Then was he hid; and towards the Bard antique I turned my steps, revolving in my brain The ominous words[372] which I had heard him speak. He moved, and as we onward went again Demanded of me: 'Wherefore thus amazed?' And to his question I made answer plain. 'Within thy mind let there be surely placed,' The Sage bade, 'what 'gainst thee thou heardest say. Now mark me well' (his finger here he raised), 'When thou shalt stand within her gentle ray 130 Whose beauteous eye sees all, she will make known The stages[373] of thy journey on life's way.' Turning his feet, he to the left moved on; Leaving the wall, we to the middle[374] went Upon a path that to a vale strikes down, Which even to us above its foulness sent. FOOTNOTES: [352] _Virtue_: Virgil is here addressed by a new title, which, with the words of deep respect that follow, marks the full restoration of Dante's confidence in him as his guide. [353] _Nor is there, etc._: The gate was found to be strictly guarded, but not so are the tombs. [354] _Jehoshaphat_: 'I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat' (Joel iii. 2). [355] _Epicurus_: The unbelief in a future life, or rather the indifference to everything but the calls of ambition and worldly pleasure, common among the nobles of Dante's age and that preceding it, went by the name of Epicureanism. It is the most radical of heresies, because adverse to the first principles of all religions. Dante, in his treatment of heresy, dwells more on what affects conduct as does the denial of the Divine government--than on intellectual divergence from orthodox belief. [356] _As well as, etc._: The question is: 'May they be seen?' The wish is a desire to speak with them. [357] _Nor only now, etc._: Virgil has on previous occasions imposed silence on Dante, as, for instance, at _Inf._ iii. 51. [358] _Be pleased, etc._: From one of the sepulchres, to be imagined as a huge sarcophagus, come words similar to the _Siste Viator!_ common on Roman tombs. [359] _Farinata_: Of the great Florentine family of the Uberti, and, in the generation before Dante, leader of the Ghibeline or Imperialist party in Florence. His memory long survived among his fellow-townsmen as that of the typical noble, rough-mannered, unscrupulous, and arrogant; but yet, for one good action that he did, he at the same time ranked in the popular estimation as a patriot and a hero. Boccaccio, misled perhaps by the mention of Epicurus, says that he loved rich and delicate fare. It is because all his thoughts were worldly that he is condemned to the city of unbelief. Dante has already (_Inf._ vi. 79) inquired regarding his fate. He died in 1264.