Then there is the scarcely less famous passage in Par. xxi,[128] where St. Peter Damian, inveighing against the Roman Curia, describes the fat Cardinals as supported on every side as they go—held up to right and left, and pushed and pulled along—
Or voglion quinci e quindi chi i rincalzi
Li moderni pastori, e chi gli meni
Tanto son gravi! e chi di rietro gli alzi.
And when they ride, covering their palfreys with their ample robes, “so that two beasts are moving ’neath one hide”—
Sì che due bestie van sott’ una pelle.[129]
Or again, there is Beatrice’s tirade in Par. xxix.[130] against the farce of unauthorised indulgences, and against the fashions of the contemporary pulpit: the fashion of neglecting the Gospel, and straining after originality, as though Christ’s mandate had been: “Go ye into all the world, and preach—frivolities!”
Andate, e predicate al mondo ciance.[131]
The modern preacher’s “head is swelled” (if we may so translate Gonfia il cappuccio), and he is perfectly content if by his jests and gibes he can raise a laugh, while the fiend sits unseen in the corner of his hood.
This passage is as perennially applicable as any in Dante, and combines the satire of Alexander Pope with the stern earnestness of the author of the Task, so aptly compared to it by W. W. Vernon.