The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . agued in his proud attempt on Sennaars plain. O Niobe ! in what a trance of woeThee I beheld, upon that highway sons on either side thee slain. 0 Saul !How ghastly didst thou look, on thine own swordExpiring, in Gilboa, from that hourNeer visited with rain from heaven, or dew. 0 fond Arachne ! thee I also spider now, in anguish, crawling up 40 The unfinished web thou weavedst to thy bane. CAEY Q 162 THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xii O Rehoboam ! here thy shape doth seemLouring no more defiance ; but fear-smote,
The Vision, or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise of Dante Alighieri . agued in his proud attempt on Sennaars plain. O Niobe ! in what a trance of woeThee I beheld, upon that highway sons on either side thee slain. 0 Saul !How ghastly didst thou look, on thine own swordExpiring, in Gilboa, from that hourNeer visited with rain from heaven, or dew. 0 fond Arachne ! thee I also spider now, in anguish, crawling up 40 The unfinished web thou weavedst to thy bane. CAEY Q 162 THE VISION OF DANTE [Canto xii O Rehoboam ! here thy shape doth seemLouring no more defiance ; but fear-smote,With none to chase him, in his chariot whirled. Was shown beside upon the solid dear Alcmaeon forced his mother rateThat ornament, in evil hour received:How, in the temple, on Sennacherib fellHis sons, and how a corpse they left him shown the scath, and cruel mangling madeBy Tomyris on Cyrus, when she cried, Blood thou didst thirst for : take thy fill of shown how routed in the battle fledThe Assyrians, Holofernes slain, and een 50. The relics of the carnage. Troy I ashes and in caverns. Oh ! how abject, Ilion, was thy semblance there. What master of the pencil or the styleHad traced the shades and lines, that might have madeThe subtlest workman wonder ? Dead, the dead ; 60 The living seemed alive: with clearer eye beheld not, who beheld the mine what I did tread on, while I wentLow bending. Now swell out, and with stiff necksPass on, ye sons of Eve ! vale not your looks,Lest they descry the evil of your path. I noted not (so busied was my thought)How much we now had circled of the mount;And of his course yet more the sun had spent; i Lines 42-II8] PURGATORY 163 When he, who with still wakeful caution went, 70 Admonished : Raise thou up thy head : for know Time is not now for slow suspense. Behold, That way, an angel towards us. Lo, Where duly the sixth handmaid doth return From service on the day.
Size: 1885px × 1326px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordantealighieri1265132, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
