The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri

Ca»to XXXI. PARADISE. 881 " And where is she ?" I sudden asked him, " where ?*' When he : " To bring your longing to an end •* Beatrix sent me from my station there. And from the height, if you your search does wend To the third row, she there will meet your gaze Upon the throne her merits have attained.*' Without reply my eyes I upwards raise, And saw her where she made herself a crown, Reflecting from her the eternal rays. Whoever in the sea dived deepest down Has not to raise his mortal eye so far Up to the region where the thunders groan, ^* As was my sight from Beatrice there ; But it was nothing, for her efl&gy To me descending did no medium bar. " O lady, you in whom my hope is high, You for my safety who did even deign To leave your traces in HelFs precincts, I, By all the wondrous things which I have seen, Both of your mighty power and clemency. The virtue and the grace acknowledge fain. Prom slave you'st raised me unto liberty By all the various paths, by all the ways Which had the power to work such alchemy. O still your liberal SBgis o'er me raise, So that my soul, which you have made all sane. May win your favour when it gains release." *^ Thus did I pray, and she looked on me fain. And smiled on me from her hx glory seat, Then to the Eternal Fountain turned again. And the holy old man told me : ** To complete To full perfection your accomplished way, •* For which her prayer and love did send my feet, Over this garden let your vision stray. For gazing there will kindle your regard To soar aloft to the divinest ray. The Queen of Heaven may such a grace award, ^^ For whom I bum with ardent love unbated. Because I am her faithful son Bemflrd." Line 102. St. Bernard, the chief promoter of the seoond Crusade. Mr. Gary has pointed out that Dante was in error in attributing to him this particular reverence for the Virgin, as he opposed the doctrine of the Immaculate Con* ception, so recently revived once more in the Roman Church.

S82 PARADISE. Caxto XZXI. Like one who from Croatia come has waited Our true Veronica to gaze upon, Whose gazing, through its fame, is never sated, But says in thought, as long as it is shown, Jesus Christ, my Lord, true Grod adored, In such a semblance then was made your own ? Thus on his living countenance I pored. Glowing with charity, who while on earth Tasted Heaven's peace, contemplating his Lord. " O child of grace, all this rejoicing worth," Thus he began, " you never more will note The while your eye this lowly view prefers. But gaze upon the circles most remote. So as to see upon her throne the Queen, To whom this realm is subject and devout." I raised my eyes, and as in morning sheen Of the horizon all the Eastern front Surpasses all the rest of Heaven's domain. So passing as it were from vale to mount With my own eyes I saw the furthest verge O'er all the rest in glory light surmount. And as Heaven brightens where there does upsurge The chariot Phaeton drove with skilless aim, ^** While here and there the starry lights submerge ; In such a way that peaceful oriflamme I* the midst glowed brightly, and on every side In equal fashion dimmed each lesser flame. And o'er that centre with wings open wide 1 saw above a thousand Angels glance. Each separately endowed and glorified. There saw I at their singing and their dance Her perfect beauty smiling, that a joy Was in the eyes of all that holy trance. If for the scene such words I could employ Even where my fancy soars, I would not dare To essay to paint the least part of that joy. When Bernard saw me with my eyes fixt there Upon the warmth which did his love enfold, He with such passion turned his own on her That it made mine more ardent to behold. Line 104. The Veronica was the picture of Christ, miracnlonsly stamped npon the handkerchief with which He wiped the sweat from His face, and wnich holiest of relics was preserved in the chnrch of St. Peter at Borne. Line 127. The Virgin Mother.

CANTO xxxn. Saint Bernard points out to Dante the order of the saints in ParadisOi how those of the Old and New Testaments are equal in number, divided, as it were, by a partition wall of celebrated Hebrew women , who head each row of thrones that make the petals of the flower. In the lowest grades are seated the souls of children saved by election solely, and not by their own merits. St. Bernard then exhorts Dante to gaze on the virgin, so as to gain strength to behold her Son, and to join wiUi him in prayer to her for that final boon. In Ills own pleasure rapt, the dreaming man Freely the Teacher's office then assumed, And thus his holy parlance he began : " The wound, which Mary closed and balm-perfumed, That lovely one who sits at her feet * First opened, when 'gainst God she first presumed. The next in order there, on the third seat, Sits Bachel, underneath our mother Eve, Beside her Beatrice you mayst greet. Sarah, Eebecca, Judith, and the grave ^^ Ancestress of the Psalmist, who in grief Of sin his miserere mei gave : You can behold them thus from sheaf to sheaf Descending downwards, while thus name by name I go adown the Eose from leaf to leaf : ^* And from the seventh grade downwards, just the same To this, along the flower the rows succeed, And each one headed with a Hebrew dame. Because according to the sight that made Their faith in Christ, these as partition wall ^ To separate the holy steps are laid. On this side, where the flower is ripened all With all its spreading leaves, are seated those Who on a Christ to come with faith did call. On the other side, where the semicircular rows ** Are set with vacant places, sit in state Who on Christ past their vision did repose. And as on this side does the glorious seat Of Heaven's high Queen, and every other throne Beneath it, such a boundary line create, Line 6. Eve, when she yielded to the temptation. Line 9. On the third row from the top sits Beatrice, beside Bachel. " lo mi sedea coU' antice Baohele." " Hell," Canto II. Line 11- Bnth, ancestress of David.