PURGATORY.

CAN TO XIV.

ARGUMENT.

Our Poet on this second cornice finds also the souls of Guido del Duca of Brettinoro, and Rinieri da Calboli of Ror, agna ; the latter of whom, hearing that he comes from the banks of the Arno, inveighs against the degeneracy of all those who dwell in the cities visited by that stream ; and the former, in like

, against the inhabi of Romag leaving these, our Poets hear voices recording noted instances of envy.

“SAY,” who is he around our mountain winds,
Or ever death has prun’d his wing for flight;
That opes his eyes, and covers them at will 7"
“I know not who he is, but know thus much;
He comes not singly. Do thou ask of him,
For thou art nearer to him; and take heed,
Accost him gently, so that he may speak.”
Thus on the right two spirits, bending each
Toward the other, talk’d of me; then both
Addressing me, their faces backward lean'd, 10
And thus the ones began: “O soul, who yet
Pent in the body, tendest towards the sky!
For charity, we pray thee, comfort us;
Recounting whence thou com’st, and who thou
art:

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