Had not the folk, which most of all the world

Degenerates, been a step-dame unto Cæsar,
But as a mother to her son benignant,

Some who turn Florentines, and trade and discount,
Would have gone back again to Simifonte

60

At Montemurlo still would be the Counts,

There where their grandsires went about as beggars.

65

The Cerchi in the parish of Acone,

Perhaps in Valdigrieve the Buondelmonti.

Ever the intermingling of the people

Has been the source of malady in cities,
As in the body food it surfeits on;

And a blind bull more headlong plunges down
Than a blind lamb; and very often cuts
Better and more a single sword than five.

If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia,

How they have passed away, and how are passing
Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them,

To hear how races waste themselves away,
Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard,
Seeing that even cities have an end.

All things of yours have their mortality,

Even as yourselves; but it is hidden in some
That a long while endure, and lives are short;

And as the turning of the lunar heaven

Covers and bares the shores without a pause, In the like manner fortune does with Florence. Therefore should not appear a marvellous thing

What I shall say of the great Florentines Of whom the fame is hidden in the Past. I saw the Ughi, saw the Catellini,

Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and Alberichi, Even in their fall illustrious citizens; And saw, as mighty as they ancient were,

With him of La Sannella him of Arca,
And Soldanier, Ardinghi, and Bostichi.
Near to the gate that is at present laden

With a new felony of so much weight
That soon it shall be jetsam from the bark,
The Ravignani were, from whom descended

The County Guido, and whoe'er the name
Of the great Bellincione since hath taken.
He of La Pressa knew the art of ruling

Already, and already Galigajo

Had hilt and pommel gilded in his house.

Mighty already was the Column Vair,

Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifant, and Barucci,

And Galli, and they who for the bushel blush.
The stock from which were the Calfucci born

Was great already, and already chosen
To curule chairs the Sizii and Arrigucci.

O how beheld I those who are undone

By their own pride! and how the Balls of Gold
Florence enflowered in all their mighty deeds!
So likewise did the ancestors of those

Who evermore, when vacant is your church,
Fatten by staying in consistory.

The insolent race, that like a dragon follows

Whoever flees, and unto him that shows
His teeth or purse is gentle as a lamb,

Already rising was, but from low people;

So that it pleased not Ubertin Donato

That his wife's father should make him their kin.

Already had Caponsacco to the Market

From Fesole descended, and already

Giuda and Infangato were good burghers.

I'll tell a thing incredible, but true;

One entered the small circuit by a gate Which from the Della Pera took its name! Each one that bears the beautiful escutcheon

Of the great baron whose renown and name The festival of Thomas keepeth fresh, Knighthood and privilege from him received;

Though with the populace unites himself
To-day the man who binds it with a border.
Already were Gualterotti and Importuni;

And still more quiet would the Borgo be
If with new neighbours it remained unfed.

The house from which is born your lamentation,

Through just disdain that death among you brought
And put an end unto your joyous life,

Was honoured in itself and its companions.

Which guards the bridge, that Florence should provide
A victim in her latest hour of peace.

With all these families, and others with them,
Florence beheld I in so great repose,
That no occasion had she whence to weep;
With all these families beheld so just

And glorious her people, that the lily

Never upon the spear was placed reversed, Nor by division was vermilion made."

150

CANTO XVII.

As came to Clymene, to be made certain
Of that which he had heard against himself,
He who makes fathers chary still to children,
Even such was I, and such was I perceived

By Beatrice and by the holy light

That first on my account had changed its place. Therefore my Lady said to me: "Send forth

The flame of thy desire, so that it issue
Imprinted well with the internal stamp ;
Not that our knowledge may be greater made

By speech of thine, but to accustom thee
To tell thy thirst, that we may give thee drink,"

"O my beloved tree, (that so dost lift thee,
That even as minds terrestrial perceive
No triangle containeth two obtuse,

So thou beholdest the contingent things

Ere in themselves they are, fixing thine eyes
Upon the point in which all times are present,)
While I was with Virgilius conjoined

Upon the mountain that the souls doth heal,
And when descending into the dead world,

Were spoken to me of my future life

Some grievous words; although I feel myself
In sooth foursquare against the blows of chance.

On this account my wish would be content

To hear what fortune is approaching me, Because foreseen an arrow comes more slowly." Thus did I say unto that selfsame light

That unto me had spoken before; and even
As Beatrice willed was my own will confessed.
Not in vague phrase, in which the foolish folk

Ensnared themselves of old, ere yet was slain
The Lamb of God who taketh sins away,

But with clear words and unambiguous

Language responded that paternal love,
Hid and revealed by its own proper smile:
"Contingency, that outside of the volume
Of your materiality extends not,

Is all depicted in the eternal aspect.
Necessity however thence it takes not,

Except as from the eye, in which 'tis mirrored,
A ship that with the current down descends.
From thence, e'en as there cometh to the ear

Sweet harmony from an organ, comes in sight
To me the time that is preparing for thee.
As forth from Athens went Hippolytus,

By reason of his step-dame false and cruel,
So thou from Florence must perforce depart.
Already this is willed, and this is sought for;

And soon it shall be done by him who thinks it,
Where every day the Christ is bought and sold.
The blame shall follow the offended party

In outcry as is usual; but the vengeance
Shall witness to the truth that doth dispense it.
Thou shalt abandon everything beloved

Most tenderly, and this the arrow is

Which first the bow of banishment shoots forth.

Thou shalt have proof how savoureth of salt

The bread of others, and how hard a road
The going down and up another's stairs.

And that which most shall weigh upon thy shoulders
Will be the bad and foolish company

With which into this valley thou shalt fall;

For all ingrate, all mad and impious

Will they become against thee; but soon after

They, and not thou, shall have the forehead scarlet

Of their bestiality their own proceedings

Shall furnish proof; so 'twill be well for thee
A party to have made thee by thyself.
Thine earliest refuge and thine earliest inn

Shall be the mighty Lombard's courtesy,
Who on the Ladder bears the holy bird,
Who such benign regard shall have for thee

That 'twixt you twain, in doing and in asking,
That shall be first which is with others last.
With him shalt thou see one who at his birth

Has by this star of strength been so impressed,
That notable shall his achievements be.

Not yet the people are aware of him

Through his young age, since only nine years yet
Around about him have these wheels revolved
But ere the Gascon cheat the noble Henry,
Some sparkles of his virtue shall appear
In caring not for silver nor for toil.

So recognized shall his magnificence

Become hereafter, that his enemies

Will not have power to keep mute tongues about it. On him rely, and on his benefits;

By him shall many people be transformed,
Changing condition rich and mendicant;
And written in thy mind thou hence shalt bear

Of him, but shalt not say it "—and things said he
Incredible to those who shall be present.

Then added: "Son, these are the commentaries
On what was said to thee; behold the snares
That are concealed behind few revolutions;
Yet would I not thy neighbours thou shouldst envy,
Because thy life into the future reaches
Beyond the punishment of their perfidies.
When by its silence showed that sainted soul

That it had finished putting in the woof
Into that web which I had given it warped,
Began I, even as he who yearneth after,

Being in doubt, some counsel from a person Who seeth, and uprightly wills, and loves: "Well see I, father mine, how spurreth on

The time towards me such a blow to deal me
As heaviest is to him who most gives way.
Therefore with foresight it is well I arm me,

That, if the dearest place be taken from me,
I may not lose the others by my songs.

Down through the world of infinite bitterness,

And o'er the mountain, from whose beauteous summit
The eyes of my own Lady lifted me

And afterward through heaven from light to light,
I have learned that which, if I tell again,
Will be a savour of strong herbs to many.

And if I am a timid friend to truth,

I fear lest I may lose my life with those
Who will hereafter call this time the olden."
The light in which was smiling my own treasure
Which there I had discovered, flashed at first
As in the sunshine doth a golden mirror;