CANTO THE SECOND.

ARGUMENT.

The Poets, arriving at the Shore, spy a Vessel steering to the Land ; its manner of failing, and its Passengers, described. Among these, DANTE meets with the departed Spirit of CASELLA, and ancient Friend of his, with whom he enters into conversation, till they are interrupted by the Guardian of the Place.

Now on Heav’n’s verge arriv’d, the jocund Sun,

Who on old ZION’s hallow’d hills at noon

Had look’d direct, and gilt her glitt’ring fanes ;

Slow‑handed Night revers’d his ebon car

O’er INDIA, in her van appear’d the Star,

Whose radiant balance ne’er at rest remains.

II.

AURORA late had ris’n from TITHON’s bed,

Her wan cheek turn’d at length to rosy red,

While far along the chiding beach we stray’d ;

Slowly we rnarch’d, but Fancy sped before,

And view’d our coming perils o’er and o’er,

Full on the tablet of the mind display’d.

III.

Soon, as the fiery eye of MARS afar,

Thro’ the dim evening looks revenge and war,

O’er Ocean’s brim, retiring to the west,

Seaward, a red wing’d meteor seem’d to sweep ;

No waving plume, that skims the toiling deep,

Sped o’er the swelling flood with equal haste.

IV.

I turn’d to MARO, with an anxious eye,

And look’d again, along the morning sky ;

The coming splendour seem’d to gild the flood

With brighter glance, and more diverging rays ;

And now, discern’d amid the sunny blaze,

Its new‑born beam a second glory show’d.

V.

Silent, my Guide observ’d the meteor wave ;

But when th’ expanding wing the signal gave,

The Pilot and the pinnace both, he knew ;

“ This instant bend the suppliant knee,” he cry’d ;

“ With lifted hands salute the Heavenly Guide ;

Soon other forms like his, shall meet your view.

VI.

“ See, what the reas’ning pride of man confounds !

No lab’ring oar divides those liquid bounds,

No shifting canvas courts the hallow’d gale ;

Yon’ heav’nward‑pointed plumes, from shore to shore,

The vessel urge, contemning sail and oar ;

Sky‑tinctur’d plumes, that never change, or fail.”

VII.

The dazzling Vision now approach’d the coast,

My visual powers, that seem’d in glory lost,

Sunk at the splendour of the Seraph’s look ;

While the swift vessel, steer’d by art divine,

Scarce dip’d, but seem’d to skim, the level brine ;

No billow on her sides, insulting, broke.

VIII.

The heavenly Pilot at the helm was seen,

A glimpse of glory lighten’d in his mien :

A ghostly squadron, rank’d in dim array,

Fill’d the long deck, twice fifty in a throng ;

From stem to stern they rais’d a gen’ral song,

Of ISRAEL’s triumph, and the foe’s dismay.

IX.

Soon as the sacred Psalmody had ceas’d,

The welcome sign the ransom’d crew releas’d ;

While on the shore, the disembodied band,

New to their state, and wond’ring at the view,

Stood gazing, as the sacred barge withdrew,

With light wing steering from the level strand.

X.

O’er all the plain, the glitt’ring shafts of day

Fell thick, as verging from his lofty sway

Pale CAPRICORN forsook the point of prime :

The Bard, and me, at last the Phantoms spy’d,

And in a gen’ral peal of prayer apply’d,

To learn the passage to the hill sublime.

XI.

“ You think, perhaps,” return’d the MANTUAN Guide,

“ Strangers in our experience may confide ;

But we are strangers too : this hour beheld

Our painful journey from the Gulph below ;

No sportive voyage, but protracted woe,

Whose varied plagues almost our manhood quell’d.

XII.

“ Those Spirits, by my gross material breath,

Soon found, I ne’er had pass’d the gates of death,

And gather’d all around, with pale amaze ;

As him whose hand the peaceful olive brings,

The thronging multitude surround in rings,

And on each other tread, and justling, gaze.”

XIII.

So gaz’d these wand’ring Shades, absorpt in thought,

In short oblivion of their dreadful lot,

And the fear’d scrutiny so soon to come ;

When they were doom’d to rise, by pain refin’d,

From gross sublunar dregs, to perfect mind,

And wing their voyage to th’ empyreal dome.

XIV.

But one I soon espy’d, with eager haste,

Flinging his shadowy arms around my waist ;

I try’d to clasp him trice, but strove in vain.

Features of air ! how did you mock my fight !

My empty hands I view’d with pale affright,

As thro’ his sides they pass’d, tho’ seen so plain.

XV.

The Phantom smil’d, to see my pale surprize ;

Gliding away, while with insatiate eyes

I follow’d, still resolv’d to clasp a Shade,

Till gently he advis’d me to forbear :

The voice I knew, once music to my ear,

And for a moment’s conversation pray’d.

XVI.

“ Ah, friend !” he cry’d; “ that love, by ARNO bred,

Still haunts this breast, and burns among the dead ;

Nor time, nor fate, can damp that vestal flame :

That soul‑connecting tie commands my stay.

But who conducts you up this lonely way,

When no embodied soul before you came ?

XVII.

“ Ah, my CASELLA ! tho’ this mystic bourne

I reach again, I must to earth return :

But tell me, why you pass’d the Gulph so late ?

Where have you linger’d ,since you breath’d your last ?”

“ O blame not him,” the Shade return’d in haste,

“ Whose mandate caus’d me long behind to wait !

XVIII.

“ Full three revolving moons their crescents clos’d,

Since that great barrier, which our flight oppos’d,

Across the midland Gulph, was swept away :

Now frighted Ghosts, in a festive shoal,

Are borne in triumph to the nether Pole,

Till the great JUBILEE’s concluding day.

XIX.

“ In that blest time, from earthly cares releas’d,

I stray’d, where TYBER sleeps on NEPTUNE’s breast ;

The heavenly Pilot saw, and call’d aboard :

There still he moors, and waits with ling’ring sail,

For all, but those who to the darksome vale

Of ACHERON are doom’d, a race abhorr’d !

XX.

“ If the dread laws if this mysterious reign

Permit you, still to swell the lofty strain ;

Let that soft modulated voice once more

Relive my soul beneath its mortal weight :

Half sunk, and struggling in the toils of Fate,

Ere yet allow’d to reach the happy shore.”

XXI.

Thus pray’d I, and with descant soft and clear,

( Even yet it seems to vibrate on my ear !)

Of heav’nly love he sung, in such a strain,

That in rapt bands the squadrons of the dead

Attentive throng’d around the tuneful Shade,

And quite forgot their peril, and their pain.

XXII.

Even MARO’s mighty mind confess’d the spell,

Far less could I the soft infection quell ;

But soon a sterner sound the music broke :

The trembling Shades recoil’d, when CATO came,

And soon dispell’d the charm with eyes of flame,

While his harsh mandate all th’ assembly shook.

XXIII.

“ Hence ! hence, ye negligent ! your toils begin !

How dare ye linger on the verge of Sin ?

Go ! climb yon’ airy steep, and purge away

That STYGIAN film, that clouds your mental fight,

And hides from you, in deep CIMMERIAN night,

The glorious prospect of eternal day !”

XXIV.

As when a flock of doves along the plain

Collect, with busy bills, the golden grain,

And leave their quarrels, and their loves, at rest :

If any foe the timorous flock surprise,

They leave th’ unfinish’d feast, to seek the skies,

And find their appetite by fear suppress’d.

XXV.

Thus CATO’s voice his airy band controls,

New to the habitudes of parted souls ;

With whirlwind speed they leave th’ unfinish’d song,

And to the hill in scatter’d bands repair,

As men at random run, unknowing where ;

Nor on the sea‑beat verge we linger’d long.

END OF THE SECOND CANTO.