Proceed. We'll hear what thou shalt say. We'll hear together. 50
I'll pass my journey thither by nor tell How downward sweeping through nine spheres I sped. That swift as arrows round their centre whirl. The wheel of sense revolves within our thoughts Not with such speed, as I beneath the moon And clouds dropped down. Where then aloft I hung, On floating pinions, to survey that shore, That Eastern landscape far that marks the face Of that great sphere the flowing ocean rounds, Wherein so many kinds of monsters swarm. 60 Afar I saw a lofty mount emerge, From which a waterfall, fount of four streams, Dashed with a roar into the vale below. Headlong I steered my course oblique, with steep Descent, until I gained the mountain's brow, Whence, resting, all the nether world I viewed, Its happy fields and glowing opulence.
[Illustration: "I see golden leaves, all laden with Ethereal pearls, the sparkling silvery dew."]
Round is the garden, as the world itself. Above the centre looms the mount from which 70 The fountain gushes that divides in four, And waters all the land, refreshing trees And fields; and flows in unreflective rills Of crystal purity. The streams their rich Alluvion bring and nourish all the ground. Here Onyx gleams and Bdellion doth shine; And bright as Heaven glows with glittering stars; So here Dame Nature sowed her constellations Of stones that pale our stars. Here dazzle veins Of gold; for Nature wished to gather all 80 Her treasures in one lap.
What of the air That hovers round whereby that creature lives?
No Angel us among, a breath exhales So soft and sweet as the pure draught refreshing That there meets man, that lightly cools his face And with its gentle, vivifying touch All things caresses in its blissful course: There swells the bosom of the fertile field "With herb and hue and bud and branch and bloom And odors manifold, which nightly dews 90 Refresh. The rising and the setting sun Know and observe their proper, measured time And so unto the need of every plant Temper their mighty rays that flower and fruit Are all within the selfsame season found.
Now tell me of man's features and his form.
Who would our state for that of man prefer, When one beholdeth beings, all-surpassing, Beneath whose sway all other beings stand! I saw a hundred thousand creatures move 100 Before me there: all they that tread the earth And they that cleave the clouds, or swim the stream, As is their wont, each in his element. Who should the nature and the attributes Of each one know as Adam! For 'twas he That gave them, one by one, their various names. The mountain-lion wagged his tail and smiled Upon his lord. And, at his sovereign's feet, The tiger, too, his fierceness laid. The bull Bowed low his horns; the elephant, his trunk. 110 The bear forgot his rage. The griffin heard His call; the eagle and the dragon dread, Behemoth and even great Leviathan. Nor shall I tell what praise rings in man's ears, Amid those warbling bowers, replete with songs in many tongues; while zephyrs rustle through The leaves, and brooks purl 'neath their sylvan banks A murmurous harmony that wearies never. Had but Apollion his mission then Accomplished, sooth, in Adam's Paradise 120 He soon had lost all memory of Heaven.