To Tithonus was given the gift of immortality, but not of perpetual youth. As Tennyson makes him say :--
"The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
And after many a summer dies the swan.
Me only cruel immortality
Consumes: I wither slowly in thine arms,
Here at the quiet limit of the world,
A white-haired shadow roaming like a dream
The ever silent spaces of the East,
Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn."
This circumstantial way of measuring the flight of time is Homeric. Iliad., X. 250: "Let us be going, then, for the night declines fast, and the morning is near. And the stars have ready far advanced, and the greater portion of the night, by two parts, has gone by, but the third portion still remains."
"Now, with drawn sabre and impetuous speed,
In close pursuit he drives Pandion's breed;
Whose nimble feet spring with so swift a force
Across the fields, they seem to wing their course.
And now, on real wings themselves they raise,
And steer their airy flight by different ways;
One to the woodland's shady covert hies,
Around the smoky roof the other flies;
Whose feathers yet the marks of murder stain,
Where stamped upon her breast the crimson spots remain.
Tereus, through grief and haste to be revenged,
Shares the like fate, and to a bird is changed;
Fixed on his head the crested plumes appear,
Long is his beak, and sharpened like a spear;
Thus armed, his looks his inward mind display,
And, to a lapwing turned, he fans his way."
See also Gower, Confes. Amant, V.:--
"And of her suster Progne I finde
How she was torned out of kinde
Into a swalwe swift of wing,
Which eke in winter lith swouning
There as she may no thing be sene,
And whan the woride is woxe grene
And comen is the somer tide,
Then fleeth she forth and ginneth to chide
And chitereth out in her langage
What falshede is in mariage,
And telleth in a maner speche
Of Tereus the spouse breche."
"What time the morn mysterious visions brings,
While purer slumbers spread their golden
wings."
"Sleep and the god together went away."
"Far distant he descries,
"On a sudden open fly
Lucan, Phars., III.:--
The tribune with unwilling steps withdrew,
"In swarming cities vast
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.094
The first stair is Confession; the second, Contrition; and the third, Penance.
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.097
Purple and black. See Inf. V. Note 89.
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.105
The gate of Paradise is thus described by Milton, Parad. Lost, III. 501 :--
Ascending by degrees magnificent
Up to the wall of heaven, a structure high;
At top whereof, but far more rich, appeared
The work as of a kingly palace gate,
With frontispiece of diamond and gold
Imbellished; thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone, inimitable on earth
By model or by shading pencil drawn.
The stairs were such as whereon Jacob saw
Angels, ascending and descending, bands
Of guardians bright, when he from Esau fled
To Padan-Aram in the field of Luz,
Dreaming by night under the open sky,
And waking cried, 'This is the gate of heaven.'
Each stair mysteriously was meant, nor stood
There always, but drawn up to heaven sometimes
Viewless; and underneath a bright sea flowed
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl, whereon
Who after came from earth sailing arrived,
Wafted by angels; or flew o'er the lake,
Rapt in a chariot drawn by fiery steeds."
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.118
The golden key is the authority of the confessor; the silver, his knowledge.
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.132
Luke ix. 62: "No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." And xvii. 32: "Remember Lot's wife."
Boethius, Cons. Phil, Lib. III. Met. 12 :
"Heu! noctis prope terminos
Orpheus Eurydicen suam
Vidit, perdidit, occidit.
Vos haec fabula respicit,
Quicumque in superum diem
Mentem ducere quaeritis,
Nam qui Tartareum in specus
Victus lumina flexerit,
Quicquid praecipuum trahit,
Perdit, dum videt inferos."
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.136
Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 879 :--
With impetuous recoil and jarring sound
The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate
Harsh thunder."
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.138
When Caesar robbed the Roman treasury on the Tarpejan hill, the tribune Metellus strove to defend it; but Caesar, drawing his sword, said to him, "It is easier to do this than to say it."
While impious hands the rude assault renew:
The brazen gates with thundering strokes resound,
And the Tarpeian mountain rings around.
At length the sacred storehouse, open laid,
The hoarded wealth of ages past displayed;
There might be seen the sums proud Carthage sent,
Her long impending ruin to prevent.
There heaped the Macedonian treasures shone,
What great Flaminius and Aemilius won
From vanquished Philip and his hapless son.
There lay, what flying Pyrrhus lost, the gold
Scorned by the patriot's honesty of old:
Whate'er our parsimonious sires could save,
What tributary gifts rich Syria gave;
The hundred Cretan cities' ample spoil;
What Cato gathered from the Cyprian isle
Riches of captive kings by Pompey borne,
From utmost India and the rising morn;
Became the needy soldier's lawless prey:
And wretched Rome, by robbery laid low,
Was poorer than the bankrupt Caesar now."
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.140
The hymn of St. Ambrose, universally known in the churches as the Te Deum.
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 09.144
Thomson, Hymn:--
Assembled men to the deep organ join
The long-resounding voice, oft breaking clear
At solemn pauses through the swelling bass,
And, as each mingling flame increases each,
In one united ardour rise to heaven."