leave behind them a trail of rainbow-colored light. First among them
march the four and twenty elders of the Book of Revelations; they are
followed by four beasts (the Evangelists), and a gryphon, drawing a
chariot (the Christian Church or Papal chair), far grander than any
that ever graced imperial triumph at Rome. Personifications of the
three evangelical virtues (Charity, Faith, and Hope) and of the four
moral virtues (Prudence, etc.), together with St. Luke and St. Paul,
the four great Doctors of the Church, and the apostle St. John, serve
as body-guard for this chariot, which comes to a stop opposite Dante
with a noise like thunder.

_Canto XXX._ The wonderful light, our poet now perceives, emanates
from a seven-branched candlestick, and illuminates all the heavens
like an aurora borealis. Then, amid the chanting, and while angels
shower flowers down upon her, he beholds in the chariot a lady veiled
in white, in whom, although transfigured, he instinctively recognizes
Beatrice (a personification of Heavenly Wisdom). In his surprise
Dante impulsively turns toward Virgil, only to discover that he has
vanished!

Beatrice comforts him, however, by promising to be his guide
hereafter, and gently reproaches him for the past until he casts
shamefaced glances at his feet. There, in the stream (which serves as
nature's mirror), he catches a reflection of his utter loathsomeness,
and becomes so penitent, that Beatrice explains she purposely brought
him hither by the awful road he has travelled to induce him to lead a
changed life hereafter.

_Canto XXXI._ Beatrice then accuses him of yielding to the world's
deceitful pleasures after she left him, and explains how he should, on