That is Semiramis, who, as you read,

Ruled after Ninus, and had been his bride; She swayed the land in which the Soldans lead.

And with her comes the loving suicide,

Who broke her faith unto Sicheus' urn;
Debauched Cleopatra sails beside."

I saw there Helen, who had power to turn
Such years of time to trouble, and the great
Achilles, who to fight with love did learn.
I saw Paris and Tristram, and, I rate,

Of ghosts a thousand more he showed and told,
Whom love had sundered from our living state.
Now, when the ladies and the knights of old

I heard my doctor name, almost my brain Was 'wildered, ruth upon me took such hold. And I began, "Poet, with yonder twain

I crave to speak, who move in

company,

And seem so light upon the hurricane."

Then he replied, "Await, until they be

More nigh, and thou shalt pray them by the love Which them controls, and they will come to thee."

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As soon as toward us on the blast they move,

I lift my voice, "O spirits harassed,

Come and speak with us here, if none reprove."
As doves that by affection called, with spread
And moveless wings to their sweet nest repair,
Through the air gliding, by volition sped;

Thus from the troop, which Dido holds, they fare, 85 Approaching us across the air malign,

So strong the loving call had reacht 'em there.

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"O thou quick spirit, gracious and benign,

That, seeking us, the tawny air dost pierce,

Even us, who did the ground encarnadine ;

Had we the Monarch of the universe

90

Our friend, his peace for thee should be our quest,

As thou hast pity on our pain perverse.

Whatever thou to speak and hear may list,

We will give ear to, and will speak to thee,

So long as yet the blast remaineth whist.
The land where I was born is by the sea,
Upon the margin, where descendeth Po,

With all his followers at peace to be.

95

Love, whom the gentle heart is quick to know,
Seized him by that fair person, which, it grieves
Me still to think, I was despoiled of so.
Love, who from loving none beloved reprieves,

So kindled me to work his will again,
That still, thou seest, my side he never leaves.
Love led us to one death; the place of Cain

Awaiteth him, by whom in life we bled."
These words proceeded to us from the twain.
When I the wounded spirits heard, my head
I hung adown, and sometime kept it low,
Until, "What thinkest thou?" the poet said.
Then I began, when I made answer, “O,

100

What dear desire, what many thoughts and sooth
Have led them both unto this bourne of woe?"
I turned to them and spoke myself, "In truth,
Francesca," I began, "thine agonies

So pierce me, I can weep for woe and ruth;
But tell me, at the time of your sweet sighs,
How love, and by what token did concede
That you the dubious passions might surmise?"

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And she replied, "There is no pain indeed
Like the remembering of happy state
In grief, nor will thy guide to learn it need;
But if such eagerness to penetrate

The first root of our love, thy mind incite,
As one that speaks and weeps I shall relate.
One day we had been reading for delight

Of Lancelot, how love had him compelled;
We were alone together, dreadless quite.
This reading many a time our eyes had held

Upon each other, and our cheeks made pale;
One only passage our endurance quelled;
For when the smile desired, in our tale,

Was kissed by such a great and loving one,
This man, who never from my side can fail,
Kissed me, all quivering, my mouth upon.

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135

The book, the author, Pandar's trade was plying; That evening we could read no further on."

As in that guise one spirit was replying,

The other wept so sore, my senses fled

Through pity, as if I had been a-dying;

I dropt upon the ground as drop the dead.

140

CANTO VI.

As mind returned, that had to cover fled
Before my pity for these cousins two,
Which me with sadness quite discomfited,
New torments, and tormented spirits new,

I see around, wherever I attain,
Wherever turn, wherever fix my view.
I stand in the next circle of the rain,

Accursed, everlasting, heavy, chill,

That never changes quality nor strain.
Great hail, and snows, and clouded water still

Go gushing down athwart the darksome air;
The land they fall upon dire stenches fill.
Cerberus, fell beast, uncouth beyond compare,

Howls like a hound, out of his threefold jaws, Over the nation kept in water there.

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