Into the Eternal Light, and clearly mark

Thy thoughts, from whence they rise. Thou art in doubt, And wouldst, that I should bolt my words afresh

In such plain open phrase, as may be smooth

To thy perception, where I told thee late

That 'well they thrive '; and that 'no second such
Hath risen,' which no small distinction needs.

"The Providence, that governeth the world, In depth of counsel by created ken

Unfathomable, to the end that she,

Who with loud cries was 'spoused in precious blood,
Might keep her footing toward her well-beloved,
Safe in herself and constant unto Him,

Hath two ordain'd, who should on either hand
In chief escort her: one,' seraphic all
In fervency; for wisdom upon earth,
The other, splendour of cherubic light.
I but of one will tell: he tells of both,
Who one commendeth, which of them soe'er
Be taken: for their deeds were to one end.

66

Between Tupino,' and the wave that falls
From blest Ubaldo's chosen hill, there hangs

Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold"
Are wafted through Perugia's eastern gate:

And Nocera with Gualdo, in its rear,

Mourn for their heavy yoke." Upon that side,
Where it doth break its steepness most, arose
A sun upon the world, as duly this

From Ganges doth: therefore let none, who speak
Of that place, say Ascesi; for its name
Were lamely so deliver'd; but the East,
To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled.
He was not yet much distant from his rising,

12

13

When his good influence 'gan to bless the earth.
A dame, to whom none openeth pleasure's gate
More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will,"
His stripling choice: and he did make her his,
Before the spiritual court," by nuptial bonds,
And in his father's sight: from day to day,
Then loved her more devoutly. She, bereaved
Of her first Husband, slighted and obscure,
Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd
Without a single suitor, till he came.

15

16

Nor aught avail'd, that, with Amyclas,1 she
Was found unmoved at rumour of his voice,

Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness,
Whereby with Christ she mounted on the Cross,

When Mary stay'd beneath. But not to deal
Thus closely with thee longer, take at large
The lovers' titles-Poverty and Francis.

Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love,
And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts,
So much, that venerable Bernard" first
Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace
So heavenly, ran, yet deem'd his footing slow.
O hidden riches! O prolific good!

Egidius 18 bares him next, and next Sylvester,"
And follow, both, the bridegroom: so the bride
Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way,
The father and the master, with his spouse,
And with that family, whom now the cord 20
Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart

13 In the under church of St. Francis, Assisi, is a picture painted by Giotto from this subject. It is considered one of the artist's best works. See Kugler's Hand-book of the History of Painting."

13 In opposition to the wishes of his natural father.

14 He made a vow of poverty in the presence of the bishop and of his natural father.

15"Her first Husband."

Christ.

16 Lucan makes Cæsar exclaim, on witnessing the secure poverty of the fisherman Amyclas:

"O happy poverty! thou greatest good

Bestow'd by Heaven, but seldom understood!

Here nor the cruel spoiler seeks his prey,

Nor ruthless armies take their dreadful way,' etc.-Rowe. 17 Of Quintavalle; one of the first followers of the saint.

18" Egidius." The third of his disciples, who died in 1262. His work, entitled "Verba Aurea," was published in 1534, at Antwerp.

St.

19 Another of his earliest associates. 20" Whom now the cord." Francis bound his body with a cord, in sign that it required, like a beast, to be led by a halter.

Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son
Of Pietro Bernardone," and by men
In wondrous sort despised. But royally
His hard intention he to Innocent22

23

Set forth; and, from him, first received the seal
On his religion. Then, when numerous flock'd
The tribe of lowly ones, that traced his steps,
Whose marvellous life deservedly were sung
In heights empyreal; through Honorius' hand
A second crown, to deck their Guardian's virtues,
Was by the eternal Spirit inwreathed: and when
He had, through thirst of martyrdom, stood up
In the proud Soldan's presence," and there preach'd
Christ and His followers, but found the race
Unripen'd for conversion; back once more
He hasted, (not to intermit his toil,)

And reap'd Ausonian lands. On the hard rock,"
'Twixt Arno and the Tiber, he from Christ
Took the last signet," which his limbs two years
Did carry. Then, the season come that He,
Who to such good had destined him, was pleased
To advance him to the meed, which he had earn'd
By his self-humbling; to his brotherhood,
As their just heritage, he gave in charge
His dearest lady:" and enjoin'd their love
And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will'd
His goodly spirit should move forth, returning
To its appointed kingdom; nor would have
His body laid upon another bier.

28

"Think now of one, who were a fit colleague To keep the bark of Peter, in deep sea, Helm'd to right point; and such our Patriarch

A man in an humble station of life at Assisi.

22 Pope Innocent III. 23" Honorius." His successor Honorius III, who granted certain privileges to the Franciscans.

24 The Soldan of Egypt, before whom St. Francis is said to have preached.

25 Mt. Alverna in the Apennines. 26" The last signet." Alluding to

29

was.

the stigmata or marks resembling the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the saint's body.

27" His dearest lady." Poverty. 28 He forbade any funeral pomp to be observed at his burial; and ordered that his remains should be deposited in a place where criminals were executed and interred.

20 St. Dominic, to whose order Thomas Aquinas belonged.

Therefore who follow him as he enjoins,
Thou mayst be certain, take good lading in.
But hunger of new viands tempts his flock; 30
So that they needs into strange pastures wide
Must spread them: and the more remote from him
The stragglers wander, so much more they come
Home, to the sheep-fold, destitute of milk.
There are of them, in truth, who fear their harm,
And to the shepherd cleave; but these so few,
A little stuff may furnish out their cloaks.

66

Now, if my words be clear; if thou have ta'en
Good heed; if that, which I have told, recal
To mind; thy wish may be in part fulfill'd:
For thou wilt see the plant from whence they split;
And he shall see, who girds him, what that means,
'That well they thrive, not swoln with vanity.""

CANTO XII

31

ARGUMENT.-A second circle of glorified souls encompasses the first. Buonaventura, who is one of them, celebrates the praises of St. Dominic, and informs Dante who the other eleven are, that are in this second circle or garland.

S

OON as its final word the blessed flame1

Had raised for utterance, straight the holy mill'
Began to wheel; nor yet had once revolved,
Or e'er another, circling, compass'd it,
Motion to motion, song to song, conjoining;
Song, that as much our muses doth excel,
Our Syrens with their tuneful pipes, as ray
Of primal splendour doth its faint reflex.

As when, if Juno bid her handmaid forth,
Two arches parallel, and trick'd alike,

Span the thin cloud, the outer taking birth
From that within (in manner of that voice

30" His flock." The Dominicans. 31" The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe." 1 Thomas Aquinas.

2 The circle of spirits.

8 One rainbow giving back the image of the other, as sound is re

flected by Echo, that nymph, who was melted away by her fondness for Narcissus, as vapor is melted by the sun. The reader will observe in the text not only a second and third simile within the first, but two mythological and one sacred allusion bound

Whom love did melt away, as sun the mist),
And they who gaze, presageful call to mind
The compact, made with Noah, of the world
No more to be o'erflow'd; about us thus,
Of sempiternal roses, bending, wreathed
Those garlands twain; and to the innermost
E'en thus the external answer'd. When the footing,
And other great festivity, of song,

6

And radiance, light with light accordant, each
Jocund and blythe, had at their pleasure still'd,
(E'en as the eyes, by quick volition moved,
Are shut and raised together,) from the heart
Of one amongst the new lights moved a voice,
That made me seem like needle to the star,
In turning to its whereabout; and thus
Began: “The love,' that makes me beautiful,
Prompts me to tell of the other guide, for whom
Such good of mine is spoken. Where one is,
The other worthily should also be;

That as their warfare was alike, alike
Should be their glory. Slow, and full of doubt,
And with thin ranks, after its banner moved
The army of Christ, (which it so dearly cost
To reappoint,) when its imperial Head
Who reigneth ever, for the drooping host
Did make provision, through grace alone,
And not through its deserving. As thou heard'st,
Two champions to the succour of His spouse

up together with the whole. Even
after this accumulation of imagery,
the two circles of spirits, by whom
Beatrice and Dante were encom-
passed, are by a bold figure termed
two garlands of never-fading roses.

was

4" One." St. Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan order, in which he effected some reformation; and one of the most profound divines of his age. He refused the archbishopric of York, which offered him by Clement IV, but afterward was prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal's hat. He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A. D. 1221, and died in 1274.

5 In the circle that had newly sur rounded the first.

8" "That made me turn to it, as the needle does to the pole."

a

7" The love." By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura, Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic, as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St. Francis; and in like manner each blames the irregularities, not of the other's order, but of that to which himself belonged. Even Macchiavelli, great friend to the Church, attributes the revival of Christianity to the influence of these two saints. 8 See the last Canto, v. 33.

no