Canto XV
Canto XV
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | Now bears us onward one of the hard margins, |
| 2 | And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, |
| 3 | From fire it saves the water and the dikes. |
| 4 | Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, |
| 5 | Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, |
| 6 | Their bulwarks build to put the sea to flight; |
| 7 | And as the Paduans along the Brenta, |
| 8 | To guard their villas and their villages, |
| 9 | Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; |
| 10 | In such similitude had those been made, |
| 11 | Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, |
| 12 | Whoever he might be, the master made them. |
| 13 | Now were we from the forest so remote, |
| 14 | I could not have discovered where it was, |
| 15 | Even if backward I had turned myself, |
| 16 | Then we a company of souls encountered, |
| 17 | Who came beside the dike, and every one |
| 18 | Gazed at us, as at evening we are wont |
| 19 | To eye each other under a new moon, |
| 20 | And so towards us sharpened they their brows |
| 21 | As an old tailor at the needle's eye. |
| 22 | Thus scrutinised by such a family, |
| 23 | By some one I was recognised, who seized |
| 24 | My garment's hem, and cried out,What a marvel! |
| 25 | And I, when he stretched forth his arm-to me, |
| 26 | On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, |
| 27 | That the scorched countenance prevented not |
| 28 | His recognition by my intellect; |
| 29 | And bowing down my face unto his own, |
| 30 | I made reply,Are you here, Ser Brunetto? |
| 31 | And he: May't not displease thee, O my son, |
| 32 | If a brief space with thee Brunetto Latini |
| 33 | Backward return and let the trail go on. |
| 34 | I said to him: With all my power I ask it; |
| 35 | And if you wish me to sit down with you, |
| 36 | I will, if he please, for I go with him. |
| 37 | O son,he said,whoever of this herd |
| 38 | A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, |
| 39 | Nor fans himself when smiteth him the fire. |
| 40 | Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, |
| 41 | And afterward will I rejoin my band, |
| 42 | Which goes lamenting its eternal doom. |
| 43 | I did not dare to go down from the road |
| 44 | Level to walk with him; but my head bowed |
| 45 | I held as one who goeth reverently. |
| 46 | And he began: What fortune or what fate |
| 47 | Before the last day leadeth thee down here? |
| 48 | And who is this that showeth thee the way? |
| 49 | Up there above us in the life serene, |
| 50 | I answered him,I lost me in a valley, |
| 51 | Or ever yet my age had been completed. |
| 52 | But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; |
| 53 | This one appeared to me, returning thither, |
| 54 | And homeward leadeth me along this road. |
| 55 | And he to me: If thou thy star do follow, |
| 56 | Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, |
| 57 | If well I judged in the life beautiful. |
| 58 | And if I had not died so prematurely, |
| 59 | Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, |
| 60 | I would have given thee comfort in the work. |
| 61 | But that ungrateful and malignant people, |
| 62 | Which of old time from Fesole descended, |
| 63 | And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, |
| 64 | Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; |
| 65 | And it is right; for among crabbed sorbs |
| 66 | It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. |
| 67 | Old rumour in the world proclaims them blind; |
| 68 | A People avaricious, envious, proud:, |
| 69 | Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. |
| 70 | Thy fortune so much honour doth reserve thee, |
| 71 | One party and the other shall be hungry |
| 72 | For thee; but far from goat shall be the grass. |
| 73 | Their litter let the beasts of Fesole |
| 74 | Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, |
| 75 | If any still upon their dunghill rise, |
| 76 | In which may yet revive the consecrated |
| 77 | Seed of those Romans, who remained there when |
| 78 | The nest of such great malice it became. |
| 79 | If my entreaty wholly were fulfilled, |
| 80 | Replied I to him, not yet would you be |
| 81 | In banishment from human nature placed; |
| 82 | For in my mind is fixed, and touches now |
| 83 | My heart the dear and good paternal image |
| 84 | Of you, when in the world from hour to hour |
| 85 | You taught me how a man becomes eternal; |
| 86 | And how much I am grateful, while I live |
| 87 | Behoves that in my language be discerned. |
| 88 | What you narrate of my career I write, |
| 89 | And keep it to be glossed with other text |
| 90 | By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. |
| 91 | This much will I have manifest to you; |
| 92 | Provided that my conscience do not chide me, |
| 93 | For whatsoever Fortune I am ready. |
| 94 | Such handsel is not new unto mine ears; |
| 95 | Therefore let Fortune turn her wheel around |
| 96 | As it may please her, and the churl his mattock. |
| 97 | My Master thereupon on his right cheek |
| 98 | Did backward turn himself, and looked at me; |
| 99 | Then said: He listeneth well who noteth it. |
| 100 | Nor speaking less on that account, I go |
| 101 | With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are |
| 102 | His most known and most eminent companions. |
| 103 | And he to me: To know of some is well; |
| 104 | Of others it were laudable to be silent, |
| 105 | For short would be the time for so much speech. |
| 106 | Know them in sum, that all of them were clerks, |
| 107 | And men of letters great and of great fame, |
| 108 | In the world tainted with the selfsame sin. |
| 109 | Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd, |
| 110 | And Francis of Accorso; and thou hadst seen there |
| 111 | If thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf, |
| 112 | That one, who by the Servant of the Servants |
| 113 | From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione, |
| 114 | Where he has left his sin-excited nerves. |
| 115 | More would I say, but coming and discoursing |
| 116 | Can be no longer; for that I behold |
| 117 | New smoke uprising yonder from the sand. |
| 118 | A people comes with whom I may not be; |
| 119 | Commended unto thee be my Tesoro, |
| 120 | In which I still live, and no more I ask. |
| 121 | Then he turned round, and seemed to be of those |
| 122 | Who at Verona run for the Green Mantle |
| 123 | Across the plain; and seemed to be among them |
| 124 | The one who wins, and not the one who loses. |