XVIII.
“There moves no leaf beneath, thou hast to know,
“But here above some sign thereof we trace[4];
“Since all, in Heaven above or Earth below,
“Must correspond, though with a different face.
“That ancient, with his sweeping beard of snow,
“By nought impeded and so swift of pace,
“Works the same end and purpose in our clime,
“As are on earth below performed by Time.
XIX.
“The life of man its final close attains,
“When on the wheel is wound the fatal twine;
“There fame, and here above the murk remains;
“For both would be immortal and divine,
“But for that bearded sire’s unwearied pains,
“And his below, that for their wreck combine.
“One drowns them, as thou seest, mid sand and surges,
“And one in long forgetfulness immerges.
XX.
“And even, as here above, the raven, daw,
“Vulture, and divers other birds of air,
“All from the turbid water seek to draw
“The names, which in their sight appear most fair;
“Even thus below, pimps, flatterers, men of straw,
“Buffoons, informers, minions, all who there
“Flourish in courts, and in far better guise
“And better odour, than the good and wise;
