Part 8 (1/2)

It was in accordance with this idea of Heaven and hell that Dante began his poem

One day, he said, when he was lonely and sad in spirit, he found hilooe that no mortal eyes had ever seen its equal--and even to think of it afterward caused him a bitterness not far from that of death itself

As he stood there he are of a presence close by, the stately figure of a il told hih hell and as far as the gates of Paradise

He made clear to Dante that this journey was the part of a Heavenly order and had been decreed by Heaven itself, and Dante, in great fear at what he was about to see, was led by Vergil through the forest until he came to the mouth of a black cavern Carven on the rock above it was a verse that told Dante that here was the entrance to the loorld,--the gateway to hell And the verse concluded with the grihs, groans, lamentations and terrible voices were heard froh this evil doorway, and now they were in a region of ht ever had entered All around the to the Acheron or River of Death, where the ferry wheels, bore the the dead he sternly ordered Dante to return whence he had coil interceded for him, and they passed on

After they had crossed the River of Death they entered the first circle of hell, where those who had thebaptized, or who had believed in soion than Christianity, must spend the rest of time Here were a number of noble spirits fro many of the poets, ladly have remained with them, for they were not unhappy and spent their tiil urged him onward

Deeper and deeper they descended They passed through great spaces wheretheions of chill rain and sleet, where the spirits of those who had been gluttonous in their lifeti called Cerberus And after many awful scenes that Dante could hardly bear to witness, he saw in front of him the towers of the dreadful city of Dis, or Satan, in which the spirits of the damned underwent punishments that orse than any he had witnessed thus far

Guarding the walls were the three Furies of the Greek legends When they beheld Dante they howled for the Gorgon, Medusa, with the snaky locks to come quickly and turn hiazed upon her face But Vergil bade Dante hide his eyes, and to be sure that he ht be saved he covered them with his own hand

They entered the city--and there and from that time on the punishments became so fearful that we shall not describe them here

In their journey they had constantly to be on their guard against the ress And in passing by a lake of burning pitch, in which tortured souls were burning, the deer to hurl him into the lake to lose his life and the hope of Heaven at one and the sa from one horror to another still more terrible, until they cail told Dante that noould need all his courage to sustain him, for he had coion of eternal ice and a bitter wind blew on them, so cold and dreadful that Dante was half dead from it and it seeer The wind, he saas caused by the bat-like wings of Satan hiantic and hairyfrom the icy pit in which he stood He had three heads, one red, one green and one white and yellow; and in his three reatest traitors of all time--Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius

When Dante was about to swoon froil watched his opportunity, and as the great wings of Satan rose he sprang beneath the the hairy side of the monster, they commenced to descend still lower And soon, to Dante's amazement, their doard path became an upward one, for Satan's waist was at the center of the earth and after they had passed it they must cli with the greatest difficulty, passing through a chieway that led for an incredible distance to the open air above; and when they arrived beneath the blue sky they were at the base of the Mountain of Purgatory, where men's spirits that were not doomed to hell must purify themselves before they could hope to enter the Heaven that lay above them

After the soot of hell ashed froil to ascend the ed in severe tasks, to cleanse themselves of sin before they could hope to attain the wonderful regions above; but these spirits were al pain and suffering, for their trouble was not endless as was the case with the spirits of hell, and they would certainly find happiness at last

When they came to the summit of the h this they passed, and once on the other side Dante lost sight of Vergil, who could acco lost Beatrice, now a radiant spirit, who had been chosen by divine will to show hi hietting a gliress as it lay beneath hiht of the sun At last Dante had ascended to so great a height in Heaven that he beheld God Himself--but what he saas so wonderful that it was impossible for him to write about it, and in this way his wonderful poe the Inferno Dante went to Paris, where he reat many scholars and wise men, who treated him with the utmost respect, but all the time he desired to be in his native city of Florence When Henry of Luxeed hiht enter with the conquerors and that his enee took place, but it was unsuccessful, and the poet was coers for the rest of his life As he lacked money, he had to take many humble offices to earn his bread, andthe jesters and buffoons at soreat house that had honored him with its favor

At last, weary of life and sick at heart, Dante went to Ravenna, where his genius was honored reater part of the civilized world and he was known as one of the greatest geniuses that had ever lived Many people believed that Dante had actually beheld the scenes that he described When they met him on the streets they would draw aside to let hi him a man whose destiny was different from their own, and they would whisper to each other that he was the ain alive and had looked with his own eyes at the horrors of the Infernal Regions

No doubt the fae that he received were pleasing to the sad soul of Dante, but he always remembered that he was still an outcast from his native city Florence stubbornly refused to remove her ban and when Dante died he was buried at Ravenna

There his body still lies, with a Latin inscription on his toratitude of the city of Florence to her greatest son, who is also the greatest poet that Italy has ever seen

CHAPTER X

ROBERT BRUCE

If you ask a Scot who is the greatest man that ever lived he will probably say Robert Bruce It does not o--his nah he had lived yesterday Songs and stories are told about him there and every school boy hears of hih to listen to the tales of his country

The reason for this is that Robert Bruce land, which country they used to hate Also because he was a great warrior, so strong in body and with such courage that it was alainst hiland he extended his power over the free land of Scotland, where the race and the speech were different fro the Scottish chiefs as to as to succeed to the Scottish throne Many claimants came forward, and as a result of this the chieftains were e Edward a chance to seize their country which he was not slow to take