beauty the Ptolemaic system of astronomy; the teach-
ings of Dionysius the Areopagite regarding the celes-
tial hierarchy; the current astrological dogma of stellar
influences; the guesses of the crude science of the
times; the cumbrous theology of Aquinas; the rapt
vision of the mystics; his own personal experiences;
his passionate love for Beatrice the Florentine maiden,
and Beatrice the symbol of divine revelation; the
whole process of the development of soul from the
first look of faith to the final beatitude; and even to
symbolize the Triune God Himself as He appears be.
yond all space and time. No wonder that as he em.
barks on the deeps of this untried sea he warns the
thoughtless not to follow him.

O ye, who in some pretty little boat,
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along,
Turn back to look again upon your shores;
Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,
In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,
And Muses nine point out to me the Bears. ¹

How well he succeeded in this most hazardous voy-
age is a matter of diverse opinion. Leigh Hunt, who
was incapable of appreciating such a nature as Dante's
and such a poem as the Divine Comedy, in his little
book entitled Stories from the Italian Poets, says:
"In Paradise we realize little but a fantastical as-
semblage of doctors and doubtful characters, far more
angry and theological than celestial; giddy raptures
of monks and inquisitors dancing in circles, and saints
denouncing Popes and Florentines; in short, a heaven
libeling itself with invectives against earth, and ter-

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