And, when the Lombard tooth, with fangs impure,
Did gore the bosom of the holy church,
Under its wings victorious, Charlemagne
Sped to her rescue.  Judge then for thyself
Of those, whom I erewhile accus’d to thee,
What they are, and how grievous their offending,
Who are the cause of all your ills.  The one
Against the universal ensign rears
The yellow lilies, and with partial aim
That to himself the other arrogates: 
So that ’t is hard to see which more offends. 
Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your arts
Beneath another standard:  ill is this
Follow’d of him, who severs it and justice: 
And let not with his Guelphs the new-crown’d Charles
Assail it, but those talons hold in dread,
Which from a lion of more lofty port
Have rent the easing.  Many a time ere now
The sons have for the sire’s transgression wail’d;
Nor let him trust the fond belief, that heav’n
Will truck its armour for his lilied shield. 
     “This little star is furnish’d with good spirits,
Whose mortal lives were busied to that end,
That honour and renown might wait on them: 
And, when desires thus err in their intention,
True love must needs ascend with slacker beam. 
But it is part of our delight, to measure
Our wages with the merit; and admire
The close proportion.  Hence doth heav’nly justice
Temper so evenly affection in us,
It ne’er can warp to any wrongfulness. 
Of diverse voices is sweet music made: 
So in our life the different degrees
Render sweet harmony among these wheels. 
     “Within the pearl, that now encloseth us,
Shines Romeo’s light, whose goodly deed and fair
Met ill acceptance.  But the Provencals,
That were his foes, have little cause for mirth. 
Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrong
Of other’s worth.  Four daughters were there born
To Raymond Berenger, and every one
Became a queen; and this for him did Romeo,
Though of mean state and from a foreign land. 
Yet envious tongues incited him to ask
A reckoning of that just one, who return’d
Twelve fold to him for ten.  Aged and poor
He parted thence:  and if the world did know
The heart he had, begging his life by morsels,
’T would deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt.”

CANTO VII

“Hosanna Sanctus Deus Sabaoth
Superillustrans claritate tua
Felices ignes horum malahoth!”
Thus chanting saw I turn that substance bright
With fourfold lustre to its orb again,
Revolving; and the rest unto their dance
With it mov’d also; and like swiftest sparks,
In sudden distance from my sight were veil’d. 
     Me doubt possess’d, and “Speak,” it whisper’d me,
“Speak, speak unto thy lady, that she quench
Thy thirst with drops of sweetness.”  Yet blank awe,
Which lords it o’er me, even at the sound