In song with him who has that manly nose,1 All knightly virtues girt within his cord.2 And had that youth who met such early close,

Beside him placed, king after him remain❜d,3
That virtue which no other heir now shows,
From vase to vase pour'd forth had been retain'd.

His kingdom James and Frederick now possess,
But none that better heritage hath gain'd,5
Seldom, indeed, remounts men's worthiness
Into their branches; and thus willeth He,
Its fount, that we for it may Him address.
To Charles the long-nosed may my words too be
Applied, even as to Peter; both I've sung;

4

120

1 Charles, Count of Anjou and brother of St. Louis. By his victory over Conradin, he became, in 1266, King of Naples, as Charles I. G. Villani says, "There had been no sovereign of the house of France since Charlemagne, by whom Charles was surpassed, either in military renown and prowess, or the craftiness of his understanding"-vii, 90. Much of his conduct, however, was such as to deserve the severest censure, particularly his cruel slaughter of young Conradin.-See Inferno, xxviii. 17, note, and Purgatorio, xx. 67.

2 "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth," &c.-Eph. vi. 14.

3 According to the old commentators, Alphonso III., eldest son of Peter III. of Arragon (see note to 1. 112). He died in 1291, and was a young man of great virtue and promise. According to Venturi and Biagioli, Peter, the youngest son, who had no kingdom, is here intended.

4 See note to 1. 112, and Paradiso, xix. 130—8.

5 "The sons do not inherit the courage and probity of their father." Chaucer has quoted the three lines of Dante, which follow. -The Wif of Bathes Tale.

6 Charles II. who succeeded his father Charles I. in the kingdom of Naples in 1285, was no less inferior to him, than James and Frederick were to theirs. See Canto xx. 79, and note.

Which Provence and Apuglia sadly see:

As much less than the seed the plant so sprung,
As more than Beatrice and Margaret,

Her husband's praise yet fills Constanza's1 tongue. 130 See there the king, of life so simply great, Henry of England, sit in solitude,2

Who in his branches better fruit hath yet.3 Betwixt them, lower down, too, may be view'd, Gazing above, Guglielmo, the Marchese, Through whom both Alessandria and her feud Still grieves Montferrat and the Canavese."4

1 Margaret and Beatrice were daughters of Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence; the first married to St. Louis of France, the latter to Charles of Anjou. Constance was the daughter of Manfred, and widow of Peter III. of Arragon.-Canto iii. 115, note, 143. Dante, therefore, considered Peter III. the most illustrious of the three sovereigns referred to.

9 Our Henry III., whom G. Villani calls "a plain man and of good faith." -v. 4.

3 Our Edward I., of whom Villani says, "From the said Henry was born the good king Edward, who reigns in our times, and has done great things."—Ib.

William, Marquis of Montferrat, was treacherously seized by his own subjects, at Alessandria in Lombardy, A.D. 1290, and died in prison. A protracted war ensued between the people of Alessandria, and those of Montferrat and the Canavese, now a part of Piedmont, in which these last received the greatest loss and injury.

CANTO VIII.

:

THE ARGUMENT.

Evening a prayer offered by the Shades: Te lucis ante. Two angels descend with flaming swords to guard the valley; which the poets enter, and Sordello points out the shade of Nino de' Visconti and other illustrious personages. An assault by the serpent, who is put to flight by the angels. A conversation with Currado Malespina, who foretells the future exile of Dante.

THE hour was come that wakes desire anew

And melts the heart in voyagers, when they
That day to their sweet friends have said, Adieu!
And thrills the new-made pilgrim on his way
With love, if he from far the vesper-bell
Should hear, that seems to mourn the dying day.1
When in mine ear the sounds no longer dwell,2
One of the spirits, then first mark'd by me,
Rose beckoning, as he somewhat wish'd to tell.
And then his claspèd hands uplifted he,
Fixing his eyes upon the East, as though

To God he said, "I care for none but Thee."3

10

1 This description of twilight has been much admired. Statius has the same thought; "Jam moriente die."—Sylv. lib. iv. § 6, 1. 3. Milton, Gray, and Byron, have shown how much it impressed them. 2 When Sordello's words had ceased:-Canto vii.

3 The practice of bowing toward the East originated in the idolatry of those who worshipped the rising Sun: hence we find it condemned, Ezekiel, ch. viii. 15—18. It is said, that the early Christians recognized in the rising Sun an emblem of Christ's.

"Te lucis ante ;1-so devoutly flow

These accents from his mouth with tone so sweet,
They made my ravish'd soul with transport glow.2
Sweetly and piously the rest repeat

The hymn entire, as following him they sing,
While with their eyes the orbs above they meet.
Thy keen glance, reader, to the truth here bring,
Now cover'd with so thin a veil, it would
Be, certes, to transpierce an easy thing.3

20

resurrection. As early as the second century, the rulers of the Church, to meet the prejudices of their new converts from heathenism, while they rejected the grosser error, connived at the retention of the ancient and almost universal custom of bowing to the East.-MOSHEIM, i. 57. Nor is the custom wholly discontinued at the present time.

1 A Latin hymn sung at Complin (Compieta, Completorium—the completion of the day), even-song, or second vespers; the last of the Canonical hours;-the last service of the day. The following is nearly a literal version of the hymn.

"Thee, ere ends the light of day,
Universal God, we pray;
Of thy matchless clemency,
Thou our guide and guardian be.

"Let ill dreams from us take flight,

"Where breathed the loves that stole me from myself."HOR. Carm. lib. iv., ode 13, In Lycen, 1. 19, 20.

3 The literal sense is hardly suitable to the disembodied. The poet therefore expressly gives the reader notice that the literal sense is but a thin veil to cover the figurative or allegorical

And then that gentle band of souls I view'd,
Silent and looking upward as if they
In expectation pale and humble stood.
Two angels from above did I survey,

Just then with flaming swords descending there,
Whose glittering blades retrench'd no points display.1
Green as the new-born leaves their garments were,
Which from the action of their pinions green,
Flow'd free behind them as they fann'd the air.
Lighting not far above us one was seen,

While on the adverse bank descending stay'd
The other, with the crowd of shades between.
I clearly saw their heads in light array'd,
But in their visages mine eye was lost,
Confounded by the brightness there display'd.2
"Both come from Mary's bosom to this coast,"
Sordello said, "as guardians of the valley
Against the Serpent, who doth hither post."

30

meaning. The pilgrim of love, that is, the Christian believer, looks up to heaven for protection, appealing to none but God for both inward and outward purity, and asking defence against those dangers which beset him in that night of ignorance and error, during which the serpent was abroad, the same serpent that tempted Eve. All the faithful in the valley join him in this prayer. 1 Divine Justice is here tempered with mercy.

My earthly by his heavenly overpower'd,

In that celestial colloquy sublime,

As with an object that excels the sense,

Dazzled and spent, sunk down, and sought repair."

Paradise Lost, viii. 453-7. 3 "From the immediate presence of the Virgin Mary." The expression is Oriental, and alludes to the custom of reclining at table, common in Judea in our Saviour's time.-John xiii. 23-25; xxi. 20.

Luke xvi. 22.