On that day which fulfilled the year since my lady had been made of the citizens of eternal life, remembering me of her as I sat alone, I betook myself to draw the resemblance of an angel upon certain tablets.And while I did thus, chancing to turn my head, I perceived that some were standing beside me to whom I should have given courteous welcome, and that they were observing what Idid; also I learned afterwards that they had been there a while before I perceived them.Perceiving whom, I arose for salutation and said: "Another was with me."Afterwards, when they had left me, I set myself again to mine occupation, to wit, to the drawing figures of angels; in doing which, I conceived to write of this matter in rhyme, as for her anniversary, and to address my rhymes unto those who had just left me.It was then that I wrote the sonnet which saith "That Lady":
That lady of all gentle memories Had lighted on my soul; whose new abode Lies now, as it was well ordained of God, Among the poor in heart where Mary is.
Love, knowing that dear image to be his, Woke up within the sick heart sorrow-bowed, Unto the sighs which are its weary load, Saying, "Go forth." And they went forth, I wis Forth went they from my breast that throbbed and ached;With such a pang as oftentimes will bathe Mine eyes with tears when I am left alone.
And still those sighs which drew the heaviest breath Came whispering thus: "O noble intellect!
It is a year to-day that thou art gone."
IV.The Close of the Vita Nuova.
Beyond the sphere which spreads to widest space Now soars the sigh that my heart sends above;A new perception born of grieving Love Guideth it upward the untrodden ways.
When it hath reached unto the end and stays, It sees a lady round whom splendors move In homage; till, by the great light thereof Abashed, the pilgrim spirit stands at gaze.
It sees her such, that when it tells me this Which it hath seen, I understand it not;It hath a speech so subtile and so fine And yet I know its voice within my thought Often remembereth me of Beatrice:
So that I understand it, ladies mine.
After writing this sonnet, it was given unto me to behold a very wonderful vision, wherein I saw things which determined me that I would say nothing further of this most blessed one, until such time as I could discourse more worthily of her.And to this end I labor all I can; as she well knoweth.Wherefore if it be His pleasure through whom is the life of all things, that my life continue with me a few years, it is my hope that I shall yet write concerning her what hath not before been written of any woman.After the which may it seem good unto Him who is the Master of Grace, that my spirit should go hence to behold the glory of its lady: to wit, the blessed Beatrice, who now gazeth continually on His countenanc,e qui est per omnia soecula benedictus.Laus Deo.
This we may believe to be the vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, the vision which gave him the argument of the Divine Comedy.
Who is blessed throughout all ages.Praise to God.
FROM THE DIVINE COMEDY.
Dante called his poem a comedy, he says, for two reasons:
because it has a sad beginning and a cheerful ending, and because it is written in a "middle" style, treating alike of lowly and lofty things.Midway in life the poet finds himself lost in the forest of worldly cares, beset by the three beasts, Pride, Avarice, and Worldly Pleasure.Virgil, who is the embodiment of moral philosophy, appears and leads him through the Hell of worldly sin and suffering, through the Purgatory of repentance, to the calm of the earthly Paradise.Mere philosophy can go no further.The poet is here taken under the guidance of Beatrice, the embodiment of divine wisdom, who leads him through Paradise to the throne of God.Such, in the briefest form, is the argument of the Divine Comedy; this statement carries the actual story and the allegory side by side.The first division of the triple vision is the Inferno.Dante's Inferno is an inverted cone, having its mouth in a deep rugged valley, its sides sloping down to the center of the earth.When Lucifer fell from heaven the earth retired before him, making this hollow cone.This is divided into nine circles, in which the lost souls suffer.These souls are grouped into three main classes: the incontinent, the violent, and the fraudulent.The first circle of the Inferno is Limbo, where are the souls of children and the unbaptized; of the heathen philosophers and poets.They are neither in pain nor glory, they do not shriek nor groan but only sigh.
I.The Poets in Limbo.--From the Inferno.
Broke the deep slumber in my brain a crash Of heavy thunder, that I shook myself, As one by main force roused.Risen upright, My rested eyes I moved around, and search'd, With fixed ken, to know what place it was Wherein I stood.For certain, on the brink I found me of the lamentable vale, The dread abyss, that joins a thundrous sound Of plaints innumerable.Dark and deep, And thick with clouds o'erspread, mine eye in vain Explored its bottom, nor could aught discern.
"Now let us to the blind world there beneath Descend;" the bard began, all pale of look:
"I go the first, and thou shalt follow next."Then I his alter'd hue perceiving, thus:
"How may I speed, if thou yieldest to dread, Who still art wont to comfort me in doubt?"He then: "The anguish of that race below With pity stains my cheek, which thou for fear Mistakest.Let us on.Our length of way Urges to haste." Onward, this said, he moved;And entering led me with him, on the bounds Of the first circle that surrounds the abyss.
