(13) And he saw. and behold, the land was very wide and good, and everything grew thereon — vines and figs and pomegranates, oaks and ilexes, and terebinths and oil trees, and cedars and cypresses and date trees, and all trees of the field, and there was water on the mountains.

(2) And said the other to him: "Why concealed This one the appellation of that river, Even as a man doth of things horrible?" And thus the shade that questioned was of this Himself acquitted: "I know not; but truly 'Tis fit the name of such a valley perish; For from its fountain-head (where is so pregnant The Alpine mountain whence is cleft Peloro That in few places it that mark surpasses) To where it yields itself in restoration Of what the heaven doth of the sea dry up, Whence have the rivers that which goes with them, Virtue is like an enemy avoided By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune Of place, or through bad habit that impels them; On which account have so transformed their nature The dwellers in that miserable valley, It seems that Circe had them in her pasture. 'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier Than other food for human use created, It first directeth its impoverished way. Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward, More snarling than their puissance demands, And turns from them disdainfully its muzzle.

(5) That the disturbance which below is made By exhalations of the land and water, (Which far as may be follow after heat,) Might not upon mankind wage any war, This mount ascended tow'rds the heaven so high, And is exempt, from there where it is locked. Now since the universal atmosphere Turns in a circuit with the primal motion Unless the circle is broken on some side, Upon this height, that all is disengaged In living ether, doth this motion strike And make the forest sound, for it is dense; And so much power the stricken plant possesses That with its virtue it impregns the air, And this, revolving, scatters it around; And yonder earth, according as 'tis worthy In self or in its clime, conceives and bears Of divers qualities the divers trees; It should not seem a marvel then on earth, This being heard, whenever any plant Without seed manifest there taketh root. And thou must know, this holy table-land In which thou art is full of every seed, And fruit has in it never gathered there.

(3) "Ah, do not look at this dry leprosy," Entreated he, "which doth my skin discolour, Nor at default of flesh that I may have; But tell me truth of thee, and who are those Two souls, that yonder make for thee an escort; Do not delay in speaking unto me." "That face of thine, which dead I once bewept, Gives me for weeping now no lesser grief," I answered him, "beholding it so changed! But tell me, for God's sake, what thus denudes you? Make me not speak while I am marvelling, For ill speaks he who's full of other longings." And he to me: "From the eternal council Falls power into the water and the tree Behind us left, whereby I grow so thin. All of this people who lamenting sing, For following beyond measure appetite In hunger and thirst are here re-sanctified. Desire to eat and drink enkindles in us The scent that issues from the apple-tree, And from the spray that sprinkles o'er the verdure; And not a single time alone, this ground Encompassing, is refreshed our pain,— I say our pain, and ought to say our solace,—

(14) And he said: "Lord, Lord, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit (it) ? "

(13) And he saw, and, behold, the land was very 'pleasant from the entering of Hamath to the lofty. oak.

(8) And he knew that a blessed portion 1 i.t. (?) the promontory on which Mt. Sindi is situated. and a blessing had come to Shem and his sons unto the generations for ever — the whole land of Eden' and the whole land of the Red Sea, and the whole land of the east, and India, and on the Red Sea and the mountains thereof, and all the land of Bashan, and all the land of Lebanon and the islands of Kaftur, and all the mountains of Sanir * and 'Amana, and the mountains of Asshur in the north, and all the land of Elam, Asshur, and Babel, and Sflsan and Ma'gdai, and all the mountains of Ararat, and all the region beyond the sea, which is beyond the mountains of Asshur towards the north, a blessed and spacious land, and all that is in it is very good.

(6) And I to him: "If so the present runnel Doth take its rise in this way from our world, Why only on this verge appears it to us?" And he to me: "Thou knowest the place is round, And notwithstanding thou hast journeyed far, Still to the left descending to the bottom, Thou hast not yet through all the circle turned. Therefore if something new appear to us, It should not bring amazement to thy face." And I again: "Master, where shall be found Lethe and Phlegethon, for of one thou'rt silent, And sayest the other of this rain is made?" "In all thy questions truly thou dost please me," Replied he; "but the boiling of the red Water might well solve one of them thou makest. Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, There where the souls repair to lave themselves, When sin repented of has been removed." Then said he: "It is time now to abandon The wood; take heed that thou come after me; A way the margins make that are not burning, And over them all vapours are extinguished."