CANTO XXVI. WHILE on the brink thus one before the other We went upon our way, oft the good Master Said: "Take thou heed! suffice it that I warn thee." That, raying out, already the whole west. Then towards me, as far as they could come, Came certain of them, always with regard 5 Not to step forth where they would not be burned. 15 "O thou who goest, not from being slower But reverent perhaps, behind the others, Answer me, who in thirst and fire am burning. Nor to me only is thine answer needful; For all of these have greater thirst for it Thus one of them addressed me, and I straight For through the middle of the burning road 20 25 There came a people face to face with these, Which held me in suspense with gazing at them. 30 There see I hastening upon either side Each of the shades, and kissing one another Without a pause, content with brief salute. Thus in the middle of their brown battalions No sooner is the friendly greeting ended, Or ever the first footstep passes onward, The new-come people: "Sodom and Gomorrah!' 35 40 Then as the cranes, that to Riphæan mountains Might fly in part, and part towards the sands, These of the frost, those of the sun avoidant, One folk is going, and the other coming, And weeping they return to their first songs, I, who their inclination twice had seen, Began: "O souls secure in the possession, Neither unripe nor ripened have remained My members upon earth, but here are with me I go up here to be no longer blind; A Lady is above, who wins this grace, 45 50 55 Whereby the mortal through your world I bring. 60 But as your greatest longing satisfied May soon become, so that the Heaven may house you Tell me, that I again in books may write it, Who are you, and what is that multitude Which goes upon its way behind your backs?" 65 Not otherwise with wonder is bewildered The mountaineer, and staring round is dumb, When rough and rustic to the town he goes, Than every shade became in its appearance; But when they of their stupor were disburdened, He recommenced who first had questioned us, The folk that comes not with us have offended Themselves reproving, even as thou hast heard, But because we observed not human law, In our opprobrium by us is read, When we part company, the name of her Who bestialized herself in bestial wood. 70 75 80 85 Now knowest thou our acts, and what our crime was; Wouldst thou perchance by name know who we are, There is not time to tell, nor could I do it. 90 Thy wish to know me shall in sooth be granted; Two sons became, their mother re-beholding, For a long time I went, beholding him, When I was fed with looking, utterly Myself I offered ready for his service, And I to him: "Those dulcet lays of yours Which, long as shall endure our modern fashion, |