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Priscian proceeds with that accursed crew,

Accorso too :-him also mayst thou see,
(If anxious such impurity to view,)
Who by the Servant's Servant was translated,
From Arno unto Bacchiglion, where he

His sinews left, with their employment sated.

More would I say, but here must close our speech; 115

And now we two must part, for hither wend,

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A crowd of shades with whom I may not be ;

My Tesoretto I to thee commend,

Wherein I live ;-no more I ask of thee."

Then back he turn'd, and one of those he seem'd, 121

Who at Verona in the race essay

To gain the mantle green; and might be deem'd Not he who loses, but who wins the day.

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NOTES.

Page 131. (Line 7.) "The country through which the Brenta flows is a dead flat, but highly cultivated, well wooded and extremely populous. The banks are lined with villages, or rather little towns, and decorated with several handsome

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palaces and gardens."-Eustace. Class. Tour, cap. iv. (9.) Chiarentana is a part of the Alps, whence the Brenta derives its source.

Page 132. (Line 29.) Dante was walking on one of the margins raised above the stream. He informs us, line 43, that he dared not descend, for fear of being scorched. (30.) Brunetto Latini was Dante's preceptor, and wrote a work called Il Tresor, a compendium of the knowledge of the age. Though learned, he was given to the vice of that period; nor did Dante, notwithstanding the gratitude he felt, think it right to pass over his wickedness, in a poem, where he admits of no partiality, and consigns all to the situations they deserve. Page 133. (Line 46.) "Sed qui te vivum casus age fare vicissim Attulerint ?"-Virgil, Æn. vi. 531. (50.) This is the valley of sin, or dark wood of the first canto. Of Dante's errors and his rescue by Beatrice a full account is given in Purg: xxx. line 115, to the end. (54.) "The soul uneasy, and confined-from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come."-Pope, Essay on Man. (55.) i.e, “If you avail yourself strenuously of the talent you have received from heaven." -Ugo Foscolo, Discorso.

Page 134. (Line 62.) Florence received an accession of inhabitants from Fiesole, one of the twelve Etrurian cities, when several families for commercial purposes settled in the valley. "The walls of Fæsulæ, its theatre, and the ruins that have come to light there, exhibit a greatness inferior to that of no other city."-Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome. Hare and Thirlwal's Trans. vol. i, p. 98. "Placed on the summit of a lofty and broken eminence, it looks down on the vale of the Arno, and commands Florence with all its domes, towers, and palaces."Eustace, Class. Tour, vol. ii. c. 8. (75.) Dante here calls him

self" the plant" (Ecclesiasticus, x. 19.) A few lines before, he described himself as "the pleasant fig"-" the sweet herb❞— for which either party is said to pant-meaning the parties of the Bianchi and Neri. See note, canto vi. 60. (82.) This beautiful passage breathes of Virgil, "Atque animum patriæ strinxit pietatis imago."-En. ix. 294. And Milton seems to have imitated it,

"Gentle to me and affable hath been

Thy condescension, and shall be honour'd ever
With grateful memory."-Par. Lost. viii. 648.

(110.)

Page 135. (Line 90.) Beatrice. See canto x. 130. (93.) "Superanda omnis Fortuna ferendo est."-En. v. 710. Page 136. (Line 109.) A celebrated grammarian. A famous lawyer. (112.) The "Servant of Servants" is a title of humility assumed by the Popes. The person spoken of is supposed to be the Bishop Andrea Mozzi, translated by the Pope from the see of Florence to that of Vicenza, (through which runs the river Bacchiglione,) in order that his scandalous life might be less exposed to observation. (119.) See note, line 30.

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ARGUMENT.

DANTE converses with several distinguished Florentines-Guidoguerra-Tegghiaio Aldobrandi-Jacopo Rusticucci. They inquire after the state of Florence. He takes off his girdle, and gives it to Virgil, who throws it down into the abyss of the eighth circle. A horrible monster presently appears.

Now came I where I heard the loud rebound

Of waters tumbling to the pit below;

And like the hum of bees appear'd the sound.
When lo, forth issuing from a numerous crew,
That pass'd beneath the red shower's pungent flow,
Three spirits running rapidly I view.

Tow'rds us they came, and all at once cried:

"Stand

Thou, whom I judge to be, from thine attire,
A native of our own degraded land.”

Ah me! what wounds upon their limbs I view'd,

Recent, and old, and cauterised by fire!

My grief is at the very thought renew'd.

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Hearing their

cry, the teacher turn'd to me

Exclaiming: "Let thy foot awhile be stay'd;
For to these souls is due some courtesy ;

And did the nature of the place permit,

Which hurls such fiery darts,-I should have said
That haste would rather thee than them befit."

As we drew up, they all their old lament

Began again; and when to us they came,

All three a circle form'd, and round they went.

As champions stript, anointed for the fight,
Their hold and vantage scan with careful aim,
Ere they with blows together try their might;
Thus wheeling round, did each to me his look
Direct, so that the neck and foot the while
A contrary direction ever took.

"And if," said one," this wretched place forlorn,
And our scorch'd faces, sorrowful and vile,

Bring on ourselves and on our prayers thy scorn,

Still let our fame incline thy soul to tell

Who thou mayst be, that dost so boldly win
Thy way, still living, through the paths of hell.

He in whose track I tread, though now he be

All naked and denuded of his skin,

Had higher rank than would be deem'd by thee:

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