The parlament of foules, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed., with introduction, notes, and glossary, by T. R. Lounsbury.

SOURCES OF THE POEM.

I3

nothing but death. Nay, thou mayest even behold thy father Paulus coming towards
thee."
No sooner had I seen him than I burst into a violent fit of tears; but he, thereupon, embracing and kissing me, forbade my weeping. I, as soon as I had checked
my tears, and was able again to speak, said to him, "Tell me, I beseech thee. O best
and most sacred father! since this is life, as I hear Africanus say, why do I tarry
upon earth? Why shall I not hasten to go to you?"-" Not so," said he; "not
until that God, whose temple is all this which thou seest, shall have freed thee from
the bonds of the body, can any entrance lie open to thee here. For men are brought
into the world with this design, that they may protect and preserve that globe which
thou seest in the middle of this temple, and which is called 'Earth.' To them a soul is
given from these everlasting fires which you name constellations and stars, which, in
the form of globes and spheres, run with incredible rapidity the rounds of their orbits
under the impulse of divine intelligences. Wherefore by thee, O Publius! and by all
pious men, the soul must be kept in the guardianship of the body; nor without the
command of Him by whom it is given to you can there be any departure from this
mortal life, lest you seem to have shunned the discharge of that duty as men which
has been assigned to you by God. But, O Scipio! like as thy grandfather, who stands
here, like as I who gave thee life, cherish the sense of justice and loyal affection;
which latter, in however great measure due to thy parents and kinsmen, is, most of all,
due to thy country. Such a life is the way to heaven, and to that congregation of
those who have ended their days on earth, and, freed from the body, dwell in that
place which you see, - that place, which, as you have learned from the Greeks, you
are in the habit of calling the Milky Way."
This was a circle, shining among the celestial fires wiLh a most brilliant whiteness.
As I looked from it, all other things seemed magnificent and wonderful. Moreover,
there were such stars as we have never seen from this point of space, and all of such
magnitude as we have never even suspected. Among them, that was the least, which,
the farthest from heaven, and the nearest to earth, shone with a borrowed light. But
the starry globes far exceeded the size of the earth: indeed, the earth itself appeared
to me so small, that I had a feeling of mortification at the sight of our empire, which
took up what seemed to be but a point of it.
IV. As I kept my eyes more intently fixed upon this spot, Africanus said to me,
"How long, I beg of thee, will thy spirit be chained down to earth? Seest thou not
into what a holy place thou hast come? Every thing is bound together in nine circles,
or rather spheres, of which the farthest is the firmament, which embraces the rest, is,
indeed, the supreme God himself, confining and containing all the others. To that
highest heaven are fixed those orbits of the stars which eternally revolve. Below it
are seven spheres, which move backward with a motion contrary to that of the firmament. One of these belongs to that star which on earth they call Saturn; then follows that shining orb, the source of happiness and health to the human race, which is
called Jupiter; then the red planet, bringing terror to the nations, to which you give
the name of Mars; then, almost directly under the middle region, stands the sun, the
leader, the chief, the governor of the other luminaries, the soul of the universe, and its
regulating principle, of a size so vast, that it penetrates and fills every thing with its
own light. Upon it, as if they were an escort, follow two spheres, - the one of Venus,
the other of Mercury; and in the lowest circle revolves the moon, illuminated by the
rays of the sun. Below it there is nothing which is not mortal and transitory, save the