Whereby I knewe that she a goddesse was, And, therewithall, resorted to my minde My thought, that late presented mee the glas Of brittle state, of cares that here wee finde, Of thousand woes to seely[1515] men assynde: And how shee now bid mee come and beholde,[1516] To see with eye that earst in thought I rolde. 25. Flat downe I fell, and with all reuerence Adored her, perceiuing now, that shee, A goddesse, sent by godly prouidence, In earthly shape thus shewd her selfe to mee, To wayle and rue this world’s vncertainty:[1517] And, while I honourd thus her godhead’s might, With plaining voyce these words to mee shee shright. 26. “I shall thee guyde first to the griesly lake, And thence vnto the blissfull place of rest, Where thou shalt see, and heare, the playnt they make That whilome here bare swinge among the best: This shalt thou see: but greate is the vnrest That thou must byde, before thou canst attayne Unto the dreadfull place where these remayne.” 27. And, with these words, as I vpraysed stood, And gan to followe her that straight forth paste,[1518] Ere I was ware, into a desert woode Wee now were come: where, hand in hand imbraste,[1519] Shee led the way, and through the thicke so traste,[1520] As, but I had bene guided by her might, It was no way for any mortall wight. 28. But, loe, while thus amid the desert darke Wee passed on, with steps and pace vnmeete, A rumbling roare, confusde with howle and barke Of dogs, shoke all the ground vnder our feete, And stroke the din within our eares so deepe, As, halfe distraught, vnto the ground I fell, Besought retourne, and not to visite hell. 29. But shee, forthwith, vplifting mee a pace, Remoude my dread, and, with a stedfast minde, Bad mee come on, for here was now the place, The place where wee our trauail’s end[1521] should finde: Wherewith I rose,[1522] and to the place assignde Astoinde I stalkt, when strayght wee approached nere The dreadfull place, that you will dread to here. 30. An[1523] hideous hole, all vaste, withouten shape, Of endles depth, orewhelmde with ragged stone, With ougly mouth, and griesly iawes doth gape, And to our sight confounds it selfe in one: Here entred wee, and, yeeding forth, anone An horrible lothly[1524] lake wee might discerne, As blacke as pitch that cleped is _Auerne_. 31.