Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/45

Rh Thus we withdrew ourselves upon one side

Into an opening luminous and lofty,

So that they all of them were visible.

There opposite, upon the green enamel,

Were pointed out to me the mighty spirits,

Whom to have seen I feel myself exalted.

I saw Electra with companions many,

'Mongst whom I knew both Hector and Æneas,

Cæsar in armor with gerfalcon eyes;

I saw Camilla and Penthesilea

On the other side, and saw the King Latinus,

Who with Lavinia his daughter sat;

I saw that Brutus who drove Tarquin forth,

Lucretia, Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia,

And saw alone, apart, the Saladin.

When I had lifted up my brows a little,

The Master I beheld of those who know,

Sit with his philosophic family.

All gaze upon him, and all do him honor.

There I beheld both Socrates and Plato,

Who nearer him before the others stand;

Democritus, who puts the world on chance,

Diogenes, Anaxagoras, and Thales,

Zeno, Empedocles, and Heraclitus;