90 95 100 E’en while awaiting, I was thine own root ! Such a beginning he in answer made me. Then said to me:.«. That one from whom is named Thy race, and who a hundred years and more Has circled round the mount on the first cornice, A son of mine and thy great-grandsire was; Well it behoves thee that the long fatigue Thou shouldst for him make shorter with thy works. Florence, within the ancient boundary From which she taketh still her tierce and nones, Abode in quiet, temperate and chaste. No golden chain she had, nor coronal, Nor ladies shod with sandal shoon, nor girdle That caught the eye more than the person did. Not yet the daughter at her birth struck fear Into the father, for the time and dower Did not o'errun this side or that the measure. No houses had she void of families, Not yet had thither come Sardanapalus To show what in a chamber can be done; Not yet surpassed had Montemalo been By your Uccellatojo, which surpassed Shall in its downfall be as in its rise. Bellincion Berti saw I go begirt With leather and with bone, and from the mirror His dame depart without a painted face; And him of Nerli saw, and him of Vecchio, Contented with their simple suits of buff, And with the spindle and the fax their dames. Of her own burial-place, and none as yet 105 IIO 115 120 125 130 One o'er the cradle kept her studious watch, And in her lullaby the language used That first delights the fathers and the mothers; Another, drawing tresses from her distaff, Told o'er among her family the tales Of Trojans and of Fesole and Rome. As great a marvel then would have been held A Lapo Salterello, a Cianghella, As Cincinnatus or Cornelia now. To such a quiet, such a beautiful Life of the citizen, to such a safe Community, and to so sweet an inn, And in your ancient Baptistery at once Christian and Cacciaguida I became. Moronto was my brother, and Eliseo; From Val di Pado came to me my wife, And from that place thy surname was derived. I followed afterward the Emperor Conrad, And he begirt me of his chivalry, So much I pleased him with my noble deeds. I followed in his train against that law's Iniquity, whose people doth usurp Your just possession, through your Pastor's fault. There by that execrable race was I Released from bonds of the fallacious world, The love of which defileth many souls, And came from martyrdom unto this peace.” 135 140 145 CANTO XVI 5 IO O Thou our poor nobility of blood, If thou dost make the people glory in thee Down here where our affection languisheth, A marvellous thing it ne'er will be to me; For there where appetite is not perverted, I say in Heaven, of thee I made a boast ! Truly thou art a cloak that quickly shortens, So that unless we piece thee day by day Time goeth round about thee with his shears ! With You, which Rome was first to tolerate (Wherein her family less perseveres), Yet once again my words beginning made; Whence Beatrice, who stood somewhat apart, Smiling, appeared like unto her who coughed At the first failing writ of Guenever. And I began : “ You are my ancestor, You give to me all hardihood to speak, You lift me so that I am more than I. So many rivulets with gladness fill My mind, that of itself it makes a joy Because it can endure this and not burst. Then tell me, my beloved root ancestral, Who were your ancestors, and what the years That in your boyhood chronicled themselves ? How large it was, and who the people were 15 20 25 30 35 40 As at the blowing of the winds a coal Quickens to flame, so I beheld that light Become resplendent at my blandishments. And as unto mine eyes it grew more fair, With voice more sweet and tender, but not in This modern dialect, it said to me: “ From uttering of the Ave, till the birth In which my mother, who is now a saint, Of me was lightened who had been her burden, Unto its Lion had this fire returned Five hundred fifty times and thirty more, To reinfame irself beneath his paw. My ancestors and I our birthplace had Where first is found the last ward of the city By him who runneth in your annual game. Suffice it of my elders to hear this; But who they were, and whence they thither came, Silence is more considerate than speech. Mars and the Baptist, fit for bearing arms, Were a fifth part of those who now are living ; But the community, that now is mixed With Campi and Certaldo and Figghine, Pure in the lowest artisan was seen. The folk of whom I speak, and at Galluzzo And at Trespiano have your boundary, Of Aguglione's churl, and him of Signa Who hath sharp eyes for trickery already. Had not the folk, which most of all the world Line 57. Who has sharp eyes for trickery already. 45 50 55 60 65 70 Degenerates, been a step-dame unto Cæsar, But as a mother to her son benignant, Would have gone back again to Simifonte gars. The Cerchi in the parish of Acone, Perhaps in Valdigrieve the Buondelmonti. Ever the intermingling of the people Has been the source of malady in cities, As in the body food it surfeits on; Than a blind lamb; and very often cuts Better and more a single sword than five. If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia, How they have passed away, and how are passing Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them, Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard, Seeing that even cities have an end. All things of yours have their mortality, Even as yourselves; but it is hidden in some That a long while endure, and lives are short; And as the turning of the lunar heaven Covers and bares the shores without a pause, In the like manner fortune doth with Florence. Therefore should not appear a marvellous thing What I shall say of the great Florentines 75 80 85 |