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Our talking did not slow our pace, our pace
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not slow our talking; but conversing, we
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moved quickly, like a boat a fair wind drives.
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And recognizing that I was alive, |
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the shades they seemed to be things twice dead
drew |
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amazement from the hollows of their eyes.
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And I, continuing my telling, added: |
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Perhaps he is more slow in his ascent
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than he would be had he not met the other.
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But tell me, if you can: where is Piccarda?
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And tell me if, among those staring at me,
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I can see any person I should note. |
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My sister and I know not whether she |
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was greater in her goodness or her beauty
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on high Olympus is in triumph; she |
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rejoices in her crown already, he |
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began, then added: It is not forbidden
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to name each shade here abstinence has eaten
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away our faces. And he pointed: This |
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is Bonagiunta, Bonagiunta da |
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Lucca; the one beyond him, even more |
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emaciated than the rest, had clasped |
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the Holy Church; he was from Tours; his fast
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purges Bolsena's eels, Vernaccia's wine.
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And he named many others, one by one,
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and, at their naming, they all seemed content;
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so that for this no face was overcast.
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I saw their teeth were biting emptiness
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both Ubaldin da la Pila and Boniface,
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who shepherded so many with his staff.
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I saw Messer Marchese, who once had |
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more ease, less dryness, drinking at Forli
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and yet could never satisfy his thirst.
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But just as he who looks and then esteems
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one more than others, so did I prize him
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of Lucca, for he seemed to know me better.
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He murmured; something like Gentucca was37
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what I heard from the place where he could feel
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the wound of justice that denudes them so.
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O soul, I said, who seems so eager to
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converse with me, do speak so that I hear you,
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for speech may satisfy both you and me.
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He answered: Although men condemn my city,
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there is a woman born she wears no veil
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as yet because of whom you'll find it pleasing.
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You are to journey with this prophecy;
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and if there's something in my murmuring
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you doubt, events themselves will bear me out.
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But tell me if the man whom I see here
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is he who brought the new rhymes forth,
beginning: |
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'Ladies who have intelligence of love.'
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I answered: I am one who, when Love breathes
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in me, takes note; what he, within, dictates,
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I, in that way, without, would speak and shape.
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O brother, now I see, he said, the knot
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that kept the Notary, Guittone, and me
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short of the sweet new manner that I hear.
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I clearly see how your pens follow closely
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behind him who dictates, and certainly
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that did not happen with our pens; and he
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who sets himself to ferreting profoundly
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can find no other difference between |
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the two styles. He fell still, contentedly.
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Even as birds that winter on the Nile
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at times will slow and form a flock in air,
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then speed their flight and form a file, so all
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the people who were mere moved much more swiftly,
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turning away their faces, hurrying |
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their pace because of leanness and desire.
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And just as he who's tired of running lets
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his comrades go ahead and slows his steps
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until he's eased the panting of his chest,
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so did Forese let the holy flock |
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pass by and move, behind, with me, saying:
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How long before I shall see you again?
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I do not know, I said, how long I'll live;
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and yet, however quick is my return, |
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my longing for these shores would have me here
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sooner because the place where I was set
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to live is day by day deprived of good
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and seems along the way to wretched ruin.
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Do not be vexed, he said, for I can see
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the guiltiest of all dragged by a beast's
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tail to the valley where no sin is purged.
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At every step the beast moves faster, always
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gaining momentum, till it smashes him
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and leaves his body squalidly undone.
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Those wheels, and here he looked up at the sky,
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do not have long to turn before you see
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plainly what I can't tell more openly.
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Now you remain behind, for time is costly
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here in this kingdom; I should lose too much
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by moving with you thus, at equal pace.
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Just as a horseman sometimes gallops out,
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leaving behind his troop of riders, so
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that he may gain the honor of the first
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clash so, with longer strides, did he leave us;
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and I remained along my path with those
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two who were such great marshals of the world.
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And when he'd gone so far ahead of us
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that my eyes strained to follow him, just as
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my mind was straining after what he'd said,
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the branches of another tree, heavy |
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with fruit, alive with green, appeared to me
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nearby, just past a curve where I had turned.
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Beneath the tree I saw shades lifting hands,
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crying I know not what up toward the branches,
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like little eager, empty-headed children,
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who beg but he of whom they beg does not
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reply, but to provoke their longing, he
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holds high, and does not hide, the thing they
want. |
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Then they departed as if disabused; |
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and we immediately reached that great tree,
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which turns aside so many prayers and tears.
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Continue on, but don't draw close to it;
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there is a tree above from which Eve ate,
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and from that tree above, this plant was raised.
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Among the boughs, a voice I know not whose
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spoke so; thus, drawing closer, Virgil, Statius,
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and I edged on, along the side that rises.
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It said: Remember those with double chests,
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the miserable ones, born of the clouds,
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whom Theseus battled when they'd gorged
themselves; |
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and those whom Gideon refused as comrades
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those Hebrews who had drunk too avidly
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when he came down the hills to Midian.
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So, keeping close to one of that road's margins,
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we moved ahead, hearing of gluttony |
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its sins repaid by sorry penalties. |
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Then, with more space along the lonely path,
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a thousand steps and more had brought us forward,
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each of us meditating wordlessly. |
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What are you thinking of, you three who walk
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alone? a sudden voice called out; at which
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I started like a scared young animal.
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I raised my head to see who it might be;
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no glass or metal ever seen within |
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a furnace was so glowing or so red |
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as one I saw, who said: If you'd ascend,
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then you must turn at this point; for whoever
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would journey unto peace must pass this way.
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But his appearance had deprived me of
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my sight, so that as one who uses hearing
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as guide I turned and followed my two teachers.
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And like the breeze of May that heralding
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the dawning of the day when it is steeped
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in flowers and in grass, stirs fragrantly,
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so did I feel the wind that blew against
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the center of my brow, and clearly sensed
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the movement of his wings, the air's ambrosia.
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And then I heard: Blessed are those whom grace
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illumines so, that, in their breasts, the love
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of taste does not awake too much desire
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whose hungering is always in just measure.
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