(Cary.)

V. Very closely connected with this picturesqueness, is the topographic reality of Dante's journey through Hell. You should note and dwell on this as one of his great charms, and which gives a striking peculiarity to his poetic power. He thus takes the thousand delusive forms of a nature worse than chaos, having no reality but from the passions which they excite, and compels them into the service of the permanent. Observe the exceeding truth of these lines:

Noi ricidemmo 'l cerchio all' altra riva, Sovr' una fonte che bolle, e riversa, Per un fossato che da lei diriva. L' acqua era buja molto più che persa: E noi in compagnia dell' onde bige Entrammo giù per una via diversa. Una palude fa, ch' ha nome Stige, Questo tristo ruscel, quando è disceso Al piè delle maligne piagge grige. Ed io che di mirar mi stava inteso,-- Vidi genti fangose in quel pantano Ignude tutte, e con sembiante offeso. Questi si percotean non pur con mano, Ma con la testa, e col petto, e co' piedi, Troncandosi co' denti a brano a brano. ...

Così girammo della lorda pozza Grand' arco tra la ripa secca e 'l mezzo, Con gli occhi volti a chi del fango ingozza: 'Venimmo appi d' una torre al dassezzo'.

(C. vii. ver. 100 and 127.)

--We the circle cross'd To the next steep, arriving at a well, That boiling pours itself down to a foss Sluic'd from its source. Far murkier was the wave Than sablest grain: and we in company Of th' inky waters, journeying by their side, Enter'd, though by a different track, beneath. Into a lake, the Stygian nam'd, expands The dismal stream, when it hath reach'd the foot Of the grey wither'd cliffs. Intent I stood To gaze, and in the marish sunk, descried A miry tribe, all naked, and with looks Betok'ning rage. They with their hands alone Struck not, but with the head, the breast, the feet, Cutting each other piecemeal with their fangs. ...

--Our route Thus compass'd, we a segment widely stretch'd Between the dry embankment and the cove Of the loath'd pool, turning meanwhile our eyes Downward on those who gulp'd its muddy lees; Nor stopp'd, till to a tower's low base we came.