Refulgent gold, and silver thrice refined,
And scarlet grain and ceruse, Indian wood
Of lucid dye serene, fresh emeralds
But newly broken, by the herbs and flowers
Placed in that fair recess, in color all

Had been surpassed, as great surpasses less.
Nor nature only there lavished her hues,
But of the sweetness of a thousand smells
A rare and undistinguished fragrance made.
"Salve Regina," on the grass and flowers,
Here chanting, I beheld those spirits sit,
Who not beyond the valley could be seen.

"Before the westering sun sink to his bed,”
Began the Mantuan, who our steps had turned,
"Mid those, desire not that I lead ye on.
For from this eminence ye shall discern
Better the acts and visages of all,

Than, in the nether vale, among them mixed.
He, who sits high above the rest, and seems
To have neglected that he should have done,
And to the others' song moves not his lip,

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85

90

He, who with kindly visage comforts man,

The Emperor Rudolph call, who might have healed
The wounds whereof fair Italy hath died,
So that by others she revives but slowly.

Swayed in that country, where the water springs,
That Moldaw's river to the Elbe, and Elbe
Rolls to the ocean: Ottocar his name:
Who in his swaddling clothes was of more worth
Than Winceslaus his son, a bearded man,
Pampered with rank luxuriousness and ease.
And that one with the nose deprest, who close
In counsel seems with him of gentle look,
Flying expired, withering the lily's flower.

100

105

96. The reference in the word others here is perhaps to the vain efforts of Henry VII. to restore order in Italy. 98. Bohemia.

100. Ottocar II., elected King of Bohemia in 1253; died in battle near Vienna, August 26, 1278.

102. Winceslaus IV., born 1270, succeeded his father as King of Bohemia in 1278; died 1305. 104. Philip III. of France, father of Philip the Fair and Charles of Valois; died in 1285, after having been defeated in battle by Ruggero Loria, admiral of Peter III. of Aragon, thus "withering the lily's flower," i.e. disgracing the honor of France.

105. Henry of Navarre, father of Jane, wife of Philip the Fair.

Look there, how he doth knock against his breast.
The other ye behold, who for his cheek

Makes of one hand a couch, with frequent sighs.
They are the father and the father-in-law

Of Gallia's bane: his vicious life they know

And foul; thence comes the grief that rends them thus.
He, so robust of limb, who measure keeps

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In song with him of feature prominent,
With every virtue bore his girdle braced.
And if that stripling, who behind him sits,
King after him had lived, his virtue then
From vessel to like vessel had been poured;
Which may not of the other heirs be said.
By James and Frederick his realms are held;
Neither the better heritage obtains.
Rarely into the branches of the tree

Doth human worth mount up: and so ordains
He who bestows it, that as his free gift

ΠΙΟ

115

120

It may be called. To Charles my words apply
No less than to his brother in the song;

125

Which Pouille and Provence now with grief confess.

So much that plant degenerates from its seed,

As, more than Beatrix and Margaret,

130

Costanza still boasts of her valorous spouse.
"Behold the king of simple life and plain,

Harry of England, sitting there alone:

He through his branches better issue spreads.

"That one, who, on the ground, beneath the rest,

111. Philip the Fair, whom Dante uses every opportunity of inveighing against.

113. Peter III., King of Aragon, died in 1285.

114. Charles of Anjou, King of Naples, brother to St. Louis. "Of feature prominent " is in the original dal maschio naso = "with the masculine nose."

116. Alphonso III., first-born son of Peter III., succeeded to the throne of Aragon in 1285, and died in 1291.

120. Two other sons of Peter III. James became King of Aragon, and Frederick King of Sicily.

121. Better heritage father.

=

Prowesse of man, for God of his good

nesse

Woll that we claim of him our gentlenesse :
For of our elders may we nothing claime
But temporal thing, that men may hurt
and maime."

Chaucer, Wife of Bathe's Tale. 125. Charles II., King of Naples, is no less inferior to his father Charles I. than James and Frederick to theirs, Peter III. See Canto xx. 78, and Paradise, Canto xix. 125.

127. Pouillé = Puglia = Apulia. This and Provence were under the rule of Charles II. 128. Charles II. is as much inferior to his the virtue of their father, as Constance, wife of Peter III. of Aragon, has right to boast of her husband, more than the two wives of Charles I. — Beatrice and Margaret-have reason to boast of theirs; i.e. Charles II. is as much inferior to Charles I. as

122. "Full well can the wise poet of Florence, That highte Dant, speake in this sen

tence;

Lo! in such manner rime is Dantes the latter is inferior to Peter III.
tale.

Full selde upriseth by his branches

smale

132. Henry III. of England.

133. Edward I., son of Henry, was not degenerate as the above-mentioned princes.

Sits lowest, yet his gaze directs aloft,

Is William, that brave Marquis, for whose cause,
The deed of Alexandria and his war

Makes Montferrat and Canavese weep."

135

CANTO VIII.

ARGUMENT.

Two angels, with flaming swords broken at the points, descend to keep watch over the valley, into which Virgil and Dante entering by desire of Sordello, our Poet meets with joy the spirit of Nino, the judge of Gallura, one who was well known to him. Meantime three exceedingly bright stars appear near the pole, and a serpent creeps subtly into the valley, but flees at hearing the approach of those angelic guards. Lastly, Conrad Malaspina predicts to our Poet his future banishment.

Now was the hour that wakens fond desire
In men at sea, and melts their thoughtful heart
Who in the morn have bid sweet friends farewel,
And pilgrim newly on his road with love
Thrills, if he hear the vesper bell from far,
That seems to mourn for the expiring day :

5

When I, no longer taking heed to hear,

Began, with wonder, from those spirits to mark

One risen from its seat, which with its hand

Audience implored. Both palms it joined and raised,
Fixing its stedfast gaze toward the east,

ΙΟ

As telling God, "I care for naught beside."

"Te Lucis Ante," so devoutly then

Came from its lip, and in so soft a strain,
That all my sense in ravishment was lost.
And the rest after, softly and devout,

15

Followed through all the hymn, with upward gaze
Directed to the bright supernal wheels.

Here, reader! for the truth make thine eyes keen:

For of so subtle texture is this veil,

That thou with ease mayst pass it through unmarked.

I saw that gentle band silently next

Look up, as if in expectation held,

20

Pale and in lowly guise; and, from on high,

I saw, forth issuing descend beneath,

25

The serpent.". Whence, not knowing by which path

40

He came, I turned me round; and closely pressed,

All frozen, to my leader's trusted side.

Sordello paused not: "To the valley now

(For it is time) let us descend; and hold

Converse with those great shadows: haply much

45

Their sight may please ye." Only three steps down
Methinks I measured, ere I was beneath,

And noted one who looked as with desire

To know me. Time was now that air grew dim;
Yet not so dim, that, 'twixt his eyes and mine,
It cleared not up what was concealed before.
Mutually towards each other we advanced.
Nino, thou courteous judge! what joy I felt,

'to cleanse itself from sin, is still exposed to temptation (represented by the serpent); but God, if prayed to, will send help against the tempter.

20. The original sottile is better translated by" thin, transparent," than by "subtle."

26. Dante may have had in mind here the two angels with the flaming swords in Gen. iii. 24.

28. The green color is emblematic of hope. The truncated edges of the swords represents God's justice and mercy.

34. "The whiteness on their heads" is a poor translation of la testa bionda their blond heads. The popular type of beauty in the Middle Ages was blond. So Dante tells us that Manfred

50

"Biondo era e bello, e di gentile aspetto." Purg. iii. 105. 36. "My earthly by his heavenly overpowered

As with an object, that excels the sense,
Dazzled and spent."

Milton, P. L. viii. 457. 37. From the Empyrean where Mary has her seat in the Celestial Rose. See Par. xxxi. 108 ff.

50. "It was now getting dark, but was still light enough for me to recognize Nino, on account of my greater nearness to him."

53. Nino, son of Giovanni Visconti and of a daughter of Ugolino della Gherardesca (see Hell, xxxiii.). He was judge of Gallura in

When I perceived thou wert not with the bad.
No salutation kind on either part
Was left unsaid. He then inquired: "How long,
Since thou arrived'st at the mountain's foot,
Over the distant waves?" "Oh!" answered I,
"Through the sad seats of woe this morn I came;
And still in my first life, thus journeying on,
The other strive to gain." Soon as they heard
My words, he and Sordello backward drew,
As suddenly amazed. To Virgil one,
The other to a spirit turned, who near
Was seated, crying: "Conrad! up with speed:
Come, see what of his grace high God hath willed."
Then turning round to me: "By that rare mark
Of honor, which thou owest to him, who hides
So deeply his first cause it hath no ford;
When thou shalt be beyond the vast of waves,
Tell my Giovanna, that for me she call
There, where reply to innocence is made.
Her mother, I believe, loves me no more;

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60

65

720

Since she has changed the white and wimpled folds,

Which she is doomed once more with grief to wish.
By her it easily may be perceived,

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How long in woman lasts the flame of love,

If sight and touch do not relume it oft.
For her so fair a burial will not make

The viper, which calls Milan to the field,
As had been made by shrill Gallura's bird."

He spoke, and in his visage took the stamp
Of that right zeal, which with due temperature
Glows in the bosom. My insatiate eyes
Meanwhile to heaven had travelled, even there
Where the bright stars are slowest, as a wheel
Nearest the axle; when my guide inquired:
"What there aloft, my son, has caught thy gaze?"
I answered: "The three torches, with which here

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