Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/111

Rh Old rumor in the world proclaims them blind;

A people avaricious, envious, proud;

Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee.

Thy fortune so much honor doth reserve thee,

One party and the other shall be hungry

For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass.

Their litter let the beasts of Fesole

Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant,

If any still upon their dunghill rise,

In which may yet revive the consecrated

Seed of those Romans, who remained there when

The nest of such great malice it became."

"If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,"

Replied I to him, "not yet would you be

In banishment from human nature placed;

For in my mind is fixed, and touches now

My heart the dear and good paternal image

Of you, when in the world from hour to hour

You taught me how a man becomes eternal;

And how much I am grateful, while I live

Behoves that in my language be discerned.

What you narrate of my career I write,

And keep it to be glossed with other text

By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her.