[1] Sordello and Virgil (Canto VI.) embraced each other. The shades could thus express their mutual affection. Perhaps it is out of modesty that Virgil here represses Statius, and possibly there may be the under meaning that an act of reverence is not becoming from a soul redeemed, to one banned in eternal exile. CANTO XXII. Ascent to the Sixth Ledge.—Discourse of Statius and Virgil.—Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous.—The Mystic Tree.—Examples of Temperance. Already was the Angel left behind us,—the Angel who had turned us to the sixth round,—having erased a stroke[1] from my face; and he had said to us that those who have their desire set on justice are Beati, and his words ended with sitiunt, without the rest.[2] And I, more light than through the other passes, was going on so that without any labor I was following upward the swift spirits, when Virgil began, “Love kindled by virtue always kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly; wherefore from the hour when amid us Juvenal descended into the limbo of Hell, and made known to me thy affection, my own good will toward thee was such that more never bound one to an unseen person; so that these stairs will now seem short to me. But tell me (and as a friend pardon me, if too great confidence let loose my rein, and as a friend now talk with me) boxy avarice could find a place within thy breast, amid wisdom so great as that wherewith through thy diligence thou wast filled?” [1] The fifth P. [2] The Angel had not recited all the words of the Beatitude, but only, “Blessed are they which do thirst after righteousness,” contrasting this thirst with the thirst for riches.