Thy heroines too are seen--Antigone,
Ismene, sorrowing as on earth; and there
Argià may be seen, Deiphile,

She who disclosed the freshening spring Langià,

Tiresias' daughter, also Thetis fair,

And with her sisters famed Deodamià."
Now both the bards were silent, each intent
On casting round their eager eyes anew,
Free from the walls and from the steep ascent :-
Four of the handmaids, on the day attending,
Had dropt behind-the pole the fifth one drew,
Its glowing horn directly upwards bending:
When thus my guide: "Behoveth us to keep
The dexter shoulder turning tow'rds the verge,
As is our wont in circling round the steep."
Thus custom was our guide; and with less fear
Our onward way proceeded we to urge,
Since sanction'd by that worthy shade we were.
They were advancing first ;-behind them I

Went on alone, and listen'd to their talk,

Inspiring thoughts that nourish poetry.

109

115

121

127

But soon was check'd their speech that pleased me well; For lo, a tree stood midway in our walk,

With fruit delightful both to sight and smell.

And upward as a fir from bough to bough
Tapers, so downward this was growing small;
That none its branches might ascend, I trow.
And at that side on which our road was stopt,
From the high rock a limpid stream did fall,
Sprinkling the lofty foliage as it dropt.-

Near to the holy tree the poets came,

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139

When from within the leaves a voice anon,

"Be sparing of this fruit," was heard to exclaim:

"Mary, who pleads for you, took more delight

That honour to the marriage feast be shown,
Than in indulging her own appetite.

The Roman women were content of yore

With water for their beverage :-Daniel erst,
Contemning food, was taught in wisdom's lore.-
Beauteous as gold, the earliest age of man.—
Hunger made acorns savoury; and through thirst
With sweetest nectar every streamlet ran.—
Locusts and honey were the food whereon
The Baptist in the lonely desert fed;

And hence the greatness, and the fame he won,

As in the Gospel history may be read."

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151

NOTES.

Page 201. (Line 4.) "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”—Matt. v. 6. Dante hears this on entering the sixth circle. Having had another P removed from his brow, he is able to keep pace with Virgil and Statius. (10.) These words are addressed to Statius:-"Quippe cum propter virtutem et probitatem eos etiam quos nunquam vidimus quodam-modo diligamus."Cicero, De Amicitiâ.

Page 202. (Line 13.) Juvenal flourished shortly after Statius; whose Thebais he praises :- Virgil resided in Limbo, whence he was summoned to conduct Dante. (35.) The vice of prodigality.

Page 203. (Line 40.)

66

Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

Auri sacra fames?" Virg. Æn. iii. 56, "Had I not profited," he says, " by your reprehension of mankind in these words, I should be suffering the punishment of the prodigal and avaricious in the Inferno," vii. 28.-Virgil's mistake arose from not considering that the same punishment is assigned to both, as explained by Statius in the following lines. (57.) Eteocles and Polynices.-Contending for the kingdom of Thebes they slew each other, and thereby caused a double source of woe to their mother Jocasta. See Inf. xxvi. 54, and note. Clio is the muse invoked by Statius. "Quem prius heroum, Clio dabis?" "To judge from thy compositions," says Virgil," thou wert not then a believer in that faith, without which it is impossible to please Him.'”—Hebrews xi. 6. If so, what heavenly grace or human learning burst the

darkness of thy mind, and enabled thee to follow the steps of St. Peter?"

Page 204. (Line 70.) The prophecy of the Sybil—applied by Virgil to Octavius, Ecl. iv. 5, and by Dante here applied to our Saviour.

"Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo;
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna;
Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto."

"In reading several passages of the prophet Isaiah, which foretel the coming of Christ, and the felicities attending it, I could not but observe a remarkable parity between many of the thoughts and those in the Pollio of Virgil. This will not seem surprising, when we reflect that the Eclogue was taken from a Sybiline prophecy on the same subject."-Advertisement to Pope's Messiah.

Page 206. (Line 112.) Hypsipile. See note, canto xxvi. 92; also Inf. xviii. 86.

Page 207. (Line 142.) i.e. "The blessed Virgin, who answers for you now in heaven, when she said to Jesus at the marriage of Cana of Galilee, 'They have no wine,' regarded not the gratification of her own taste, but the honor of the nuptial banquet."-Cary. See canto xiii. 29.

Р

CANTO XXIII.

ARGUMENT.

AMONG a number of pale emaciated spirits doing penance for gluttony, Dante recognizes his friend Forese; who informs him that their pain consists in a keen desire to partake of the fruit of the tree. He takes occasion to inveigh against the immodesty of the Florentine women.

WHILE through the foliage green, with stedfast gaze
I looked intent, like one who in the vain
Pursuit of little birds consumes his days,
"Come now," to me my more than father cried;
"The time allotted us, my son, I fain

Would wish to some more useful task applied."
I turn'd my looks and steps with equal speed

Unto those Sages; charm'd by whose discourse
Of that laborious road I took no heed.

And lo, a song, in plaintive tone, was heard-
"My lips, O Lord"-whose soul subduing force
Both sorrow and delight at once conferr'd.

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