it, is a strange homage to its power, even in that time of quick feeling; but as strange and great a proof of its obscurity. What is dark and forbidding in it was scarcely more clear to the poet's contemporaries. And he, whose last object was amusement, invites no audience but a patient and confiding one. O voi che siete in piccioletta barca, Desiderosi di ascoltar, seguiti Dietro al mio legno che cantando varca, Tornate a riveder li vostri liti: Non vi mettete in pelago, chè forse Perdendo me rimarreste smarriti. L'acqua ch'io prendo giammai non si corse: Minerva spira, e conducemi Apollo, E nuove muse mi dimostran l'Orse. Voi altri pochi, che drizzaste 'l collo Per tempo al pan degli angeli, del quale Vivesi qui, ma non si vien satollo, Metter potete ben per l'alto sale Vostro navigio, servando mio solco Dinanzi all'acqua che ritorna eguale. Que gloriosi che passaro a Colco, Non s'ammiraron, come voi farete, Quando Jason vider fatto bifolco.--_Parad._ 2.[50] [Footnote 49: _Vide_ Ozanam, _Dante_, pp. 535, _sqq._ Ed.] [Footnote 50: O ye who fain would listen to my song, Following in little bark full eagerly My venturous ship, that chanting hies along, Turn back unto your native shores again; Tempt not the deep, lest haply losing me, In unknown paths bewildered ye remain. I am the first this voyage to essay; Minerva breathes--Apollo is my guide; And new-born muses do the Bears display. Ye other few, who have look'd up on high For angels' food betimes, e'en here supplied Largely, but not enough to satisfy,-- Mid the deep ocean ye your course may take, My track pursuing the pure waters through, Ere reunites the quickly-closing wake. Those glorious ones, who drove of yore their prow To Colchos, wonder'd not as ye will do, When they saw Jason working at the plough. WRIGHT'S _Dante_.]