"O Reader! as I hope once more to reach That realm of holy triumph[1], for whose sake I oft lament my sins and smite my breast, Thou could'st not, in so brief a space, through fire Have pass'd and pluck'd thy finger, as I saw And was within the sign that follows Taurus. O glorious stars! light full of highest virtue! From whence, whate'er it be, my genius sprang, With you arose, and set the Sire of life[2], When first I breathed the Tuscan air. With you My lot was cast, when grace was given to mount The lofty wheel which guides your revolutions. To you, devoutly, my whole soul aspires To gather courage for the bold adventure That draws me onward tow'rds itself."[3] Brunetto Latini (his tutor afterwards) is reported to have foretold the boy's illustrious destiny, on due consultation with the heavenly bodies that presided at his birth. Yet, superstitious as Dante appears to have been in this respect, in the twentieth canto of the "Inferno" he punishes astrologers, and those who presume to predict events, by twisting their heads over their shoulders, and making those for ever look backward who, too daringly, had looked forward into inscrutable futurity. "People I saw within that nether glen, Silent, and weeping as they went, with slow Pace, like the chaunters of our litanies.[4] As I gazed down on them, the chin of each Seem'd marvellously perverted from the chest, And from the reins the visage turn'd behind: Wherefore, since none could look before him, all Must needs walk backward;--so it may have chanced To some one palsy-stricken, to be wrench'd Thus all awry; but I have never seen Aught like it, nor believe the like hath happened. Reader,--so help thee Heaven to gather fruit From this strange lesson!--think within thyself If I could keep my countenance unwet When I beheld our image so transposed, That the eyes wept their tears between the shoulders."[5] Though early deprived of his father by death, Dante appears to have been well attended to by his relatives and guardians, who placed him for education under Brunetto Latini and other eminent tutors. He was by them instructed not only in polite letters, but in those liberal accomplishments which became his rank and prospects in life. In these he excelled; yet, while he delighted in horsemanship, falconry, and all the manly as well as military exercises practised by persons of distinction in those days, he was, at the same time, so diligent a scholar, that he readily made himself master of all the crude learning then in vogue. It is stated by Pelli that, while yet a boy, he entered upon his noviciate at a convent of the Minor Friars. But his mind was too active and enterprising to enslave itself to dulness in any form; and he withdrew before the term of probation was ended.