The Divine Comedy | Page 7

Gospel liv'd, they serv'd not God aright;
And among such am I.
For these defects,
And for no other evil, we are lost;
Only so far
afflicted, that we live
Desiring without hope." So grief assail'd
My
heart at hearing this, for well I knew
Suspended in that Limbo many a
soul
Of mighty worth. "O tell me, sire rever'd!
Tell me, my master!"
I began through wish
Of full assurance in that holy faith,
Which
vanquishes all error; "say, did e'er
Any, or through his own or other's
merit,
Come forth from thence, whom afterward was blest?"
Piercing the secret purport of my speech,
He answer'd: "I was new to
that estate,
When I beheld a puissant one arrive
Amongst us, with
victorious trophy crown'd.
He forth the shade of our first parent drew,

Abel his child, and Noah righteous man,

Of Moses lawgiver for
faith approv'd,
Of patriarch Abraham, and David king,
Israel with
his sire and with his sons,
Nor without Rachel whom so hard he won,

And others many more, whom he to bliss
Exalted. Before these, be

thou assur'd,
No spirit of human kind was ever sav'd."
We, while he spake, ceas'd not our onward road,
Still passing through
the wood; for so I name
Those spirits thick beset. We were not far

On this side from the summit, when I kenn'd
A flame, that o'er the
darken'd hemisphere
Prevailing shin'd. Yet we a little space
Were
distant, not so far but I in part
Discover'd, that a tribe in honour high

That place possess'd. "O thou, who every art
And science valu'st!
who are these, that boast
Such honour, separate from all the rest?"
He answer'd: "The renown of their great names
That echoes through
your world above, acquires
Favour in heaven, which holds them thus
advanc'd."
Meantime a voice I heard: "Honour the bard
Sublime!
his shade returns that left us late!"
No sooner ceas'd the sound, than I
beheld
Four mighty spirits toward us bend their steps,
Of
semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.
When thus my master kind began: "Mark him,
Who in his right hand
bears that falchion keen,
The other three preceding, as their lord.

This is that Homer, of all bards supreme:
Flaccus the next in satire's
vein excelling;
The third is Naso; Lucan is the last.
Because they all
that appellation own,
With which the voice singly accosted me,

Honouring they greet me thus, and well they judge."
So I beheld united the bright school
Of him the monarch of sublimest
song,
That o'er the others like an eagle soars.
When they together
short discourse had held,
They turn'd to me, with salutation kind

Beck'ning me; at the which my master smil'd:
Nor was this all; but
greater honour still
They gave me, for they made me of their tribe;

And I was sixth amid so learn'd a band.
Far as the luminous beacon on we pass'd
Speaking of matters, then
befitting well
To speak, now fitter left untold. At foot
Of a
magnificent castle we arriv'd,
Seven times with lofty walls begirt, and

round
Defended by a pleasant stream. O'er this
As o'er dry land we
pass'd. Next through seven gates
I with those sages enter'd, and we
came
Into a mead with lively verdure fresh.
There dwelt a race, who slow their eyes around
Majestically mov'd,
and in their port
Bore eminent authority; they spake
Seldom, but all
their words were tuneful sweet.
We to one side retir'd, into a place
Open and bright and lofty, whence
each one
Stood manifest to view. Incontinent
There on the green
enamel of the plain
Were shown me the great spirits, by whose sight

I am exalted in my own esteem.
Electra there I saw accompanied
By many, among whom Hector I
knew,
Anchises' pious son, and with hawk's eye
Caesar all arm'd,
and by Camilla there
Penthesilea. On the other side
Old King
Latinus, seated by his child
Lavinia, and that Brutus I beheld,
Who
Tarquin chas'd, Lucretia, Cato's wife
Marcia, with Julia and Cornelia
there;
And sole apart retir'd, the Soldan fierce.
Then when a little more I rais'd my brow,
I spied the master of the
sapient throng,
Seated amid the philosophic train.
Him all admire,
all pay him rev'rence due.
There Socrates and Plato both I mark'd,

Nearest to him in rank; Democritus,
Who sets the world at chance,
Diogenes,
With Heraclitus, and Empedocles,
And Anaxagoras, and
Thales sage,
Zeno, and Dioscorides well read
In nature's secret lore.
Orpheus I mark'd
And Linus, Tully and moral Seneca,
Euclid and
Ptolemy, Hippocrates,
Galenus, Avicen, and him who made
That
commentary vast, Averroes.
Of all to speak at full were vain attempt;
For my wide theme so urges,
that ofttimes
My words fall short of what bechanc'd. In two
The six
associates part. Another way
My sage guide leads me, from that air
serene,
Into a climate ever vex'd with storms:
And to a part I come

where no light shines.
CANTO V
FROM the first circle I descended thus
Down to the second, which, a
lesser space
Embracing, so much more of grief contains
Provoking
bitter moans. There, Minos stands
Grinning with ghastly feature: he,
of all
Who enter, strict examining the crimes,
Gives sentence, and
dismisses them beneath,
According as he foldeth him around:
For
when before him comes th' ill fated soul,
It all confesses; and that
judge severe
Of sins, considering what place in hell
Suits the
transgression, with