Thereafter, on all sides of it, appeared

I knew not what of white, and underneath.
Little by little, there came forth another.

My master yet had uttered not a word,
While the first brightness into wings un

folded;

But, when he clearly recognized the pilot.

He cried aloud; “Quick, quick, and bow the knee!

Behold the Angel of God! fold up thy hands! Henceforward shalt thou see such officers!

"See, how he scorns all human arguments, So that no oar he wants, nor other sail

24

Than his own wings, between so distant

shores!

See, how he holds them, pointed straight to

heaven,

Fanning the air with the eternal pinions,

That do not moult themselves like mortal

hair!"

And then, as nearer and more near us came The Bird of Heaven, more glorious he ap

peared,

So that the eye could not sustain his

presence,

But down I cast it; and he came to shore With a small vessel, gliding swift and light, So that the water swallowed nought thereof.

Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot!
Beatitude seemed written in his face!
And more than a hundred spirits sat within.

"In exitu Israel out of Egypt!"

Thus sang they all together in one voice, With whatso in that Psalm is after written.

Then made he sign of holy rood upon them, Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore, And he departed swiftly as he came.

THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE.

FROM DANTE. PURGATORIO, XXVIII.

LONGING already to search in and round.
The heavenly forest, dense and living-green,
Which to the eyes tempered the new-born day,

Withouten more delay I left the bank,
Crossing the level country slowly, slowly,
Over the soil, that everywhere breathed
fragrance.

A gently-breathing air, that no mutation
Had in itself, smote me upon the forehead,
No heavier blow, than of a pleasant breeze,

Yet not from their upright direction bent
So that the little birds upon their tops
Should cease the practice of their tuneful art;

But, with full-throated joy, the hours of prime Singing received they in the midst of foliage That made monotonous burden to their rhymes,

Even as from branch to branch it gathering

swells,

Through the pine forests on the shore of

Chiassi,

When Eolus unlooses the Sirocco.

O

116

TRANSLATIONS.

Already my slow steps had led me on
Into the ancient wood so far, that I

Could see no more the place where I had en tered.

And lo! my farther course cut off a river, Which, towards the left hand, with its little

waves,

Bent down the grass, that on its margin sprang.

All waters that on earth most limpid are, Would seem to have within themselves some

mixture,

Compared with that, which nothing doth con

ceal,

Although it moves on with a brown, brown

current,

Under the shade perpetual, that never

Ray of the sun lets in, nor of the moon.