I've shown him all the people of perdition,

And now those spirits I intend to show

Who purge themselves beneath thy guardianship. How I have brought him would be long to tell thee. Virtue descendeth from on high that aids me

Now

To lead him to behold thee and to hear thee.

may it please thee to vouchsafe his coming;
He seeketh Liberty, which is so dear,

As knoweth he who life for her refuses.

Thou know'st it; since, for her, to thee not bitter
Was death in Utica, where thou didst leave
The vesture, that will shine so, the great day.

By us the eternal edicts are not broken;

Since this one lives, and Minos binds not me; But of that circle I, where are the chaste Eyes of thy Marcia, who in looks still

prays thee,

O holy breast, to hold her as thine own;
For her love, then, incline thyself to us,
Permit us through thy sevenfold realm to go;

I will take back this grace from thee to her,
If to be mentioned there below thou deignest."

"Marcia so pleasing was unto mine eyes

While I was on the other side," then said he,

"That every grace she wished of me I granted;

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Now that she dwells beyond the evil river,

She can no longer move me, by that law

Which, when I issued forth from there, was made. 90 But if a Lady of Heaven do move and rule thee,

As thou dost say, no flattery is needful;

Let it suffice thee that for her thou ask me.

Go, then, and see thou gird this one about

With a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face, 95

So that thou cleanse away all stain therefrom,

For 't were not fitting that the eye o'ercast

By any mist should go before the first
Angel, who is of those of Paradise.

This little island round about its base

Below there, yonder, where the billow beats it,
Doth rushes bear upon its washy ooze;

No other plant that putteth forth the leaf,
Or that doth indurate, can there have life,
Because it yieldeth not unto the shocks.

Thereafter be not this way your return;

The sun, which now is rising, will direct To take the mount by easier ascent.' With this he vanished; and I raised me up

you

Without a word, and wholly drew myself
Unto my Guide, and turned mine eyes to him.

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IIO

And he began: "Son, follow thou my steps;
Let us turn back, for on this side declines
The plain unto its lower boundaries."
The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour
Which fled before it, so that from afar
I recognized the trembling of the sea.
Along the solitary plain we went

As one who unto the lost road returns,
And till he finds it seems to go in vain.
As soon as we were come to where the dew
Fights with the sun, and, being in a part
Where shadow falls, little evaporates,
Both of his hands upon the grass outspread

In gentle manner did my Master place; Whence I, who of his action was aware, Extended unto him my tearful cheeks;

in me.

There did he make in me uncovered wholly
That hue which Hell had covered up
Then came we down upon the desert shore
Which never yet saw navigate its waters
Any that afterward had known return.
There he begirt me as the other pleased;

O marvellous! for even as he culled

The humble plant, such it sprang up again

Suddenly there where he uprooted it.

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CANTO II.

LREADY had the sun the horizon reached

AL

Whose circle of meridian covers o'er

Jerusalem with its most lofty point,

And night that opposite to him revolves

Was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales

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That fall from out her hand when she exceedeth; So that the white and the vermilion cheeks

Of beautiful Aurora, where I was,

By too great age were changing into orange.
We still were on the border of the sea,

Like people who are thinking of their road,
Who go in heart, and with the body stay;
And lo! as when, upon the approach of morning,
Through the gross vapors Mars grows fiery red
Down in the West upon the ocean floor,
Appeared to me— may I again behold it!—

A light along the sea so swiftly coming,

Its motion by no flight of wing is equalled;

From which when I a little had withdrawn

Mine eyes, that I might question my Conductor,
Again I saw it brighter grown and larger.
Then on each side of it appeared to me

I knew not what of white, and underneath it

Little by little there came forth another.

My master yet had uttered not a word

While the first whiteness into wings unfolded;

But when he clearly recognized the pilot,

He cried: "Make haste, make haste to bow the knee! Behold the Angel of God! fold thou thy hands!

Henceforward shalt thou see such officers!

See how he scorneth human arguments,

So that nor oar he wants, nor other sail

Than his own wings, between so distant shores.
See how he holds them pointed up to heaven,

Fanning the air with the eternal pinions,
That do not moult themselves like mortal hair!"

Then as still nearer and more near us came

The Bird Divine, more radiant he appeared,

So that near by the eye could not endure him,

But down I cast it; and he came to shore

With a small vessel, very swift and light,

So that the water swallowed naught thereof.

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