Then said he: "It is time now to abandon The wood; take heed that thou come after me; A way the margins make that are not burning, 140 CANTO XV. NOW bears us onward one of the hard margins, And so the brooklet's mist o'ershadows it, From fire it saves the water and the dikes. Even as the Flemings, 'twixt Cadsand and Bruges, Fearing the flood that tow'rds them hurls itself, And as the Paduans along the Brenta, To guard their villas and their villages, Or ever Chiarentana feel the heat; In such similitude had those been made, Albeit not so lofty nor so thick, Whoever he might be, the master made them. Now were we from the forest so remote, I could not have discovered where it was, Who came beside the dike, and every one Το each other under a new moon, eye And so towards us sharpened they their brows As an old tailor at the needle's eye. Thus scrutinized by such a family, By some one I was recognized, who seized 20 My garment's hem, and cried out, "What a marvel!" And I, when he stretched forth his arm to me, On his baked aspect fastened so mine eyes, His recognition by my intellect; And bowing down my face unto his own, I made reply, "Are you here, Ser Brunetto?" go on.' I said to him: "With all my power I ask it; A moment stops, lies then a hundred years, Therefore go on; I at thy skirts will come, And afterward will I rejoin my band, 25 30 35 40 I did not dare to go down from the road Level to walk with him; but my head bowed I held as one who goeth reverently. Before the last day leadeth thee down here? "Up there above us in the life serene," I answered him, "I lost me in a valley, Or ever yet my age had been completed. But yestermorn I turned my back upon it; This one appeared to me, returning thither, Thou canst not fail thee of a glorious port, Seeing Heaven thus benignant unto thee, I would have given thee comfort in the work. But that ungrateful and malignant people, Which of old time from Fesole descended, And smacks still of the mountain and the granite, Will make itself, for thy good deeds, thy foe; It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit. 45 50 55 60 65 Old rumor in the world proclaims them blind; A people avaricious, envious, proud; Take heed that of their customs thou do cleanse thee. Thy fortune so much honor doth reserve thee, One party and the other shall be hungry For thee; but far from goat shall be the Their litter let the beasts of Fesole grass. Make of themselves, nor let them touch the plant, If any still upon their dunghill rise, In which may yet revive the consecrated "If Seed of those Romans, who remained there when The nest of such great malice it became." my entreaty wholly were fulfilled,” Replied I to him, not yet would 70 75 you be 80 In banishment from human nature placed; For in my mind is fixed, and touches now My heart the dear and good paternal image Of you, when in the world from hour to hour You taught me how a man becomes eternal; What And how much I am grateful, while I live you narrate of my career I write, And keep it to be glossed with other text By a Lady who can do it, if I reach her. 85 90 |