Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/181

Rh That thou make no denial of awaiting

Until the hornëd flame shall hither come;

Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it."

And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty

Of much applause, and therefore I accept it;

But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself.

Leave me to speak, because I have conceived

That which thou wishest; for they might disdain

Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine."

When now the flame had come unto that point,

Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,

After this fashion did I hear him speak:

"O ye, who are twofold within one fire,

If I deserved of you, while I was living,

If I deserved of you or much or little

When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,

Do not move on, but one of you declare

Whither, being lost, he went away to die."

Then of the antique flame the greater horn,

Murmuring, began to wave itself about

Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues.

Thereafterward, the summit to and fro

Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,

It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I