Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/189

Rh Nor the high office, nor the sacred orders,

In him regarded, nor in me that cord

Which used to make those girt with it more meagre;

But even as Constantine sought out Sylvester

To cure his leprosy, within Soracte,

So this one sought me out as an adept

To cure him of the fever of his pride.

Counsel he asked of me, and I was silent,

Because his words appeared inebriate.

And then he said: 'Be not thy heart afraid;

Henceforth I thee absolve; and thou instruct me

How to raze Palestrina to the ground.

Heaven have I power to lock and to unlock,

As thou dost know; therefore the keys are two,

The which my predecessor held not dear.'

Then urged me on his weighty arguments

There, where my silence was the worst advice;

And said I: 'Father, since thou washest me

Of that sin into which I now must fall,

The promise long with the fulfilment short

Will make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'

Francis came afterward, when I was dead,

For me; but one of the black Cherubim

Said to him: 'Take him not; do me no wrong;