(42) And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers: Whom she sought not she found, And dwelt with them, As rain in a desert And dew on a thirsty land.

(2) Then reigned within my lofty fantasy One crucified, disdainful and ferocious In countenance, and even thus was dying. Around him were the great Ahasuerus, Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai, Who was in word and action so entire. And even as this image burst asunder Of its own self, in fashion of a bubble In which the water it was made of fails, There rose up in my vision a young maiden Bitterly weeping, and she said: "O queen, Why hast thou wished in anger to be naught? Thou'st slain thyself, Lavinia not to lose; Now hast thou lost me; I am she who mourns, Mother, at thine ere at another's ruin." As sleep is broken, when upon a sudden New light strikes in upon the eyelids closed, And broken quivers ere it dieth wholly, So this imagining of mine fell down As soon as the effulgence smote my face, Greater by far than what is in our wont. I turned me round to see where I might be, When said a voice, "Here is the passage up;" Which from all other purposes removed me,

(7) And living am I; therefore ask of me, Spirit elect, if thou wouldst have me move O'er yonder yet my mortal feet for thee." "O, this is such a novel thing to hear," She answered, "that great sign it is God loves thee; Therefore with prayer of thine sometimes assist me. And I implore, by what thou most desirest, If e'er thou treadest the soil of Tuscany, Well with my kindred reinstate my fame. Them wilt thou see among that people vain Who hope in Talamone, and will lose there More hope than in discovering the Diana; But there still more the admirals will lose."

(3) From out that slope, there where it breaketh most Its steepness, rose upon the world a sun As this one does sometimes from out the Ganges; Therefore let him who speaketh of that place, Say not Ascesi, for he would say little, But Orient, if he properly would speak. He was not yet far distant from his rising Before he had begun to make the earth Some comfort from his mighty virtue feel. For he in youth his father's wrath incurred For certain Dame, to whom, as unto death, The gate of pleasure no one doth unlock; And was before his spiritual court 'Et coram patre' unto her united; Then day by day more fervently he loved her. She, reft of her first husband, scorned, obscure, One thousand and one hundred years and more, Waited without a suitor till he came. Naught it availed to hear, that with Amyclas Found her unmoved at sounding of his voice He who struck terror into all the world; Naught it availed being constant and undaunted, So that, when Mary still remained below, She mounted up with Christ upon the cross.

(1) 'Twas at the time when Juno was enraged, For Semele, against the Theban blood, As she already more than once had shown, So reft of reason Athamas became, That, seeing his own wife with children twain Walking encumbered upon either hand, He cried: "Spread out the nets, that I may take The lioness and her whelps upon the passage;" And then extended his unpitying claws, Seizing the first, who had the name Learchus, And whirled him round, and dashed him on a rock; And she, with the other burthen, drowned herself;— And at the time when fortune downward hurled The Trojan's arrogance, that all things dared, So that the king was with his kingdom crushed, Hecuba sad, disconsolate, and captive, When lifeless she beheld Polyxena, And of her Polydorus on the shore Of ocean was the dolorous one aware, Out of her senses like a dog she barked, So much the anguish had her mind distorted; But not of Thebes the furies nor the Trojan Were ever seen in any one so cruel In goading beasts, and much more human members,

(1) The concubine of old Tithonus now Gleamed white upon the eastern balcony, Forth from the arms of her sweet paramour; With gems her forehead all relucent was, Set in the shape of that cold animal Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations, And of the steps, with which she mounts, the Night Had taken two in that place where we were, And now the third was bending down its wings; When I, who something had of Adam in me, Vanquished by sleep, upon the grass reclined, There were all five of us already sat. Just at the hour when her sad lay begins The little swallow, near unto the morning, Perchance in memory of her former woes, And when the mind of man, a wanderer More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned, Almost prophetic in its visions is, In dreams it seemed to me I saw suspended An eagle in the sky, with plumes of gold, With wings wide open, and intent to stoop, And this, it seemed to me, was where had been By Ganymede his kith and kin abandoned, When to the high consistory he was rapt.

(1) It was the hour when the diurnal heat No more can warm the coldness of the moon, Vanquished by earth, or peradventure Saturn, When geomancers their Fortuna Major See in the orient before the dawn Rise by a path that long remains not dim, There came to me in dreams a stammering woman, Squint in her eyes, and in her feet distorted, With hands dissevered and of sallow hue. I looked at her; and as the sun restores The frigid members which the night benumbs, Even thus my gaze did render voluble Her tongue, and made her all erect thereafter In little while, and the lost countenance As love desires it so in her did colour. When in this wise she had her speech unloosed, She 'gan to sing so, that with difficulty Could I have turned my thoughts away from her. "I am," she sang, "I am the Siren sweet Who mariners amid the main unman, So full am I of pleasantness to hear. I drew Ulysses from his wandering way Unto my song, and he who dwells with me Seldom departs so wholly I content him."

(3) Thou makest me remember where and what Proserpina that moment was when lost Her mother her, and she herself the Spring." As turns herself, with feet together pressed And to the ground, a lady who is dancing, And hardly puts one foot before the other, On the vermilion and the yellow flowerets She turned towards me, not in other wise Than maiden who her modest eyes casts down; And my entreaties made to be content, So near approaching, that the dulcet sound Came unto me together with its meaning As soon as she was where the grasses are. Bathed by the waters of the beauteous river, To lift her eyes she granted me the boon. I do not think there shone so great a light Under the lids of Venus, when transfixed By her own son, beyond his usual custom! Erect upon the other bank she smiled, Bearing full many colours in her hands, Which that high land produces without seed. Apart three paces did the river make us; But Hellespont, where Xerxes passed across, (A curb still to all human arrogance,)

(4) And yet she wist well, and felt well in herself in a sad soothfastness, that she was a wretch most foul of all other, and that her sins had made a division betwixt her and her God that she loved so much: and also that they were in great part cause of her languishing sickness for lacking of love. But what thereof? Came she therefore down from the height of desire into the deepness of her sinful life, and searched in the foul stinking fen and dunghill of her sins; searching them up, by one and by one, with all the circumstances of them, and sorrowed and wept so upon them each one by itself? Nay, surely she did not so. And why? Because God let her wit by His grace within in her soul, that she should never so bring it about. For so might she sooner have raised in herself an ableness to have oft sinned, than to have purchased by that work any plain forgiveness of all her sins.

(2) And from on high come forth and down descend, I saw two Angels with two flaming swords, Truncated and deprived of their points. Green as the little leaflets just now born Their garments were, which, by their verdant pinions Beaten and blown abroad, they trailed behind. One just above us came to take his station, And one descended to the opposite bank, So that the people were contained between them. Clearly in them discerned I the blond head; But in their faces was the eye bewildered, As faculty confounded by excess. "From Mary's bosom both of them have come," Sordello said, "as guardians of the valley Against the serpent, that will come anon." Whereupon I, who knew not by what road, Turned round about, and closely drew myself, Utterly frozen, to the faithful shoulders. And once again Sordello: "Now descend we 'Mid the grand shades, and we will speak to them; Right pleasant will it be for them to see you." Only three steps I think that I descended, And was below, and saw one who was looking Only at me, as if he fain would know me.

(35) [BG 107]: "Now when those whom I have discussed earlier were revealed, Self-begetter Father very soon created twelve aeons for retinue for the twelve angels. All these are perfect and good. Thus the defect in the female appeared."

(6) Thus, as if going with mine eyes from vale To mount, I saw a part in the remoteness Surpass in splendour all the other front. And even as there where we await the pole That Phaeton drove badly, blazes more The light, and is on either side diminished, So likewise that pacific oriflamme Gleamed brightest in the centre, and each side In equal measure did the flame abate. And at that centre, with their wings expanded, More than a thousand jubilant Angels saw I, Each differing in effulgence and in kind. I saw there at their sports and at their songs A beauty smiling, which the gladness was Within the eyes of all the other saints; And if I had in speaking as much wealth As in imagining, I should not dare To attempt the smallest part of its delight. Bernard, as soon as he beheld mine eyes Fixed and intent upon its fervid fervour, His own with such affection turned to her That it made mine more ardent to behold.

The rulers went to meet her, intending to lead her astray. Their supreme chief said to her, “Your mother Eve came to us.” But Norea turned to them and said to them, “It is you who are the rulers of the darkness; you are accursed. You did not know my mother. Instead it was your own female that you knew. For I am not your descendant. Rather, it is from the world above that I am come.” The arrogant ruler turned with all his might, and his countenance was like a blazing fire. He said to her presumptuously, “You must service us, as did also your mother Eve. . . .” But Norea turned with power and, in a loud voice, she cried out up to the holy one, the god of all, “Rescue me from the rulers of unrighteousness and save me from their clutches—at once!” The great angel came down from the heavens and said to her, “Why are you crying up to god? Why do you act so boldly toward the holy spirit?” Norea said, “Who are you?” The rulers of unrighteousness had withdrawn from her. He said, “I am Eleleth, sagacity, the great angel who stands in the presence of the holy spirit. I have been sent to speak with you and save you from the grasp of the lawless. And I shall teach you about your root.”

(5) Upon the side on which the little valley No barrier hath, a serpent was; perchance The same which gave to Eve the bitter food. 'Twixt grass and flowers came on the evil streak, Turning at times its head about, and licking Its back like to a beast that smoothes itself. I did not see, and therefore cannot say How the celestial falcons 'gan to move, But well I saw that they were both in motion. Hearing the air cleft by their verdant wings, The serpent fled, and round the Angels wheeled, Up to their stations flying back alike. The shade that to the Judge had near approached When he had called, throughout that whole assault Had not a moment loosed its gaze on me. "So may the light that leadeth thee on high Find in thine own free-will as much of wax As needful is up to the highest azure," Began it, "if some true intelligence Of Valdimagra or its neighbourhood Thou knowest, tell it me, who once was great there. Currado Malaspina was I called; I'm not the elder, but from him descended; To mine I bore the love which here refineth."

(1) One and the selfsame tongue first wounded me, So that it tinged the one cheek and the other, And then held out to me the medicine; Thus do I hear that once Achilles' spear, His and his father's, used to be the cause First of a sad and then a gracious boon. We turned our backs upon the wretched valley, Upon the bank that girds it round about, Going across it without any speech. There it was less than night, and less than day, So that my sight went little in advance; But I could hear the blare of a loud horn, So loud it would have made each thunder faint, Which, counter to it following its way, Mine eyes directed wholly to one place. After the dolorous discomfiture When Charlemagne the holy emprise lost, So terribly Orlando sounded not. Short while my head turned thitherward I held When many lofty towers I seemed to see, Whereat I: "Master, say, what town is this?" And he to me: "Because thou peerest forth Athwart the darkness at too great a distance, It happens that thou errest in thy fancy.

(115) And on the eleven creatures which she had filled with the power of striking terror

(4) As to behold the apple-tree in blossom Which makes the Angels greedy for its fruit, And keeps perpetual bridals in the Heaven, Peter and John and James conducted were, And, overcome, recovered at the word By which still greater slumbers have been broken, And saw their school diminished by the loss Not only of Elias, but of Moses, And the apparel of their Master changed; So I revived, and saw that piteous one Above me standing, who had been conductress Aforetime of my steps beside the river, And all in doubt I said, "Where's Beatrice?" And she: "Behold her seated underneath The leafage new, upon the root of it. Behold the company that circles her; The rest behind the Griffin are ascending With more melodious song, and more profound." And if her speech were more diffuse I know not, Because already in my sight was she Who from the hearing of aught else had shut me. Alone she sat upon the very earth, Left there as guardian of the chariot Which I had seen the biform monster fasten.

(9) This is the last of the chapters concerning the Powers of certain places. Of their positive antiquity there can be no doubt, whatever alterations they may have undergone. But they are relatively modern with respect to other chapters, e.g , the 17th. Mr. Goodwin used to compare them with Christian legends of the mediæval period. These are ancient enough as far as we ourselves are concerned, but no one would think of judging by them of primitive Christianity

(3) In her body she became a whore and gave herself to everyone, seeing each one she hugged as a husband. After she let herself be taken by lecherous, unfaithful adulterers, she sighed deeply and repented. But even when she turned her face from the adulterers, she ran to others, and they compelled her to live with them and make love with them on their beds as if they were her masters. Then, out of shame, she no longer dared leave them, while they double-crossed her, pretending to be faithful, true husbands, as if they respected her. After all these acts, they took off, abandoning her.

(2) I do not think that so to merest rind Could Erisichthon have been withered up By famine, when most fear he had of it. Thinking within myself I said: "Behold, This is the folk who lost Jerusalem, When Mary made a prey of her own son." Their sockets were like rings without the gems; Whoever in the face of men reads 'omo' Might well in these have recognised the 'm.' Who would believe the odour of an apple, Begetting longing, could consume them so, And that of water, without knowing how? I still was wondering what so famished them, For the occasion not yet manifest Of their emaciation and sad squalor; And lo! from out the hollow of his head His eyes a shade turned on me, and looked keenly; Then cried aloud: "What grace to me is this?" Never should I have known him by his look; But in his voice was evident to me That which his aspect had suppressed within it. This spark within me wholly re-enkindled My recognition of his altered face, And I recalled the features of Forese.