dazzled with the prospect of barbarian spoil, he grasped with eagerness the command for which he had no capacity, and in the Parthian war sacrificed the lives of 30,000 Romans. Deceived and betrayed by the enemy, he was put to death, and his head cut off and sent to the king of Parthia, who is said to have poured melted gold down his throat in derision.

3 See line 102, and note.

4 Dēlos (from dñλoç, manifested); an island, raised from the sea by an earthquake, where Latona brought forth Apollo and Diana. The shaking of the mountain was probably meant as a symbol of some great political and religious change, anticipated by the poet (See Canto xxxii. 45). This change he compares to the birth of

From every part a cry there then arose,

So loud that my kind chief to me drew nigh: "Doubt not," he said, "thy guide still with thee goes." All shouted, "Glory be to God on high !"

So by those nearest me I gather'd, whence

I could with more distinctness hear the cry. We stood there in immoveable suspense,

Just like the shepherds who first heard that song,1 140 Until the trembling quite had pass'd from thence. We then pursued our hallow'd path along,

Marking the shadows on the ground that lay,

While their accustom'd plaints employ'd each tongue. No conscious ignorance, until that day,

E'er with such combat roused my wish to know,
Unless in this my memory goes astray,

As then I did in musing undergo.

Neither to ask him, for our speed, I dared,

Nor aught could by myself discern; and so

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Timid and thoughtful on my path I fared.

Apollo and Diana, the Sun and Moon, and to the event celebrated by angels in the hearing of the shepherds at Bethlehem.

1 Luke ii. 8-14.

CANTO XXI.

THE ARGUMENT.

While Dante follows his guide, they are overtaken by the shade of Statius, the Roman poet, who salutes them. He has just been released from Purgatory, and is on his way to Paradise. After mutual inquiries and answers, he explains the quality of the Mountain and the cause of the earthquake. In the course of conversation he mentions the fame he had acquired at Rome, and his high admiration of Virgil's poetry. This leads Dante to introduce him formally to Virgil's personal acquaintance. At this unexpected recognition of the great poet, Statius displays the greatest joy.

THE thirst of nature never satisfied,1

Save by that living water for whose gift
The woman of Samaria once applied,
Disturb'd, and urged me on with motion swift,
Following along the obstructed path3 my guide,
While for that vengeance my sad sighs I lift.1
And, lo! as Christ-so Luke hath testified-
To two appear'd while they their journey take,
Risen from the grave, who had been crucified; 5

1 "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." "Eccles. i. 8.

2 "The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."-John iv. 15.

3 Obstructed by the prostrate and suffering shades.

4 For the vengeance invoked by Hugh Capet; Canto xx. 94.

5 On the journey to Emmaus; Luke xxiv. 13, &c.

So gleam'd a shade that, following in our wake,
Gazed on the crowd that lay beneath his feet.
Him we had not perceived: so he first spake;
"God's peace be yours, whom I as brethren greet."
And Virgil, as we turn'd round suddenly,
Gave him the salutation which was meet;
And said, "In council of the blest, on thee
May the true court bestow a peaceful place,1
Which in eternal exile fixes me."

"How ?" said he, keeping up with our quick pace,
"If heaven to you admittance will not deign,
Who help'd you, thus far up, your way to trace ?"
My teacher said; "The marks which yet remain,

Stamp'd on him by the angel are in sight,2
And prove that with the good he is to reign.
But still since she who spins by day and night
Hath not for him the distaff yet unwound,
Which Clotho forms for every living wight,3
His soul, by thine and mine a sister own'd,*
Coming above could yet not come alone,
For not like ours her mode of sight is found.5
Hence I forth from hell's ample throat was drawn

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20

30

1 "May the Court of Heaven give thee peace with the blessed." 2 The P's which the angel had traced on his brow.

3 Of the three Parca, the "fatal sisters," the goddesses presiding over the birth and life of mankind, Clotho, the youngest, held a distaff in her hand at the moment of each individual's birth; Lachesis spun out all the actions and events of his life; and Atropos, the eldest, cut the thread of life with her shears.-See Inferno, xxxiii. 126.

4 "Sister spirit, come away!"-POPE's Dying Christian.

5 The mode of perception in men being different from that of disembodied spirits.

To lead him; and his guide beyond am I,
Far as he can be by my teaching shown.1
But tell me, if thou know'st, the reason why
Just now the mountain shook; and all, even to
The mountain's wave-wash'd foot sent up a cry?"
This question ask'd by Virgil so pass'd through
The eye2 of my desire, that from hope's fount
Alone my thirst far less vehement grew.
"Without the order of the sacred mount
Nothing can happen here:" thus answer'd he;
"Nor aught that unaccustom'd we may count.
Here 'tis from every alteration free,

Save when its own heaven to itself receives;
No change from other cause with us can be.
No rain, or hail, or snow, the mount perceives,3
Nor dews, nor hoar-frosts reach it; but all these
Below the stair of three short steps it leaves.
Neither thick clouds nor thin it ever sees,

40

Nor lightning flash, nor Thaumas' daughter sweet, 50

1 As far as human reason, or moral philosophy can reach. 26 Cruna," the needle's eye.-See Inferno, xv. 21. Dante says, that the question so coincided with his own wish for information, that the very anticipation of an immediate answer allayed the vehemence of his desire.

3 Canto ix. 76. Lucretius thus describes the upper regions:"The divinity of the Gods appears, and their tranquil dwellings, Neither assailed by winds nor drenched by storm-clouds, Whose top neither the driving snow nor the shining hoar-frost, Ever violates; but the ether is always cloudless

And undisturb'd; and the widely diffused light laugheth,
And Nature supplieth every want, nor doth any thing

The peace of the mind at any time interrupt."

De Rerum Naturæ, iii. 18-24.

4 Iris (the rainbow), the messenger of Juno, was the daughter