Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/89

Rh Get thee gone, beast, for this one cometh not

Instructed by thy sister, but he comes

In order to behold your punishments."

As is that bull who breaks loose at the moment

In which he has received the mortal blow,

Who cannot walk, but staggers here and there,

The Minotaur beheld I do the like;

And he, the wary, cried: "Run to the passage;

While he is wroth, 'tis well thou shouldst descend."

Thus down we took our way o'er that discharge

Of stones, which oftentimes did move themselves

"Beneath my feet, from the unwonted burden.

Thoughtful I went; and he said: "Thou art thinking

Perhaps upon this ruin, which is guarded

By that brute anger which just now I quenched.

Now will I have thee know, the other time

I here descended to the nether Hell,

This precipice had not yet fallen down.

But truly, if I well discern, a little

Before His coming who the mighty spoil

Bore off from Dis, in the supernal circle,

Upon all sides the deep and loathsome valley

Trembled so, that I thought the Universe

Was thrilled with love, by which there are who think