They form a ridge, by name of Catria known;
Beneath whose shelter, dedicate to prayer,
Standeth a holy hermitage alone."

109

Thus the third time the spirit spake ;-then said,
His speech continuing :-"My thoughts were there
On God so wholly and intently stay'd,

That though on olives it was mine to live,

I bore with ease the extremes of heat and cold,
Feeding my mind with thoughts contemplative.
That cloister to these heavens was wont to yield
Rich harvest once; but empty now the fold;
A truth ere many years to be reveal'd.

There Pietro Damiano was I hight;

(Pietro the Sinner dwelling by the shore
Of Adria in our Lady's house) :-and slight
Remnant of life was mine, when I was doom'd
To wear that hat, degraded more and more,
As by successive heads it is assumed.

Lean and unshod St. Peter came of yore;
And He the vessel of the Holy Ghost,—

Gathering their food content from door to door.
Now are the modern Pastors so refined,

Attendants they require, a numerous host,

To ease their sides, and prop them from behind.

115

121

127

Their palfreys they o'erlay with mantles wide,

So that one skin doth o'er two beasts extend:

133

How long will Heaven with patience view such pride!" This spoken, I beheld full many a flame

From step to step in circling form descend;

While, every turn, more beauteous they became. About the flame which spake to me they drew,

Uttering a cry, that in mine ears so sounded, Nought upon earth might give a semblance true : I understood not, by the crash confounded.

139

NOTES.

Page 200. (Line 6.) Semele having excited the jealousy of Juno, was instigated by her to ask Jupiter to reveal himself in all his majesty. He did so, and she was reduced to ashes.

Page 201. (Line 13.) Saturn-in conjunction with Leo. (18.) i.e. The planet Saturn. (19.) Dante declares that he only who knows the delight he experienced in gazing upon Beatrice, can tell the pleasure wherewith he obeyed her voice. (25.) The crystal is the planet Saturn before mentioned. (26.) "Chiaro" instead of " caro is a reading of the codex Bartol. (28.) "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold

the Angels of God ascending and descending on it."-Gen. xxviii. 12. Thus Milton, Par. Lost, iii. 510.

"The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw

Angels ascending and descending."

Page 202. (Line 43.) Pietro Damiano. See line 121, and

note.

Page 204. (Line 106.) i.e. "Betwixt the Tuscan Sea, and the Adriatic, rise the Apennines.

66

Page 205. (Line 109.) Of the Appennine hills Catria is the highest, and at the foot of it is found the Abbey, now called Santa Croce of Avellana. (118.) By "that cloister" is meant the said Abbey. (121.) Bishop of Ostia.-" He obtained," says Tiraboschi, a great and well merited reputation by the pains he took to correct the abuses of the clergy." He here distinguishes himself from Pietro degli Onesti, surnamed "Il Peccator." He says the clergy in his time were so depraved, that he was reluctantly made a Cardinal.

Page 206. (Line 137.) i.e. "From step to step of the above mentioned stair."-Costa. (140.) In this cry is shown the indignation of heaven against the vices of the Priests. See note to next canto, line 1.

CANTO XXII.

AMONG other contemplative spirits in the planet Saturn, Dante meets St. Benedict, who inveighs against the corruption of the monks. Mounting to the constellation of the Gemini, or eighth heaven, he looks down upon the earth.

OPPRESS'D with stupor, turn'd I to my guide,
E'en as an infant, ever wont to run
Thither where most 'tis able to confide

And she, like to a mother, who gives aid
In haste unto her pale and panting son

:

By words of well known consolation, said:

1

"Dost thou not know thou art in heaven ?-not know 7 That Holiness pervades each part of heaven,

And that from righteous zeal such blessings flow? Now judge what change in thee the song had wrought, What change too, had one smile by me been given, Since with such power the shout alone is fraught.

And had the entreaty utter'd in that cry

Been understood, to thee had then been known

The vengeance thou shalt witness ere thou die. Not hastily the sword is brandish'd here,

Or tardily, save in his view alone,

Who waits it or in longing or in fear.
But now to other parts thine eyesight turn;
And if, as I direct, thy look thou raise,
Full many illustrious souls shalt thou discern."
Mine eyes I then uplifted, as she taught;

And saw a hundred little spheres, whose blaze
Of beauty grew, by mutual radiance caught.
I stood like one who strong desire restrains,
And overwhelm'd by his excessive fear,
Reft of the power of questioning, remains :
When lo, the largest and the loveliest

Of all these pearls, advancing, now drew near,
To satisfy the wish I had supprest.

13

19

25

Then from within I heard: "Couldst thou have seen 31 As I have, how the flame of charity

Among us burns, thy wish express'd had been:

But lest thou should'st delay thy lofty aim

By this reluctance, I will now reply

E'en to the cherished thought thou dost not name.