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who turn Florentines, and trade and discount,

       Would have gone back again to Simifonte

       There where their grandsires went about as beggars.

      At Montemurlo still would be the Counts,

       The Cerchi in the parish of Acone,

       Perhaps in Valdigrieve the Buondelmonti.

      Ever the intermingling of the people

       Has been the source of malady in cities,

       As in the body food it surfeits on;

      And a blind bull more headlong plunges down

       Than a blind lamb; and very often cuts

       Better and more a single sword than five.

      If Luni thou regard, and Urbisaglia,

       How they have passed away, and how are passing

       Chiusi and Sinigaglia after them,

      To hear how races waste themselves away,

       Will seem to thee no novel thing nor hard,

       Seeing that even cities have an end.

      All things of yours have their mortality,

       Even as yourselves; but it is hidden in some

       That a long while endure, and lives are short;

      And as the turning of the lunar heaven

       Covers and bares the shores without a pause,

       In the like manner fortune does with Florence.

      Therefore should not appear a marvellous thing

       What I shall say of the great Florentines

       Of whom the fame is hidden in the Past.

      I saw the Ughi, saw the Catellini,

       Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and Alberichi,

       Even in their fall illustrious citizens;

      And saw, as mighty as they ancient were,

       With him of La Sannella him of Arca,

       And Soldanier, Ardinghi, and Bostichi.

      Near to the gate that is at present laden

       With a new felony of so much weight

       That soon it shall be jetsam from the bark,

      The Ravignani were, from whom descended

       The County Guido, and whoe'er the name

       Of the great Bellincione since hath taken.

      He of La Pressa knew the art of ruling

       Already, and already Galigajo

       Had hilt and pommel gilded in his house.

      Mighty already was the Column Vair,

       Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifant, and Barucci,

       And Galli, and they who for the bushel blush.

      The stock from which were the Calfucci born

       Was great already, and already chosen

       To curule chairs the Sizii and Arrigucci.

      O how beheld I those who are undone

       By their own pride! and how the Balls of Gold

       Florence enflowered in all their mighty deeds!

      So likewise did the ancestors of those

       Who evermore, when vacant is your church,

       Fatten by staying in consistory.

      The insolent race, that like a dragon follows

       Whoever flees, and unto him that shows

       His teeth or purse is gentle as a lamb,

      Already rising was, but from low people;

       So that it pleased not Ubertin Donato

       That his wife's father should make him their kin.

      Already had Caponsacco to the Market

       From Fesole descended, and already

       Giuda and Infangato were good burghers.

      I'll tell a thing incredible, but true;

       One entered the small circuit by a gate

       Which from the Della Pera took its name!

      Each one that bears the beautiful escutcheon

       Of the great baron whose renown and name

       The festival of Thomas keepeth fresh,

      Knighthood and privilege from him received;

       Though with the populace unites himself

       To-day the man who binds it with a border.

      Already were Gualterotti and Importuni;

       And still more quiet would the Borgo be

       If with new neighbours it remained unfed.

      The house from which is born your lamentation,

       Through just disdain that death among you brought

       And put an end unto your joyous life,

      Was honoured in itself and its companions.

       O Buondelmonte, how in evil hour

       Thou fled'st the bridal at another's promptings!

      Many would be rejoicing who are sad,

       If God had thee surrendered to the Ema

       The first time that thou camest to the city.

      But it behoved the mutilated stone

       Which guards the bridge, that Florence should provide

       A victim in her latest hour of peace.

      With all these families, and others with them,

       Florence beheld I in so great repose,

       That no occasion had she whence to weep;

      With all these families beheld so just

       And glorious her people, that the lily

       Never upon the spear was placed reversed,

      Nor by division was vermilion made."

      XVII. Cacciaguida's Prophecy of Dante's Banishment.

       Table of Contents

      As came to Clymene, to be made certain

       Of that which he had heard against himself,

       He who makes fathers chary still to children,

      Even such was I, and such was I perceived

       By Beatrice and by the holy light

       That first on my account had changed its place.

      Therefore my Lady said to me: "Send forth

       The flame of thy desire, so that it issue

       Imprinted well with the internal stamp;

      Not that our knowledge may be greater made

       By speech of thine, but to accustom thee

       To tell thy thirst, that we may give thee drink."

      "O my beloved tree, (that so dost lift thee,

       That even as minds terrestrial perceive

       No triangle containeth two obtuse,

      So thou beholdest the contingent things

       Ere in themselves they are, fixing thine eyes

       Upon the point in which all times are present,)

      While I was with Virgilius conjoined

      

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