Evermore nature, if it fortune find

Discordant to it, like each other seed

Out of its region, maketh evil thrift ; And if the world below would fix its mind

On the foundation which is laid by nature, Pursuing that, 't would have the people good. But you unto religion wrench aside

Him who was born to gird him with the sword, And make a king of him who is for sermons; Therefore your footsteps wander from the road."

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CANTO IX.

BEAUTIFUL Clemence, after that thy Charles

Had me enlightened, he narrated to me

The treacheries his seed should undergo;
But said: "Be still and let the years roll round";
So I can only say, that lamentation
Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.
And of that holy light the life already

Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,

As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.

Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,

Who from such good do turn away your hearts,
Directing upon vanity your foreheads!
And now, behold, another of those splendors
Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
It signified by brightening outwardly.
The eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were
Upon me, as before, of dear assent

Το my desire assurance gave to me.

"Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,

Thou blessed spirit," I said, "and give me proof That what I think in thee I can reflect! Whereat the light, that still was new to me,

Out of its depths, whence it before was singing, As one delighted to do good, continued : "Within that region of the land depraved

Of Italy, that lies between Rialto

And fountain-heads of Brenta and of Piava, Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,

Wherefrom descended formerly a torch

That made upon that region great assault. Out of one root were born both I and it;

Cunizza was I called, and here I shine

Because the splendor of this star o'ercame me.

But gladly to myself the cause I pardon

Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me;

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Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.

Of this so luculent and precious jewel,

Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,
Great fame remained; and ere it die away

This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
See if man ought to make him excellent,
So that another life the first may leave!

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And thus thinks not the present multitude
Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,

Nor

yet

for being scourged is penitent. But soon 't will be that Padua in the marsh

Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
Because the folk are stubborn against duty;

And where the Sile and Cagnano join

One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,

For catching whom e'en now the net is making.

Feltro moreover of her impious pastor

Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be

That for the like none ever entered Malta.

Ample exceedingly would be the vat

That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,

And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,

Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift

To show himself a partisan; and such gifts
Will to the living of the land conform.
Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,
From which shines out on us God Judicant,
So that this utterance seems good to us."
Here it was silent, and it had the semblance

Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel
On which it entered as it was before.

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The other joy, already known to me,

Became a thing transplendent in my sight,

As a fine ruby smitten by the sun. Through joy effulgence is acquired above,

As here a smile; but down below, the shade
Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.
"God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,

Thy sight is," said I, "so that never will
Of his can possibly from thee be hidden;
Thy voice, then, that forever makes the heavens
Glad, with the singing of those holy fires

Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,

Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?

Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning
If I in thee were as thou art in me."
"The greatest of the valleys where the water
Expands itself," forthwith its words began,

"That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,

Between discordant shores against the sun

Extends so far, that it meridian makes

Where it was wont before to make the horizon.

I was a dweller on that valley's shore

'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short
Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.

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