Degenerates most, been stepdame unto Cæsar,
But, as a mother to her son been kind,
Such one, as hath become a Florentine,
And trades and traffics, had been turn'd adrift
To Simifonte,10 where his grandsire plied
The begar's craft: the Conti were possessed
Of Montemurlo 11 still: the Cerchi still
Were in Acone's parish: nor had haply
From Valdigreve passed the Buondelmonti.
The city's malady hath ever source

In the confusion of its persons, as

The body's, in variety of food:

And the blind bull falls with a steeper plunge,

Than the blind lamb: and oftentimes one sword

Doth more and better execution,

Than five. Mark Luni; Urbisaglia 12 mark;
How they are gone; and after them how go
Chiusi and Sinigaglia: 13 and 'twill seem
No longer new, or strange to thee, to hear
That families fail, when cities have their end.
All things that appertain to ye, like yourselves,
Are mortal: but mortality in some

Ye mark not; they endure so long, and you
Pass by so suddenly. And as the moon
Doth, by the rolling of her heavenly sphere,
Hide and reveal the strand unceasingly;

So fortune deals with Florence. Hence admire not
At what of them I tell thee, whose renown

Time covers, the first Florentines.

The Ughi, Catilini, and Filippi,

I saw

The Alberichi, Greci, and Ormanni,
Now in their wane, illustrious citizens;
And great as ancient, of Sannella him,
With him of Arca saw, and Soldanieri,
And Ardinghi, and Bostichi. At the poop

10" Simifonte." A castle dismantled by the Florentines. The person here alluded to is no longer known.

11" Montemurlo.' The Conti Guidi, not being able to defend their castle from the Pistoians, sold it to the State of Florence.

12" Luni; Urbisaglia." Cities for

14

merly of importance, but then fallen to decay.

13 Chiusi and Sinigaglia." The

same.

14" At the poop." The Cerchi, Dante's enemies, had succeeded to the houses over the gate of St. Peter, formerly inhabited by the Ravignaní and the Count Guido.

That now is laden with new felony
So cumbrous it may speedily sink the bark,
The Ravignani sat, of whom is sprung
The County Guido, and whoso hath since
His title from the famed Bellincion ta'en.
Fair governance was yet an art well prized
By him of Pressa: Galigaio show'd

The gilded hilt and pommel,15 in his house:
The column, clothed with verrey,16 still was seen
Unshaken; the Sachetti still were great,

Giouchi, Sifanti, Galli, and Barucci,

With them 17 who blush to hear the bushel named.

Of the Calfucci still the branchy trunk

Was in its strength: and, to the curule chairs,

Sizii and Arrigucci 18 yet were drawn.

How mighty them 19 I saw, whom, since, their pride
Hath undone! And in all their goodly deeds

Florence was, by the bullets of bright gold,20
O'erflourish'd. Such the sires of those,21 who now,

As surely as your church is vacant, flock

Into her consistory, and at leisure

There stall them and grow fat. The o'erweening brood,22
That plays the dragon after him that flees,
But unto such as turn and show the tooth,
Ay or the purse, is gentle as a lamb,
Was on its rise, but yet so slight esteem'd,
That Ubertino of Donati grudged

His father-in-law should yoke him to its tribe.
Already Caponsacco 23 had descended

Into the mart from Fesole: and Giuda

15 "The gilded hilt and pommel." The symbols of knighthood.

16 The column, clothed with verrey." The arms of the Pigli, or, as some write it, the Billi.

17" With them." Either the Chiaramontesi, or the Tosinghi; one of which had committed a fraud in measuring out the wheat from the public granary. See Purgatory," "Canto xii. 99. 18 "Sizii and Arrigucci." " These families still obtained the magistracies.' 19 Them." "" The Uberti.

20" The bullets of bright gold." The arms of the Abbati, as it is conjectured; or of the Lamberti, according to the authorities referred to in the last note.

"The sires of those." Of the Vis

24

24

And Infangato were good citizens.

A thing incredible I tell, though true:
The gateway, named from those of Pera, led
Into the narrow circuit of your walls.

Each one, who bears the sightly quarterings
Of the great Baron,25 (he whose name and worth
The festival of Thomas still revives),
His knighthood and his privilege retain❜d;
Albeit one,26 who borders them with gold,
This day is mingled with the common herd.
In Borgo yet the Gualterotti dwelt,

And Importuni:27 well for its repose,

Had it still lack'd of newer neighborhood.28

The house,20 from whence your tears have had their spring,

Through the just anger, that hath murder'd ye

And put a period to your gladsome days,
Was honor'd; it, and those consorted with it.
O Buondelmonti! what ill counselling
Prevail'd on thee to break the plighted bond?
Many, who now are weeping, would rejoice,
Had God to Ema 30 given thee, the first time
Thou near our city camest. But so was doom'd:
Florence! on that maim'd stone 31 which guards the bridge,
The victim, when thy peace departed, fell.

"With these and others like to them, I saw Florence in such assured tranquillity,

And Infangato."

Guida

Giuda Guidi and the family of Infangati.

25" The great Baron." The Marchese Ugo, who resided at Florence as lieutenant of the Emperor Otho III, gave many of the chief families license to bear his arms. A vision is related, in consequence of which he sold all his possessions in Germany, and founded seven abbeys, in one whereof his memory was celebrated at Florence on St. Thomas's day. The marquis, when hunting, strayed away from his people, and wandering through a forest, came to a smithy, where he saw black and deformed men tormenting others with fire and hammers; and, asking the meaning of this, he was told that they were condemned souls, who suffered this punishment, and that the soul of the Marquis Ugo was doomed to suffer the same if he did not repent. Struck with horror, he commended himself to the

Virgin Mary; and soon after founded the seven religious houses.

28" One." Giano della Bella, belonging to one of the families thus distinguished, who no longer retained his place among the nobility, and had yet added to his arm a bordure or. Gualterotti dwelt,

27

64

And Importuni." Two families in the compartment of the city called Borgo.

28 Newer neighborhood." Some understand this of the Bardi; and others, of the Buondelmonti.

29" The house." Of Amidei.

30" To Ema." It had been well for the city if thy ancestor had been drowned in the Ema, when he crossed that stream on his way from Montebuono to Florence.

31 "On the maim'd stone.' "Near the remains of the statue of Mars, Buondelmonti was slain, as if he had been a victim to the god; and Florence had not since known the blessing of peace.

She had no cause at which to grieve: with these
Saw her so glorious and so just, that ne'er

The lily

32 from the lance had hung reverse,

Or through division been with vermeil dyed."

CANTO XVII

ARGUMENT.-Cacciaguida predicts to our Poet his exile and the calamities he had to suffer; and, lastly, exhorts him to write the present poem.

UCH as the youth,1 who came to Clymene,

To certify himself of that reproach

Which had been fasten'd on him (he whose end

Still makes the fathers chary to their sons),

E'en such was I; nor unobserved was such

Of Beatrice, and that saintly lamp,2

Who had erewhile for me his station moved;

When thus my lady: "Give thy wish free vent,
That it may issue, bearing true report

Of the mind's impress: not that aught thy words
May to our knowledge add, but to the end

That thou mayst use thyself to own thy thirst,
And men may mingle for thee when they hear."

"O plant, from whence I spring! revered and loved! Who soar'st so high a pitch, that thou as clear,*

As earthly thought determines two obtuse
In one triangle not contain'd, so clear
Dost see contingencies, ere in themselves
Existent, looking at the point whereto
All times are present; I, the whilst I scaled
With Virgil the soul-purifying mount
And visited the nether world of woc,

33" The lily." The arms of Florence had never hung reversed on the spear of her enemies, in token of her defeat; nor been changed from argent to gules; as they afterward were, when the Guelfi gained the predominance.

"The youth." Phaeton, who came to his mother Clymene, to inquire of her if he were indeed the son of Apollo. "That saintly lamp." Cacciaguida.

"To own thy thirst." That thou mayst obtain from others a solution of any doubt that may occur to thee."

"That thou as clear." "Thou beholdest future events with the same clearness of evidence that we discern the simplest mathematical demonstrations.'

"The point." The divine nature.

Touching my future destiny have heard

Words grievous, though I feel me on all sides
Well squared to fortune's blows. Therefore my will
Were satisfied to know the lot awaits me.

The arrow, seen beforehand, slacks his flight."
So said I to the brightness, which erewhile
To me had spoken; and my will declared,
As Beatrice will'd, explicitly.

Nor with oracular response obscure,

Such as, or e'er the Lamb of God was slain,
Beguiled the credulous nations: but, in terms
Precise, and unambiguous lore, replied
The spirit of paternal love, enshrined,

Yet in his smile apparent; and thus spake:
"Contingency, whose verge extendeth not
Beyond the tablet of your mortal mould,
Is all depictured in the eternal sight;
But hence deriveth not necessity,"

More than the tall ship, hurried down the flood,
Is driven by the eye that looks on it.

8

From thence, as to the ear sweet harmony
From organ comes, so comes before mine eye
The time prepared for thee. Such as driven out
From Athens, by his cruel step-dame's wiles,
Hippolytus departed; such must thou

9

Depart from Florence. This they wish, and this
Contrive, and will ere long effectuate, there,10
Where gainful merchandise is made of Christ
Throughout the live-long day. The common cry,"
Will, as 'tis ever wont, affix the blame
Unto the party injured: but the truth
Shall, in the vengeance it dispenseth, find

A faithful witness. Thou shalt leave each thing
Beloved most dearly: this is the first shaft

• "Contingency." Contingency, which has no place beyond the limits of the material world.

7 "Necessity." The evidence with which we see casual events portrayed in the source of all truth, no more necessitates those events, than does the image, reflected in the sight by a ship sailing down a stream, necessitate the motion of the vessel.

"From thence." From the eternal sight; the view of the Deity_himself. "His cruel step-dame." Phædra. 10" There." At Rome, where the expulsion of Dante's party from Florence was then plotting, in 1300.

11" The common cry." The multitude will, as usual, be ready to blame those who are sufferers, whose cause will at last be vindicated by the overthrow of their enemies.