And he to me: "The four resplendent stars

Thou sawest this morning are down yonder low, And these have mounted up to where those were." As he was speaking, to himself Sordello

Drew him, and said, "Lo there our Adversary!" 95
And pointed with his finger to look thither.

Upon the side on which the little valley

No barrier hath, a serpent was; perchance

The same which gave to Eve the bitter food. 'Twixt grass and flowers came on the evil streak,

Turning at times its head about, and licking
Its back like to a beast that smoothes itself.

I did not see, and therefore cannot say

How the celestial falcons 'gan to move,

But well I saw that they were both in motion.
Hearing the air cleft by their verdant wings,

The serpent fled, and round the Angels wheeled,
Up to their stations flying back alike.
The shade that to the Judge had near approached

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When he had called, throughout that whole assault 110
Had not a moment loosed its gaze on me.

"So may the light that leadeth thee on high
Find in thine own free-will as much of wax
As needful is up to the highest azure,"

Began it, "if some true intelligence

Of Valdimagra or its neighborhood

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Thou knowest, tell it me, who once was great there. Currado Malaspina was I called;

I'm not the elder, but from him descended;
To mine I bore the love which here refineth."

"O," said I unto him, "through your domains

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I never passed, but where is there a dwelling
Throughout all Europe, where they are not known?

That fame, which doeth honor to your house,

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So that he knows of them who ne'er was there.

Proclaims its Signors and proclaims its land,

And, as I hope for heaven, I swear to you

Your honored family in naught abates

The glory of the purse and of the sword.

It is so privileged by use and nature,

That though a guilty head misguide the world,
Sole it goes right, and scorns the evil way."
And he: "Now go; for the sun shall not lie
Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram
With all his four feet covers and bestrides,

Before that such a courteous opinion

Shall in the middle of thy head be nailed
With greater nails than of another's speech,

Unless the course of justice standeth still."

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CANTO IX.

THE concubine of old Tithonus now

Gleamed white upon the eastern balcony,

Forth from the arms of her sweet paramour;

With gems her forehead all relucent was,

Set in the shape of that cold animal

Which with its tail doth smite amain the people,
And of the steps, with which she mounts, the Night
Had taken two in that place where we were,
And now the third was bending down its wings;
When I, who something had of Adam in me,

Vanquished by sleep, upon the grass reclined,
There where all five of us already sat.
Just at the hour when her sad lay begins

The little swallow, near unto the morning,

Perchance in memory of her former woes,

And when the mind of man, a wanderer

More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned,
Almost prophetic in its visions is,

In dreams it seemed to me I saw suspended

An eagle in the sky, with plumes of gold,
With wings wide open, and intent to stoop,
And this, it seemed to me, was where had been

By Ganymede his kith and kin abandoned,
When to the high consistory he was rapt.
I thought within myself, perchance he strikes

From habit only here, and from elsewhere
Disdains to bear up any in his feet.

Then wheeling somewhat more, it seemed to me,
Terrible as the lightning he descended,

And snatched me upward even to the fire.
Therein it seemed that he and I were burning,

And the imagined fire did scorch me so,
That of necessity my sleep was broken.

Not otherwise Achilles started up,

Around him turning his awakened eyes,

And knowing not the place in which he was, What time from Chiron stealthily his mother

Carried him sleeping in her arms to Scyros,

Wherefrom the Greeks withdrew him afterwards,

Than I upstarted, when from off my face

Sleep fled away; and pallid I became,

As doth the man who freezes with affright.

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Only my Comforter was at my side,

And now the sun was more than two hours high,

And turned towards the sea-shore was my face. "Be not intimidated," said my Lord,

"Be reassured, for all is well with us;

Do not restrain, but put forth all thy strength. Thou hast at length arrived at Purgatory;

See there the cliff that closes it around;

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See there the entrance, where it seems disjoined. Whilom at dawn, which doth precede the day,

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When inwardly thy spirit was asleep

Upon the flowers that deck the land below,
There came a Lady and said: 'I am Lucia;

Let me take this one up, who is asleep;
So will I make his journey easier for him.'
Sordello and the other noble shapes

Remained; she took thee, and, as day grew bright,

Upward she came, and I upon her footsteps. She laid thee here; and first her beauteous eyes That open entrance pointed out to me; Then she and sleep together went away."

In guise of one whose doubts are reassured,

And who to confidence his fear doth change,
After the truth has been discovered to him,

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