[3] The marriage supper of the Lamb--Revelation, xix. 9.

[4] The transfiguration--Matthew, xvii. 1-8.

[5] Those of the dead called back to life by Jesus.

[6] Christ having ascended, Beatrice, this type of Theology, is
left by the chariot, the type of the Church on earth.

[7] From the north wind or the south; that is, from any earthly
blast.


"Here shalt thou be short time a forester; and thou shalt be with
me without end a citizen of that Rome whereof Christ is a Roman.
Therefore for profit of the world that lives ill, keep now thine
eyes upon the chariot; amid what thou seest, having returned to
earth, mind that thou write." Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the
feet of her commands was all devout, gave my mind and my eyes
where she willed.

Never with so swift a motion did fire descend from a dense cloud,
when it is raining from that region which stretches most remote,
as I saw the bird of Jove stoop downward through the tree,
breaking the bark, as well as the flowers and new leaves; and he
struck the chariot with all his force, whereat it reeled, like a
ship in a tempest beaten by the waves now to starboard, now to
larboard.[1] Then I saw leap into the body of the triumphal
vehicle a she fox,[2] which seemed fasting from all good food;
but rebuking her for her foul sins my Lady turned her to such
flight as her fleshless bones allowed. Then, from there whence he
had first come, I saw the eagle descend down into the ark of the
chariot and leave it feathered from himself.[3] And a voice such
as issues from a heart that is afflicted issued from Heaven, and
thus spake, "O little bark of mine, how ill art thou laden!" Then
it seemed to me that the earth opened between the two wheels, and
I saw a dragon issue from it, which through the chariot upward
fixed his tail: and, like a wasp that retracts its sting, drawing
to himself his malign tail, drew out part of the bottom, and went
wandering away.[4] That which remained covered itself again, as
lively soil with grass, with the plumage, offered perhaps with
sane and benign intention; and both one and the other wheel and
the pole were again covered with it in such time that a sigh
holds the mouth open longer.[5] Thus transformed, the holy
structure put forth heads upon its parts, three upon the pole,
and one on each corner. The first were horned like oxen, but the
four had a single horn upon the forehead.[6] A like prodigy was
never seen before. Secure, as fortress on a high mountain, there
appeared to me a loose harlot sitting upon it, with eyes roving
around. And, as if in order that she should not be taken from
him, I saw standing at her side a giant, and some while they
kissed each other. But because she turned her lustful and
wandering eye on me that fierce paramour scourged her from head
to foot. Then full of jealousy, and cruel with anger, he loosed
the monster, and drew it through the wood so far that only of
that he made a shield from me for the harlot and for the strange
beast.[7]

[1] The descent and the attack of the eagle symbolize the
rejection of Christianity and the persecution of the Church by
the emperors.

[2] The fox denotes the early heresies.

[3] The feathering of the car is the type of the donation of
Constantine,--the temporal endowment of the Church.

[4] The dragging off by the dragon of a part of the car probably
figures the schism of the Greek Church in the 9th century.

[5] This new feathering signifies the fresh and growing
endowments of the Church.

[6] The seven heads have been interpreted as the seven mortal
sins, which grew up in the transformed church, the result of its
wealth and temporal power.

[7] The harlot and the giant stand respectively for the Pope
(both Boniface VIII. and him successor Clement V.) and the kings
of France, especially Philip the Fair. The turning of the eyes of
the harlot upon Dante seems to signify the dealings of Boniface
with the Italians, which awakened the jealousy of Philip; and the
dragging of the car, transformed into a monster, through the
wood, so far as to hide it from the poet, may be taken as
typifying the removal of the seat of the Papacy from Rome to
Avignon, in 1305.



CANTO XXXIII. The Earthly Paradise.--Prophecy of Beatrice
concerning one who shall restore the Empire.--Her discourse with
Dante.--The river Eunoe.--Dante drinks of it, and is fit to
ascend to Heaven.


"Deus, venerunt gentes,"[1] the ladies began, alternating, now
three now four, a sweet psalmody, and weeping. And Beatrice,
sighing and compassionate, was listening to them so moved that
scarce more changed was Mary at the cross. But when the other
virgins gave place to her to speak, risen upright upon her feet,


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