In the next Cantos, xxi. and xxii., the Poet delights us with scenes of a graceful and most appropriate playfulness. First there is the charming episode, _Purg._ xxi. 100 _sqq._, where Statius, addressing Virgil, whom he does not recognise, says: “What would I have given to have been on earth when the author of the _Aeneid_ was alive!” and Dante, in spite of Virgil’s unspoken but unmistakable “_Taci!_” betrays the situation by an uncontrollable smile. Then in the next Canto (xxii.), when the puzzled Virgil mistakes the guilt for which Statius is suffering for _avarice_, it is Statius’ turn to laugh. The gentle, mirthful grace of the whole scene is enhanced by the pathetic sequel, when Statius explains that it was Virgil who converted him, by his famous fourth Eclogue, to Christianity, like one who, walking himself in darkness, carries a lantern behind his back to illumine the path of those who follow— Facesti come quei che va di notte Che porta il lume dietro, e sè non giova Ma dopo sè fa le persone dotte.[135] Charming too is the playful irony of the scene in the Earthly Paradise where Matelda gravely discourses to Dante, in presence of Virgil and Statius, about the poets who in days of yore sang of the Golden Age— Quelli ch’ anticamente poetaro L’ età del’ oro e suo stato felice—[136] and Dante looks round on them and sees them smiling. Io mi volsi in dietro allora tutto A’ miei poeti, e vidi che con riso Udito avevan l’ ultimo costrutto.[137] The smiles which wreathe the lips of the denizens of the Heavenly Paradise, like that which gleams in Beatrice’s eyes,[138] are something ineffably solemn and sublime: like the _Gloria_ chanted in the Starry Heaven, of which the Poet exclaims— ... mi sembiava Un riso de l’ universo.[139] But there is a touch of the more distinctively human in the suggestion thrown out in the following Canto that St. Gregory woke up in heaven to the true facts about the Angelic Hierarchy, and “smiled at his own mistake” in departing from the Dionysian scheme. Onde, sì tosto come li occhi aperse In questo ciel, di sè medesmo rise.[140]