[Line 7: Hunger and thirst after things divine.]
[Line 16: The carol was a dance as well as a song.]
[Line 22: St. Peter thrice encircles Beatrice, as the Angel Gabriel did the Virgin Mary in the preceding canto.]
[Line 27: Too glaring for painting such delicate draperies of song.]
[Line 42: Fixed upon God, in whom all things reflected.]
[Line 66: In the Scholastic Philosophy, the essence of a thing, distinguishing it from all other things, was called its _quiddity_: an answer to the question, _Quid est?_]
[Line 115: In the Middle Ages earthly titles were sometimes given to the saints. Thus, Boccaccio speaks of _Baron Messer San Antonio_.]
[Line 126: St. John, xx. 3-8. St. John was the first to reach the sepulchre, but St. Peter the first to enter it.]
[Line 138: St. Peter and the other Apostles after Pentecost.]
If e'er it happen that the Poem Sacred, [1] To which both heaven and earth have set their hand Till it hath made me meagre many a year, O'ercome the cruelty that bars me out From the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered, Obnoxious to the wolves that war upon it, With other voice henceforth, with other fleece Will I return as poet, and at my font Baptismal will I take the laurel-crown; [9] Because into the Faith that maketh known All souls to God there entered I, and then Peter for her sake so my brow encircled. Thereafterward towards us moved a light Out of that band whence issued the first-fruits [14] Which of his vicars Christ behind him left, And then, my Lady, full of ecstasy, Said unto me: "Look, look! behold the Baron For whom below Galicia is frequented." [18] In the same way as, when a dove alights Near his companion, both of them pour forth, Circling about and murmuring, their affection, So I beheld one by the other grand Prince glorified to be with welcome greeted, Lauding the food that there above is eaten. But when their gratulations were completed, Silently _coram me_ each one stood still, So incandescent it o'ercame my sight. Smiling thereafterwards, said Beatrice: "Spirit august, by whom the benefactions Of our Basilica have been described, [30] Make Hope reverberate in this altitude; Thou knowest as oft thou dost personify it As Jesus to the three gave greater light,"-- [33] "Lift up thy head, and make thyself assured; [34] For what comes hither from the mortal world Must needs be ripened in our radiance." This exhortation from the second fire [37] Came; and mine eyes I lifted to the hills, [38] Which bent them down before with too great weight, "Since, through his grace, our Emperor decrees Thou shouldst confronted be, before thy death, In the most secret chamber, with his Counts, [42] So that, the truth beholding of this court, Hope, which below there rightly fascinates, In thee and others may thereby be strengthened; Say what it is, and how is flowering with it Thy mind, and say from whence it came to thee": Thus did the second light continue still. And the Compassionate, who piloted [49] The plumage of my wings in such high flight, In the reply did thus anticipate me: "No child whatever the Church Militant Of greater hope possesses, as is written In that Sun which irradiates all our band; [54] Therefore it is conceded him from Egypt To come into Jerusalem to see, [56] Or ever yet his warfare is completed. The other points, that not for knowledge' sake [58] Have been demanded, but that he report How much this virtue unto thee is pleasing, To him I leave; for hard he will not find them, Nor to be boasted of; them let him answer; And may the grace of God in this assist him!" As a disciple, who obeys his teacher, Ready and willing, where he is expert, So that his excellence may be revealed, "Hope," said I, "is the certain expectation [67] Of glory in the hereafter, which proceedeth From grace divine and merit precedent. From many stars this light comes unto me; But he instilled it first into my heart, Who was chief singer unto the chief captain. [72] _Hope they in thee_, in the high Theody He says, _all those who recognize thy name_; [74] And who does not, if he my faith possesses? [75] Thou didst instil me, then, with his instilling In the Epistle, so that I am full, And upon others rain again your rain." [78] While I was speaking, in the living bosom Of that effulgence quivered a sharp flash, Sudden and frequent, in the guise of lightning.