II - 07 The Beauty Of Pisa In The Afternoon

The  Beauty  Of  Pisa  In  The  Afternoon

On  each  side  of  a  bright  river  he  saw  rise  a  line  of  brighter  palaces,
 
arched   and   pillared,   and   inlaid   with   deep   red   porphyry,   and   with
 
serpentine(2); along the quays before their gates were riding troops of
 
knights, noble in face and form, dazzling in crest and shield; horse and
 
man one labyrinth of quaint colour and gleaming light(3)--the purple, and 
 
silver,  and  scarlet  fringes  flowing  over  the  strong  limbs  and  clashing
 
mail, like sea-waves over rocks at sunset. Opening on each side from the
 
river  were  gardens,  courts,  and  cloisters;  long  successions  of  white
 
pillars  among  wreaths  of  vine;  leaping  of  fountains  through  buds  of
 
pomegranate and orange; and still along the garden-paths, and under and
 
through the crimson of the pomegranate shadows, moving slowly, groups of
 
the  fairest  women  that  Italy  ever  saw  fairest,  because  purest  and
 
thoughtfulest; trained in all high knowledge, as in all courteous art--in
 
dance, in song, in sweet wit, in lofty learning, in loftier courage,-ill
 
loftiest  love-  able  alike  to  cheer,  to  enchant,  or  save,  the  souls  of
 
men(4).  Above  all  this  scenery  of  perfect  human  life,  rose  dome  and
 
bell-tower,  burning  with  white  alabaster  and  gold:  beyond  dome  and
 
bell-tower the slopes of mighty hills, hoary with olive; far in the north,
 
above a purple sea of peaks of solemn Apennine(5), the clear, sharp- cloven
 
Carrara mountains(6) sent up their steadfast flames of marble summit into
 
amber  sky;  the  great  sea  itself,  scorching  with  expanse  of  light,
 
stretching from their feet to the Gorgonian isles(7); and over all these,
 
ever present, near or far--seen through the leaves of vine, or imaged with
 
all  its  march  of  clouds  in  the  Arno's  stream,(8)  or  set  with  its  depth
 
of  blue  close  against  the  golden  hair  and  burning  cheek  of  lady  and
 
knight,-- that untroubled and sacred sky, which was to all men, in those
 
days of innocent faith, indeed the unquestioned abode of spirits, as the
 
earth  was  of  men;  and  which  opened  straight  through  its  gates  of  cloud
 
and veils of dew into the awfulness of the eternal world; a heaven in which
 
every cloud that passed was literally the chariot of an angel and  every
 
ray  of  its  Evening  and  Morning  streamed  from  the  throne  of  God.(9)