The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri

Canto II. HELL. 6 Whom afterwards, if thou wouldst wish to see, For that a worthier soul than mine will come, With her I'll leave thee when I part from thee. For the great Euler, who has there his home. Because I was rebellious to his reign, "* Wills not that in his city I should roam. In everj part he rules, but there in main, There is his citadel, and lofty seat. O happy he, there chosen to remain !

Then I : " O bard, my prayer I now repeat, ^^ By that same G-od, whom erst thou didst not know, So that I fly this ill, and greater yet. Guide me through all things which thou telledst now. So that I see the blessed Peter's gate. And those whom thou so mouniful dost avow." *" Then he moved on, and I behind him wait. . Dante, after wbioh a worthier soal, Beatrice, will lead him through the spheres of Paradise. Line 134.

" So that I see the blessed Peter's gate. The gate of Pargatory, not Paradise. For the latter there is no gate, bnt the spirits pnrified in Purgatory ascend to the Heavenly spheres. Dante accepts Virgil's invitation to guide him through Hell and Purgatory, and so the first canto doses, wbioh must be considered as an opening to the whole poem, and not as the first canto merely of the part devoted to Hell.

The poem will then be found to consist of this introductory canto, which is written in the allegorical, form, and three parts, each consisting of thirty-three cantos, devoted to the three subjects of HeU, Purgatory, and Paradise.

CANTO n. Dante having followed Yirgil along the mountain until nightfall, is oppressed with fears on account of the greatness of his underUiking, and his own unfitness for such a task. Virgil reproves his cowardice, and inspires him with confidence by the account of the manner in which he was called by Beatrice from Heaven, to speed to his assistance.

The day wore on, and past, the darkling air Eeleased the animals upon the earth From their fatigues, while I alone prepare Still the long warfare to sustain with worth Both of the weary road and pity's dread, * Which now my mind will trace, that never err'th. O Muse, O lofty genius, grant your aid, O mind that writest what I then descried. Here thy nobility should be displayed.

Thus I began : " My Poet and my guide, ^^ Look if my virtue have the temper true Ere thou wouldst trust me to this deed of pride.

6 HELL. Cavto II. Thou say'st that Silvius' father once withdrew Whilst still in body all corruptible ; He living the immortal Ages knew. " But if the Enemy of every ill Was so propitious, thinking of the higher Eesult to follow, and what race would swell From him, such seems to human reason nigher. Since he was of high Bome, and of its sway *® In the Empirean chosen for the Sire.

Which place, and rule, to tell the truth alway, Were thus established, for the holy place Where sits great Peter's heritor to-day. By that descent, whence thou does vaunt his grace, ** Secrets he understood, which were the cause Of his success, and of the Papal race. There wandered afterwards Election's vase. To bring back comfort from them for the Creed Which of salvation opened first the laws. ^ But why should I come there ? or who concede ?

Neither Eneas nor Saint Paul am I ; Nor I, nor others, think me worth such meed. Therefore to such a venture should I hie, I fear the act as madness must be viewed. ^ Thou'rt wise my unspoken reason to descry. Like unto one who wills not that he would, And shifts his purpose with thought's changing tide, So that he dare not make commencement good, Thus acted I on that hill's darkened side ; ^ In idle thought I wasted the emprise,.

To which so swiftly I at first had hied. Line 13. " Silvias' father. Eneas. Line 16. " The Enemy of every ill. God. Line 25. " By that descent, whence thou dost vaunt his grace, Secrets he nnderstood, which were the cause Of his success, and of the Papal race.

The favourite idea in Dante's mind, and the theory hy which he looked for the renovation of the world, was the separation of all mundane and smritual authority : the former to be wielded by one who should resuscitate the Aoman Empire, the. latter by the Papal Church purified from all admixture of worldly authority.

Considering Eneas as the founder of the Boman Empire, and of Borne where the Church was to sit enthroned, he accounts for the marked favour shown to him in permitting his descent into Hell to learn secrets by which his mission was to be accomplished. Line 28. '* There wandered afterwards Election's vase. There refers to the Immortal Ages, not Hell in this instancCi but Paradise, where Paul, the " chosen vessel," was carried in vision.