Unless by prayer a speedier aid be given,

Prayer from a heart which Grace hath visited : What other prayer avails- unheard in Heaven?" The poet now was climbing up the height

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Before me: -"Haste thy steps ;-the sun," he said, "Strikes the meridian; and already night Over Marocco's coast her foot hath spread."

NOTES.

Page 30. (Line 5.) Plato and others maintained that man had three souls-the vegetative, the sensitive, and the rational. Were this true, Dante argues, the employment of one faculty would not prevent the exercise of another, as was the case with him on the present occasion. So intent had he been in listening to Manfred, that he perceived not how the day had advanced.

Page 31. (Line 25.) "By the difficulty of ascending the hill, the poet intends to point out to us the exertion required, on escaping from vice, to enter the narrow gate of penitence." -Biagioli. Noli is a city in the territory of Genoa :-Bismantua, a steep mountain in that of Rhegium:-Sanleo, a fortress on the summit of Montefeltro.

Page 32. (Line 42.) i.e. The ascent was nearly perpendicular-" greater, compared with the plain, than an angle of 45 degrees."-Costa. "He wonders, that, sitting with his face to the east, he should have the sun on his left; since in Europe, and in all countries on this side the Tropic of Cancer, he who faces the east sees the sun on his right."-Lombardi. Lucan is here quoted by Vellutello. Phars. iii. 247 :

"Ignotum vobis, Arabes venistis in orbem,

Umbras mirati nemorum non ire sinistras."

Page 33. (Line 61.) "The constellation of Gemini is nearer to the Bears than Aries. Hence, if the sun, instead of being in Aries, had been in Gemini-both the sun and that portion of the Zodiac made 'ruddy' by the sun, would have been seen to wheel nearer the Bears.”—Lombardi. By the " pathway old " is meant the Ecliptic.-" The sun is called a mirror, since it pre-eminently reflects the light of the Supreme Being.”—Costa. (68.) i.e. Consider that Mount Sion and this mountain of Purgatory are antipodal to each other, having the same horizon, but different hemispheres; so that the sun, journeying along the Ecliptic," that path which Phaëton ill knew," must needs rise alternately on opposite sides of the respective mountains. (82.) "The Equator and Ecliptic seem to those in the northern hemisphere to run south; and to those in the southern hemisphere, north."-Boyd.

Pape 34. (Line 93.) This passage is remarkable for its beauty. Difficult as the first steps in virtue are, they gradually become easier, till habit becomes a second nature. (104.) This idea of the comfort afforded by the shade of a rock is in Isaiah, cap. xxxii. 2, "As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." (106.)" His name was Belacqua, as appears, line 123, an excellent musician, but of very indolent habits. In accord

ance with this character he made the remark, line 98, that before Dante had reached the end of his journey he might find it necessary to sit down and rest. His portrait is drawn to the life in the following lines.

Page 35. (Line 114.) Belacqua had overheard Dante pointing him out to Virgil by his lazy attitude, and retorts ironically: "Now brave one!" This taunting strain he continues, on Dante's approaching nearer:-"Hast learnt," &c. in allusion to the ignorance Dante had betrayed in his inquiry, line 57, as to the unusual appearance of the sun. (123.) i.e. “The grief your death occasioned me vanishes, on finding you in this place of salvation."-Lombardi. See canto viii. 54. (130.) See canto iii. 140.

Page 36. (Line 139.) Marocco, or Mauritania, is mentioned as bordering on the hemisphere of Jerusalem. Being midnight there, it was mid-day in Purgatory.

CANTO V.

ARGUMENT.

DANTE is reproved by Virgil, for attending to the whispers of the spirits who wonder at his casting a shadow.-A troop arrive, singing the Miserere. Although they had delayed repentance till overtaken by a violent death, they were graciously allowed to make their peace with God. Buonconte da Montefeltro. Pia.

FOLLOWING the footsteps of my faithful guide
Those souls I now had left, when in the rear
One, with his finger pointing to me, cried:

1

"See how his form obstructs the solar light,
So that a shade doth to his left appear,
As though he were indeed a living wight."
On hearing them, I straightway turn'd me round,

7

And saw their looks, first fix'd on me alone,

Then on the shadow cast upon the ground.

"Why thus absorb'd," said Virgil, “is thy thought, That thou so tardily proceedest on?

What idle whispers here concern thee aught?

Follow thou me, nor heed what others say ;-
Be like a tower that stoopeth not its head,

Bellow the tempests fiercely as they may.

13

He in whose breast springs thought to thought succeeding, Of his intent is ever frustrated

The force of one the other's force impeding."
Save that "I come," what answer could I give-
My features slightly dyed with hue of shame,
Which makes man worthy pardon to receive?
Meanwhile upon our flank obliquely hung

A band of souls, that o'er the mountain came,
And verse by verse the Miserere sung.
When they observed that, as I pass'd along,

My body was impervious to the ray,

Into a long hoarse "Oh !" they changed their song. And two, as if deputed by that band,

Ran forward, and address'd us on our way:
"Give us your real state to understand."
My master answer'd them: "Ye may return,
And this report to those who sent you bear;
Alive is he whose form ye here discern:
If, as I judge, they paused his shade to view,
This answer may suffice.-Let them prepare
To honour one who may good service do."

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