They form a ridge, by name of Catria known; 109 Thus the third time the spirit spake ;-then said, That though on olives it was mine to live, I bore with ease the extremes of heat and cold, There Pietro Damiano was I hight; (Pietro the Sinner dwelling by the shore Lean and unshod St. Peter came of yore; Gathering their food content from door to door. 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, And she, like to a mother, who gives aid : 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. And saw a hundred little spheres, whose blaze Of all these pearls, advancing, now drew near, 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. |