O'er this, as o'er dry land, we made our way;

109

With these great sages through seven gates I pass'd:

Before us then a verdant meadow lay.

Souls with sedate and placid eyes were there;
And looks of dignity around they cast;
Seldom they spake, but sweet their voices were.
Our steps aside we gently thence withdrew,

And reach'd a spot, large, luminous, and high,
Where all became apparent to our view.
There on the verdant and enamelled green
Were mighty spirits shown to me-whom I
Felt exaltation to have even seen.

I saw Electra, and could recognize

Hector, Æneas, 'mid a numerous band,

And mighty Cæsar, arm'd with griffon's eyes. Penthesilea, and Camilla there

I saw conspicuous on the other hand,

And king Latinus, with Lavinia fair.

115

121

Brutus, who chased proud Tarquin from the throne, 127

Lucretia, Julia, Marcia I beheld,—

Cornelia, Saladin, apart, alone:

Him too I saw, when I had raised mine eye,

Seated aloft, in wisdom who excell'd,

Amidst his philosophic family.

109 ass'd:

115

121

127

All look on him-to him, all homage pay:
And Socrates and Plato near him stand,
Advanced in front of that august array.
'Mid these, Democritus, Diogenes,

Thales, and Anaxagoras I scann'd,—
Sage Heraclitus, and Empedocles,
With Orpheus, Zeno and Hippocrates,
Tullius, and Linus, Seneca-and wise
In nature's secrets, Dioscorides.

Galieno, Avicen, and more of note,

Euclid, and Ptolemy too met mine eyes,
Averroes, who the learned comment wrote.
I cannot now the names of more detail;—

Spurr'd on to haste by all I fain would say
Full oft my pen must in description fail.
Our band of six in twain divided there :

My guide conducts me by another way
Forth from the tranquil to the trembling air;
And now I came where all in darkness lay.

NOTES.

Page 31. (Line 2.) This refers not to the blast at the en the last canto, but to the accumulated groans in the val woe. See line 7. "The Spirit must first come and wake

out of sleep with the thunder of the Law, and shew him his miserable state and wretchedness, and make him abhor and hate himself, and desire help; and then comfort him with the pleasant rain of the Gospel, i.e., with the sweet promises of God in Christ, and stir up faith in him to believe the promises."-Tindal the Martyr. Prologue to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (10.) "Ibant obscuri, solâ sub nocte, per umbram."-En. 268. This is the "cieco mondo," or "the blind cave of eternal night."-Shakspeare, Rich. III. act. 5, scene 3, Page 32. (Line 30.)

"Matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vitâ Magnanimûm heroum, pueri innuptæque puellæ." Virg. Georg. iv. 475.

Again, En. vi. 426.

"Continuæ auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,

Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo."

Page 33. (51.) "Lombardi well observes, that Dante seems to have been restrained by reverence from uttering the name of Christ in this place of torment, and that for the same cause, probably, it does not occur once throughout the whole of this first part of the poem."-Cary. (53.) Our Saviour." It is certain Christ's soul in the three days of his separation did exercise acts of life, of joy, of triumph, and did not sleep; but visited the souls of the Fathers, trampled upon the pride of devils, and satisfied those longing souls which were prisoners. of hope."-Jeremy Taylor. Serm. 28. "Now I do affirm the consentient and constant doctrine of the primitive church to be this, that the souls of all the faithful, immediately after death, enter into a place and state of bliss, far exceeding all the felicities of this world, though short of the most consummate perfect beatitude of the kingdom of heaven.”—Bp. Bull. Serm. 3. See 1 Peter iii. 19; iv. 6. (54.) " And a crown was

him his phor and

with the

omises of

the proEpistle to

per um

the blind

scene 3,

llæ."

iv. 475.

te seems

e name

e cause, of this

It is cerid exer

ep; but

pride of

risoners.

rm the

urch to y after

all the

onsum

D. Bull.

wn was

given unto Him; and he went forth, conquering, and to quer."-Rev. vi. 2.

Page 34. (Line 68.) The flame whose lustre overcomes hemisphere of darkness is a poetical conception, beautif exemplifying the light which poetry casts in an age of barism and ignorance. (80.) Virgil.-He had left his d panions-having quitted Limbo at the request of Beat canto ii. 53. (84.) Being in a place of neither happiness torment.

Page 35. (Line 86.) The sword may be considered sym cal of the wars celebrated by Homer, or intended to repre him as the prince of poetry, in the same manner as St. Pa painted with a sword, as chief of the Apostles. (108.) stream is generally considered to represent eloquence; the seven walls the seven cardinal virtues.

Page 36. (Line 118.) "Riparumque toros, et prata rece rivis Incolimus."- Virgil. En. vi. 673. (120.) " Equi efferor studio patres vestros, quos colui, et dilexi, vide neque vero eos solum convenire amo, quos ipse cognovi; illos etiam de quibus audivi, et legi, et ipse conscripsi. O præclarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animorum conci cætumque proficiscar, cumque ex hac turba et colluvione cedam! Proficiscar enim non ad eos solum viros de qu ante dixi, sed etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir m natus est, nemo pietate præstantior."-Cicero. De Senec (123.) "And like a griffon looked he about."-Chaucer. 1 mon and Arcite. Suetonius relates that Cæsar was remark for his black eyes. Thus Virgil-" Geminas circum cui pora flammas Læta vomunt, patriumque aperitur vertice si (130.) Aristotle. (148.) Virgil and Dante quit the other p and proceed together.

CANTO V.

ARGUMENT.

ENTERING the second circle, Dante sees Minos, the infernal judge. He witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who, wrapt in darkness, are swept along by a violent hurricane. Semiramis, Dido, Helen, Paris, Francesca of Rimini, who at Dante's request relates her misfortunes.

FROM the first circle made we our descent

Down to the second,-which, though less in size,
Holds greater grief, that bursts in loud lament.
Grinding his teeth-there Minos dreadful stands:
The culprits, as they enter in, he tries,-
Awards their sentence-issues his commands.

The guilty soul confesses all its crimes,

When brought before him: then the judge decrees Its proper place in hell: as many times

As he himself encircles with his tail,

Such is the destined number of degrees

The souls are plunged within the infernal scale.

1