e
were such a thing as _mere_ knowledge).

"Everywhere
I see in the world the intellect of man,
That sword, the energy his subtle spear,
The knowledge which defends him like a shield--
Everywhere; but they make not up, I think,
The marvel of a soul like thine, earth's flower
She holds up to the softened gaze of God."[A]

[Footnote A: _The Ring and the Book_--_The Pope_, 1013-1019.]

But yet she recognized with patient pain the loss she had sustained for
want of knowledge.

"The saints must bear with me, impute the fault
To a soul i' the bud, so starved by ignorance,
Stinted of warmth, it will not blow this year
Nor recognize the orb which Spring-flowers know."[B]

[Footnote B: _The Ring and the Book_--_Pompilia_, 1515-1518.]

Further on in the Pope's soliloquy, the poet shows that, at that time,
he fully recognized the risk of entrusting the spiritual interests of
man to the enthusiasm of elevated feeling, or to the mere intuitions of
a noble heart. Such intuitions will sometimes guide a man happily, as in
the case of Caponsacchi:

"Since ourselves allow
He has danced, in gaiety of heart, i' the main
The right step through the maze we bade him foot."[C]

[Footnote C: _The Ring and the Book_--_The Pope_, 1915-1917.]

But, on the other hand, such impulses, not instructed by knowledge of
the truth, and made steadfast to the laws of the higher life by a
reasoned conviction, lead man rightly only by accident. In such a career
there is no guarantee of constancy; other impulses might lead to other
ways of life.

"But if his heart had prompted to break loose
And mar the measure? Why, we must submit,
And thank the chance that brought him safe so far.
Will he repeat the prodigy? Perhaps.
Can he teach others how to quit themselves,
Show why this step was right while that were wrong?
How should he? 'Ask your hearts as I asked mine,
And get discreetly through the morrice too;
If your hearts misdirect you,--quit the stage,
And make amends,--be there amends to make.'"[A]

[Footnote A: _The Ring and the Book_--_The Pope_, 1916-1927.]

If the heart proved to Caponsacchi a guide to all that is good and
glorious, "the Abate, second in the suite," puts in the testimony of
another experience: "His heart answered to another tune."

"I have my taste too, and tread no such step!
You choose the glorious life, and may for me!
I like the lowest