2

Nor waited for my questioning, but said:
"Speak; and be brief, be subtile in thy words."

On that part of the cornice, whence no rim
Engarlands its steep fall, did Virgil come;
On the other side me were the spirits, their cheeks
Bathing devout with penitential tears,
That through the dread impalement forced a way.
I turn'd me to them, and "O shades!" said I,
Assured that to your eyes unveil'd shall shine
The lofty light, sole object of your wish,

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So may heaven's grace clear whatsoe'er of foam
Floats turbid on the conscience, that thenceforth
The stream of mind roll limpid from its source;
As ye declare (for so shall ye impart

A boon I dearly prize) if any soul

Of Latium dwell among ye: and perchance
That soul may profit, if I learn so much."

"My brother! we are, each one, citizens Of one true city. Any, thou wouldst say, Who lived a stranger in Italia's land."

So heard I answering, as appear'd, a voice
That onward came some space from whence I stood.
A spirit I noted, in whose look was mark'd
Expectance. Ask ye how? The chin was raised
As in one reft of sight. "Spirit," said I,
"Who for thy rise art tutoring, (if thou be
That which didst answer to me,) or by place,
Or name, disclose thyself, that I may know thee."
"I was," it answer'd, "of Sienna: here
I cleanse away with these the evil life,
Soliciting with tears that He, who is,
Vouchsafe him to us. Though Sapia named,
In sapience I excell'd not; gladder far
Of other's hurt, than of the good befell me.
That thou mayst own I now deceive thee not,
Hear, if my folly were not as I speak it.

Citizens

Of one true city!

3

195

ing in exile at Colle, was so overjoyed at a defeat which her countrymen sustained near that place, that she declared nothing more was wanting to make her die contented.

When now my tears sloped waning down the arch,
It so bechanced, my fellow-citizens

Near Colle met their enemies in the field;

And I pray'd God to grant what He had will'd.*
There were they vanquish'd, and betook themselves
Unto the bitter passages of flight.

I mark'd the hunt; and waxing out of bounds
In gladness, lifted up my shameless brow,
And, like the merlin cheated by a gleam,

5

Cried, 'It is over. Heaven! I fear thee not.'
Upon my verge of life I wish'd for peace
With God; nor yet repentance had supplied
What I did lack of duty, were it not

The hermit Piero, touch'd with charity,
In his devout orisons thought on me.

But who art thou that question'st of our state,
Who go'st, as I believe, with lids unclosed,

And breathest in thy talk?" "Mine eyes," said I,
"May yet be here ta'en from me; but not long;
For they have not offended grievously
With envious glances. But the woe beneath
Urges my soul with more exceeding dread.
That nether load already weighs me down."

She thus: "Who then, among us here aloft,
Hath brought thee, if thou weenest to return?"
He," answered I, "who standeth mute beside me.
I live of me ask therefore, chosen spirit!

If thou desire I yonder yet should move

For thee my mortal feet." "Oh!" she replied,
"This is so strange a thing, it is a great sign

That God doth love thee. Therefore with thy prayer
Sometime assist me: and, by that I crave,

Which most thou covetest, that if thy feet
E'er tread on Tuscan soil, thou save my fame
Among my kindred. Them shalt thou behold

"And I pray'd God to grant what He had will'd." That her countrymen should be defeated in battle.

"The merlin.' The story of the merlin is, that having been induced by a gleam of fine weather in the winter to escape from his master, he was soon oppressed by the rigor of the season.

"The hermit Piero." Piero Pettinagno, a holy hermit of Florence. 7" The woe beneath. " Dante felt that he was much more subject to the sin of pride, than to that of envy; and this is just what we should have concluded of a mind such as his.

8

With that vain multitude, who set their hope
On Telamone's haven; there to fail

Confounded, more than when the fancied stream
They sought, of Dian call'd: but they, who lead
Their navies, more than ruin'd hopes shall mourn."

CANTO XIV

ARGUMENT.-Our Poet on this second cornice finds also the souls of Guido del Duca of Brettinoro, and Rinieri da Calboli of Romagna; the latter of whom, hearing that he comes from the banks of the Arno, inveighs against the degeneracy of all those who dwell in the cities visited by that stream; and the former, in like manner, against the inhabitants of Romagna. On leaving these, our Poets hear voices recording noted instances of envy.

AY,1 who is he around our mountain winds,

"SA

Or ever death has pruned his wing for flight;
That opes his eyes, and covers them at will?"
I know not who he is, but know thus much;
He comes not singly. Do thou ask of him,
For thou art nearer to him; and take heed,
Accost him gently, so that he may speak."

Thus on the right two spirits, bending each
Toward the other, talk'd of me; then both
Addressing me, their faces backward lean'd,
And thus the one 2 began: "O soul, who yet
Pent in the body, tendest toward the sky!
For charity, we pray thee, comfort us;

Recounting whence thou comest, and who thou art:
For thou dost make us, at the favor shown thee,
Marvel, as at a thing that ne'er hath been."

"There stretches through the midst of Tuscany," I straight began, "a brooklet," whose well-head Springs up in Falterona; with his race

Not satisfied, when he some hundred miles

Hath measured. From his banks bring I this frame.

"That vain multitude." The Sien

2" The one." Guido del Duca.

3" A brooklet." The Arno, that rises in Falterona, a mountain in the Apennines. Its course is 120 miles.

To tell you who I am were words mis-spent:
For yet my name scarce sounds on rumor's lip."
"If well I do incorporate with my thought
The meaning of thy speech," said he, who first
Address'd me, " thou dost speak of Arno's wave."
To whom the other: "Why hath he conceal'd
The title of that river, as a man

Doth of some horrible thing?" The spirit, who
Thereof was question'd, did acquit him thus:
"I know not: but 'tis fitting well the name
Should perish of that vale; for from the source,
Where teems so plenteously the Alpine steep
Maim'd of Pelorus (that doth scarcely pass

Beyond that limit), even to the point

Where unto ocean is restored what heaven

5

Drains from the exhaustless store for all earth's streams, Throughout the space is virtue worried down,

As 't were a snake by all, for mortal foe;

Or through disastrous influence on the place,
Or else distortion of misguided wills

That custom goads to evil: whence in those,
The dwellers in that miserable vale,

Nature is so transform'd, it seems as they

Had shared of Circe's feeding. 'Midst brute swine,
Worthier of acorns than of other food

Created for man's use, he shapeth first

His obscure way; then, sloping onward, finds
Curs, snarlers more in spite than power, from whom
He turns with scorn aside: still journeying down,
By how much more the curst and luckless foss 8
Swells out to largeness, e'en so much it finds
Dogs turning into wolves. Descending still
Through yet more hollow eddies, next he meets
A race of foxes,10 so replete with craft,
They do not fear that skill can master it.

"The other." Rinieri da Calboli.
"From the source. From the rise
of the Arno in that " Alpine steep," the
Apennines, from whence Pelorus in Sic-
ily was torn by a convulsion of the
earth, even to the point where the same
river unites its waters to the ocean, Vir-
tue is persecuted by all.

"Midst brute swine." The people of Casentino.

7" Curs." The Arno leaves Arezzo about four miles to the left.

"Foss." So in his anger he terms the Arno.

"Wolves." The Florentines. 10" Foxes." The Pisans.

Nor will I cease because my words are heard 11
By other ears than thine. It shall be well
For this man,12 if he keep in memory
What from no erring spirit I reveal.
Lo! I behold thy grandson,13 that becomes
A hunter of those wolves, upon the shore

Of the fierce stream; and cows them all with dread.
Their flesh, yet living, sets he up to sale,
Then, like an aged beast, to slaughter dooms.
Many of life he 'reaves, himself of worth
And goodly estimation. Smear'd with gore,
Mark how he issues from the rueful wood;
Leaving such havoc, that in thousand years
It spreads not to prime lustihood again."

As one, who tidings hears of woe to come,
Changes his looks perturb'd, from whate'er part
The peril grasp him; so beheld I change
That spirit, who had turn'd to listen; struck
With sadness, soon as he had caught the word.
His visage, and the other's speech, did raise
Desire in me to know the names of both;
Whereof, with meek entreaty, I inquired.

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The shade, who late address'd me, thus resumed: 'Thy wish imports, that I vouchsafe to do

For thy sake what thou wilt not do for mine.
But, since God's will is that so largely shine
His grace in thee, I will be liberal too.
Guido of Duca know then that I am.

Envy so parch'd my blood, that had I seen

A fellow man made joyous, thou hadst mark'd
A livid paleness overspread my cheek.

Such harvest reap I of the seed I sow'd.

O man! why place thy heart where there doth need
Exclusion of participants in good?

This is Rinieri's spirit; this, the boast
And honor of the house of Calboli;

11" My words are heard." It should be recollected that Guido still addresses himself to Rinieri.

12" For this man." For Dante, who

has told us that he comes from the banks of Arno.

18" Thy grandson.". Fulcieri da Calboli, grandson of Rinieri da Calboli, who is here spoken to.