First came the seven golden
candlesticks; following them, many people in resplendent white garments;
next, the four and twenty elders, lily crowned--the twenty-four books of
the Old Testament--singing to Beatrice "O blessed Thou!" Then four
six-winged, many-eyed living creatures described both by Ezekiel and John
surrounded the massive car drawn by the Gryphon, emblem of our Lord in his
divine and human nature, white, gold, and vermilion-hued, part lion, part
eagle, whose wings pierced the heavens.
Three maidens, red, emerald, and white, the Theological Virtues, Faith,
Hope, and Charity, danced at the right wheel of the car; four clad in
purple, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance, walked at the left
wheel. With them came two old men, Luke and Paul; then four together,
James, Peter, John, and Jude, and last an aged man walking in slumber,
Saint John, writer of the Revelation. These last were crowned with red
roses and other tinted flowers. With a crash as of thunder, the car
stopped before Dante, and a hundred angels, chanting, showered on it roses
and lilies. In the midst of the shower, Beatrice descended, clad in a
crimson robe, with a green mantle and a white veil, and crowned with an
olive wreath. Thrilling with his ancient love, Dante turned to Vergil to
sustain him, but Vergil was gone.
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