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.Ofa truth I began to weep leaning against one of the rocks of the hard cliff, so that my Escortsaid to me: Art thou yet among the other foolish ones? Here pity lives when it is right dead.Who is more wicked than he who brings passion to the judgement of God? Lift, lift thy head,and see him for whom the earth opened in the sight of the Thebans, whereby they all cried:Whither rushest thou, Amphiaraus; why leavest the war? And he stayed not from dashingdownward even to Minos, who fetters each one.Look how he has made a breast of hisshoulders; because he wished to see too far in front, he looks behind and goes a backwardroad.See Teiresias, who changed semblance when from male he became female, shifting allhis members; and afterwards he needed again to strike with his rod the two entwinedserpents, before he regained his manly plumes.Aruns is he who turns his back to this one sbelly; who in the mountains of Luni, where hoes the man of Carrara who dwells below, hadamong white marbles the cave for his lodging; whence to gaze on the stars and the sea hisview was not shortened.And she who covers her breasts, which thou seest not, with herunbound tresses, and has on the further side all skin which bears hair, was Manto, whosought through many lands; afterward she settled in the place where I was born; whereforeit is my pleasure that thou hear me a little.After that her father issued from life, and the cityof Bacchus came to servitude, she went a long time about the world.Above in fair Italy liesa lake at the foot of the Alp which over Tirol locks Germany, and it has name Benacus.Through a thousand springs, I think, and more the Pennine is washed, between Garda andVal Camonica, by the water which lies in the aforesaid lake.There is a place in the middlethere where the pastor of Trent, and he of Brescia, and the Veronese, might give theirblessing, if they made that journey.Peschiera sits, a fair and mighty armament, to make headagainst Brescians and Bergamasks, where the surrounding shore comes lowest.There it behoves that all that pour forth which cannot stay in the bosom of Benacus, and it becomesa river down through green pastures.As soon as the water starts to flow, no longer Benacusbut Mincio it is called, even to Governo where it falls into Po.It has no long course when itfinds a hollow into which it spreads itself, and turns it to a marsh, and it is wont in summerat times to be hurtful.Passing thence the savage maid saw land in the midst of the swamp,without cultivation and bare of dwellers.There to escape all society of men she abode withher servants to work her arts, and lived, and left there her empty corpse. Afterward the men who were scattered around assembled themselves to that place, forit was strong by reason of the swamp which it had on all sides; they made their city abovethose dead bones; and for her sake who first chose out the spot they called it Mantua,without further lot.Its folk within were once thicker than now, before the folly of Casalodireceived fraud from Pinamonte.Therefore I do thee to wit that if thou ever hear that my landhad origin otherwise, no lie may cheat the truth. And I: Master, thy reasonings are to meso certain, and hold so my belief, that the others will be to me extinct coals.But tell me ofthe folk that goes onward, if thou seest of them any worthy of note, for only on that does mymind strike. Then he said to me: He who from his cheek spreads his beard over his brownshoulders was, when Greece was so void of males that hardly were any left for the cradles, anaugur; and gave with Calchas the moment for cutting the first cable in Aulis.Eurypylus hadhe name, and thus does my lofty Tragedy chant it in a certain place; well knowest thou it, forthou knowest that throughout.That other who is so scant in the flanks was Michael Scot,who of a truth knew the game of the magic frauds.Behold Guido Bonatti, behold Asdente,who now would wish to have given heed to his leather and to his thread, but repents too late.Behold the sorry ones who left the needle, the shuttle, and the distaff, and became diviners;they wrought charms with herbs and with an image. But come away now, for already Cain and his thorns hold the boundary of both thehemispheres, and touch the waves beyond Seville.And even yesternight was the moon full;well oughtest thou to remember it, for it did thee no harm on a time amid the deep wood.So he talked to me, and we were going the while
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