Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v2.djvu/22

4 I've shown him all the people of perdition,

And now those spirits I intend to show

Who purge themselves beneath thy guardianship.

How I have brought him would be long to tell thee.

Virtue descendeth from on high that aids me

To lead him to behold thee and to hear thee.

Now may it please thee to vouchsafe his coming;

He seeketh Liberty, which is so dear,

As knoweth he who life for her refuses.

Thou know'st it; since, for her, to thee not bitter

Was death in Utica, where thou didst leave

The vesture, that will shine so, the great day.

By us the eternal edicts are not broken;

Since this one lives, and Minos binds not me;

But of that circle I, where are the chaste

Eyes of thy Marcia, who in looks still prays thee,

O holy breast, to hold her as thine own;

For her love, then, incline thyself to us.

Permit us through thy sevenfold realm to go;

I will take back this grace from thee to her,

If to be mentioned there below thou deignest."

"Marcia so pleasing was unto mine eyes

While I was on the other side," then said he,

"That every grace she wished of me I granted;