As 'fore the sun That weighs our vision down, and veils his form In light transcendent, thus my virtue fail'd Unequal. (Purgatorio.) As sunshine cheers Limbs numb'd by nightly cold, e'en thus my look Unloosed her tongue. And now there came o'er the perturbed waves, Loud crashing, terrible, a sound that made Either shore tremble, as if of a wind Impetuous, from conflicting vapours sprung, That, 'gainst some forest driving all his might, Plucks off the branches, beats them down, and hurls Afar; then, onward pressing, proudly sweeps His whirlwind rage, while beasts and shepherds fly. (Inferno.) As florets, by the frosty air of night Bent down and closed, when day has blanch'd their leaves Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems, So was my fainting vigour new restored. (Inferno.) As fall off the light autumnal leaves, One still another following, till the bough Strews all its honours on the earth beneath. (Inferno.) Bees, dolphins, rays of sunlight, snow, starlings, doves, frogs, a bull, falcons, fishes, larks, and rooks are all used, generally with characteristic touches of detail. Specially tender is this: E'en as the bird, who 'mid the leafy bower Has, in her nest, sat darkling through the night With her sweet brood; impatient to descry Their wished looks, and to bring home their food, In the fond quest, unconscious of her toil; She, of the time prevenient, on the spray That overhangs their couch, with wakeful gaze Expects the sun, nor, ever, till the dawn Removeth from the east her eager ken, So stood the dame erect. The most important forward step was made by Petrarch, and it is strange that this escaped Humboldt in his famous sketch in the second volume of _Cosmos_, as well as his commentator Schaller, and Friedlander. For when we turn from Hellenism to Petrarch, it does not seem as if many centuries lay between; but rather as if notes first struck in the one had just blended into distinct harmony in the other.