Paradiso -- Canto XVI
Cacciaguida on Florence
O our inept nobility of blood!
If you make people glory in you here
On earth where our affections grow infirm,
I shall no longer be surprised at it,
5 Since there where appetite is not contorted,
I mean in heaven, I too gloried in you!
Plainly you are a mantle that soon shrinks,
So that, if cloth's not let out day by day,
Time will go round and round you with his scissors!
10 With formal "You" which was first used in Rome
And which her offspring hardly favor now,
I once again began to choose my words
When Beatrice, who stood slightly to one side,
Smiled, and seemed to me like her who coughed
15 At the first fault they tell of Guinevere.
"You are my father," was my opening word;
"You give me my full confidence to speak;
You so raise me I am more than myself.
"So many streams fill up my mind with joy
20 That now my mind rejoices in itself
That it can bear this gladness and not burst.
"Tell me then, dear root from which I spring,
Who were your forefathers and what the years
Which were recorded in your early youth?
25 "Tell me of the sheepfold of Saint John,
How large the flock was then and who the folk
Within it worthy of the highest places?"
As at the breathing of the winds a coal
Quickens into flame, so did I see
30 That light glow brighter with my reverent words.
And as it grew still lovelier to my eyes,
So with a sweeter and a softer voice,
But not in today’s idiom, he said,
"From that day whereon Ave was first uttered
35 Unto that birth when my now sainted mother
Was lightened of me with whom she had been ladened,
"This fiery planet came five hundred times
And fourscore to the Lion to rekindle
Its radiance beneath the burning paw.
40 "My forebears and I had our birthplace there
Where those who run within your annual race
First reach the farthest parish of the city.
"Thus much to hear suffices for my forebears;
For who they were and whence they hither came,
45 Silence is more honorable than speech.
"All those fit to bear arms who at that time
Were present there between Mars and the Baptist
Were but the fifth of those who now are living.
"But then the citizenry, whose blood now mixes
50 With Campi and Certaldo and Figline,
Ran pure down to the lowest artisan.
"O how much better were it that those folk
Of whom I speak were neighbors and you shared
Galluzzo and Trespiano for your boundaries
55 "Than to have them within and bear the stench
Of Aguglione’s boor and Signa’s churl
Whose eye by now is keen for bartering!
"For had the folk who in this world are most
Degenerate not been a stepmother to Caesar
60 But, like a mother, been kindly toward her son,
"Then one who has become a Florentine
And trafficker and trader would have lived
At Simifonti where his grandsire begged.
"The counts would still possess Montemurlo,
65 The Cerchi would be in Acone parish,
And the Buondelmonti still in Valdigreve.
"Confusion of its persons has been ever
The prime source of malignance to the city,
As an excess of food is to the body.
70 "And a blind bull falls to the ground more headlong
Than the blind lamb, and frequently one sword
Cuts more deeply and oftener than five.
"If you consider Luni and Orbisaglia,
How they have perished and how after them
75 Chiusi and Senigallia now follow,
"No longer will you find it strange or hard
To hear how families finally come to fail
When even cities meet a fatal end.
"All things pertaining to you have their death,
80 As have yourselves, but some conceal their end
By lasting long, whereas your lives are short.
"And as the wheeling of the moon in heaven
Veils and unveils the shore unceasingly,
In such a manner Fortune deals with Florence;
85 "Wherefore it should appear no wondrous matter,
What I shall tell of the great Florentines
Whose reputation is obscured by time.
"I saw the Ughi and the Catellini,
Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, Alberichi,
90 Illustrious families, already in decline.
"And I saw too, as grand as they were ancient,
Dell’Arca with Della Sannella — also
Soldanieri, Ardinghi, and Bostichi.
"Above the gate which at the present time
95 Is laden with new felony so heavy
That jettison will soon drift from the ship,
"The Ravignani lived, from whom descended
Count Guido and whoever since that day
Has taken the high name of Bellincione.
100 "Already Della Pressa knew the way
To rule, and Galigaio had already
The gilded hilt and pommel in his house.
"Great was the vair of Pigli arms already,
Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, and Barucci,
105 Galli, and those who blush for the false bushel.
"The stock whence the Calfucci sprang was great
Already, and the Sizii and Arrigucci
Were raised already to the curule chairs.
"O what grand men I saw who are now ruined
110 By their own pride! Lamberti’s globes of gold
Festooning Florence in all her mighty feats!
"So did the fathers of the Visdomini
Who, when a vacancy comes in your church,
Fatten by stalling in the consistory.
115 "The overweening breed that plays the dragon
To one who runs off, but to one who shows
His teeth — or purse — is docile as a lamb
"Were on the rise already, but so low
That Ubertin Donato was not pleased
120 To have his father-in-law make them his kin.
"Already Caponsacco had come down
To the market from Fiesole; then Giuda
And Infangato were good citizens.
"One thing I tell, incredible but true:
125 You entered the small circuit of old walls
Through a gate named for the Della Pera.
"Each one who bears the handsome coat of arms
Of the great Baron whose name and whose renown
The feastday of Saint Thomas keeps alive
130 "Had knighthood from him and its privilege,
Though he who borders those arms now with gold
This day is siding with the multitude.
"There the Gualterotti and Importuni dwelt
Already, and the Borgo would be quiet still
135 If they had rid themselves of their new neighbors.
"The house from which your weeping has its birth,
The Amidei, in their just resentment
Slaying you and ending your glad life,
"Was honored for itself and for its consorts.
140 O Buondelmonte, how ill of you to fly
From plighted troth at promptings of another!
"Many who now mourn would have rejoiced
If God had thrown you to the Ema river
The first day you arrived before the city!
145 "But it was fitting, in her final peace,
That Florence should then sacrifice a victim
Unto the broken stone which guards the bridge.
"With all these folk and all the others with them
I saw Florence in such assured repose
150 That she still had no reason to lament.
"With all these folk I saw her populace:
So glorious, so righteous, that the lily
Had never hung reversed upon the lance,
"Nor yet been dyed vermilion by division."
