# Purgatory Canto 29

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> 
> Canto XXIX
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The lady, who in a following Canto is called Matilda, moves along the
> side of the stream in a contrary direction to the current, and Dante keeps
> equal pace with her on the opposite bank. A marvellous sight, preceded by
> music, appears in view.
> 
> Singing, as if enamour'd, she resumed
> And closed the song, with "Blessed they[1] whose sins
> Are cover'd." Like the wood - nymphs then, that
> Singly across the sylvan shadows; one [tripp'd
> Eager to view, and one to escape the sun;
> So moved she on, against the current, up
> The verdant rivage. I, her mincing step
> Observing, with as tardy step pursued.
> 
> [1: "Blessed they." - Psalm xxxii. 1.]
> 
> Between us not an hundred paces trod,
> The bank, on each side bending equally,
> Gave me to face the orient. Nor our way
> Far onward brought us, when to me at once
> She turn'd, and cried: "My brother! look, and hearken."
> And lo! a sudden lustre ran across
> Through the great forest on all parts, so bright,
> I doubted whether lightning were abroad;
> But that, expiring ever in the spleen
> 
> That doth unfold it, and this during still,
> And waxing still in splendour, made me question
> What it might be: and a sweet melody
> Ran through the luminous air. Then did I chide,
> With warrantable zeal, the hardihood
> Of our first, parent; for that there, where earth,
> Stood in obedience to the Heavens, she only,
> Woman, the creature of an hour, endured not
> Restraint of any veil, which had she borne
> Devoutly, joys, ineffable as these,
> Had from the first, and long time since, been mine.
> 
> While, through that wilderness of primly sweets
> That never fade, suspense I walk'd, and yet
> Expectant of beatitude more high;
> Before us, like a blazing fire, the air
> Under the green boughs glow'd; and, for a song,
> Distinct the sound of melody was heard.
> 
> O ye thrice holy virgins! for your sakes
> If e'er I suffer'd hunger, cold, and watching,
> Occasion calls on me to crave your bounty.
> Now through my breast let Helicon his stream
> Pour copious, and Urania[2] with her choir
> Arise to aid me; while the verse unfolds
> Things, that do almost mock the grasp of thought.
> 
> [2: "Urania." Landino observes, that intending to sing of heavenly
> things, he rightly invokes Urania. Thus Milton: "Descend from Heaven, Urania,
> by that name If rightly thou art call'd." Paradise Lost, b. vii. 1.]
> 
> Onward a space, what seem'd seven trees of gold
> The intervening distance to mine eye
> Falsely presented; but, when I was come
> So near them, that no lineament was lost
> Of those, with which a doubtful object, seen
> Remotely, plays on the misdeeming sense;
> Then did the faculty, that ministers
> Discourse to reason, these for tapers of gold[3]
> Distinguish; and i' the singing trace the sound
> "Hosanna!" Above, their beauteous garniture
> Flamed with more ample lustre, than the moon
> Through cloudless sky at midnight, in her noon.
> 
> [3: See Rev. i. 12.]
> 
> I turn'd me, full of wonder, to my guide;
> And he did answer with a countenance
> Charged with no less amazement: whence my view
> Reverted to those lofty things, which came
> So slowly moving toward us, that the bride
> Would have outstript them on her bridal day.
> 
> The lady call'd aloud: "Why thus yet burns
> Affection in thee for these living lights,
> And dost not look on that which follows them?"
> 
> I straightway mark'd a tribe behind them walk,
> As if attendant on their leaders, clothed
> With raiment of such whiteness, as on earth
> Was never. On my left, the watery gleam
> Borrow'd, and gave me back, when there I look'd,
> As in a mirror, my left side portray'd.
> 
> When I had chosen on the river's edge
> Such station, that the distance of the stream
> Alone did separate me; there I stay'd
> My steps for clearer prospect, and beheld
> The flames go onward, leaving, as they went,
> The air behind them painted as with trail
> Of liveliest pencils; so distinct were mark'd
> All those seven listed colours, whence the sun
> Maketh his bow, and Cynthia her zone.
> These streaming gonfalons did flow beyond
> My vision; and ten paces, as I guess,
> Parted the outermost. Beneath a sky
> So beautiful, came four and twenty elders[4],
> By two and two, with flower - de - luces crown'd.
> All sang one song: "Blessed be thou[5] among
> The daughters of Adam! and thy loveliness
> Blessed forever!" After that the flowers,
> And the fresh herblets, on the opposite brink,
> Were free from that elected race; as light
> In heaven doth second light, came after them
> Four[6] animals, each crown'd with verdurous leaf.
> With six wings each was plumed; the plumage full
> 
> [4: "Upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting." - Rev. iv.
> 4.]
> 
> [5: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
> womb." - Luke 1. 42.]
> 
> [6: "Four." The four evangelists.]
> 
> Of eyes; and the eyes of Argus would be such,
> Were they endued with life. Reader! more rhymes
> I will not waste in shadowing forth their form:
> For other need so straitens, that in this
> I may not give my bounty room. But read
> Ezekiel;[7] for he paints them, from the north
> How he beheld them come by Chebar's flood,
> In whirlwind, cloud, and fire; and even such
> As thou shalt find them character'd by him,
> Here were they; save as to the pennons: there,
> From him departing, John[8] accords with me.
> 
> [7: "Ezekiel." "And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the
> north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about
> it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of
> fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living
> creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And
> every one had four faces, and every one had four wings." - Ezekiel, i. 4, 5,
> 6.]
> 
> [8: "John." "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about
> him." - Rev. iv. 8.]
> 
> The space, surrounded by the four, enclosed
> A car triumphal:[9] on two wheels it came,
> Drawn at a Gryphon's[10] neck; and he above
> Stretch'd either wing uplifted, 'tween the midst
> And the three listed hues, on each side, three;
> So that the wings did cleave or injure none;
> And out of sight they rose. The members, far
> As he was bird, were golden; white the rest,
> with vermeil interven'd. So beautiful
> A car, in Rome, ne'er graced Augustus' pomp,
> Or Africanus': e'en the sun's itself
> Were poor to this; that chariot of the sun,
> Erroneous, which in blazing ruin fell
> At Tellus' prayer devout, by the just doom
> Mysterious of all - seeing Jove. Three nymphs[11],
> At the right wheel, came circling in smooth dance:
> The one so ruddy, that her form had scarce
> Been known within a furnace of clear flame;
> 
> [9: Either the Christian Church or perhaps the papal chair.]
> 
> [10: Under the griffin (gryphon), an imaginary creature, the fore -
> part of which is an eagle, and the hinder a lion, is shadowed forth the union
> of the divine and the human nature in Jesus Christ.]
> 
> [11: The three evangelical virtues: Charity, Hope, and Faith. Faith
> may be produced by charity, or charity by faith, but the inducements to hope
> must arise either from one or other of these.]
> 
> The next did look, as if the flesh and bones
> Were emerald; snow new - fallen seem'd the third.
> Now seem'd the white to lead, the ruddy now;
> And from her song who led, the others took
> Their measure, swift or slow. At the other wheel,
> A band quaternion[12], each in purple clad,
> Advanced with festal step, as, of them, one
> The rest conducted;[13] one, upon whose front
> Three eyes were seen. In rear of all this group,
> Two old men[14] I beheld, dissimilar
> In raiment, but in port and gesture like,
> Solid and mainly grave; of whom, the one
> Did show himself some favor'd counsellor
> Of the great Coan,[15] him, whom nature made
> To serve the costliest creature of her tribe:
> His fellow mark'd an opposite intent;
> Bearing a sword, whose glitterance and keen edge,
> E'en as I viewed it with the flood between,
> Appall'd me. Next, four others[16] I beheld
> Of humble seeming: and, behind them all,
> One single old man,[17] sleeping as he came,
> With a shrewd visage. And these seven, each
> Like the first troop were habited; but wore
> No braid of lilies on their temples wreathed.
> Rather, with roses and each vermeil flower,
> A sight, but little distant, might have sworn,
> That they were all on fire above their brow.
> 
> [12: The four moral virtues, of whom Prudence directs the others.]
> 
> [13: Prudence, described with three eyes, because she regards the
> past, the present, and the future.]
> 
> [14: "Two old men." St. Luke, the physician, characterized as the
> writer of the Acts of the Apostles, and St. Paul, represented with a sword, on
> account, as it should seem, of the power of his style.]
> 
> [15: Hippocrates, "whom nature made for the benefit of her favorite
> creature, man."]
> 
> [16: "The commentators," says Venturi, "suppose these four to be the
> four evangelists; but I should rather take them to be four principal doctors
> of the Church." Yet both Landino and Vellutello expressly call them the
> authors of the epistles, James, Peter, John, and Jude.]
> 
> [17: As some say, St. John, under the character of the author of the
> Apocalypse.]
> 
> When as the car was o'er against me, straight
> Was heard a thundering, at whose voice it seem'd
> The chosen multitude were stay'd; for there,
> With the first ensigns, made they solemn halt.
>
> — *Purgatory Canto 29*