Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/24

4 When I beheld him in the desert vast,

"Have pity on me," unto him I cried,

"Whiche'er thou art, or shade or real man!"

He answered me: "Not man; man once I was,

And both my parents were of Lombardy,

And Mantuans by country both of them.

Sub Julio was I born, though it was late,

And lived at Rome under the good Augustus,

During the time of false and lying gods.

A Poet was I, and I sang that just

Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy,

After that Ilion the superb was burned.

But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?

Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable,

Which is the source and cause of every joy?"

"Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain

Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?"

I made response to him with bashful forehead.

"O, of the other poets honor and light,

Avail me the long study and great love

That have impelled me to explore thy volume!

Thou art my master, and my author thou,

Thou art alone the one from whom I took

The beautiful style that has done honor to me.