Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/164

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(The scene is in the Corte Reale at Mantua on a late afternoon in November, 1354. Charles IV. meets with Petrarch, who is reading a book as he passes across the court.)

CHARLES IV.: Once more it is your beloved Virgil, herdsman and prophet, whom you have chosen as your teacher and friend. You do not surprise me; there was a time when I, too, was fond of him. I even confess that in this very spot, above the waters of the Mincio, I have more than once bethought me of him who