Matelda, still on the far bank, turns and walks upstream. Dante follows on his side. Suddenly a great light floods the forest — so bright Dante wonders if it is lightning. Then music. A sweet melody runs through the luminous air, and in the blaze Dante sees a great procession moving through the trees. It is the Processional of Scripture — a allegorical pageant of the Bible and the Church so densely symbolic that Dante pauses to warn readers: do not expect clear, simple narration here. He writes under the Muses' dictation, and his pen must transcribe it faithfully.
Seven golden candlesticks lead the way, leaving seven bands of color in the air behind them like a rainbow — the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Behind them, dressed in white, walk twenty-four elders (the books of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament) two by two, crowned with lilies, singing praise to Mary. Then four living creatures (drawn from Ezekiel and Revelation — the symbols of the four evangelists: man, lion, ox, eagle) accompany a gleaming two-wheeled chariot drawn by a Gryphon — the creature half lion, half eagle, its eagle parts all gold, its lion parts white and red — a precise figure of Christ, the union of divine and human natures. The gryphon's eagle wings vanish upward beyond sight: divinity exceeds what the eye can follow.
Behind the chariot, more procession: three women dancing at the right wheel (Charity in red, Faith in white, Hope in green — the theological virtues), four more at the left (the four cardinal virtues). Two elders follow (Luke-Acts and Paul's letters), then four more (the other epistles), then one elder, sleeping, with a keen face (Revelation). This is the whole of the Christian canon, embodied, in motion, moving through Eden. Dante is overcome. The procession halts. Lightning fills the air. Beatrice is about to appear.