saidst that usury offends the Divine Goodness, and loose the
knot."

"Philosophy," he said to me, "points out to him who understands
it, not only in one part alone, how Nature takes her course from
the Divine Intellect and from its art. And if thou note thy
Physics [1] well thou wilt find after not many pages that your
art follows her so far as it can, as the disciple does the
master, so that your art is as it were grandchild of God. By
means of these two, if thou bringest to mind Genesis at its
beginning, it behoves mankind to obtain their livelihood and to
thrive. But because the usurer takes another course, he despises
Nature in herself, and in her follower, since upon other thing he
sets his hope. But follow me now, for to go on pleaseth me; for
the Fishes are gliding on the horizon, and the Wain lies quite
over Corus,[2] and far yonder is the way down the cliff."

[1] Aristotle, Physics, ii. 2.

[2] The time indicated is about 4, or from 4 to 5 A.M. Corus, the
name of the north-west wind, here stands for that quarter of the
heavens.



CANTO XII. First round of the Seventh Circle; those who do
violence to others; Tyrants and Homicides.--The Minotaur.--The
Centaurs.--Chiron.--Nessus.--The River of Boiling Blood, and the
Sinners in it.