, him at once. They could study no more ennobling teacher. If
they are unfamiliar with Italian, they may read the faithful prose
version of the "Inferno" by John Carlyle, of the "Purgatorio" and
"Paradiso," by A. J. Butler, or the translations by Cary in blank
verse, and the Dean of Wells in _terza rima_. If they desire to begin
with some general introduction, they may read the fine essays by Dean
Church and Mr. Lowell (in "Among my Books") and the excellent "Shadow
of Dante," by Maria Rosetti. To such books, or to those of Mrs.
Oliphant and others, I must refer the reader for all details
respecting the structure of the poem which he called the "Divine
Comedy." The name "Comedy" must not mislead any one. The poem is far
too stately, intense, and terrible for humor of any kind. It was only
called "Commedia" partly because it ends happily, and partly because
it is written in a simple style and in the vernacular Italian, not, as
was then the almost universal custom for serious works, in Latin. The
name "Divina" is meant to indicate its solemnity and sacredness.

Many are unable to apprehend the greatness of the "Divine Comedy."
Voltaire called the "Inferno" revolting, the "Purgatorio" dull, and
the "Paradiso" unreadable. The reason is because they are not rightly
attuned for the acceptance of the great truths which the poem teaches,
and because they look at it from a wholly mistaken standpoint. If
anyone supposes that the "Inferno," for instance, is meant for a
burning torture-chamber of endless torments and horrible vivisection,
he entirely misses the central meaning of the poem as Dante himself
explained it. For he said that it was not so much meant to foreshadow
the state of souls after death--although on that subject he accepted,
without attempting wholly to shake them off, the horrors which, in
theory, formed part of mediaeval Catholicism--but rather "man as
rendering himself liable by the exercise of free-will to the rewards
and punishments of justice." The hell of Dante is the hell of self;
the hell of a soul which has not God in all its thoughts; the hell of
final impenitence, of sin cursed by the exclusive possession of sin.
It is a hell which exists no less in this world than in the next;
just as his purgatory reflects the mingled joy and anguish of true
repentance, and his heaven is the eternal peace of God, which men can
possess here and now, and which the world can neither give nor take
away. In other words, h