Page 99. (Line 88.) Dante puts together the Prodigals and Usurers-" Quid enim differt, barathroni Dones quicquid habes, an nunquam utare paratis?" Horace, Sat. ii. 3, 166— From these, who are guilty through wilfulness, are removed to a lesser punishment, those who have been led astray by their passions. (91.) This invocation is made to Virgil. (98.) Aristotle, Physics, ii. 2. (105.) "Because Art being the daughter of Nature, and Nature of God, Art becomes in a certain manner the grand-daughter of the same God." Aless. Guarini. Il Farnatico Savio. Opere di Tasso, 4to. vol. xii. (106.) i. e. If you consider that God, in the Book of Genesis, enjoins man to work for his daily bread." Page 100. (Line 110.) This is the solution of the question, line 96. (114.) Caurus is the north-west wind: Charles's Wain-the constellation Bootes, or the Great Bear. Judging from the hours which were past, Virgil concludes it must be near morning in this world, and therefore time to proceed. CANTO XII. W H Be ARGUMENT. DESCENT into the seventh circle, guarded by the Minotaur. The Violent are punished in a river of blood. Three Centaurs oppose the progress of the poets across it, but are appeased by Virgil, who prevails upon Nessus to carry Dante over. ROUGH was the stair we came to; and there lay Upon the brink such object terrible As every eye would shudder to survey. Like to the cliff, which, or by earthquake riven, That from the summit of the mountain, down E'en to the plain, might scarce be found a way So rough and rugged was this broken stair: E Who in the fictious heifer was conceived: And seeing us, he bit himself in spleen, Like one whose breast with inward rage is heaved. Him in these words my sapient guide address'd: "The Duke of Athens here thou think'st, I ween, Who erst on earth thy violence laid to rest : Begone, foul beast-for he before thy sight Doth to thy sister no instruction'owe, But hither wends to view thy wretched plight." The instant he receives the mortal blow,— My guide aware, cried: "To the pass retreat; In broken fragments, and beneath my feet Art pondering on the steep and broken road, 13 19 25 31 An Th But look where through the vale beneath doth run An ample trench before me I descried, Curved, as though all the plain it would embrace,Thus answering the description of my guide. Betwixt the bank and it (a narrow space) Ran Centaurs, one by one, with shafts in hand, As erst on earth they issued to the chase. Perceiving us, they all their course restrain'd, While three advanced, dividing from the band, With bows and winged arrows first obtain'd. H W 55 And one cried out from far: "Ye who descend- 61 Tell me,—but stir not, or the bow I bend.” From whence we are, to Chiron will we give : Your mind was ever ready to take fire.” Then touching me : "See Nessus there below, Who for the fair Deianira died, And in his death took vengeance on his foe. He in the centre, looking on his breast, Is Chiron, of Achilles' youth the guide: Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch His shaggy beard behind the cheekbone threw : 67 73 79 "Are ye aware," his comrades he address'd, "That he behind, moves what he treads upon? |