"Who is this one that goes about our mountain, Or ever Death has given him power of flight, And opes his eyes and shuts them at his will?"
"I know not who, but know he's not alone;
Ask him thyself, for thou art nearer to him, And gently, so that he may speak, accost him."
Thus did two spirits, leaning tow'rds each other, Discourse about me there on the right hand;
Then held supine their faces to address me.
And said the one: "O soul, that, fastened still Within the body, tow'rds the heaven art going, For charity console us, and declare Whence comest and who art thou; for thou mak'st us As much to marvel at this grace of thine As must a thing that never yet has been."
And I: "Through midst of Tuscany there wanders A streamlet that is born in Falterona, And not a hundred miles of course suffice it;
From thereupon do I this body bring.
To tell you who I am were speech in vain, Because my name as yet makes no great noise."
"If well thy meaning I can penetrate With intellect of mine," then answered me He who first spake, "thou speakest of the Arno."
And said the other to him: "Why concealed This one the appellation of that river, Even as a man doth of things horrible?"
And thus the shade that questioned was of this Himself acquitted: "I know not; but truly 'Tis fit the name of such a valley perish;
For from its fountain-head (where is so pregnant The Alpine mountain whence is cleft Peloro That in few places it that mark surpasses)
To where it yields itself in restoration Of what the heaven doth of the sea dry up, Whence have the rivers that which goes with them, Virtue is like an enemy avoided By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune Of place, or through bad habit that impels them;
On which account have so transformed their nature The dwellers in that miserable valley, It seems that Circe had them in her pasture.
'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier Than other food for human use created, It first directeth its impoverished way.
Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward, More snarling than their puissance demands, And turns from them disdainfully its muzzle.
It goes on falling, and the more it grows, The more it finds the dogs becoming wolves, This maledict and misadventurous ditch.
Descended then through many a hollow gulf, It finds the foxes so replete with fraud, They fear no cunning that may master them.
Nor will I cease because another hears me;
And well 'twill be for him, if still he mind him Of what a truthful spirit to me unravels.
Thy grandson I behold, who doth become A hunter of those wolves upon the bank Of the wild stream, and terrifies them all.
He sells their flesh, it being yet alive;
Thereafter slaughters them like ancient beeves;
Many of life, himself of praise, deprives.
Blood-stained he issues from the dismal forest;
He leaves it such, a thousand years from now In its primeval state 'tis not re-wooded."
As at the announcement of impending ills The face of him who listens is disturbed, From whate'er side the peril seize upon him;
So I beheld that other soul, which stood Turned round to listen, grow disturbed and sad, When it had gathered to itself the word.
