e same point in its own gyration, when the glorious Lady of my mind,
who was called Beatrice by many who knew not why she was so called,
first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in this life so long
that in its course the starry heaven had moved toward the region of the
East one of the twelve parts of a degree; so that at about the beginning
of her ninth year she appeared to me, and I near the end of my ninth
year saw her. She appeared to me clothed in a most noble color, a modest
and becoming crimson, and she was girt and adorned in such wise as
befitted her very youthful age....

From that time forward Love lorded it over my soul, which had been so
speedily wedded to him: and he began to exercise over me such control
and such lordship, through the power which my imagination gave to him,
that it behoved me to do completely all his pleasure. He commanded me
ofttimes that I should seek to see this youthful angel; so that I in my
boyhood often went seeking her, and saw her of such noble and
praiseworthy deportment, that truly of her might be said that word of
the poet Homer, "She seems not the daughter of mortal man, but of God."
And though her image, which stayed constantly with me, gave assurance to
Love to hold lordship over me, yet it was of such noble virtue that it
never suffered Love to rule me without the faithful counsel of the
reason in those matters in which it was useful to hear such counsel. And
since to dwell upon the passions and actions of such early youth seems
like telling an idle tale, I will leave them, and, passing over many
things which might be drawn from the original where these lie hidden, I
will come to those words which are written in my memory under larger
paragraphs.

II

THE FIRST SALUTATION OF HIS LADY

When so many days had passed that nine years were exactly complete since
the above-described apparition of this most gentle lady, on the last of
these days it happened that this admirable lady appeared to me, clothed
in purest white, between two gentle ladies, who were of greater age;
and, passing along a street, she turned her eyes toward that place where
I stood very timidly, and by her ineffable courtesy, which is to-day
rewarded in the eternal world, saluted me with such virtue that it
seemed to me then that I saw all the bounds of bliss.... And since it
was the first time that her words came to my ears, I took in such
sweetness that, as it were intoxicated, I turned away