Cried Beatrice, "the triumphal hosts

Of Christ, and all the harvest gathered in,
Made ripe by these revolving spheres."
Meseemed,

That, while she spake, her image all did burn;
And in her eyes such fulness was of joy,
As I am fain to pass unconstrued by.

As in the calm full moon, when Trivia smiles,

In peerless beauty, mid the eternal nymphs, That paint through all its gulfs the blue pro

found;

In bright pre-eminence so saw I there

O'er million lamps a sun, from whom all drew Their radiance, as from ours the starry train: And, through the living light, so lustrous glowed

The substance, that my ken endured it not.
O Beatrice! sweet and precious guide,
Who cheered me with her comfortable words:
'Against the virtue, that o'erpowereth thee,
Avails not to resist. Here is the Might,
And here the Wisdom, which did open lay
The path, that had been yearned for so long,
Betwixt the heaven and earth." Like to the
fire,

That, in a cloud imprisoned, doth break out
Expansive, so that from its womb enlarged,
It falleth against nature to the ground;
Thus, in that heavenly banqueting, my soul
Outgrew herself; and, in the transport lost,
Holds now remembrance none of what she

"I IN one God believe; One sole eternal Godhead, of whose love All heaven is moved, himself unmoved the while.

Nor demonstration physical alone,
Or more intelligential and abstruse,

Persuades me to this faith: but from that truth

It cometh to me rather, which is shed Through Moses; the rapt Prophets; and the Psalms;

The Gospel; and what ye yourselves did write,

When ye were gifted of the Holy Ghost.
In three eternal Persons I believe;
Essence threefold and one; mysterious league
Of union absolute, which, many a time,
The word of gospel lore upon my mind
Imprints and from this germ, this firstling
spark

The lively flame dilates; and, like heaven's star,

"Is of the joy to come a sure expectance, The effect of grace divine and merit preceding.

This light from many a star visits my heart; But flowed to me, the first, from him who sang The songs of the Supreme; himself supreme Among his tuneful brethren. Let all hope In thee,' so spake his anthem, who have known

Thy name'; and, with my faith, who know not that?

From thee, the next, distilling from his spring,
In thine epistle, fell on me the drops
So plenteously, that I on others shower
The influence of their dew." Whileas I spake,
A lamping, as of quick and volleyed lightning,
Within the bosom of that mighty sheen
Played tremulous; then forth these accents
breathed:

"Love for the virtue, which attended me
E'en to the palm, and issuing from the field,
Glows vigorous yet within me; and inspires
To ask of thee, whom also it delights,
What promise thou from hope, in chief, dost
win."

Her never-dying fire. My wishes here
Are centred in this palace is the weal,
That Alpha and Omega is, to all

The lessons love can read me." Yet again The voice, which had dispersed my fear when dazed

With that excess, to converse urged, and

spake:

"Behoves thee sift more narrowly thy terms; And say, who levelled at this scope thy bow." Philosophy," said I, "hath arguments.

And this place hath authority enough,

To imprint in me such love: for, of constraint,
Good, inasmuch as we perceive the good,
Kindles our love; and in degree the more,
As it comprises more of goodness in 't.
The essence then, where such advantage is,
That each good, found without it, is nought
else

But of his light the beam, must needs attract
The soul of each one, loving, who the truth
Discerns, on which this proof is built. Such
truth

Learn I from him, who shows me the first love
Of all intelligential substances
Eternal: from his voice I learn, whose word
Is truth; that of himself to Moses saith,

I will make all my good before thee pass`: Lastly, from thee I learn, who chief proclaim'st

E'en at the outset of thy heralding,
In mortal ears the mystery of heaven.”

"Through human wisdom, and the authority

Therewith agreeing," heard I answered, "keep The choicest of thy love for God. But say, If thou yet other cords within thee feel'st, That draw thee towards him; so that thou report

How many are the fangs, with which this love

Is grappled to thy soul." I did not miss,
To what intent the eagle of our Lord
Had pointed his demand; yea, noted well
The avowal which he led to; and resumed:
All grappling bonds, that knit the heart to
God,

66

Confederate to make fast our charity.

The being of the world; and mine own being; The death which He endured, that I should live;

And that, which all the faithful hope, as I do;
To the forementioned lively knowledge joined; |
Have from the sea of ill love saved my bark,
And on the coast secured it of the right.
As for the leaves, that in the garden bloom,
My love for them is great, as is the good

Dealt by the eternal hand, that tends them all."

I ended and therewith a song most sweet Rang through the spheres. xxvi. 14-66.

THE PRIMUM MOBILE

"HERE is the goal, whence motion on his race
Starts motionless the centre, and the rest
All moved around. Except the soul divine,
Place in this heaven is none; the soul divine,
Wherein the love, which ruleth o'er its orb,
Is kindled, and the virtue, that it sheds :
One circle, light and love, enclasping it,
As this doth clasp the others; and to Him,
Who draws the bound, its limit only known.
Measured itself by none, it doth divide
Motion to all, counted unto them forth,
As by the fifth or half ye count forth ten.
The vase, wherein time's roots are plunged,
thou seest:

Look elsewhere for the leaves."

xxvi. 100-113.

WHY ANGELS WERE CREATED. "NOT for increase to himself Of good, which may not be increased, lut forth

To manifest his glory by its beams;
Inhabiting his own eternity,
Beyond time's limit or what bound soe'er
To circumscribe his being; as he willed,
Into new natures, like unto himself,
Eternal love unfolded: nor before,
As if in dull inaction, torpid, lay,
For, not in process of before or aft,
Upon these waters moved the Spirit of God."

XXIX. 13-23.

THE FALLEN ANGELS. "ERE one had reckoned twenty, e'en so soon, Part of the angels fell: and, in their fall, Confusion to your elements ensued. The others kept their station and this task, Whereon thou look'st, began, with such delight,

That they surcease not ever, day nor night, Their circling. Of that fatal lapse the cause Was the curst pride of him, whom thou hast

seen

Pent with the world's incumbrance. Those, whom here

Thou seest, were lowly to confess themselves Of his free bounty, who had made them apt For ministries so high: therefore their views

Flashed up effulgence, as they glided on 'Twixt banks, on either side, painted with spring,

Incredible how fair: and, from the tide, There ever and anon, outstarting, flew Sparkles instinct with life; and in the flowers Did set them, like to rubies chased in gold: Then, as if drunk with odors, plunged again Into the wondrous flood; from which, as one Re-entered, still another rose. "The thirst Of knowledge high, whereby thou art inflamed, To search the meaning of what here thou seest,

The more it warms thee, pleases me the

And diving back, a living topaz each;
With all this laughter on its bloomy shores;
Are but a preface, shadowy of the truth
They emblem: not that, in themselves, the
things

Are crude; but on thy part is the defect,
For that thy views not yet aspire so high."
Never did babe that had outslept his wont,
Rush, with such eager straining, to the milk,
As I toward the water; bending me,
To make the better mirrors of mine eyes
In the refining wave: and as the eaves
Of mine eyelids did drink of it, forthwith
Seemed it unto me turned from length to
round.

Then as a troop of maskers, when they put
Their vizors off, look other than before;
The counterfeited semblance thrown aside :
So into greater jubilee were changed
Those flowers and sparkles; and distinct I

saw,

Before me, either court of heaven displayed. O prime enlightener! thou who gavest me

strength

On the high triumph of thy realm to gaze;
Grant virtue now to utter what I kenned.
There is in heaven a light, whose goodly
shine

Makes the Creator visible to all
Created, that in seeing him alone
Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,
That the circumference were too loose a zone
To girdle in the sun. All is one beam,
Reflected from the summit of the first.
That moves, which being hence and vigor
takes.

And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes
His image mirrored in the crystal flood,
As if to admire his brave apparelling

Of verdure and of flowers; so, round about,
Eying the light, on more than million thrones,
Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth
Has to the skies returned. How wide the
leaves,

Extended to their utmost, of this rose,
Whose lowest step embosoms such a space
Of ample radiance! Yet, nor amplitude
Nor height impeded, but my view with ease
Took in the full dimensions of that joy.
Near or remote, what there avails, where God
Immediate rules, and Nature, awed, suspends
Her sway?

XXX. 59-122.

THE GLORIFIED SAINTS.

The poet expatiates on the glorious vision of the saints. On looking round for Beatrice, he finds that she has left him, and that an old man is at his side. This proves to be Saint Bernard, who shows him that Beatrice has returned to her throne.

IN fashion, as a snow white rose, lay then
Before my view the saintly multitude,
Which in his own blood Christ espoused.
Meanwhile,

That other host, that soar aloft to gaze
And celebrate his glory, whom they love,
Hovered around; and, like a troop of bees,
Amid the vernal sweets alighting now,
Now, clustering, where their fragrant labor
glows,

Flew downward to the mighty flower, or

rose

From the redundant petals, streaming back
Unto the stedfast dwelling of their joy.
Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold:
The rest was whiter than the driven snow;
And, as they flitted down into the flower,
From range to range, fanning their plumy
loins,

Whispered the peace and ardor, which they

won

Interposition of such numerous flight
Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view
Obstructed aught. For, through the universe,
Wherever merited, celestial light
Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.

All there, who reign in safety and in bliss, Ages long past or new, on one sole mark Their love and vision fixed. O trinal beam Of individual star, that charm'st them thus! Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below.

If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roamed

(Where Helice forever, as she wheels, Sparkles a mother's fondness on her son), Stood in mute wonder mid the works of Rome,

When to their view the Lateran arose

In greatness more than earthly; I, who then
From human to divine had passed, from time
Unto eternity, and out of Florence

To justice and to truth, how might I chuse
But marvel too? 'Twixt gladness and amaze,
In sooth, no will had I to utter aught,
Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests
Within the temple of his vow, looks round
In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell
Of all its goodly state; e'en so mine eyes
Coursed up and down along the living light,
Now low, and now aloft, and now around,
Visiting every step. Looks I beheld,
Where charity in soft persuasion sat :
Smiles from within, and radiance from above;
And, in each gesture, grace and honor high.
So roved my ken, and in its general form
All Paradise surveyed.

xxxi. 1-50.

THE TRIUNE GOD.

In that abyss

Of radiance, clear and lofty, seemed, methought,

Three orbs of triple hue, clipt in one bound:
And, from another, one reflected seemed,
As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third
Seemed fire, breathed equally from both. O

speech!

How feeble and how faint art thou, to give
Conception birth! Yet this to what I saw
Is less than little. O eternal light!

Sole in thyself that dwell'st; and of thyself
Sole understood, past, present, or to come;
Thou smiledst, on that circling, which in
thee

Seemed as reflected splendor, while I mused; For I therein, methought, in its own hue Beheld our image painted: stedfastly

I therefore pored upon the view. As one,
Who, versed in geometric lore, would fain
Measure the circle; and, though pondering
long

And deeply, that beginning, which he needs,
Finds not: e'en such was I, intent to scan
The novel wonder, and trace out the form,
How to the circle fitted, and therein
How placed: but the flight was not for my
wing:

Had not a flash darted athwart my mind,
And, in the spleen, unfolded what it sought.
Here vigor failed the towering fantasy:
But yet the will rolled onward, like a wheel
In even motion, by the love impelled,
That moves the sun in heaven and all the

stars!

xxxiii. 108-135.