My heart greatly desired of this very thing to acquaint thee, Yea, and show-thee the men to-be-born, our glory her'after, So to gladden thine heart where now thy voyaging endeth.' 'Must it then be-believ'd, my sire, that a soul which attaineth Elysium will again submit to her old body-burden? 720 Is this well? what hap can awake such dire longing in them?' 'I will tell thee', O son, nor keep thy wonder awaiting,' Answereth Anchises, and all expoundeth in order. Know first that the heavens, and th' Earth, and space fluid or void, Night's pallid orb, day's Sun, and all his starry coævals, Are by one spirit inly quickened, and, mingling in each part, Mind informs the matter, nature's complexity ruling. Thence the living creatures, man, brute, and ev'ry feather'd fowl, And what breedeth in Ocean aneath her surface of argent: Their seed knoweth a fiery vigour, 'tis of airy divine birth, 730 In so far as unimpeded by an alien evil, Nor dull'd by the body's framework condemn'd to corruption. Hence the desires and vain tremblings that assail them, unable Darkly prison'd to arise to celestial exaltation; Nor when death summoneth them anon earth-life to relinquish, Can they in all discard their stain, nor wholly away with Mortality's plaguespots. It must-be that, O, many wild graffs Deeply at 'heart engrain'd have rooted strangely upon them: Wherefore must suffering purge them, yea, Justice atone them With penalties heavy as their guilt: some purify exposed 740 Hung to the viewless winds, or others long watery searchings Low i' the deep wash clean, some bathe in f[^ie]ry renewal: Each cometh unto his own retribution,--if after in ample Elysium we attain, but a few, to the fair Happy Woodland, Yet slow time still worketh on us to remove the defilement, Till it hath eaten away the acquir'd dross, leaving again free That first f[^ie]ry vigour, the celest[^ia]l virtue of our life. All whom here thou s[^ee]st, hav' accomplished purification: Unto the stream of Lethe a god their company calleth, That forgetful of old failure, pain & disappointment, 750 They may again into' earthly bodies with glad courage enter.' * * * Twín be the gates o' the house of sleep: as fable opineth 893 One is of horn, and thence for a true dream outlet is easy: Fair the other, shining perfected of ivory carven; But false are the visions that thereby find passage upward. Soon then as Anchises had spok'n, he-led the Sibyl forth And his son, and both dismisst from th' ivory portal. FINIS INDEX INDEX OF FIRST LINES PAGE A cottage built of native stone, 354