THE DIVINE COMEDY.

Professor Charles Eliot Norton delivered the fourth lecture of his course on Dante, last evening in Sanders Theatre before an audience that severely taxed the seating capacity of the theatre. The subject of the lecture was: "The Divine Comedy; - Hell." Professor Norton spoke in substance as follows:

To the pangs of exile which Dante suffered were added the pangs of disappointment. The whips and stings which be had to bear drove him at length to take refuge within himself and there in the sanctuary of his own soul he found the peace and security he had yearned for. Never was there a greater difference between the outer and inner life than we see at this time in Dante. The hand of man had let him go, and he grasped the hand of God.

Dante believed firmly that the setting forth of the lessons of wisdom was his divinely appointed task, and that in his work he was guided and strengthened by God himself. He intended to lead men to a happier, better condition on earth, by showing them the misery that they made for themselves by sin, and by pointing out the way by which they must ascend to blessedness. In few other works of men do we find such uninterrupted consistency of purpose as in the Divine Comedy. From the beginning to the end of the poem the aim of Dante is to guide his fellow men to righteousness and never for a moment do we lose sight of the great, resolute purpose of the poet.

The time of Dante's wonderful journey through the spiritual realms was in the year 1300. On an afternoon in April he found himself wandering in a deep gloomy forest, not knowing how he had come there or where he was. His mind seemed weighed down with heaviness as if he had just awakened from a deep sleep. After trying for some time to find his way out of the wood, he came at length to the foot of a mountain, over which the sun was setting, spreading its red gold rays in a beautiful glow upon the summit. The poet, longing to reach the light and leave the gloomy forest depths behind, begins to ascend the mountain, when he meets a spotted leopard, which makes him retreat downward again. Three times he struggles to reach the summit, and three times he meets raging animals, and is forced back again into the darkening gloom. In utter despair he is wandering about the great crags at the foot of the mountain, when he meets a stranger, who reveals himself to Dante as the poet Vergil, who tells him that in order to reach the light they must first go through the depths of Hell, and offers himself as guide.

The allegorical significance of this introduction to the Inferno is plain. Dante finds himself wandering helplessly in the dark, wretched forest of evil, and in order to reach the light attempts to climb the mountain of virtue, but is met and repulsed by passion and sensuality in the form of wild animals. He then meets reason in the person of Vergil, which shows him that the process of redemption is slow, and is not to be achieved by one great effort. He must rise through the purgatory of penitence. Dante tells us that there are many senses to his poem. Beside the meaning spoken of it has a political significance.

Night was falling as Vergil and Dante entered the infernal regions. The road was so steep and so gloomy that Dante hesitated to go on further until Vergil tells him that he has been sent by Beatrice to lead Dante from error into the path of righteousness. Dante on learning this declares he will follow him and will trust him. The poets enter through the gate, which bears the onmious inscription, "Leave hope, ye who enter here," and came into a scene of suffering and lamentation. Passing through the first great crowd of moaning wretches, and crossing the Charon, they come among the souls that are suffering penance for original sin, and no other guilt. Thence they advance into a second circle, at the entrance to which stands Minos, who assigns to the spirits their proper places in Hell. Leaving Minos they continue along a rocky cliff, past which rushes the tempest that carries along in its mad career the sinners that have subjected reason to lust. They came at length to a broad flood, where lost wretches are struggling with the waters, as the poets cross, the sinners reach up imploring hands to them, while the savage boatman flings back those who try to climb upon the boat, bidding them go back to the other dogs.

The scenes of suffering in the picture of the inferno are revolting and almost incredible, but Dante's purpose of leading men to righteousness was a tremendous one, and not to be attained by gentle means.

The last scene of the poets' journey through Hell is the most horrible. After passing through the lowest circles, they come upon a frozen pool, in which incased in the ice are the traitors of various degrees. By this pool they meet and conquer Dis, or Satan, once the fairest of Heaven's angles. The picture of Satan is the most horrible and monstrous to be found in the work. After leaving Dis they turn their faces upward till at length they come forth upon the surface of the earth to see again the stars.

In this poem beyond the delight, we gain strength and consolation, and if these serve the purpose of helping man in the struggle of life, then never has their function been better fulfilled than in this work of the loftiest of the human poets.