He show’d me many others, one by one,
And all, as they were nam’d, seem’d well content;
For no dark gesture I discern’d in any. 
I saw through hunger Ubaldino grind
His teeth on emptiness; and Boniface,
That wav’d the crozier o’er a num’rous flock. 
I saw the Marquis, who tad time erewhile
To swill at Forli with less drought, yet so
Was one ne’er sated.  I howe’er, like him,
That gazing ’midst a crowd, singles out one,
So singled him of Lucca; for methought
Was none amongst them took such note of me. 
Somewhat I heard him whisper of Gentucca: 
The sound was indistinct, and murmur’d there,
Where justice, that so strips them, fix’d her sting.

“Spirit!” said I, “it seems as thou wouldst fain
Speak with me.  Let me hear thee.  Mutual wish
To converse prompts, which let us both indulge.”

He, answ’ring, straight began:  “Woman is born,
Whose brow no wimple shades yet, that shall make
My city please thee, blame it as they may. 
Go then with this forewarning.  If aught false
My whisper too implied, th’ event shall tell
But say, if of a truth I see the man
Of that new lay th’ inventor, which begins
With ’Ladies, ye that con the lore of love’.”

To whom I thus:  “Count of me but as one
Who am the scribe of love; that, when he breathes,
Take up my pen, and, as he dictates, write.”

“Brother!” said he, “the hind’rance which once held
The notary with Guittone and myself,
Short of that new and sweeter style I hear,
Is now disclos’d.  I see how ye your plumes
Stretch, as th’ inditer guides them; which, no question,
Ours did not.  He that seeks a grace beyond,
Sees not the distance parts one style from other.” 
And, as contented, here he held his peace.

Like as the bird, that winter near the Nile,
In squared regiment direct their course,
Then stretch themselves in file for speedier flight;
Thus all the tribe of spirits, as they turn’d
Their visage, faster deaf, nimble alike
Through leanness and desire.  And as a man,
Tir’d With the motion of a trotting steed,
Slacks pace, and stays behind his company,
Till his o’erbreathed lungs keep temperate time;
E’en so Forese let that holy crew
Proceed, behind them lingering at my side,
And saying:  “When shall I again behold thee?”

“How long my life may last,” said I, “I know not;
This know, how soon soever I return,
My wishes will before me have arriv’d. 
Sithence the place, where I am set to live,
Is, day by day, more scoop’d of all its good,
And dismal ruin seems to threaten it.”