"From that which Clio there with thee preludes,
It doth not seem that yet had made thee faithful
That faith without which no good works suffice.
If this be so, what candles or what sun

Scattered thy darkness so that thou didst trim
Thy sails behind the Fisherman thereafter?"
And he to him: "Thou first directedst me

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Towards Parnassus, in its grots to drink, And first concerning God didst me enlighten. Thou didst as he who walketh in the night, Who bears his light behind, which helps him not, But maketh wise the persons after him, When thou didst say: The age renews itself, Justice returns, and man's primeval time, And a new progeny descends from heaven.' Through thee I Poet was, through thee a Christian; But that thou better see what I design, To color it will I extend my hand.

Already was the world in every part

Pregnant with the true creed, disseminated
By messengers of the eternal kingdom;
And thy assertion, spoken of above,

With the new preachers was in unison;
Whence I to visit them the custom took.

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Then they became so holy in my sight,

That, when Domitian persecuted them,

Not without tears of mine were their laments;

And all the while that I on earth remained,

Them I befriended, and their upright customs

Made me disparage all the other sects. And ere I led the Greeks unto the rivers

Of Thebes, in poetry, I was baptized,

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But out of fear was covertly a Christian, For a long time professing paganism;

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And this lukewarmness caused me the fourth circle To circuit round more than four centuries. Thou, therefore, who hast raised the covering That hid from me the good of which I speak, While in ascending we have time to spare, Tell me, in what place is our friend Terentius,

Cæcilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou knowest; Tell me if they are damned, and in what alley." "These, Persius and myself, and others many,'

Replied my Leader, “ with that Grecian are Whom more than all the rest the Muses suckled, In the first circle of the prison blind;

Ofttimes we of the mountain hold discourse

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Which hath our nurses ever with itself.

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Euripides is with us, Antiphon,

Simonides, Agatho, and many other

Greeks who of old their brows with laurel decked. There some of thine own people may be seen,

Antigone, Deiphile and Argia,

And there Ismene mournful as of old.
There she is seen who pointed out Langìa;
There is Tiresias' daughter, and there Thetis.
And there Deidamia with her sisters."
Silent already were the poets both,

ΓΙΟ

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Attent once more in looking round about,
From the ascent and from the walls released;

And four handmaidens of the day already

Were left behind, and at the pole the fifth

Line 95. They hid from me whatever good I speak of,
Line 105.
Which has our nurses ever with itself.

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Was pointing upward still its burning horn, What time my Guide: "I think that tow'rds the edge Our dexter shoulders it behoves us turn, Circling the mount as we are wont to do." Thus in that region custom was our guide; And we resumed our way with less suspicion For the assenting of that worthy soul. They in advance went on, and I alone

Behind them, and I listened to their speech, Which gave me lessons in the art of song. But soon their sweet discourses interrupted

A tree which midway in the road we found,
With apples sweet and grateful to the smell.
And even as a fir-tree tapers upward

From bough to bough, so downwardly did that;
I think in order that no one might climb it.
On that side where our pathway was enclosed,
Fell from the lofty rock a limpid water,
And spread itself abroad upon the leaves.
The Poets twain unto the tree drew near,
And from among the foliage a voice

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Cried: "Of this food ye shall have scarcity." Then said: "More thoughtful Mary was of making The marriage feast complete and honorable, Than of her mouth which now for you responds; And for their drink the ancient Roman women

With water were content; and Daniel Disparaged food, and understanding won. The primal age was beautiful as gold; Acorns it made with hunger savorous, And nectar every rivulet with thirst.

Line 124. Thus in that region custom was our ensign;

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Honey and locusts were the aliments

That fed the Baptist in the wilderness; Whence he is glorious, and so magnified

As by the Evangel is revealed to you."

CANTO XXIII

THE while among the verdant leaves mine eyes

I riveted, as he is wont to do

Who wastes his life pursuing little birds,

My more than Father said unto me:

Son,

Come now; because the time that is ordained us 5

More usefully should be apportioned out."

I turned my face and no less soon my steps Unto the Sages, who were speaking so They made the going of no cost to me; And lo! were heard a song and a lament, "Labia mea, Domine," in fashion

Such that delight and dolence it brought forth.
"O my sweet Father, what is this I hear?"
Began I; and he answered: "Shades that go
Perhaps the knot unloosing of their debt."
In the same way that thoughtful pilgrims do,

Who, unknown people on the road o'ertaking, Turn themselves round to them, and do not stop, Even thus, behind us with a swifter motion

Coming and passing onward, gazed upon us
A crowd of spirits silent and devout.
Each in his eyes was dark and cavernous,

Pallid in face, and so emaciate

That from the bones the skin did shape itself.

I do not think that so to merest rind

Could Erisichthon have been withered up
By famine, when most fear he had of it.

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