i,
Pria che passin mill'anni? ch'e piu corto
Spazio all' eterno ch'un muover di ciglia
Al cerchio che piu tardi in cielo e torto.
Colui che del cammin si poco piglia
Diranzi a te, Toscana sono tutta,
Ed ora appena in Siena sen pispiglia,
Ond'era sire, quando fu distrutta
La rabbia Fiorentina, che superba
Fu a quel tempo si com'ora e putta.
La vostra nominanza e color d'erba
Che viene e va, e quei la discolora
Per cui ell'esce della terra acerba."

_Purgatorio_, XI. 74-117.

"And one of them, not this one who was speaking,
Twisted himself beneath the weight that cramps him,
And looked at me, and knew me, and called out,
Keeping his eyes laboriously fixed
On me, who all bowed down was going with them.
'O,' asked I him, 'art thou not Oderisi,
Agobbio's honor, and honor of that art
Which is in Paris called illuminating?'
'Brother,' said he, 'more laughing are the leaves
Touched by the brush of Franco Bolognese;
All his the honor now, and mine in part.
In sooth I had not been so courteous
While I was living, for the great desire
Of excellence, on which my heart was bent.
Here of such pride is payed the forfeiture:
And yet I should not be here, were it not
That, having power to sin, I turned to God.
O thou vain glory of the human powers,
How little green upon thy summit lingers,
If 't be not followed by an age of grossness!
In painting Cimabue thought that he
Should hold the field, now Giotto has the cry,
So that the other's fame is growing dim.
So has one Guido from the other taken
The glory of our tongue, and he perchance
Is born, who from the nest shall chase them both.
Naught is this mundane rumor but a breath
Of wind, that comes now this way and now that,
And changes name, because it changes side.
What fame shalt thou have more, if old peel off
From thee thy flesh, than if thou hadst been dead
Before thou left the _pappo_ and the _dindi_,
Ere pass a thousand years? which is a shorter
Space to the eterne, than twinkling of an eye
Unto the circle that in heaven wheels slowest.
With him, who takes so little of the road
In front of me, all Tuscany resounded;