Chapter VII: Canto V: CLXX

Marshalling the way, by tract untrod before,
Discoursing mainly on fair science theme,
Geology, and geometric lore,
Attraction’s laws, and rainbow optic’s beam,
Prismatic hues that Newton learned to gleam,
And gravity the fallen fruit made known
To his great mind, on whom discovery’s stream
Poured her clear light, and claimed him as her own;
Galileo, Pascal, Boyle, renowned names, were shown.

CLXXI.

Beguiled with knowledge and instructive speech
Until they gained the porch, fair science, hight,
By that fair sylvan glade they joy’d to reach,
That marv’lous led to pleasantries delight:
The spot whereof their guide had charmed the sight
With bright illusions, not less bright than true;
Revealed again the past, tho’ hid in night,
And what was old once more revived as new;
Things ’neath, and on the earth, those ’bove, they now pursue.

CLXXII.

With awe akin to rev’rence they beheld
What seem’d a porch or entrance bold display’d,
Baseless as tho’ on floating clouds propell’d,
Yet show’d fair columns thro’ the mist array’d,
Like those of Pallas, half obscured in shade,
With figures geometral carved in stone,
That did adorn that portico’s façade;
The zodiac signs and optic tube were shown,
And here Urania crowned with stars emblazoned shone.

CLXXIII.

They entered straight up steps that rose in air,
So buoyant seemed that lofty flight’s ascent,
From whose high top it oped on vision fair,
Not goodlier showed from mount or battlement,
That much they wondered at its wide extent;
All marv’lous fill’d with that enticing view,
The ambient air they seemed to circumvent,
As glanced their sight o’er dizzy mountains blue,
And ever varied sky, o’ertinged with golden hue.

CLXXIV.

For now they took their stand on some huge height
Apennine, or like to Caucasus upborne,
From whence they could descry the golden light,
When Phœbus first unbars the gates of morn,
Dispread his amber golden locks unshorn,
When as a god his forehead’s orient beam
Doth usher in the ruddy streaked dawn,
When Phæton-like he guides his fiery team,
Whose axle’s glow doth fright dark Erebus’ foul dream.

CLXXV.

Far from the earth they tracked the eagle’s haunt,
They saw the king of birds his eyry rear,
Watching his clam’rous brood of eaglets gaunt,
Or pounce for prey, then soaring upward bear,
With cruel talons strong, the kid to tear;
They saw him take his strong and awful flight,
With dusky pinion cleaving wide the air,
O’er turmoil wave beneath, or craggy height,
There gazing on the sun his fixed undazzled sight.

CLXXVI.

And other birds of prey, with rav’nous maw:
The falcon, stooping o’er his quarry weak;
The vulture, horrid bird, neck bare they saw,
Scenting the air his carrion foul to seek,
And glut on entrails with his tearing beak;
Like that fierce bird Prometheus cruel found,
That gnawed his heart, and did its vengeance wreak,
Upon his agonizing victim bound
That ever fed, and found new flesh at every wound.

CLXXVII.

Lo! now bright Sol had risen high, and strong
The mountains crimsoned o’er were capp’d with gold;
O’er tow’r and tree the radiance stole along,
Swept o’er the vale, while wave empurpled roll’d;
And nature smiled, her glories to unfold;
The warbling choir at heav’n’s gate did sing;
The air, with teeming life rejoicing, told
Of insects’ jubilee, and their off’ring,
That bask in sunny ray, or spread the burnished wing.

CLXXVIII.

The zenith pass’d, the glorious orb of day,
His sloping wheels fast hast’ning to the west,
Dispreads his gorgeous vestment’s gold array,
Swift hurrying on his fiery team to rest,
The goal to reach, fair islands of the blest;
A voice went up from ocean, earth, and air,
In pæons heard spontaneous loud addrest,
That fill’d th’ empyrean vast with acclaim clear:
Oh! would but thankless man record the Giver’s care.

CLXXIX.

Yet what sublimer can enchant the sight,
Or can with its magnificence compare
Its evening setting and its morning light,
Of which mankind its daily glories share,
Nor sees the Hand that guides the blazing sphere,
That up the shining way treads like a god,
Diurnal seen, if seen with brutish stare,
Nor aught attracts beyond this earthly clod,
Their being’s end and aim is dormouse-like to plod.

CLXXX.

But lo! the shadows dim like pale ghosts rise,
That warns we should descend this promont’ry,
And gain yon tow’r, just seen beneath the skies
In twilight gloom of deep solemnity;
The air breathes still as silence seated by,
That suits our purpose o’er the heav’ns to gaze:
There trace the Hand that spreads the stars on high,
Man’s noblest thoughts in adoration raise,
And in the wond’rous search his great Creator praise.

CLXXXI.

They eftsoons gained that gray-worn lonely tow’r,
Whose spiral stone-flight they ’gan quick ascend;
Led by the bard, they reached its secret bow’r,
Where nightly watchers of the stars oft wend,
And night with ebon wand his rites attend,
Joined with Hecâte, solemn mysteries keep;
Here the pale lamp its glim’ring flame did lend,
Faint to illume th’ apartment high and steep,
Where starry science oft pursued her studies deep.

CLXXXII.

In such a tow’r Philosophy, heav’n born,
Hath here, by glimpse of chaste Diana’s ray,
Outwatched the “Bear” with optic glass till morn,
When Lucifer’s bright forehead dawned the day.
Such drew the Tuscan artist to survey
Th’ etherial field, discoveries new t’ unfold,
Which Pythagoras early led the way,
Hence Copernicus drew his system bold,
And proved the central sun, round whom the planets roll’d.

CLXXXIII.

“Plato divine, so call’d, the learned great,
From such an elevation thus could scan
The concave heav’n;--make known a future state,
A Being vast supreme define to man,
As far as reason of an heathen can,
That hath not Revelation’s light to guide,
Unknown to him redemption’s mighty plan,
Eke hid from Cato, Socrates beside,
Bless’d truth revealed to man, in which he can confide.”

CLXXXIV.

Thus spake the bard with sweet digressive speech,
That from his lips like Hybla honey fell,
On whom his list’ners hung as he did teach
With winning voice that seemed to please them well;
Not fair Calypso, from her grotto cell,
With more endearment drew Ulysses’ son,
Or did enforce, like Mentor, grave counsel
In wisdom, science’ walks, delightful shown,
As his recital gave, and charmingly made known.

CLXXXV.

Ascending, then, its frowning battlement,
From which the field of space they did command,
Wide as from Pharos seen for bold extent--
Ocean and sky, and point of farthest land;
There upward pointing rose from lofty stand,
Like Herschel’s telescope of mighty pow’r,
Whose pond’rous tube surprised the gazing band,
And more amazed when told how vast its tour,
That compass’d rolling suns, planets, and stars obscure.

CLXXXVI.

See! Hesperus now leads the starry host,
With silver-zoned Diana, goddess fair,
Who love-enamoured came to Caria’s coast,
To Latmos mountain nightly did repair,
Endymion boy to kiss with glossy hair,
Fabled in youthful loveliness to sleep;
And Orion, whom pale Phœbe’s love did share;
There glitt’ring Pleiades calm watchings keep,
That bid the sailor steer in safety o’er the deep.

CLXXXVII.

Full orbed the moon, “Luna” yclep’d in heav’n,
See how she parts the silv’ry skirted cloud,
That o’er her pathway wends by winds fast driv’n,
And doth her form of beauty oft enshroud,
’Neath yon pavilion as her head she bow’d,
Or mounting soars once more the azure night;
Not fairer her whom robed as Isis show’d,
Egypt’s fair queen in her adornment bright,
That drew the Roman’s gaze and love-entranced sight.

CLXXXVIII.

Soaring ’mid highest noon her lucid beam,
Illumes with mellow light, rock, hill, valley,
And nodding wood, and rivers flowing gleam,
And white sail seen in calm serenity,
And limpid spring heard murm’ring pleasantly;
While curfew’s chime swings loud from distant shore,
Where silvery moonbeams fall on tow’r and tree,
Nor voice of multitude like ocean’s roar
Disturbs the tranquil night, Salvator’s soft-like hour.

CLXXXIX.

See yon expanse fretted with golden fires,
In mazy dance their several orbits wend
Harmonious round, that never stops nor tires,
A flight immeasurable that knows no end,
In number infinite, that cannot blend!
Each nicely balanced by attractions pow’r
And centrifugal force, their course attend;
Projectile hurled on their stupendous tour,
Orb following orb sublime in one eternal sphere.

CXC.

Yon planet see, nearest the orb of day,
Mercury of sparkling red, great Hermes named;
And Venus fair, with white and purest ray;
Our Earth, and Mars with fiery aspect flamed,
Emblem of war, that terror, discord, claimed;
And Jupiter, resplendent orb of light,
With his attendant moons and belts so famed;
Ringed Saturn, dimly red with sluggish flight,
Whose children Rhea bore devouring quenched in night.

CXCI.

And far beyond yon outer circle’s range
The Georgium Sidus wheels thro’ space immense;
And more, eccentric Comet’s orbit strange,
That frights the nations as it flames intense,
The brandished scimitar of Omnipotence,
Or shoots a train that arc of heav’n doth span,
Onward through space; nor back returneth hence,
For philosophic eye again to scan,
Till ages thrice have swept the myriad race of man.

CXCII.

See yon faint stream of light the heav’ns embrace,
The galaxy or milky-way so hight,
Like nebula spread infinite o’er space,
Studded in clusters thick as Bootes bright;
The greater and the lesser Bear of night,
Conspicuous seen athwart the northern sky,
That cheers the tempest-tost ’plex’d seamen’s sight,
And polar fixed star he doth descry,
To guide his vent’rous bark, borne on the billows high.

CXCIII.

These seven revolving planets, ever bright,
That round our system’s sun all glorious roll,
And shine all radiant with a borrowed light,
Form but a section of the mighty whole.
The thought it kindled up the poet’s soul,
To stretch her pinion o’er the vast profound,
System on system ’bove the starry pole,
That man’s poor intellect it doth astound,
Whose flight, like Icarus, soon hastens to the ground.

CXCIV.

“Know then” (so ’gan the rapt inspired bard)
“This glorious earth, on which we live and move,
Sings as it spins (its Maker’s chief regard,
Scene of man’s fall, and eke redeeming love),
In loveliest harmony like yon orbs above;
With gentle slope that gives the varied year
Revolving, deviates not its track to rove,
And on its axis doth diurnal steer:
Hence day and night, sweet change, harmonious doth appear.

CXCV.

“And yon fair moon, gem of the silent night,
Is earth’s attendant handmaid seen to wait;
Her head ’kerchiefed in fleecy robe of light;
Not eastern bride displays more lovely state,
Or Peri hath a lovelier, softer gait;
I’ve wooed her many a time with love-strained eye,
When she the heav’ns hath trod, with look elate,
A flood of light outpouring from the sky,
Or bowed her radiant brow ’neath cloudy canopy.

CXCVI.

“Our system vast stupendous to descry,
Yon golden sun and planets wheeling round
Is but a speck lost in immensity,
So infinite, amazing, and profound;
Thought, reason, staggers with a look astound,
Heights to explore and depths unknown to delve;
As the least grain, where ocean’s sands abound,
So doth our planetary world revolve
As small, compared with space, nor missed though it dissolve.

CXCVII.

“How like an angel sings this moving globe,
Shining resplendent thro’ her orbit’s flight,
Majestic moonlike doth her form enrobe,
But larger seen amid the vault of night
Than our fair satellite, climbing heav’n’s height,
Yet to th’ universe but a twinkling star,
As Hesperus, or Lucifer as bright,
From utmost Ferro seen, or Borneo far,
So ’mid the firmament earth wends her crystal car.

CXCVIII.

“How infinite the thought, surpassing great,
That this huge globe, with all its pomp and pride,
Mountains sublime, and nature’s awful state;
Its sea of wonders, glorious in its tide,
That rolls remotest shores its billows wide;
Its temples, glorious to beholder’s eye;
Triumphs and gorgeous pageantry, beside:
Though all dissolve and into chaos fly,
Creation still revolves, nor lays her glories by.

CXCIX.

“Gaze as you will, and multiply your pow’rs,
’Tis but a little span ye scan at most,
A moment’s ken, compared with minutes, hours,
Or countless years, to tell yon shining host:
Height above height, a world’s unbounded coast,
And other heav’ns and star-bespangled sky;
Could we the boundless search exploring boast,
Whose light more swift than thought doth speed and fly,
Nor yet our globe hath reached, travelling immensity.

CC.

“Suffice we must our higher flight suspend,
Our wing restrain, conjecture infinite,
‘In wand’ring mazes lost,’ withouten end,
Blinded our gaze with uncreated light,
And only giv’n to immortal sight;
Those shackles loosed that doth our spirit bound,
Ere we can entertain such vision bright,
That mortal man exclaims, with deep astound,
How wonderful Thy works, how marvellous are found!’”

CANTO VI.

ARGUMENT.

A Recapitulation of the Wonders Shown--The Proper Use of Knowledge
enforced--The Infinite Value of Man’s Soul and Highest Destiny--An
Inducement the Happiness of the Blest--The Scenes of Life chequered
for a Wise Purpose--Man’s Redemption--The Summons--The Poet’s
Departure--The Crowd, led by Sir Page, resume their Common Dress;
after which they are brought by Sir Herald to the Postern Gate; who
checks the Rabble Rout by a Blast of his Horn--The Crowd
dismissed--Disperse their several Ways--Variety of their
Pursuits--Dan Fantasy’s Palace is again illuminated--Other Folks
invited--Sir Herald Prepares a Second Time to sound.