ou hast seen, and to a place art come
Where of myself no farther I discern.
By intellect and art I here have brought thee;
Take thine own pleasure for thy guide henceforth;
Beyond the steep ways and the narrow art thou.
Expect no more or word or sign from me;
Free and upright and sound is thy free will,
And error were it not to do its bidding
Thee o'er thyself I therefore crown and mitre."
(XXVII, 127.)

Brother Azarias gives us the mystical sense of this passage. "The soul
has conquered; therefore Virgil leaves the poet free from the dominion
of his passions; more than free, a king crowned triumphant over himself;
more than a king, a mitred priest, ruling the cloister of his heart, his
thoughts and his affections and mediator and intercessor before Divine
Mercy for himself and those commending themselves to his prayers."

So crowned and mitred over himself Dante now enters the Garden of Eden.

"Here did the parents of mankind dwell in innocence; here is there
perpetual spring and every fruit."

In the forest of Eden is a pure stream with two currents, Lethe and
Eunoe, "the first has the power of all past sins the memory to erase,
the other can restore remembrance of good deeds and pious days." On the
banks of this stream the poet sees Matilda, who represents the Active
Life.

"There appeared to me a lady all alone who went along singing and
selecting from among the flowers wherewith all her path was enamelled"
... suddenly "the lady turned completely round towards me, saying, 'My
Brother, look and listen'" (XXIX, 15). A solemn chant is heard, a
wonderful light is seen. It is a pageant representing the return of
mankind to Eden through membership in the Church.

First come, shedding heavenly light, the seven mystical candlesticks,
symbolic of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost or the seven sacraments of
the Church. Next follow twenty-four ancients representating the books of
the Old Testament. Then are seen the four prophetic animals symbolizing
the four Evangelists. Christ drawing a chariot representing the Church,
the central figure of the pageant, advances under the form of the
fabulous griffin, half eagle and half lion, typifying the two-fold
nature of our Lord. On the right side of the chariot, dancing are three
nymphs, the theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity. On the left
side are four other nymphs--the cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice,
Fortitude and Temperance. Next co