So from that splinter issued forth together
Both words and blood; whereat I let the tip
Fall, and stood like a man who is afraid. 45
"Had he been able sooner to believe,"
My Sage made answer, "O thou wounded soul,
What only in my verses he has seen,
Not upon thee had he stretched forth his hand;
Whereas the thing incredible has caused me 50
To put him to an act which grieveth me.
But tell him who thou wast, so that by way
Of some amends thy fame he may refresh
Up in the world, to which he can return."
And the trunk said: "So thy sweet words allure me, 55
I can not silent be; and you be vexed not,
That I a little to discourse am tempted.
I am the one who both keys had in keeping
Of Frederick's heart, and turned them to and fro
So softly in unlocking and in locking, 60
That from his secrets most men I withheld;
Fidelity I bore the glorious office
So great, I lost thereby my sleep and pulses.
The courtesan who never from the dwelling
Of Cæsar turned aside her strumpet eyes, 65
Death universal and the vice of courts,
Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/96
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76
The Divine Comedy
