torio," both being mountains commanding a view of their respective cities. (112.) Bellincion Berti, praised again in the next canto, line 99, was the representative of the Ravignani, a noble Florentine family;—such as were also the Nerli, and the Vecchio, mentioned afterwards. (118.) i. e. Without fear of banishment, so common in the times of Dante, when one dominant party drove out the other. "And in my time," says the poet, no wife was deserted by her husband that he might get gain in France."-Venturi. "Repugnance to occupy his readers with his own particular concerns (a repugnance of which we have certainly no reason to complain in the authors of the present age), imposed upon Dante his singular silence respecting his family. . . . . It is beyond all doubt that he had several sons, and that they lived in a state of proscription and distress until the period of his death. For this fact we are indebted only to the historians. From his own writings it could not be suspected that he was a husband and a father. It is, however, easy to perceive that he is thinking of his family, when he exclaims: 'O fortunate, e ciascuna era certa della sua sepoltura!'-He delights in painting the joys of domestic life, of which he presents a most affecting picture in the verses just quoted."-Ugo Foscolo. Quarterly Review, vol. 30. (126.) Of Fiesole, the cradle of Florence, see Inf. xv. 62. (128.) Lapo Salterello, and Cianghella-persons of abandoned character; then as rare as persons of an opposite character in Dante's time. Cornelia, the virtuous mother of the Gracchi.

CANTO XVI.

ARGUMENT.

CACCIAGUIDA continues his discourse-gives a history of Dante's progenitors, and of the noble families that flourished at Florence in his time.

O EMPTY name, Nobility of birth!

1

If here below, where frailty is our lot,

Thou promptest man to overrate thy worth,

I ne'er shall be astonish'd; since in heaven

There where the appetite offendeth not—

I of nobility to boast was given.

Thou art indeed a robe soon cut away,

(Time ever coming round thee with his shears)

If pieces be not added day by day.

With "Ye," a phrase by Rome first countenanced-
Though discontinued in these latter years—

Began the speech I now again advanced;

7

Whence Beatrice, who stood some distance thence, 13

Smiling appeared, like her who cough'd, 'tis said,
What time Ginevra wrought her first offence.
I thus my speech began :-"Ye are my Sire ;-
Ye bid me speak-Ye bid me raise my head,
And an unwonted confidence inspire.

Such numerous streams of gladness fill my breast,
That e'en my very mind is turn'd to joy,—
Not even by its swelling tides opprest.

Tell me, loved stock, whence I derive my birth,
Who were your ancestors ?—and, when a boy,
By what events were mark'd the years on earth?
Say, of the fold protected by St. John,

What was its size; and who the people were,
That chief pre-eminence within it won?"

As coal bursts forth, enliven'd into flame,
When breathes the wind; e'en so that lustre fair
More fervent at my blandishments became ;

And brighter as it grew before mine eyes,

So with a voice more soft and sweetly faint,

(But not with that now used-of modern guise) It answer'd: "From the day when 'Hail' was said, Unto the day my mother-now a saint

Me, her loved burden to the light display'd,

19

25

31

Five hundred times and fifty-three this fire
To Leo had return'd; that for its dim
And failing orb fresh light it might acquire.
My ancestors and I dwelt in that place,

First of the last sixth part attain'd by him
Who strives for mastery in your annual race.
Thus much of my Forefathers;—who they were,
And first descended from what race of men,
'Tis fitter to be silent, than declare.
Those capable of bearing arms, betwixt

Mars' statue and the Baptist's church, were then
But a fifth part of those now living :-mixt
Were not the citizens with blood impure

Of Campi and Certaldo, and Figghine,

But from all foreign union dwelt secure.

O how much better had it been for you
Still to have called them neighbours, and confine
On Trespian and Galluzzo, than to view
Them in your walls, and bear the fume that now
Doth from Aguglio's noisome peasant flow;
While he of Signa, bartering, knits his brow!
And if the tribe, who more than any other
Malignant are, had not 'gainst Cæsar so
Inveterate been, but kind as is a mother,

37

43

49

55

He who now lives in Florence, and drives there 61

His trade, had been turn'd back to Semifonti,

Where erst his Grandsire begged his daily fare :
The Counts had Montemurlo still retain'd;

In Valdigrieve had lived the Buondelmonti;
The Cerchi in Acone had remain'd.

To mixture of the breeds may be imputed

The ills which on the city have been pour'd; As hurt the body various meats ill suited. Falls a blind bull more quickly to the ground Than a blind lamb; and oft the single sword Deals than the five a more destructive wound.

If Luni you regard, or Urbisaglia,

How they are gone; and how now suffer change
Chiusi in like guise and Sinigaglia—

To hear how noble families decay,

Will not appear a novel thing or strange,

67

73

Since states themselves do also pass away.

Like to yourselves, your works are doom'd to die;
Although some structure now its end conceals,
Enduring long, while lives are hurried by.

And as the moon, whose orb is never still,

79

Now veils, and now your spreading shores reveals,— In Florence so doth Fortune work her will: