THE POET'S VISION AND PARADISE. HELL. DANTE ALIGHIERI, the great medieval epic poet, and one of the greatest poets of all ages, was born in Florence, Italy, of an ancient family, May 14, 1265, and died at Ravenna, Sept. 14, 1321. Up to the age of twenty-five he lived in his native city engaged in study, associating with men of genius in art and letters His early life was clouded by the loss of Beatrice Portinari, a lady with whom his name will ever be associated. Like Milton, Dante took an earnest interest in the welfare of his country, and was for twelve years involved in the clash of political parties. At the age of thirty-seven he found himself condemned to perpetual exile, his property confiscated, and himself threatened with death at the stake should he enter the city of his birth. The last nineteen years of his life were spent in wanderings. In his "Vita Nuovo," Dante has given an account of his early life and romantic devotion to Beatrice, who is also enshrined in the "Divina Commedia," from which the following extracts are taken. The translation used is that by the REV. HENRY FRANCIS CARY, said by the Edinburgh Review to have been executed "with a fidelity almost without example." Cary was born at Birmingham, England, in 1772. He graduated at Oxford and took orders in the Established Church. From 1826 to 1832 he was assistant hbrarian of the British Museum. He died in London, Aug. 14, 1844. His translation of Dante appeared from 1805 to 1814. The noteworthy version of the Divina Commedia" by Mr. Longfellow is the only complete translation by an American. OFT have I seen, at some cathedral door, Far off the noises of the world retreat; And leave my burden at this minster gate, The tumult of the time disconsolate The poet indicates the era of the poem by the fiction that, having in the thirty-fifth year of his life (A. D. 1300) lost his way in a gloomy forest, and being hindered by certain wild beasts from ascending a mountain, he is met by Virgil, who promises to show him the punishments of Hell, and afterwards of Purgatory; and that he shall then be conducted by Beatrice into Paradise. IN the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood, astray Yet, to discourse of what there good befell, When him in that great desert I espied, And born of Lombard parents, Mantuans both Beneath the mild Augustus, in the time But thou, say wherefore to such perils past Content in fire, for that they hope to come, Must lead thee, in whose charge, when I de part, Thou shalt be left: for that Almighty King, Who reigns above, a rebel to his law Adjudges me; and therefore hath decreed That, to his city, none through me should come. He in all parts hath sway; there rules, there holds His citadel and throne. Oh, happy those, I do beseech thee (that this ill and worse PURGATORY, AND PARADISE. THE DIVINERS. The poet having passed through Limbo and other circles of Hell, arrives at the place of torment of such as presumed, while living, to predict future events. They were to have their faces reversed and set the contrary way on their limbs, so that, being deprived of the power to see before them, they are constrained ever to walk backwards. Now, reader! think within thyself, so God Fruit of thy reading give thee! how I long Could keep my visage dry, when I beheld Near me our form distorted in such guise, That on the hinder parts fallen from the face The tears down-streaming rolled. Against a rock I leant and wept, so that my guide exclaimed: "What, and art thou, too, witless as the rest? Here pity most doth show herself alive, When she is dead. What guilt exceedeth his, Who with Heaven's judgment in his passion strives?" LUCIFER DISCOVERED. XX. 18-28. In the fourth and last round of the ninth circle, those who have betrayed their benefactors are wholly covered with ice. And in the midst is Lucifer, at the centre of gravity, at whose back Dante and Virgil ascend, till by a secret path they reach the surface of the other hemisphere of the earth, and once more obtain sight of the stars. "THE banners of Hell's Monarch do come forth Toward us; therefore look," so spake my guide, "If thou discern him." As, when breathes a cloud Heavy and dense, or when the shades of night Fall on our hemisphere. seems viewed from far | A windmill, which the blast stirs briskly round; Such was the fabric then methought I saw. To shield me from the wind, forthwith I drew Behind my guide: no covert else was there. Now came I (and with fear I bid my strain Record the marvel) where the souls were all Whelined underneath, transparent, as through glass Pellucid the frail stem. Some prone were laid; Others stood upright, this upon the soles, That on his head, a third with face to feet Arched like a bow. When to the point we came, Where it my guide was pleased that I should see The creature eminent in beauty once, He from before me stepped and made me pause. "Lo!" he exclaimed, "lo Dis; and to the place, 913 Where thou hast need to arm thy heart with strength." How frozen and how faint I then became, With such a part. If he were beautiful Of hue vermilion, the other two with this To look on, such as come from whence old Nile Stoops to the lowlands. Under each shot forth Two mighty wings, enormous as became had they, But were in texture like a bat: and these Were in this guise tormented. But far more panged By the fierce rending, whence ofttimes the back Was stript of all its skin. "That upper spirit, Who hath worst punishment," so spake my guide, "Is Judas, he that hath his head within And plies the feet without. Of the other two, Whose heads are under, from the murky jaw Who hangs, is Brutus: lo! how he doth writhe And speaks not. The other, Cassius, that appears So large of limb. But night now reascends; And it is time for parting. All is seen." xxxiv. 1-64. EARTH'S CENTRE PASSED. "ERE from the abyss I separate," thus when risen I began : "My guide! vouchsafe few words to set me free From error's thraldom. Where is now the ice? How standeth he in posture thus reversed? And how from eve to morn in space so brief Hath the sun made his transit?" He in few Thus answering spake: "Thou deemest thou art still On the other side the centre, where I grasped The abhorred worm that boreth through the world. Thou wast on the other side, so long as I Descended; when I turned, thou didst o'er Through fear of him did veil her with the sea, To the fair world: and heedless of repose cave: Thence issuing we again beheld the stars. xxxiv. 115-133. PURGATORY. I ENTER, and I see thee in the gloom with thine. The air is filled with some unknown perfume; The congregation of the dead make room For thee to pass; the votive tapers shine: Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb. From the confessionals I hear arise Rehearsals of forgotten tragedies, And lamentations from the crypts below; And then a voice celestial, that begins With the pathetic words, "Although your sins As scarlet be," and ends with "as the snow." With snow-white veil and garments as of flame, She stands before thee, who so long ago Filled thy young heart with passion and the woe From which thy song and all its splendor came; And while with stern rebuke she speaks thy name, The ice about thy heart melts as the snow On mountain heights, and the swift overflow Comes gushing from thy lips in sobs of shame. Thou makest full confession; and a gleam, As if the dawn on some dark forest cast, Seems on thy lifted forehead to increase; Lethe and Eunoe - the remembered dream And the forgotten sorrow-bring at last That perfect pardon which is perfect peace. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. THE STEEP ASCENT. In the first canto the poet describes the delight he experi enced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions, into the pure air that surrounds the isle of Purgatory; and then relates how he met the shade of Cato of Utica, who, having warned him and Virgil what was needful to be done before they proceeded on their way through Purgatory, disappeared, and the two poets went towards the shore, where Virgil cleansed Dante's face with the dew, and girded him with a reed, as Cato had commanded. In the second canto occurs the vision of "The Celestial Pilot," given in Mr. Longfellow's version, on page 628. In the third canto the mountain of Purgatory is reached, the antipodes of Jerusalem. ON Sanleo's road Who journeys, or to Noli low descends, Or mounts Bismantua's height, must use his feet; But here a man had need to fly, I mean PURGATORY, AND PARADISE. With the swift wing and plumes of high desire, Conducted by his aid, who gave me hope, And with light furnished to direct my way. We through the broken rock ascended, close Pent on each side, while underneath the ground Asked help of hands and feet. When we arrived Near on the highest ridge of the steep bank, Then of this path thou wilt have reached the end. There hope to rest thee from thy toil. No more I answer, and thus far for certain know." iv. 23-38, 85-93. THE EFFECT OF PRAYER. WHEN I was freed From all those spirits, who prayed for others' prayers To hasten on their state of blessedness; vain? Or is thy saying not to me revealed?" He thus to me: "Both what I write is plain, And these deceived not in their hope; if well In a short moment all fulfils, which he, VI 26-49 915 VIRTUE NOT HEREDITARY. RARELY into the branches of the tree Doth human worth mount up: and so ordains He who bestows it, that as his free gift It may be called. vii. 122-125. THE SERPENT TEMPTER. Under the guidance of Sordello of Mantua the journey continues. The poet sees three stars (Faith, Hope, and Charity) as the first day in Purgatory closes. "WHAT there aloft, my son, has caught thy gaze?" I answered: "The three torches, with which here The pole is all on fire." He then to me: "The four resplendent stars, thou saw'st this morn, Are there beneath; and these, risen in their stead." While yet he spoke, Sordello to himself Drew him, and cried: "Lo, there our enemy!" And with his hand pointed that way to look. Along the side, where barrier none arose Around the little vale, a serpent lay, Such haply as gave Eve the bitter food. Between the grass and flowers, the evil snake Came on, reverting oft his lifted head; And, as a beast that smooths its polished coat, Licking his back. viii. 88-102. THE GATE OF ST. PETER. READER ! thou markest how my theme doth rise; Nor wonder therefore, if more artfully I prop the structure. Nearer now we drew, Arrived whence, in that part, where first a breach As of a wall appeared, I could descry As more and more mine eye did stretch its view, I marked him seated on the highest step, The rays so towards me, that I oft in vain My sight directed. "Speak, from whence ye stand"; He cried: "What would ye? Where is your escort ? Take heed your coming upward harm ye not." |