Then did he turn upon him his new shoulders,
And said to the other: "I'll have Buoso run,
Crawling as I have done, along this road."

In this way I beheld the seventh ballast

Shift and reshift, and here be my excuse

The novelty, if aught my pen transgress.
And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be
Somewhat bewildered, and my mind dismayed,
They could not flee away so secretly

But that I plainly saw Puccio Sciancato;

And he it was who sole of three companions,

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Which came in the beginning, was not changed; 150 The other was he whom thou, Gaville, weepest.

CANTO XXVI.

REJOICE, O Florence, since thou art so great,

That over sea and land thou beatest thy wings,

And throughout Hell thy name is spread abroad! Among the thieves five citizens of thine

Like these I found, whence shame comes unto me, s And thou thereby to no great honor risest. But if when morn is near our dreams are true, Feel shalt thou in a little time from now What Prato, if none other, craves for thee.

And if it now were, it were not too soon;

Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, For 't will aggrieve me more the more I We went our way, and up along the stairs

age.

The bourns had made us to descend before,
Remounted my Conductor and drew me.

And following the solitary path

Among the rocks and ridges of the crag,
The foot without the hand sped not at all.

Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again,
When I direct my mind to what I saw,

And more my genius curb than I am wont,
That it may run not unless virtue guide it;

So that if some good star, or better thing,
Have given me good, I may myself not grudge it.
As many as the hind (who on the hill

Rests at the time when he who lights the world
His countenance keeps least concealed from us,

Whileas the fly gives place unto the gnat)

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Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, [tage; Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vinWith flames as manifold resplendent all

Was the eighth Bolgia, as I

grew aware

As soon as I was where the depth appeared.

And such as he who with the bears avenged him

Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing,

What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose,

For with his eye he could not follow it

So as to see aught else than flame alone,

Even as a little cloud ascending upward,

Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment

Was moving; for not one reveals the theft,
And every flame a sinner steals away.

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I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see,
So that, if I had seized not on a rock,
Down had I fallen without being pushed.

And the Leader, who beheld me so attent,

Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are;

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Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.”

"My Master," I replied, "by hearing thee

I am more sure; but I surmised already

It might be so, and already wished to ask thee

Who is within that fire, which comes so cleft

At top, it seems uprising from the pyre

Where was Eteocles with his brother placed."
He answered me: "Within there are tormented
Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together
They unto vengeance run as unto wrath.

And there within their flame do they lament

The ambush of the horse, which made the door Whence issued forth the Romans' gentle seed; Therein is wept the craft, for which being dead Deidamia still deplores Achilles,

And pain for the Palladium there is borne." "If they within those sparks possess the power

To speak," I said, "thee, Master, much I pray,
And re-pray, that the prayer be worth a thousand,

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That thou make no denial of awaiting

Until the horned flame shall hither come; Thou seest that with desire I lean towards it." And he to me: "Worthy is thy entreaty

Of much applause, and therefore I accept it; But take heed that thy tongue restrain itself. Leave me to speak, because I have conceived

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That which thou wishest; for they might disdain
Perchance, since they were Greeks, discourse of thine.”

When now the flame had come unto that point,

Where to my Leader it seemed time and place,
After this fashion did I hear him speak:

"O ye, who are twofold within one fire,

If I deserved of you, while I was living,

If I deserved of you or much or little
When in the world I wrote the lofty verses,
Do not move on, but one of you declare
Whither, being lost, he went away to die."
Then of the antique flame the greater horn,

Murmuring, began to wave itself about
Even as a flame doth which the wind fatigues.
Thereafterward, the summit to and fro

Moving as if it were the tongue that spake,

It uttered forth a voice, and said: "When I

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