As on life's dawn the stars their aspects keep;1
But by celestial graces which descend

In showers from vapours of such height sublime,
That thither our weak sight cannot extend,
This man was gifted so in his life's prime

With every rightful habit virtually,

That wondrous fruit might thence have grown in time. But as much more malign and wild will be The soil, if sown with ill or left untill'd, As it hath more of native energy.2

Him, for a while sustain'd, my aspect fill'd

120

[bent,

With strength: when towards him I my young eyes

I in the right way led him as I will'd.

Soon as I reach'd the threshold eminent
Of my next age, and alter'd my life's aim,&
He then left me and after others went.
When I from flesh to spirit upward came,
And worth and beauty had in me increased,

1 The belief in Judicial Astronomy prevailed in Dante's time and long after, but he regards the influence of the stars, not as necessitating, but predisposing; yet controlled by Divine Grace.

24

If the disposition be not well cultivated and fenced by good habit, the seed will be useless and had better be unsown. St. Augustine and Aristotle, Ethics, ii., insist that man may curb his passions and do well, so that, strengthened by good custom, this germ will produce the sweet fruit of human felicity."— Convito.

In his Convito Dante divides human life into four ages, the first ending and the second commencing at the twenty-fifth year, the age at which Beatrice died. In Purg. viii. 59, 60, he calls the present his "first life," and a future life "the other."

But besides the literal sense, the poet here describes, under the veil of allegory, the struggle in his mind between true and false religion, between the flesh and the spirit, the things of the world and those higher and spiritual pursuits to which Divine Philosophy would have led him on.

To him less dear and pleasing I became. In error's path his footsteps then digress'd,

Following mere semblances of good, which ne'er
With deeds fulfil the promise first profess'd.1
Nor aught avail'd those inspirations rare
Which I, in dreams and otherwise, employ'd
Him to recall; so slight for them his care.2
So low he fell, all means were now made void
That unto his salvation might have led,
Except to show him those by sin destroy'd.
For this I sought the portal of the dead;
To him who hither deign'd his guide to be
My prayers were borne, with tears profusely shed.
"Twould be to violate God's high decree,

If Lethe's wave were pass'd, and such good cheer
Partaken of, and people went scot-free1

From that repentance which compels a tear."

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1 "The false traitors promise to remove every thirst, and every want, and to bring sufficiency and abundance; but instead of refreshment they bring a feverish and intolerable thirst."-Convito, Trat. iv. 12.

2 See Job xxxiii. 14-17.

3 Inferno, ii. 53–120; Purg. i. 58-66. The fear of future punishment is not the highest motive to obedience; yet, in certain conditions of the mind, it is found to be the most powerful restraint on our sinful inclinations; and in the earlier stages of the Christian life, an important aid to virtue and motive to obedience. See note, line 13.

✦ On the expression senza alcuno scotto, Biagioli has the following amusing apostrophe to one of his rival commentators :"Thou sayest, O Venturi, that this word is low, and therefore not at all suitable for a subject so grave and illustrious: but I answer thee, O inconceivable vulgariser of Tacitus, that the authority of Dante exalts everything low. Take that and gulp it down (or ruin it) if thou canst."

CANTO XXXI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Beatrice's reproof of Dante becomes more direct and severe, till he is overwhelmed with shame and confusion; and, having confessed his error, is plunged by Matilda in the river Lethe; and having passed through it, is conducted by the Moral and Evangelical Virtues to the presence of Beatrice, and at their entreaty is permitted to see her face unveiled.

"O THOU that art beyond the sacred stream,"1
Turning on me her pointed speech, whose force
Had seem'd so sharp with even a sidelong gleam;
She recommenced, nor paused in her discourse,

Speak, speak, if this is true; for thus accused,
Thy own confession should the charge endorse.”
But now my faculties were so confused,

That ere my voice, though raised, a word could say, Its organs to perform their part refused.3 She paused awhile, then said, "Why this delay? Tell me; for those ill memories in thee Are not yet by the waters wash'd away."

10

1 Beyond, with respect to Beatrice, who was on one side of the river, and Dante on the other.

2 See the preceding canto, where she addresses the angels, but speaks of Dante; here she directly addresses him.

3 "Vox faucibus hæsit.”—Æneid. passim.

4

He had not yet passed through the waters of Lethe, but was very soon to do so.

Fear and confusion, blended so in me,

Forced from my lips a "Yes" in such faint guise
To hear it it was needful too to see.
As breaks the cross-bow, when the arrow flies
Because the cord and bow are too much bent,
And to the mark the shaft less firmly hies,
So under this great burden was I spent,

And soon in sighs and tears my griefs transpire,
Weakening the voice when through its passage sent.
Then she resumed: "Since through my strong desire
Thou early wert induced to love the good,
Higher than which the soul cannot aspire,
What fosses or what fetters have withstood

Thy onward progress, that thou shouldst give over
The effort and all further hope exclude?

What beauties or what gains didst thou discover
Upon the brow of others, that so nigh

20

To these in preference thou shouldst fondly hover ?" 30 After the heaving of one bitter sigh,

My voice to frame an answer scarce avail'd, Nor without effort could my lips reply. Weeping I said, "The things at hand prevail'd, With their false joys, to draw my steps aside,1 Soon as your countenance became concealed." And she "Hadst thou been silent, or denied,

:

What thou confessest, not less fully known

Had been thy fault, by such a judge descried." But when a man with his own mouth hath shown How he condemns the sin, then in our court

40

1 When the Divine Wisdom had been withdrawn, mankind fell into error, superstition, and idolatry.-See Romans i. 21.

This can hardly apply to any human judge.—See Rev. ii. 23.

Against the sword's edge turns the grinding stone.1
Still, that thy fault bring shame of better sort,2
And that when thou the Sirens next shalt hear,3
Thyself more manfully thou mayst comport,
Dismiss each cause of weeping, and give ear:

Thus wilt thou gather how thou shouldst have learn'd
Through my decease an opposite career.

In art or nature ne'er hast thou discern'd

Aught that could with delight thy soul inspire,
Like my fair form, which has to dust return'd.
If thy chief bliss then, when I did expire,

Forsook thee thus, what mortal thing could be
Deem'd worthy to lead captive thy desire?
Thou shouldst, when first the shaft was aim'd at thee
By fair fallacious things, have soar'd on high,
Since I'm no longer such, to follow me.

Thy wings should not have stoop'd below to fly,
More strokes awaiting, as of some slight girl,
Or other vanity, so soon pass'd by.
Twice, thrice, the bird, when first his wings unfurl,

Is trick'd; but in the sight of one full-fledged,
Vain is the spreading net or missile's whirl." 4
As little children, to reproof keen-edged

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60

'The sword of Divine Justice is blunted by the sinner's repentance and confession.

2 See Ezek, xvi. 62, 63.

See Canto xix. 19.

4.66 Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird."Prov. i. 17. "Astutus astu non capitur." "Old birds are not caught with chaff." Beatrice intimates that Dante's departure from the path of wisdom was the more to be censured on account of his mature age. And the falling away from the truth, under the Christian dispensation, was less excusable than the lapse of mankind in the early ages from the patriarchal faith to idolatry.