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 90 95 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 Into the father, for the time and dower 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, ΙΟΟ 105 110 115 120 One o'er the cradle kept her studious watch, That first delights the fathers and the mothers; As Told o'er among her family the tales Of Trojans and of Fesole and Rome. As Cincinnatus or Cornelia now. To such a quiet, such a beautiful Life of the citizen, to such a safe From Val di Pado came to me my wife, 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, And came from martyrdom unto this peace." 125 130 135 140 145 CANTO XVI O THOU our poor nobility of blood, So that unless we piece thee day by day (Wherein her family less perseveres), Yet once again my words beginning made; So many rivulets with gladness fill My mind, that of itself it makes a joy Then tell me, my beloved root ancestral, Who were your ancestors, and what the years Tell me about the sheepfold of Saint John, How large it was, and who the people were As at the blowing of the winds a coal. Quickens to flame, so I beheld that light In which my mother, who is now a saint, Of me was lightened who had been her burden, Five hundred fifty times and thirty more, 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; 30 35 40 But who they were, and whence they thither came, Silence is more considerate than speech. All those who at that time were there between Mars and the Baptist, fit for bearing arms, But the community, that now is mixed With Campi and Certaldo and Figghine, Oh how much better 't were to have as neighbors Than have them in the town, and bear the stench 45 50 55 Degenerates, been a step-dame unto Cæsar, Some who turn Florentines, and trade and discount, There where their grandsires went about as beg gars. At Montemurlo still would be the Counts, The Cerchi in the parish of Acone, Has been the source of malady in cities, Than a blind lamb; and very often cuts If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia, 60 65 How they have passed away, and how are passing Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them, To hear how races waste themselves away, Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard, Even as yourselves; but it is hidden in some 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 Of whom the fame is hidden in the Past. I saw the Ughi, saw the Catellini, Line 84. In the like manner fortune does with Florence. 70 75 80 85 |